The configuration file did not contain well formed AppV configuration XML - When using Office 2013 ODT package

Question

All,
I'm experiencing an issue where when using the Office 2013 package pulled down from ODT, that if I try to change the locations of either InfoPath Filler 2013 or Publisher 2013 from the default of Microsoft Office 2013 then I receive the message "The
configuration file did not contain well formed AppV configuration XML. Please check the management server event log for more information". If I check Applications and Services\Microsoft\AppV\Server-Management\Admin the error displayed there is "An
error was encountered parsing dynamic configuration file '0'. However I am able to change the shortcut location for all other applications except the above 2. I've tried redownloading the files using the ODT and also changing the version number (so far I've
tried both the 15.0.4631.1002 and 15.0.4659.1001 with the same result).
As all I'm interested in so far is having a package which contains Visio and Project I've tried following the article to exclude all the other Office elements:
http://technet.microsoft.com/library/jj219426(v=office.15).aspx#BKMK_ExcludeAppElement. However the package looks to be the same and when I load it into the management console all the options and elements to Office 2013 are available like they were before
when I hadn't set the exclude tags so I'm not sure whether the ExcludeApp parameters actually work correctly.
This then brings me onto the 3rd issue I've experienced. I have a group for the Visio users and I've set custom security for them to have Visio delivered to them but not Project and then a seperate group for just Project users who will have Project delivered
to them but not have Visio. When testing this sometimes seems to work but other times it seems to trip out and a user just in the Project or Visio group will get all of the Office 2013 applications and under the default location of Microsoft Office 2013. When
trying to spot correlation with this it appears random and can happen to any user on any device. We have sequenced a few applications ourselves where different parts are needed for different users and we have successfully managed this using different security
groups for different applications, just as I'm trying here with Office 2013.
Has anyone else experienced the issue with the "did not contain well formed XML" as at the start of the post and how were you able to resolve this? Also has anyone any advice on how to troubleshoot the issue with the security seeming to trip out
and publish all applications within a package to a user regardless of whether they are in the correct group or not?
The management / publishing servers are 5.0.1224.0 which is SP1 HF4 and the clients are on SP2 HF5.
Thanks

Answer 1

Nicke,
The config files are UTF-8. I did find the same article as yourself, however when searching for the value ‘TakeoverExtensionPointsFrom46=’ within either of the configuration.xml files that text isn’t found.
No sinister reason not to share the file used, just it’s the same structure as referenced in the article:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn745895(v=office.15).aspx. The only difference being that I’m using ProPlusVolume and I’ve set a version number (which is the October
2014 update). I’ve even looked to follow the above example as closely as possible in just using the ExcludeApp ID of Access and InfoPath, just to try and prove the process. However I still get the usual full package. The version of the Click-to-Run setup.exe
I’m using is 15.0.4623.1001, so later than the version specified at the end of that article which is 15.0.4619.1000. Where can I expect to see the elements excluded? Will it be when loading the package into the management console or would it just not appear
on the machine when delivered?
<Configuration>
  <Add SourcePath="C:\OfficeDeploymentToolV2" Version="15.0.4659.1001" OfficeClientEdition="32">
    <Product ID="ProPlusVolume">
      <Language ID="en-us" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Access" />
<ExcludeApp ID="InfoPath" />
    </Product>
  </Add>
</Configuration>
3). We’ve not used global publishing in our environment yet so I will try that. I’ve set both GlobalRefreshEnabled and GlobalRefreshOnLogon to True and when using the command Get-AppvPublishingServer on the client I’m testing with I can see this is pulled
through correctly. I’ve also added the client name to the AD group used to grant access to the package and it is published. However nothing is pulling through onto the Client, so are there any steps I’ve missed or misinterpreted when looking to set this up?
I guess the global publishing is there to keep in with licensing for Office being per device? On a slight aside, as Windows licensing is being changed to allow per user licensing
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-to-make-per-user-windows-licensing-available-to-enterprise-customers-7000035401/ does anyone know if there are any plans to allow for Office / Project / Visio licenses to go per user as well? We’re a volume license customer
rather than subscription based so I think a lot of the options to selectively deploy Visio and Project are excluded for us.
Dan,
Ok that explains why the security could be tripping out then and leading to this result. As above I’ll try with global publishing and see how I get on.
 From what I’ve read / watched  I think only one Office 2013 package can be published to a machine, so we would be unable to have a separate package for Visio and a separate package for Project and then attempt to deliver
them both together. If a user wanted both Project and Visio then I guess we’d need to have a combined Project and Visio package to cover than scenario, but then 2 more separate Project and Visio packages for those who would only want either Project and Visio
(I think).
The scenario we’re looking at is to see whether we are able to deliver Project and / or Visio to different users through an AppV package and this will then cover users on XenApp or on fat clients. Only a small proportion of our
users will need access to Project and / or Visio so therefore we’d only have a small amount of Project and Visio licenses.
However from what I’ve tested up to this point and from what I’ve picked up from Forum posts / watched on TechEd sessions is that as publishing is Global and is unable to use different security groups for different elements of the
suite, then using Office through AppV is only suitable if you will be delivering the whole suite (including Project and Visio) to all of your users. So in a scenario where you’d only want certain elements to be delivered to a handful of users then you’d need
to keep with traditional ESD methods to have this installed onto fat clients and steer clear of XenApp. If wanting to install to XenApp then a lockdown tool like AppSense or AppLocker would also need to be brought into the equation.
Is my understanding above correct or have I missed some options / methods?
If the full Office package is always delivered but a company only has Office licenses and no Project and Visio licenses for all its users, how do they stop Project and Visio being delivered and being available? Or again if you have
this use case is the AppV method one which will be unsuitable?
Thanks