DCA v1.3 Administration Guide for macOS with DCI-M€¦ · DCA V1.3 ADMINISTRATION GUIDE FOR MACOS...

DCA V1.3 ADMINISTRATION

GUIDE FOR MACOS WITH DCI-M [Document subtitle]

Droplet Computing

Application Delivery, Redefined

Administration Guide

Droplet Container App for macOS v1.3

DCI - M Container Image File

WWW.DROPLETCOMPUTING.COM

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Droplet Container App for macOS v1.3 & DCI-M

Document ref: DCA _DCIM_Admin_macOS_V1.3

© 2020, Droplet Computing Limited

In This Document:

Terminology ......................................................................................................................... 5

Memory requirements ........................................................................................................ 6

CPU requirements ............................................................................................................... 6

Disk and storage requirements.......................................................................................... 6

Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (HAXM) Support ............................. 7

Checking HAXM compatibility on macOS ......................................................... 7

Step 1: Installing Intel HAXM ............................................................................................. 10

Step 2: Installing the DCA on macOS ............................................................................. 14

Step 3: Droplet Container Image file (DCI-M) ............................................................... 16

Adding a license file ......................................................................................................... 17

Droplet menu..................................................................................................................... 19

Window menu ................................................................................................................... 19

View menu ......................................................................................................................... 19

Help menu ......................................................................................................................... 20

Container action buttons................................................................................................. 21

The Settings menu – user mode ...................................................................................... 22

General ................................................................................................................. 23

Files ........................................................................................................................ 23

The Settings menu – apps settings mode for administrators ........................................ 24

Fileshare ................................................................................................................ 25

Export apps.json ................................................................................................... 26

Password ............................................................................................................... 27

..................................................................................... 27

Configuring the container firewall ..................................................................... 28

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Administrator tools screen views ..................................................................................... 33

Adding a DCI-M image file to the DCA ......................................................................... 35

Configuring the container resources .............................................................................. 36

Changing the screen resolution ...................................................................................... 57

Running an app in full screen mode .............................................................................. 59

Minimizing and Maximizing an app ................................................................................ 62

Closing an app .................................................................................................................. 63

Mapping a network drive to the container ................................................................... 65

Creating a shared folder .................................................................................... 66

Creating the container network drive mapping ............................................. 72

Saving files and documents inside the container ......................................................... 85

Saving files and documents outside the container ...................................................... 86

Saving to a network drive ................................................................................... 86

Saving to the container/host private shared folder ........................................ 86

Removing the app tile from the Droplet workspace .................................................... 90

Building a Droplet Container Image............................................................................... 93

Apps.json file ...................................................................................................................... 94

Settings.json file.................................................................................................................. 94

User backups ..................................................................................................................... 95

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The DCA help menu ......................................................................................................... 96

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About this guide

This administration guide describes the installation process for the Droplet Computing Container

Application (DCA) for macOS devices, and includes the app configuration, and general use.

Droplet Computing containers enable organizations to run their Windows apps in a secure, isolated

container using a modern and supportable operating system. In turn, this enables organizations to

easily deploy a BYOD strategy for their end users, by enabling users that choose a macOS-based

device to be able to securely run their business-critical Windows apps.

This containerized approach also allows end users to run other native Windows apps on macOS.

For example, a user can now run the fully featured version of Microsoft Visio rather than the not so

feature-rich online only version.

Compared to the traditional VDI type desktop delivery mechanism the Droplet Computing solution

differs from in that there is no OS to manage. It is all about delivering application to end users. The

application containers are built centrally, and delivered out to your end users, but unlike VDI they

run locally on the device, and all regardless of whether the device is online or offline.

Terminology used in this guide

Throughout this guide, several terms and acronyms are used. These are listed below:

• DCA: Droplet Container App. The app that runs on the host machine

• DCI-M: Droplet Container Image for modern apps

• Intel HAXM: Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager

• EULA: End User License Agreement

• Apps.json: File that contains the workspace UI configuration

• Settings.json: File that contains the resource settings for the container app

What is new in this version?

This version of the Droplet Computing solution contains several new features along with bug fixes

and other updates.

• Persist the screen resolution when set from container UI • Automatically fix the updater on DCI-M images • New - file sync engine, enabling syncing of larger files, with much lower syncing delay

and lower memory usage • Remove the hard-coded image folder, images can now be stored anywhere • Disable UI elements that cannot be changed while container is running • Fix an issue with apps.json not exporting on some platforms • Disable file sync by default, profiles with existing settings.json are not affected • Remove unused ports • Fix several issues related to keyboard handling (fix ctrl, alt, shift, and Windows keys being

‘stuck’ when switching between container and other apps on the host) • Added a build date in the About menu

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• New - configurable firewall for administrators to enable them to open specific ports if

required. By default, all ports are blocked.

• Upgrade to the Droplet Container Engine with many bug fixes and security fixes,

including an issue with Intel HAXM on certain hardware platforms

Hardware Requirements

Droplet Computing containers run Windows apps, and these apps will require their own CPU and

memory resources, as well as free hard disk space. The amount of resource required is determined

by the app itself and you should follow the guidelines set out by the app provider.

Memory requirements

The DCA allows you to assign the amount of memory available to it, between 1 GB and 8 GB of

RAM. Given this guide uses a 32-bit container image then the maximum amount of memory

addressable is 4 GB. The amount of memory is dependent on what your applications need in

addition to what the underlying OS would be configured with. For example, a simple notepad-style

text editor will require as little as 1GB of RAM to run.

CPU requirements

You can also configure the amount of CPU resource available to the DCA in the same way, by

selecting the number of cores to use.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Note: Please ensure that you do not over provision the CPU cores and that the

underlying devices can deliver the required resources.

_____________________________________________________________________________

To guarantee the maximum performance of the CPU, the DCA supports hardware acceleration

using the embedded features of the Intel CPU, namely VT and NX.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Note: Droplet Computing recommend that you use a hardware platform or

device that supports Intel VT and NX.

_____________________________________________________________________________

The checking and configuration of Intel HAXM is covered in the software requirements section.

Disk and storage requirements

The required amount of hard disk space is dynamic and will start off at around 4GB to 6GB and will

grow depending on the number and size of the apps you add to the container image. The disk

space is thin provisioned.

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Software Requirements The DCA has been tested on the operating system versions that are listed in each installation

section, and cover the following:

• MacOS 10.10 (Yosemite) or later

The DCA will run on different versions of these operating systems too, however not all of them have

been tested.

Intel Hardware Accelerated Execution Manager (HAXM) Support

Depending on the CPU model in your Apple Mac hardware, the DCA can support Intel Hardware

Accelerated Execution Manager (Intel HAXM) using the Intel VT-x feature of the CPU.

Droplet Computing highly recommends installing Intel HAXM application to these device types

prior to installation to take full advantage of the performance gain on offer. The Intel-HAXM

download includes a small utility that validates if your CPU supports Intel VT-x.

The latest Intel HAXM drivers are available to download from the following URL:

https://github.com/intel/haxm/releases/tag/v7.6.1

Droplet Computing supports the Intel HAXM 7.6.1 release. Simply download the HAXM installer zip

file from the link above and extract the files as shown in the following screenshot:

The installation process will be covered in more detail during the container installation overview

later in this guide.

