VMware ThinApp Blog

ThinDirect is Cool. But If I Don't Need It, How Do I Disable It?

Before we get into disabling ThinDirect, it is important to understand a few basic parts to ThinDirect.

To reiterate what Jonathan said in his post...

1. ThinDirect works by installing a Browser Helper object in the native instance of IE. The installation of the browser helper object can happen in one of 3 ways:
   • When performing an “All Users” install of a ThinApp .msi package for a virtualized browser that contains ThinDirect redirection entries.
   • When running “Thinreg /a VirtualBrowser.exe”. (/a is all users)
   • Deploying the “ThinDirect.msi” installer included with ThinApp 4.6 to target desktops.


2. The first part of the redirection is from the Native browser to the Virtual browser. This works for all versions of natively installed IE and all common browsers (redirecting from native IE to virtual browser of some kind).


3. The second part of the redirection is from the Virtual browser to the native browser. This only works for virtualized Internet Explorer browsers. My slang term for this is "FatDirect" - but that's just my oversimplification of the feature.

Disabling ThinDirect

To disable different portions of the ThinDirect functionality, you can do any one of or a combination of the following to obtain the desired results:

• Delete the THINDIRECT.TXT file in the root of the project. When the package is built or rebuilt using BUILD.BAT, it will not redirect any native URLs to the virtual browser nor will it redirect any virtual URLs to native browser.






• Uninstall or disable the native IE ThinDirect Browser Helper Object by going into the Native Internet Explorer Options under the Programs settings and modify the Add-Ons (Manage Add-Ons) and select the ThinDirect Helper Object and disable it. This will prevent any native URLs from being redirected to virtual. It should be noted the same can be done from inside the ThinApp package to disable virtual to native redirection - but that's the hard way.




Note: Click images for full sized version.





• Additionally, the ThinDirect Browser Helper Object can be installed separately to a system by use of the THINDIRECT.MSI. If this is done, you can also uninstall the ThinDirect Browser Helper Object by going into Add/Remove Programs and removing the installation.


• Add the "ThinDirectWhitelistOnly=0" Build Option to the PACKAGE.INI. This will disable virtual to native URL redirection ONLY for virtualized IE packages.

For more information on ThinDirect and it's uses, please also see the ThinApp Online Help - and specifically the Extracting and Registering ThinDirect article.