AppV 5 slow to refresh with roaming profile (no redirects) but fast with local profile

Question

Hi,
I have an issue I can't get thought out. I have an AppV5 SP3 full infra, with SMB share and local caching of packages enabled. Everything works from a functional level. However I have an issue where users with a roaming profile get a very slow AppV refresh
during login.
I created a few testaccounts, a few with local profile and a few with roaming profiles. For these testusers there are NO folder redirects. The only difference between them is local profile or roaming profile.
When I login with a local-profile user initially, the AppV client rather slowly refreshes the applications and shortcuts. It generates quite some CPU load on the RDS host, but as soon as the shortcuts are placed everything is fine. When I log that user off,
and log in again, the shortcuts are there immediately and I can immediately start the applications (Office 2010 for example). Blazing fast. Also when logging in, the refresh-UI is there for about half a second, it really flashes and it's done.
Then with a testuser with roaming profile, the initial refresh is about the same. But when I logoff that user and login again, it's all very slow. The shortcuts are there but blank initially, it takes about 5-10 seconds to get the correct icon. It takes
much longer before the refresh actually starts (sometimes up to 30 seconds after login), and it takes 5-10 seconds to do the refresh, with 100% cpu load on the thread AppVclient.exe is running on. Also right after loging in when the shortcuts are blank they
don't work until they get the proper icon. WHen everything is refreshed it works all fine though. It's just painfully slow at start.
I don't understand this. I can reproduce this every single time. Without folder redirects I don't see the difference between roaming and local profile from AppV perspective, as the roaming profile is of course copied to the server and in that sense the server
just works with a local copy anyway.
Anyone encountered this, and how to troubleshoot, or better fix this?

Answer 1

So is the fact that there is a 5-10 second delay during refresh actually an issue? What I mean by that is - are any users comparing the local profiles with roaming profiles experience, or complaining that the delay is there?
Roaming profiles and Folder redirection are of course very simple to configure; however for the best user experience I recommend managing profiles with a real profile management solution.
If you have MDOP, then you'll also have access to UE-V. You've mentioned your environment is RDS, which sadly doesn't get UE-V, even though you have App-V.
Here are some resources on UE-V + App-V and what's required when managing App-V with roaming users:
How To Use Microsoft User Experience Virtualization With App-V Applications
Application Publishing and Client Interaction: Roaming registry and data
Here's also some resources on App-V performance worth looking at:
Performance Guidance for Application Virtualization 5.0
App-V Performance Best Practices: New Project VRC White Paper
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