Checking HAXM compatibility on macOS

To check whether your macOS device actually supports Intel VT and NX, you can run the HAXM

checking utility that is included as part of the HAXM download. To do this on a Windows device,

follow the steps as described:

1. Open a terminal session to run the HAXM command.

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2. To do this open your Applications folder, then open Utilities and double-click on Terminal

3. With the Terminal session open, navigate to the haxm-macosx_v7_6_1 folder. In this

example, as the files are in the Downloads folder, type the following command to change

to that folder:

cd Downloads/haxm-macosx_v7_6_1

4. In the HXAM folder, at the command prompt, type the following command:

sudo ./silent_install.sh -c

5. You will now see whether the CPU in the Mac can run Intel HAXM by having the relevant VT

(virtualization technology) and NX (No-execute CPU memory segregation). You will see a

Yes or No displayed next to each of the VT or NX entries on the command output as shown

in the following screenshot:

_____________________________________________________________________________________

NOTE: Running the haxm_check command on macOS only checks the capability of your

CPU, it does not enable or disable support for running HAXM. This will need to be

enabled in the BIOS of the device. Refer to your device documentation for instructions

on how to do this.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

If your Mac doesn’t support Intel-VT, then the DCA can still run on that device and in this case the

Intel HAXM software should not be installed, and acceleration mode should be disabled in the

settings options in the DCA as shown in the following screenshot:

However, Droplet Computing does not recommend running the DCI-M container image without

having any form of hardware acceleration. Instead you should switch to the DCI-X container

image instead if your device does not support Intel HAXM.

In the next section we are going to examine the container architecture.

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Droplet Computing Container Architecture The Droplet Computing container solution is an app that allows you to run Windows apps, either

legacy or modern apps, across Windows 10, macOS, and Linux host devices. As a locally installed

app, the container can run either online or offline.

The solution consists of two parts, the Droplet Computing App (DCA), and the Droplet Container

Image (DCI) as shown in the following diagram:

The Droplet Computing container solution ships with different container images, each one being

highly secured and highly optimized for running either classic or legacy apps, as well as more

modern apps.

In this guide we are going to cover the DCA installation for the macOS platform. We will look at

how to configure it, and then how to administer the container images, using the DCI-M container

image file designed for running modern apps.

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Installing the software on macOS

The macOS Container is designed to run under MacOS 10.10 (Yosemite) or later, and is a simple

three step installation process:

• Step 1: Install Intel HAXM

• Step 2: Install the DCA (single installer for GUI)

• Step 3: Add a container image file (single file for operating system run times and apps)

Step 1: Installing Intel HAXM

The first step of the installation is to install the Intel HAXM software to enable the high-performance

features of the container.

_________________________________________________________________________________

REMINDER: Before you install the HAXM software, make sure that you have enabled Intel

VT in the BIOS of the end point device first.

_________________________________________________________________________________

You can download the software using the link from section 3 of this guide. To complete the

installation, follow the steps as described:

1. Navigate to the folder where you downloaded and unzipped the Intel HAXM software to as

shown in the example in the following screenshot:

2. Double click the IntelHAXM_7.6.1.dmg application installer file to start the installation

3. You will see the file open as shown in the following screenshot:

4. You will now see the IntelHAXM_7.5.2.mpkg file as shown in the following screenshot:

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5. Double click the IntelHAXM_7.6.21mpkg file

6. The installer will open, and you will see the Welcome to the Intel® Hardware Accelerated

Execution Manager Installer and the Introduction screen as shown in the following

screenshot:

7. Click the Continue button

8. The Destination Select option is skipped, and you will go straight to the Installation type

screen as shown in the following screenshot:

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9. If you want to change the location the software is installed to, click the Change Install

Location… button. To accept the default location, click the Install button

10. As you are installing new software, you will be prompted to enter your password to allow

the installation to continue as shown in the following screenshot:

11. In the User Name box type in the name of a user that can allow the installation of software,

and then in the Password box, type in the password for this user account

12. Once you have entered your username and password, click the Install Software button

13. The installation will now start, and you will see the progress bar indicating how long the

install process will take to complete as shown in the following screenshot:

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14. Once completed, you will now see The installation was completed successfully screen as

shown in the following screenshot:

15. To finish the installation, click the Close button

16. By clicking the Close button, you will be prompted as to whether you want to move the

installer to the trash or to keep it as shown in the following screenshot:

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17. If you want to keep the installer then click the Keep button, or if you want to delete the

installer then click the Move to Trash button

18. Once the installation has completed you can eject the IntelHAXM_7.6.1.dmg

You have now successfully installed the Intel HAXM software on the macOS. The next step is to

install the DCA.

Step 2: Installing the DCA on macOS

The installation steps described here are for a single device. In a corporate environment, you could

of course deliver this using standard deployment tool such as SCCM, the Container Distribution

Methodology section at the end of this guide will assist in this.

The macOS version of the DCA is delivered as a .DMG file and to install it, follow the steps as

described:

1. Copy the DCA installer to the Mac you want to install it on. If you downloaded it, you will

find it in the Downloads folder

2. If you downloaded the installer as a .zip file, then extract it to the local folder as shown in

the following screenshot:

3. Double-click the droplet_mac_1.2.3-77-g67d8bb3.dmg installer file.

4. The file will be mounted, and a window will open which will allow you to install the DCA as


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5. Drag the application (Droplet icon) into the Applications folder to install it. You may need

an administrator password to complete this task

6. The file will be copied as shown in the following screenshot:

7. You can now delete the .dmg installer file from the Downloads folder and you will see the

DCA available to launch in your Applications folder as shown in the following screenshot:

The next step is to configure the DCI container image file.

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Step 3: Droplet Container Image file (DCI-M)

The DCI-M file contains both the operating system runtime as well as your applications in a secure

store, which can be saved in any location on the file system of the host device. We recommend

that it is placed within the Droplet Computing infrastructure folders, as shown in the previous

section. The contents of the DCI-M file will be controlled and modified by someone in corporate IT,

who will then distribute the file to the local devices that already have the DCA installed and

running.

The file can be distributed using standard desktop delivery tools but, in this guide, we will describe

the process for deploying and configuring the DCI-M file for a single host by simply copying it into

the Downloads folder as shown in the following screenshot:

The container image file can be saved in any location that the end user has access to. If you have

multiple users on a single machine, then you will need to place each image into a unique location

for each user.

Adding the container image to the DCA is covered in Section 9: Configuring the Container App for

first launch.

In the next section we are going to launch the DCA for the first time.

Initial Configuration and first launch of the DCA

Once the installation of the DCA and the DCI-M are complete, you can now launch the container

app. To do this, open Finder and then click on Applications. Locate the Droplet Computing icon

and double click. Or, if you have configured it, you will find the icon on the Dock bar.

As this is the first time you have launched the container app you will need to perform the following

tasks:

• Add a valid license key

• Accept the End User License Agreement (EULA)

The license key will be provided by your reseller, this should not be copied or distributed as this will

invalidate your End User License Agreement.

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The EULA should be read and either agreed or rejected, if you reject the EULA you will not be able

to launch the container.

You will only need to perform these tasks once and any subsequent launches of the container app

will not need you to enter the license or accept the EULA again.

Adding a license file

On the first launch of the DCA you will be asked to enter a license key. This license key will have

been provided as a .lic file format. To add the license file, complete the following steps:

1. Launch the container app where you will now see the No valid license found dialog box as


2. Click the Yes button

3. A Finder window will open allowing you to browse to your license file. In this example the

license file can be found in the Downloads folder as shown in the following screenshot:

4. Select your license file and click the Open button to select it and install it

5. You will now see the Droplet Computing EULA agreement, please read this before

proceeding and select one of the following:

a. If you accept the EULA, the Droplet Container App will now be ready to launch

b. If you decline the EULA, the Droplet Container App will exit

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The EULA can be displayed anytime by clicking on the help menu.

6. The EULA will be displayed every time you launch the container app if it has not been

accepted. If you cannot accept please uninstall the DCA from your device.

Once you have selected a valid license file and accepted the EULA then the DCA will launch with

the option to Start Container as shown in the following:

With the app running, in the next section we are going to take a guided tour of the user interface

and workspace.

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Guided tour of the Container App user interface

In this section we are going to take a closer look at the DCA user interface.

