This article has a look at a much requested feature of vWorkspace: User Environment Configuration and Lockdown for desktops. As its name suggest, this feature allow customer to configure and secure the user environment for all vWorkspace sessions.

Prior to Quest vWorkspace 7.0 User Environment Configuration and Lockdown was only available to Terminal Servers / RD Session Hosts. Quest vWorkspace 7.0 now makes it possible to fully configure and secure the user environment for all vWorkspace Managed Desktops as well.  So now customers can centrally perform user environment management and lockdown regardless of platform and from
the single Quest vWorkspace Management Console.

Take a look at this demo movie that shows exactly how easy and powerful this is. The clip demonstrates User Environment Management and Lockdown by connecting to a Quest vWorkspace managed Windows 7 virtual desktop hosted with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager R2.

Quest vWorkspace 7.0 Feature Spotlight: User Environment Configuration and Lockdown for Desktops

User Environment Configuration and Lockdown for Desktops again shows that Quest vWorkspace goes above and beyond traditional “VDI” or Terminal Server add-on products. The reasoning behind this is that at Quest we feel that we need to deliver a product that helps customers deliver applications and desktops in the most efficient way. One of the big factors in that efficiency equation is management. Simply creating a desktop and brokering a connection to it via protocol X is not enough. It’s (also) the management that counts. Typically, the bulk (about 70%) of all the changes performed in any SBC/VDI deployment are user-based. Think about it: a Terminal Server / RD Session Host or Virtual Desktop is created once and used many. Most of the day-to-day management of these applications and desktop revolve around trivial yet important tasks like:

• Populate the Start Menu dynamically based on the user that logs on (”where’s minesweeper?”)
• Making sure that the user has the correct printers assigned to him regardless of where he logs in ( “PRT07 is my printer ” )
• Always have the proper drive mapping available (”why can’t I access the L: drive?”)
• Making sure that the end user cannot access the system drive either accidentally or consciously (”I thought I’d clean up that Windows folder for you; it was taking so much space”)
• Perform used based registry management (”why do I get this EULA every time I start PDF Reader x?”)
• Set the proper wallpaper for the session (”I thought we were supposed to use the new corporate wallpaper?”)

These are just some examples but I hope you get our point. User environment management and security is a structural part of any SBC/VDI environment. Quest vWorkspace 7.0 allows customers to centrally perform user environment management and lockdown regardless of platform and from  the single Quest vWorkspace Management Console without the need to buy (and learn) additional products.

Source: http://blogs.inside.quest.com/provision/2010/01/07/quest-vworkspace-70-feature-spotlight-user-environment-management-and-lockdown-for-desktops/