Application Workspace 4.4: The New Bootstrapper 

Today I’m discussing the new Application Workspace bootstrapper as well as what it means for organizations working to streamline application delivery.  

New bootstrapper, new capabilities 

The biggest change is that you no longer need to supply an agent JSON file when using the bootstrapper. You may still want to use the agent.json file if you need more control over all the initial settings, but if you are just rolling out a basic JSON, it isn’t necessary. 

Another feature worth mentioning is how you specify the command line parameters. In the previous version, the characters you used to specify the parameters were different depending on whether you were on MacOS or Windows. Now all command line options begin with ‘–’, which means consistent use across platforms. 

Key changes in command line options 

The new bootstrapper features some updated parameters. It supports additional options that allow you to specify information in the command line, eliminating the need for an agent.json file.  

Here are the most notable updates:  

• /waitForDeployment (or –waitForDeployment) is now ‘–wait’ 
• /startDeployment (or –startDeployment) is not ‘–startDeployment’ 
• /logPath={Directory} (or –logPath={path}) is now ‘–logPath {directory}’ 
• /certificate={PathToCertificate} (or –certificate={PathToCertificate}) is now ‘–certificate {PathToCertificate}’ 
• /certificateThumbprint=”XYZ” (or –certificateThumbprint=”XYZ”) is now ‘–certificateThumbprint 69f4db57b74e13415cd103323331d95022d840c1’ 
• /certificateIssuer=”Sectigo” (or –certificateIssuer=”Sectigo RSA Domain Validation Secure Server CA”) is now ‘–certificateIssuer “Sectigo RSA Domain Validation Secure Server CA”’ 
• /zoneOverride=”https://zone.example.com/” (or –zoneOverride=”https://zone.example.com/”) is now ‘–zone “https://demo.liquit.com/”‘ 
• /msiProperties=”TEST=1 EXAMPLE=1″ is now ‘–msiProperties “EXAMPLE_PROPERTY=1″’ 
• /skipOverrideConfig is now ‘–skipOverride’ 

Only one command was deprecated: /legacyDownload 

All other commands from the previous version have remained, although the identifier (/ or –) is now a consistent value. 

New commands 

Here are the new parameters added with the new bootstrapper. 

• –registrationType User – This is used to specify how you want the device to register. This will match the JSON options of User, Credentials, Certificate, or CertificateEnrollment. 
• –registrationUsername – If you set this to Credentials above, you can specify the username to register the device with. This will be used with the following command as well. 
• –registrationPassword examplePassword – Use this to specify the password for the username above. 
• –deviceDeployment – This will force all actions to run in the device context. 
• –deployment “Deployment Name or GUID” – This will specify which deployment to run during execution of the bootstrapper. 
• –startDeploymentDialog – This will open the deployment dialog box, allowing a user to choose which deployment to run. 
• –deploymentDialogTimeout 10 – This is the number of seconds to wait for a deployment confirmation before continuing the deployment. 

Using the new bootstrapper means you don’t always need to use an attached agent.json file during the bootstrapper process. You can now specify basic commands at the command line, which can mean less to support. 

Bootstrapper use cases 

• bootstrapper.exe --zone https://demo.zone.com/ 
• bootstrapper.exe --zone "https://demo.zone.com/" --startDeployment --deployment "Deployment name" 
• bootstrapper.exe --zone "https://demo.zone.com/" --startDeployment --deployment "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" 
• bootstrapper.exe --zone "https://demo.zone.com/" --startDeploymentDialog 
• bootstrapper.exe --zone https://demo.zone.com/ --registrationType Credentials --registrationUser “local\admin” --registrationPassword “SomePassword”

New levels of flexibility 

The new bootstrapper provides more flexibility in how you deploy your Application Workspace agents. Learn more about how bootstrapper 4.4 streamlines deployment for Application Workspace. 

What’s next  

One more feature is on the roadmap: automatic restarting of the Agent and UserHost processes at the end of the deployment process.  This will also integrate seamlessly into Windows Autopilot ESP. Keep an eye out for this one!  

Version 4.4 is available now! Read through the documentation and download the installer to start using the new Bootstrapper right away.  

You can also learn more about Application Workspace or request a demo.