Droplet menu

The Droplet menu is shown in the following screenshot:

Under the Droplet menu you just have the option to quit the container app.

Window menu

The Window menu is shown in the following screenshot:

Under the Window menu you have the option of either minimizing the container app or closing the

container app window.

View menu

The View menu provides several options to configure the appearance of the container app and is


You have the following options:

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• Toggle Full Screen: switches the screen into full screen mode, by removing the menu bars

and leaving the core container functions. Note that the apps running in the container may

not fit the entire screen. This depends on the host device resolution

• Reload: Reloads the container screen

• Actual Size: Resets the screen size to the default size

• Zoom In: Zooms in to the screen

• Zoom Out: Zooms out of the screen

Help menu

The Help menu provides several options to provide useful information and links to Droplet

Computing for additional help. The Help menu is shown in the following screenshot:

You have the following options:

• Search: Provide the usual macOS search function. Simply type in what you want to

search for in the box

• Droplet Website: Direct link to the Droplet Computing web site and the home page

• About: This gives you information about the version of the DCA you are running, the

platform type and version, and whether hardware acceleration is enabled as shown in


• View License Agreement: Displays the EULA screen. The EULA can also be found by

clicking on the following link:

https://www.dropletcomputing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/EULA_01062020.pdf

https://www.dropletcomputing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/EULA_01062020.pdf

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• View Online Documentation: Opens a browser window and takes you directly to the

product guide and documentation pages as shown in the following screenshot:

• Zip Log Files: Creates a .zip file containing the DCA log files and then opens a Finder

window highlighting the newly created file as shown in the following screenshot:

This .zip file can then be then emailed to the relevant support teams.

Container action buttons

As well as the menu options there are also three action buttons located on the top right-hand side

of the screen as shown in the following screenshot:

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• Power off: Performs a clean shutdown of the container image and DCA

• Admin Mode: Unlocks the administration interface for managing the container image. This

requires an admin password. The admin options are covered in the next section

• Settings: There are two settings menus depending on whether you are in user mode or

admin mode. These will be covered in the next section

The final action button is to start the container, launching it so that the applications are available

to the end user. You will see the orange START CONTAINER button in the middle of the screen as


Clicking the START CONTAINER button will boot the container image ready for use but, before we

do that, we are going to look at the Settings menu.

In the next section we will look at the configuration options available in the settings menu.

The Settings menu – user mode

There are two different Settings menus depending on whether you are using the container as an

end user or unlocked as an admin. The Settings menu for the end user is shown in the following

screenshot:

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The settings are grouped into two headings, General settings and Files.

General

The general settings section consists of the following configuration options:

• Screen Resolution: Allows you to adjust the container screen resolution (once the container

is running and an application is launched)

• Memory Size: Displays the amount of memory available to the container, and can be

adjusted from 1GB to 4GB, but only before the container is started, Once the container is

running, this option is grayed out and is unavailable

• CPU Cores: This allows the user to adjust the compute cores from 1 to 2 and therefore power

to be adjusted to suit the applications requirements, again once the container is running,

this option is grayed out and is unavailable

Files

The files settings section consists of the following configuration options:

• Share Folder: Displays the path to a shared folder within the container

• Image File: Displays the path to the active Droplet Container Image file

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The Settings menu – apps settings mode for administrators

To access the DCA administrator settings, you first need to unlock the container, and switch to

admin mode, follow the steps as described:

1. Click on the padlock icon from the icons displayed in the top right-hand corner of the

container screen as shown in the following screenshot:

2. You will now see the Enter Password box as shown in the following screenshot:

3. As this is the first time that you will have logged in as an administrator then you need to

enter the default container password of droplet$189, and then click the OK button

4. The password will now be validated as shown in the following screenshot:

5. Once the password has successfully been validated, the container will now be unlocked to

allow you to perform administrative tasks on the DCA. When the container is unlocked and

switched to admin mode the padlock icon will now show highlighted in orange as shown in


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When the container app is unlocked and in administration settings mode, you will see that an

administration section is shown within the settings menu as shown in the following screenshot:

The first of the app administration settings functions is for Fileshare.

Fileshare

By default, the ability to sync folders is disabled. With the container powered on, the end user can

open an explorer style window within the container that shows the c:\shared folder, if they open

the device file share, they will see the following:

/Users/<Current User>/Library/Application Support/Droplet

These folders are the folders that are synchronized between the host and the container and the

Fileshare feature is disabled by default.

With the container is powered on, then you will see either one of the following depending on the

Fileshare being disabled or enabled as shown in the following screenshot:

With the Fileshare option disabled (default setting), means that the end user can no longer view

the contents of the containers file system or open the folder on the host device. This in turn ensures

an extra level of security for the apps running inside the container.

The next app administration setting is for Export apps.json.

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Export apps.json

The apps.json file holds the configuration of the app settings that are displayed as tiles within the

Droplet Workspace interface. Information such as the path to the app, app description, and the

app icon that is displayed within the workspace.

This feature is designed to help when mass-deploying the container app throughout an enterprise

environment, by taking the current configuration and saving it as a json file that can then be easily

distributed.

The recommendation is to build a container image that contains all your apps and then restrict

access to end users by using the apps.json file to expose just those apps the end user is entitled to

use. If an app tile is not present within the workspace then the end user has no way of launching an

app even though it’s executable files are present within the container.

To do this you would install the apps and then design a workspace which just displayed the

relevant app tiles on the workspace. Once you had built each workspace, you would then export

an apps.json file for each workspace environment you built.

To do this follow the steps described:

1. Click the Export apps.json button and you will see the following screenshot:

2. Click on ACCEPT. You will see the Save dialog box as shown in the follow screenshot:

3. In the Save As box, type in a name for the file and then select which folder to save it in. In

this example this is the Downloads folder. Click the Save button

4. If you open a Finder window, then you will see the saved .json file as shown in the following

screenshot:

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5. You have now successfully exported an apps.json file that can be used to deploy multiple

container apps in your environment.

Each of these .json files can then be used to deploy the correct workspace to the end user and

entitle them to use the applications.

For example, if an end user was in the sales group, then they would receive the apps.json file for

sales that contains the details of the sales apps. Then, when they launch their container, only those

apps that have been configured for that configuration will be available for them to launch.

The final option is to change the password used for accessing the DCA administrator settings.

Password

If you click on the Password box, then you will be able to change the default administrator

password. We will cover how to change the admin password in section 11 of this document.

In addition to the DCA administrator settings to configure the app itself, there is another icon that

appears when the container is unlocked.

_________________________________________________________________________________

NOTE: These options can only be configured when the container is powered off.

_________________________________________________________________________________

This icon is for configuring the container firewall as shown in the following screenshot:

We will configure these in the following sections:

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Configuring the container firewall

The container has an additional level of security in that it has its own integrated and configurable

firewall for all outbound traffic.

An example use case for this feature would be for when a customer has a dependency on an

older version of Internet Explorer to run an older web-based application. The firewall can be

configured so that the container is locked down from being able to access the internet by

blocking port 80 and 443. This means that the browser can only be used for the app and not

used to access the Internet.

Incoming traffic is only permitted when the container initiates the external connection or

communication first.

To configure the firewall, first ensure that the container is powered off and then click on the

firewall icon. You will now see the Networks dialog box as shown in the following screenshot:

By default, you will see the Default Rule set to Allow. This means there are no ports blocked and

all traffic is allowed out of the container.

If you click the Default Rule switch, then the default rule will be switched to block all outbound

traffic as shown in the following screenshot:

You can configure the firewall feature to block or allow specific ports as exceptions to the

blanket on or off, allow or block configuration. For example, if you have the default rule set to

Block, which blocks all outbound traffic, you can then configure an independent rule that

allows a specific port to be unblocked, whilst all other ports remain blocked.

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Equally you can set the default rule to be set to Allow, which allows all outbound traffic, and

then configure a specific port to be blocked, whilst all other ports remain open.

To configure individual firewall port settings, click the + button to add a rule as shown in the

following screenshot:

You will see the following configuration screen:

You can now configure the firewall rule as follows:

1. In the Port box, type in the number of the port that you want to configure the rule for. In this

example we have configured port 80

2. In the IP address box, type in the IP address

3. Next, click in the Protocol droplet box and select the protocol from the list. In this example

we are configuring a UDP port

4. Finally, from the Rule drop down box, select either block or allow depending on how you

are configuring this firewall policy

Once you have completed the configuration, click the ✓ (Save) button. The settings are stored in

the settings.json file. To save the configuration as shown in the following screenshot:

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You will now see the following screenshot that shown the configuration you just created:

There are a couple of icons that are now shown to the left of the configuration. The first one of

these allows you to edit the configuration and is shown in the following screenshot:

If you click the Edit button, then you will be taken back into the configuration where you can make

any changes. Once you have made any changes, make sure you save them.

The other button is to Delete the configuration and is shown in the following screenshot:

To delete the configuration, click the trash can (Delete) button. You will see the warning box as


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To continue and delete the configuration, click on the ✓ icon. To leave the configuration intact,

and not delete it, then click the X.

_________________________________________________________________________________

NOTE: To configure the firewall settings, the container will need to be powered off.

When the container is powered on you will only be able to view the current

configuration, but you cannot edit it.

__________________________________________________________________________

There are also a couple of other points to highlight when it comes to networking and testing any

firewall rules you create:

• When using hostname, make sure you use the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), and

not the short name.

• ICMP is not supported and therefore the ping command will not work, and so cannot be

used to test communication between the container and the outside world. Instead we

recommend using nslookup or a simple \\ip-address command to test communications

The final point to be aware of is that if you try to make changes with the container powered on

and running, you will see the following message:

Next, we are going to look at the operational screen views.

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Operational Screen Views

The Droplet Computing container has two different screen views as listed below:

• Workspace view: Displays the icons/tiles of the available apps

• Container view: Displays the currently running app

These views are shown in the following screenshot:

An end user can switch between the different views by clicking on the Mode button (orange plus

button) as shown in the following screenshot:

Clicking on the Mode button will display a pop-up menu that allows the end user to switch

between views. Depending on which view mode they are currently in will determine the menu

option for them to switch to the other view as shown in the following screenshot:

33






An end user can also switch between the currently running apps when in the container view.

Currently running apps are shown in the orange app switcher bar at the bottom of the screen as


Administrator tools screen views

When the container is unlocked and running in administration mode the screen views will show

additional functionality options to enable administrative functions on the container image. You

can also add and edit existing app tiles displayed on the container workspace screen.

To unlock the container, and switch to admin mode, follow the steps as described:

1. Click on the padlock icon in the top right-hand corner of the container screen as shown in



3. As this is the first time that you will have logged in as an administrator then you need to

enter the default container password of droplet$189, and then click the OK button


34






5. Once the password has successfully been validated, the container will now be unlocked to

allow you to perform administrative tasks. When the container is unlocked and switched to

admin mode then the padlock icon will now show highlighted in orange as shown in the


Now that the container is unlocked and in admin mode, the core administrative functions can be

found on the container view by clicking on the spanner icon located on the bottom right hand

side of the switcher bar as shown in the following screenshot:

By clicking the spanner icon, you will see a pop-up menu appear displaying the administration

functions for the container image as listed below:

• Explorer: Opens a Windows Explorer window inside the container

• Control Panel: Opens the container control panel

• Task Manager: Opens a Task Manager inside the container

• Command Prompt: Opens a command prompt window inside the container

To switch admin mode off and return to user mode simply click the padlock icon again. It will

switch back to a blue icon and the spanner icon will no longer be available.

35






Configuring the Container App for first launch

Now that we have installed DCA and given you a guided tour of the user interface for both end

users and administrators, the next task is to add the DCI-M image file.

Adding a DCI-M image file to the DCA

To add a DCI-M to the DCA, follow the steps described below:

1. Launch the DCA. Do not start the container yet, just launch the app

2. From the Settings menu (click the cog icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen) scroll

down and click on Image File option as shown in the following screenshot:

3. You now see a Finder window open allowing you to navigate to the image file. Select the

DCI-M file as shown in the following screenshot:

36






4. Click the Open button to add the container image to the container app. You can choose

different images by powering off the container and selecting the image you want to use.

You will see that the image file has now been added as shown in the following screenshot:

Next, we are going to configure the container resources for CPU, memory, keyboard, and

hardware acceleration.

Configuring the container resources

In this section we are going to configure the resources that are available to the container.

With the container image now added, you can configure the resources you want to allocate to it,

starting with the Memory Size.

1. In the Memory Size configuration box, you can configure the amount of memory that is

available to the container as shown in the following screenshot:

To configure the memory, move the slider to highlight the amount of memory you want to

configure. There are several factors to consider when configuring the memory:

• Only allocate the amount of memory required. Do not over allocate

• If your host device only has 4GB of memory, then do not allocate all the available

memory to the container as it may have a performance impact on your host device

OS

• Memory can only be configured when the container is powered off

2. The next resource to configure is the number of CPU Cores available to the container as


To configure the CPU cores, move the slider to highlight the number of cores you want to

configure. There are several factors to consider when configuring the memory:

37






• Only allocate the number of cores required. Do not over allocate

• The maximum number of CPU cores supported with the DCI-M is quad-core

• CPU cores can only be configured when the container is powered off

3. Finally, you have the option to enable Hardware Acceleration by clicking the on and off

toggle switch as shown in the following screenshot:

Hardware acceleration is only available when the Intel HAXM drivers have been installed on

the host device as described in the section 6; step1: installing Intel HAXM of this document.

You have now successfully configured the resources. Before you start the container, now is the time

to also configure the firewall settings as described in section 8 - Additional administrator options.

You will also have seen the configuration for Screen Resolution at the top of the list of configuration

options. You will also have noticed that it is greyed out. The screen resolution configuration is for the

apps running inside the container and so can only be configured and changed when an app is

running.

Screen resolution will be covered in section 16: Launching and using applications; changing the

screen resolution.

You have now successfully configured the container and it is ready to launch for the first time.

Launching the Container App for the first time

With the configuration complete, you are now ready to start the DCA for the first time. To do this

follow the steps described:

1. Click the orange START CONTAINER button

2. You will see the container start to load, displaying each step of the process as it runs as

shown in the following screenshots:

38






Step 1: Activating the container:

Step 2: Initializing the container interface:

39






Step 3: Initializing the container:

Step 4: Starting the container run times and services:

40






Step 5: Connecting to the container service:

Step 6: Loading the container elements:

41






Step 7: Preparing to display the Droplet workspace with the app icons and tiles:

Step 8: The container will now have loaded and be ready for the end user or admin to start

using it as shown in the following screenshot:

42






By default, the Windows Notepad app has already been added as a tile on the Droplet workspace

and can already be launched by an end user.

The container is now ready to use, but before we start to install applications, there is one task left to

complete as part of the first-time launch, and that is to change the default admin password that is

used to unlock the container and allow apps to be installed.

To do this, follow the steps as described:

1. Click on the padlock icon in the top right-hand corner of the container screen as shown in



3. Type in the default container password of droplet$189, and then click the OK button


5. Once the password has successfully been validated then the container will now be

unlocked to allow you change the password

6. To change the password, click on the cog icon in the top left-hand corner of the screen,

and then from the Settings menu, scroll to the bottom to the Administration section and

then click on the Password option as shown in the following screenshot:

43






7. You will now see the CHANGE PASSWORD box as shown in the following screenshot:

8. In the Existing Password box, type in the current admin password. If you haven’t already

changed it then this will be the default password of droplet$189. Then type the in a new

password in the New Password box and then type it in again in the Confirm Password

box.

The password must conform to the following:

• Must be at least 8 characters long

• Must contain at least 1 letter

• Must contain at least 1 number

9. Now click the OK button to change the admin password. You will see the following

screenshot as the password is changed:

You have now successfully changed the container admin password.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

IMPORTANT NOTE: In this version of the DCA the admin password cannot be recovered so

ensure that you make a note of the password and keep it safe.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

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Installing an application into the DCI-M container image

Now that you have a running container the next task is to install your applications for your end users

to consume.

It’s important to note that installing an app into the container does not require any form of

sequencing, virtualizing, layering, or any other form of capturing. It is simply a case of performing a

normal install by running the apps installer. There are two ways of installing apps into the container

as listed below:

• Copy the install media into the Container File Share

• Run the app installer directly from mapped/shared network drive or folder

You could also install an app from the Internet by enabling web access to the container. However,

before doing this ensure that the host device is properly protected from malicious files and

downloads.

In this guide we are going to install an app by copying its installer to the Container File Share by

following the steps below:

1. From a running container, click on the padlock icon in the top right-hand corner of the



3. Type in the admin password, and then click the OK button


45






5. Once the password has successfully been validated the container will be unlocked

allowing you to install your apps

6. Now click the orange mode button in the bottom left-hand side of the screen and select

the option for Open Container File Share as shown in the following screenshot:

7. You will now see a Windows Explorer window open inside the container showing the

contents of the containers shared folder as shown in the following screenshot:

8. The container file share shares a folder on the host device that are synchronized between

them meaning any files placed in one folder will automatically appear on the other. The

share is configured using a secure network between the two folders and is not exposed on

an external network and so remains secure

46






9. Now open a file share on the host device by clicking the orange mode button in the

bottom left-hand side of the screen and select the option for Open Device File Share as


10. You will now see a Finder window open on your host device showing the contents of the

containers shared folder as shown in the following screenshot:

The shared folder on macOS is:

/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Droplet/Shared

11. You can now copy files, in this case your app installers, into the folder on the host device,

which in turn will automatically sync with the folder inside the container as shown in the

example screenshot:

47






12. In this example we have copied the installer files for Notepad++

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Note: There is no limit to the size of the file you can synchronize between the container

folder and the host folder, however, as with any file copy process the larger the file the

longer it will take to copy. For example, a 5GB file will take around 1 minute to synchronize

and the container checks for new files every 5 seconds. Always remember to delete the

installers afterwards as this feature is designed for offline file delivery.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

13. Now, from the container, switch back to the Container File Share screen and double click

the installer for the app you want to install. In this example we are going to install

Notepad++

14. The installer for Notepad++ will now launch, where it is just a case of working through the

installation steps as if you were installing the app natively on an end point device and

operating system. This is shown in the following screenshot:

48






With the app installer completed, finalize the installation and make any configuration changes that

you need to. The container is fully stateful so any changes you make to the configuration of the

app will persist when the container image is delivered to the end users.

You have now successfully installed an app into the DCI container image file. The next step is to

create an app tile or icon in the Droplet Workspace allowing an end user to access and launch the

app.

Creating an app tile in the Droplet Workspace

Even though in the previous section you installed an app into the DCI image file, it is not

automatically added to an end user’s workspace as a tile or icon from where they can launch the

app. So, at this stage the end users cannot launch an app until you create a tile within the

workspace.

To create the tile in the workspace, follow the steps described below:




49









unlocked allowing you create a new app tile. You will now see a new ‘blank’ tile with a plus

(+) button in it as shown in the following screenshot:

6. Click the plus (+) button on the blank tile. You will now see the ADD NEW APP

configuration dialog box appear as shown in the following screenshot:

50






The first section to complete is to Enter Details

7. In the Name box, type in a name for the app. In this example we have called it

Notepad++ as that’s the app you are installing, however you can call the app whatever

name is appropriate for your environment and end users

8. Next, in the Path box, type in the path to the app. In this example the installation of

Notepad++can be found in C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe

9. Finally, you can optionally add a description for the app to help users identify it

10. Once configured, click the NEXT button to continue. You will now see the Select Icon

section as shown in the following screenshot:

11. On this screen you can optionally choose to add a custom icon for your app. If you

choose not to add an icon, then click the SKIP button and it will be left blank displaying

just the beginning letter of the app name

12. To add an icon, click on DROP/SELECT ICON. You will now see a finder window open:

51






In this example we have already created several icons.

13. Navigate to the location of where you have stored your icon files. In this example we

have created several icons, saved as .jpg files as shown in the screenshot. Click to select

an icon and then click on the Open button. In this example we have saved the logo for

Notepad++ as the icon

14. You will now return to the Select Icon screen which will now display your chosen icon as


15. If you want to change or delete the icon, click on the CLEAR button

16. Once you have configured the icon click the NEXT button to continue the configuration

17. You will now see the Preview and Save screen as shown in the following screenshot:

52






This screen is essentially a summary of the tile configuration you are about to add the

user’s workspace and shows what it will look like once added

18. Click the FINISH button to complete the tile configuration

You have now successfully added a new tile for the newly installed application that will

appear in the user workspace as shown in the following screenshot:

At this stage it is worth testing that the app launches and runs as expected. You can still launch

the app while in admin mode.

When building a Droplet Container Image, you can install more than one app. The size of the

container can grow to a maximum size of 20GB. This means that you could include several

installed apps within your container image but not create tiles on the workspace for them,

effectively making them invisible to the end user and so that they cannot launch them.

If an end user then requires one of these apps, all you would need to do is update the apps.json

configuration file to add these new apps to their workspace.

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Editing an existing app tile on the Droplet Workspace

To edit an existing tile in the workspace, follow the steps described below:







unlocked allowing you to edit an existing app tile

6. To edit the app tile, click the EDIT button as shown in the following screenshot:

7. You will now see the EDIT APP screen as shown in the following screenshot:

54






8. From here you can work through and edit the details of the app name, app path, and the

description. This is essentially the same as working through the same process as you would

to create a new app tile

9. Click the NEXT button to continue to the icon screen, and then click NEXT again to continue

to the Preview and Save screen

10. Finally click the FINISH button to save your changes and return the workspace screen

You have now successfully edited an existing app tile.

Removing an existing app tile from the Droplet Workspace

To remove an existing tile in the workspace, follow the steps described below:




55








5. Once the password has successfully been validated the container will be unlocked

allowing you to remove an existing app tile

6. To remove the app tile, click the REMOVE button as shown in the following screenshot:

7. On clicking the REMOVE button, you will see the CONFIRMATION screen as shown in the


8. If you are happy to remove the app tile, click on the CONFIRM button

56






9. The app tile is now removed from the workspace and no longer available for an end user to

launch

_________________________________________________________________________________________

NOTE: Removing an app tile does not uninstall or remove the app from the image. To do this

you will need to log in as an admin and either run the app’s own uninstaller or remove it using

the Windows Add/Remove Program feature.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Launching and using application

To launch an app, an end user simply clicks on LAUNCH on the tile for the app that they want to

launch as shown in the following screenshot:

When an app launches, the focus will automatically switch from the workspace and the apps view

to the container view where you will now see the app running.

You will also see that the app will appear in the orange switcher bar at the bottom of the screen as


By default, the app that you launch will run in the container window as shown in the following

screenshot:

57






Using the different menu options, you can change the way the container view is displayed.

Changing the screen resolution

The container view window allows you to change the screen resolution of the app that is currently

running.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Note: You can only change the screen resolution when you have an app running inside the

container.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

To change the screen resolution of the running app, follow the steps described:

1. Click on the cog icon in the top right-hand corner of the container screen and then select

the option for SCREEN RESOLUTION as shown in the following screenshot:

2. The current screen resolution is shown on the screen resolution button. You will see the

screen resolution options as shown in the following screenshot:

58






3. Click the radio button for the resolution you want to use for the app and then click the OK

button

4. The example below shows two different screen resolutions:

59






___________________________________________________________________________________

Note: You can only change the screen resolution when you have an app running inside

the container.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Running an app in full screen mode

There are two elements to full screen mode. The first is to run the app or container view in full screen

mode. To do perform the following:

1. From the container view, click the orange Mode button in the bottom left-hand side of the

screen as shown in the following screenshot:

2. You will now see the app switch to full screen mode as shown in the following:

60






When you switch to full screen, the container view window opens as a new pop-out window. If you

are running a dual-screen setup, the full container view will open on the other monitor. To switch

back from full screen mode, and to return to the normal container view display mode, there are

several ways to do this.

1. First, simply move the mouse towards the top of the screen until you see the View menu as


2. Click the Toggle Full Screen option from the menu

3. The second way is to use the containers own exit button. This is a hidden window that you

will find by switching from the pop-out full screen container view back to the original

container view as shown in the following screenshot:

4. To exit full screen mode, click the orange EXIT FULLSCREEN MODE button. If you are running

a dual-screen setup this option remains visible on the other monitor while running the apps

in full screen on the other

5. The new pop-out window full-screen view will close, and the view will change to the original

container view with the app still running, as shown in the following screenshot:

61






6. The next option, as we have just seen when closing full screen mode, is the option available

in the menu for Toggle Full Screen. As the container is running in a browser window then

switching to this mode will not only switch to full screen if it’s not already enabled, but will

also remove the top menu bar, removing the Windows minimize, maximize, and close

buttons, leaving just the container action buttons

7. To enable full screen mode, from the menu bar click on View and then click the option for

Toggle Full Screen as shown in the following screenshot:

.

8. By enabling full screen, you will see that you only have access to the container action

buttons as shown in the following screenshot:

9. To switch full screen mode off click on the View menu, and again click the option for Toggle

Full Screen

62






10. The final option is via keystrokes, by pressing the following key sequence:

You can choose any method, and combination of methods to switch between full screen and

normal view.

Minimizing and Maximizing an app

While running your app inside the container, you can minimize and maximize the app window to

make it easier to switch between apps when you run running multiple apps in the container. This

function uses the standard Windows-style buttons as shown in the following screenshot:

If you minimize the app then you will see the following screenshot:

You can also resize the app windows within the container as shown in the following screenshot:

63






Closing an app

There are a few of different ways to close an app. Both are the same as you would close an

app in any Windows environment.

The first way is from the app menu on the app you are running in the container, click the File menu

and then click Exit (or similar) as shown in the following example screenshot:

You could also press ALT + F4 on your keyboard.

The final method is to just click on red X button in the top right-hand corner of the app window

as shown in the following screenshot:

In the next section we are going to look at how you can share smaller app installation files

between the container and the host device.

64






File Sharing between the container and the device

By default, the file sharing and synchronization feature is disabled, and will need to be enabled in

the DCA administrator configuration settings in the Settings menu – apps settings mode for

administrators and Fileshare section.

To allow file sharing, a secure file share between the container and the host device is created

when you install the DCA. This allows bi-directional file transfers between the container and host.

You can save or copy files into either of the respective folders. These can then be accessed by

clicking on the Mode button. This, depending on your configuration, will allow you to select the

option for Open Device Fileshare or Open Container Fileshare as previously covered.

The following diagram illustrates the synchronization between the folder on the host device and the

folder on the container:

Files are then synchronized between the host device and container, allowing files to be made

available both offline and when the container is not running. An actual copy of the file is stored in

both locations rather than setting up links from one to the other.

There are a couple of important points to note about file sharing:

• There is no limit on the file size

• Synchronization occurs every 5 seconds so files may not appear immediately

65






• You can connect the host device to a cloud storage solution to allow container documents

to be automatically uploaded

• The file sync is disabled by default

Configuring container networking

The container is connected to the network securely and routed through the host device’s

network connection.

It also has a built-in DNS server that is configured through a built-in DHCP server that goes

through the host device’s DNS config. To verify this network connection is setup, check that the

guest uses the DNS server which has the IP address 10.0.2.3.

The way in which the container manages network connections means that it requires certain

legacy protocols and services to be enabled on networked devices in order to successfully

connect and communicate over the network.

The following devices have been tested to connect to the Droplet Container over a network:

• Windows 10 device



• NAS (Network Attached Storage)

• File server

For networking to function correctly you need to enable the common service and protocol for the

following. This can be enabled by the system administrator:

• CIFS/SMB1

• Simple local account on the device

You can set up a network share from the container to any device on the local area network. By

default, network services are enabled on the container and it’s bound to a workgroup called

Workgroup.

Devices that need to connect to the container need to have the legacy SMB1.0/CIFS service

enabled. In this example we are going to use a shared folder on a file server that we will map the

container to as a network drive. To do this follow the steps as described below:

Mapping a network drive to the container

The final task is to map a network drive to the container. In this example we are using a shared

folder on a file server that is running the container app. This shared folder will then be mapped to

the container.

66






Creating a shared folder

First you need to create the shared folder on the file server or NAS device following the steps

described. If you are using an alternative storage platform then follow the instructions for creating

the folder relevant to your storage platform:

1. Open an explorer window on the host device and create a new folder. In this example the

new folder is called Droplet Network Folder as shown in the following screenshot:

2. Now right-click on the newly created folder and select the option for Properties

3. You will now see the Droplet Network Folder Properties dialog box as shown in the following

screenshot:

67






4. Click the Security tab. You will now see the following screenshot:

5. Click on the Edit… button

6. You will now see the Permissions for Droplet Network Folder dialog box as shown in the


68






7. Click on the Add… button

8. You will now see the Select Users or Groups dialog box as shown in the following screenshot:

9. In the Enter the object name to select, type in the username to enable connection to the

shared folder. In this example the username is droplet local

10. Click the Check Names button

11. Once verified the username will appear in the box as shown in the above screenshot.

You will see that the user is local as it is prefixed by the name of the local host machine

12. Click the OK button to continue

69






13. You will return to the Permissions for Droplet Network Folder dialog box as shown in the


14. In the Permissions for droplet local box, check the boxes for Read & execute, Read, and

Write and click the Apply button, and then click OK. You can now close all dialog boxes

15. The final step is to share the folder by completing the following steps:

16. As you did in step #1, click to select the Droplet Network Folder, right click, and from the

contextual menu, click on Properties. From the Droplet Network Folder Properties box, click

the Sharing tab as shown in the following screenshot:

70






17. Now click on the Share… button

18. You will now see the Choose people to share with dialog box as shown in the following:

19. In the box, type in the name of the user you created previously and then click the Add

button. You will now see the following:

71






20. The droplet local user will now be added

21. In the Permission Level column, click on the down arrow next to the droplet local account

and from the options shown, click on Read/Write

22. Now click the Share button

23. You will see the folder has successfully been shared as shown in the following:

72






24. Click on the Done button. You will return to the Droplet Network Folder Properties

25. Click the Close button to complete to configuration

You have now successfully created a shared folder and given the local user account you created

access to the folder. Next, we are going to map the drive inside the container.

Creating the container network drive mapping

Before we create the drive mapping inside the container, we need to make sure we have the

following information from the server that will be required to map the drive. In this example we

have given example information for the three pieces of information required:

• IP address of the file server hosting the shared folder = 192.168.1.124

• Name of the share on the device = Droplet Network Folder

• The username and password = droplet local/password1

To set up the network share inside the container follow the steps as described:




73









unlocked allowing you to create the mapped network drive

6. Click on the Mode button and select the option for Show Container as shown in the


7. Now from the bottom right-hand side of the screen, click the spanner icon and select the

option for Explorer as shown in the following screenshot:

74






8. You will see the My Computer window open as shown in the following screenshot:

9. Click the menu option for Tools, and then click on Map Network Drive…

10. You will now see the Map Network Drive dialog box as shown in the following screenshot:

75






11. In the Drive box from the drop-down menu select a drive letter for this mapped drive to use.

In the example we have chosen the G: drive as the network drive

12. In the Folder box, type in the address of the shared folder in the following format:

\\< IP address of host machine > \ < shared folder name >

13. In this example you would type \\192.168.1.124\Droplet Network Folder

14. If you want the drive to be mapped each time the container starts up, then check the

Reconnect at login box

15. Now click the Finish button

16. You will see the Map Network Drive dialog box pop up showing that the container is

attempting to map the drive:

76






17. As the container attempts to connect to the shared folder you will be prompted to enter a

username and password to connect with. In this example we are going to use the Droplet

Local account that we created on the host machine as shown in the following:

18. Type in the User name and Password and then click the OK button

19. One the drive is mapped you should restart the container. To do, this click on the power

button in the top right-hand corner as shown below:

20. You will see the Confirmation dialog box

21. Click on Yes to shut down the container

22. Once shutdown, start the container again. Once the container is running, unlock admin

mode by clicking the padlock icon and typing in the password. Then click the mode button

in the bottom left-hand corner and click on Show Container.

23. Now click the spanner icon and click on Explorer. You will see the following screenshot:

77






24. You will see listed the Droplet Network Folder on ‘192.168.1.124’ (G:)

You have successfully mapped a network drive to the container.

Printing from the container

The Droplet Computing container supports network printing.

With the DCI-M container image you will need to ensure that your printer has the relevant drivers

available to install into the container. In this instance these would be drivers that would run with

Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or newer.

To set up the network printing inside the container follow the steps as described:




78









unlocked allowing you to setup a network printer.




option for Control Panel as shown in the following screenshot:

79






8. You will now see the Control Panel as shown in the following screenshot:

9. Click on the icon for Hardware and Sound

10. You will see the Hardware and Sound configuration option as shown in the following

screenshot:

80






11. Under Devices and Printers at the top, click on the option for Add a printer. You will see the

Add Printer screen as shown in the following screenshot:

12. Click on Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer

13. You will see the Add Printer screen as shown in the following screenshot:

81






14. Click on The printer that I want isn’t listed

15. You will see the Find a printer by name or TCP/IP address as shown in the following

screenshot:

16. Click the radio button for Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname, and then click

the Next button to continue

82






17. You will see the Type a printer hostname or IP address dialog box as shown in the following

screenshot:

18. In the Device type box, click on the drop-down arrow and from the list select the type of

device you are connecting to. You have the option of Autodetect, TCP/IP Device, or Web

Services Devices. In this example we are going to connect directly to the printer using its IP

address

19. In the Hostname or IP address, type in the IP address of the device. In this example the

address of the printer

20. The Port name is automatically entered as you type in the IP address

21. Finally, check the box for Query the printer and automatically select the driver to use

22. Once configured, click the Next button to continue. You will see the progress bar as shown

in the following screenshot as the container communicates with the printer:

23. Once a connection has been established with the printer, you will see the Install the printer

driver dialog box as shown in the following screenshot:

83






24. Select your printer from the list or click the Have Disk… button to install the drivers from

another location. If you select this option ensure that the driver disk is accessible from the

container either locally in the shared folder, or via a mapped network drive

25. Then click Next to continue. You will see the Type a printer name dialog box as shown in the


26. Type in a name for the printer and then click the Next button to continue. You will see the

printer installation start as shown in the following screenshot:

27. Once installed, you will see the Printer Sharing dialog box as shown in the following:

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28. Click the radio button for Do not share this printer and click the Next button to continue

29. You will see the dialog box shown below stating that the printer has successfully been

installed:

30. Click the Finish button to complete the printer install. You will see the printer has been

added to the Devices and Printers as shown in the following screenshot:

You have successfully added a printer to the container.

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Saving files and documents

When working inside the container, there are two different ways in which you can save documents

and files.

The first way is to save outside the container by using either a mapped network drive directly from

the container to a file server, or by saving to the C:\Shared folder inside the container. This folder is

configured as a private share between the container and the host on which the container is

running.

Secondly, as the container is fully stateful, you can also save to the container’s own internal file

system and folder structure.

Saving files and documents inside the container

To save files and documents inside the container it’s a simple case of using the save function of the

application you are running. For example, if you were running Notepad you would click on the

Save button. This would save in the My Documents folder inside the container as shown in the


Enter a file name and then click the Save button.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Note: The My Documents folder is only available from inside the container, and only when

the container is running. If the container is powered off, then you will not be able to access

any files that are saved inside it externally. As the container is fully stateful, any files saved

inside it will persist and will again be available when the container is running.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

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Saving files and documents outside the container

When saving externally from the container you have two options. You can save to a mapped

network drive or shared folder, or you can save to the privately shared folder between the

container and your host device.

Saving to a network drive

To save files and documents to a mapped network drive it’s a simple case of using the save as

function of the application you are running. For example, if you were running Notepad you would

click on the Save As… button. This would open the Save As dialog box. Click on the My Computer

icon and then select the shared network folder as shown in the following screenshot:

Enter a file name and then click the Save button.

Saving to the container/host private shared folder

As with one of the ways to install applications into the container image file, the container shares a

secure, private folder with the host device. This shared folder can be used to save documents that

means they exist on both the container and on the host device as these folders are sync’d.

This allows you to have access to files and documents when the container is powered off, but also

to then sync that folder with some form of cloud storage platform to allow document collaboration

with other end users in your organization.

To save files and documents to the secure share it’s a simple case of using the save as function of

the application you are running. For example, if you were running Notepad you would:

1. Click on the Save As… button

2. This opens the Save As dialog box

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3. Now click on the My Computer icon and then double-click on Local Disk (C:). Then double

click the Shared folder as shown in the following screenshot:

4. Save the document in the Shared folder. This will then be shared with the local host

5. To access the file on the local host, click on the mode button, and then select the option

for Open Device File Share

6. You will see that the two folders (host and container) are both now synchronized

Once the documents and files are present on the host, you can power off the container and still

have access to the folder, as well as be able to sync from the host device to a cloud storage

platform.

You will also see that the path on the host device to the shared folder is as follows:

/Library/Application Support/Droplet/Shared

This allows for multiple users to use the container and have their data stored in their own user

profile. It is also often the default path for UEM solutions to look for user data.

Uninstalling an app from the container image file

To uninstall an application from the container, you would follow the process you would normally to

remove the application by either running its own uninstaller app or from the Windows Add Remove

Programs option.

To uninstall an app from the container, follow the steps as described:

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unlocked allowing you to have access to the container image file




option for Control Panel as shown in the following screenshot:

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8. You will see the Control Panel as shown in the following screenshot:

9. Under the Programs section, click on Uninstall a program. You will see the Uninstall or

change a program screen as shown in the following screenshot:

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10. Click and highlight the app you want to uninstall, and then click the Uninstall button as

highlighted in the above screenshot

11. In this example, we are going remove Notepad++ so click to highlight Notepad++ and then

click on the Uninstall button

12. Follow the steps to uninstall the application and then close the Uninstall or change a

program screen, and then close the Control Panel

13. If, as part of the uninstall process, the app needs to restart, then do not restart using this

option. Instead, shutdown the container and then restart it to complete the uninstall

process

Removing the app tile from the Droplet workspace

Now that the application has been uninstalled, the final task is to remove the application tile from

the workspace. You could, of course, have just removed the application tile and left the

application itself still installed in the container image file. After all, the end user won’t be able to

access the application. That would make it easier to re-add the application should you need to in

the future.

To remove the application tile from the workspace, follow the steps as described:

1. With the container still unlocked and in admin mode, click on the orange mode button in

the button left hand corner of the screen and select Show Apps as shown in the following

screenshot:

2. You will now return to the workspace screen showing the apps that are available to launch.

As you are in admin mode you will also have the EDIT and REMOVE options available as


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3. To remove the application tile, click on the REMOVE button

4. You will now see the CONFIRMATION box pop up as shown in the following screenshot:

5. Click on CONFIRM to remove the application tile from the workspace. You will see that the

application tile has now been removed as shown in the following screenshot:

You have successfully removed an application from the container image.

Shutting down the container

There are two ways to shut down the container. You can either close the windows by clicking on

the X in the top right-hand corner of the DCA window, or you can click on the power button inside

the application.

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Clicking on either of these will show you the Confirmation box as shown in the following screenshot:

To continue shutting down the container then click the Yes button.

If you still have an application open and have unsaved data in that application, then before the

container shuts down you will see the Unsaved Changes Detected dialog box as shown in the


If you want to go back and save your data and exit the running applications, click on the Cancel

button. If you want to continue the shutdown process without going back and saving your data,

click the →Shutdown button.

The container will shutdown as shown in the following screenshot:

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Container Distribution Methodology

The Droplet Computing solution is a simple application with three major components:

• The DCA

• The DCI

• The container settings and configuration files

The DCA and the DCI have been covered in depth already in this document, so this section is

going to concentrate on the configuration files and the process for distributing the DCA and the

DCI to your end users.

Building a Droplet Container Image

The core component that needs to be built and configured is the DCI file for your chosen

compatibility level. This, as you have seen in this guide, is where you install all your end users’

applications.

The container image itself is a single file with the base image shipping ready for you to install your

applications straight into it. The maximum size of the image file is 20GB, and is delivered thin

provisioned, growing as you install apps into it. An example of the Droplet container image is shown

in the following screenshot:

Once built, the container image file can be deployed to end users either manually or using

standard deployment tools such as SCCM, Intune, or AirWatch.

In addition to the container image file, there are two configuration files that are also created. One

contains the settings that define the containers configuration, which is created during the

installation and configuration of the container app, and the second one defines the applications

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and tiles that are displayed in the workspace, and is created as you add the application tiles to the

workspace.

These two files are described in more detail in the following:

Apps.json file

The apps.json file is created and configured when you add and remove app tiles within the

workspace. It contains all the details of the applications that are available to the end users with

details of the path to the files, the executable to launch, and the icon settings for the apps installed

in the container image file.

The apps.json file can be found in the following folders/directories:

/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Droplet

The apps.json file can be copied and deployed to an end user’s device allowing them to access

the applications that are configured within it if they are installed in the container image file.

Different configuration files can be used to expose different apps.

As an example, admins can create one container image file that has all the apps already installed

in it. This can then be deployed to your end points as is, and without the need to change or update

it, other than for standard app updates. The apps.json file then dictates which apps the end user

has access to with the different apps.json files being delivered to the end user based on Active

Directory group membership in a Windows environment.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Note: Do not edit the apps.json file manually as this could corrupt the configuration

information within the file. The apps.json file is created automatically as you add and

remove application tiles from the workspace.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Settings.json file

The settings.json file contains all the settings that are displayed on the menu within the container

app. These are the settings available under the cog icons, and cover the following configuration

options:

• Screen Resolution

• Keyboard

• Memory

• CPU cores

• Image file location

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As with the previous configuration file, the settings.json file can be copied and deployed to an end

user’s device to change the configuration of the container and the amount of host resource that

are allocated to the container.

As an example, admins can create different settings based on the requirements of the apps within

the container as well as those available on the host device. The different settings.json files could

then be delivered to the end user based on Active Directory group membership in a Windows

environment.

Backing up the Droplet solution

When it comes to backing up the Droplet solution, the important files to backup are the ones we

discussed in the previous section:

• DCI-M container image file

• Apps.json file

• Settings.json file

It is important to ensure that you have a backup copy of your Droplet Container Image files as this

file contains all the apps you installed into it and would take time to reproduce it. As it’s a single file

it is easy to back this file up using standard backup tools.

The same applies to the two .json files, especially if you have built a catalog of files.

It’s not necessary to backup the Droplet Container App as it’s a quick install and if you have the

image file and configuration files then it is easy to get back up and running.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Note: Do not edit the settings.json file manually as this could corrupt the configuration

information within the file. The settings.json file is created automatically as you configure

the container resources.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

User backups

As a container is fully stateful, an end user may also want to back up their image file, especially if

they save files and documents into the container. Although best practise would state that they

shouldn’t do that, but it depends on your environment and policies.

They can do that by simply synchronizing the files (image and .json) with a cloud storage platform

such as OneDrive or Dropbox. This also allows them to have an element of high availability as the

container image is now accessible from anywhere so can be downloaded and used on any of the

supported platforms.

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Upgrading the Droplet Container App

The Droplet Container App continues to evolve adding new features, and that means you may

want, or need, to upgrade your current version to a new version to take advantage of these new

enhanced features.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Note: Before you start any upgrade tasks, ensure you have backed up the container

image file, the apps.json file, and the settings.json file.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

To upgrade to a new version, you first need to uninstall the current version of the DCA. To do this

simply drag the Droplet Computing icon into the trash. You will be prompted as to whether you

want to delete the configuration files. If you choose to keep the configuration files, then this will

preserve the apps.json and the settings.json file, along with the container image. This means that

your app tiles in the Droplet workspace will still be available in the new version of the app.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

NOTE: If you choose to delete the configuration files then this cannot be undone, and

the configuration will be lost.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Alternatively, you could use a third-party uninstaller for this such as CleanMyMac.

If you are upgrading the OS on your Mac, then you will need to reinstall the container app once

you have upgraded the OS, using these instructions to uninstall and reinstall the app.

You have now successfully uninstalled the current DCA version. You can now install the new

version following the installation instructions covered earlier on in this document.

Troubleshooting

If you need support on the Droplet Computing App or the Droplet Computing Image, then there

are several tools available that you may be asked for before raising a support ticket.

The DCA help menu

In the DCA menu options, under the Help menu you will find several link and tools as listed:

1. Link to the Droplet Computing web site. Here you will find an FAQ section that provides

answers to the most popularly asked questions. You can also follow the link below:

https://www.dropletcomputing.com/faqs/

2. You may be asked what version of the DCA you are running. You can find this information

from the Help menu by clicking About. You will see the following information:

https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjhg6nW7bblAhUZ4O0KHd5pAVEYABAAGgJkZw&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESQeD25Ja9Pc85PVw3NLBokF7d5x_M_JeTXRkk-f0yQAy9ItJA5X1y6ozBCh7PIt_SAd5BiwQa4x_gHRAf2kVyO0wb&sig=AOD64_2_h_6229P1Y_MCYylc95PGrwFDPA&q=&ved=2ahUKEwix8aHW7bblAhUSXsAKHRooAgMQ0Qx6BAgNEAE&adurl=

https://www.dropletcomputing.com/faqs/

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3. Finally, under the Help menu you have the Zip Log Files option. This creates a log file and

automatically zips it up ready for emailing if required. As shown in the following:

You will find the log file in the following path:

/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Droplet/droplet_logs

For additional support and frequently asked questions, you can contact your reseller partner or visit

the Droplet Computing website.

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86-90 Paul Street, London,

England,

EC2A 4NE

Droplet Computing Limited Registered in England and Wales, Company Number 10536920

Application Delivery, Redefined


Droplet Computing

https://en-gb.facebook.com/dropletcom/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/droplet-computing

https://twitter.com/dropletcom

https://www.dropletcomputing.com/contact-us/

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