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Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 71
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The snapshot.exe utility creates a snapshot of a computer file system and registry and creates a ThinApp
project from two previously captured snapshots. You do not have to start the snapshot.exe utility directly
because the Setup Capture wizard starts it. Only advanced users and system integrators who are building
ThinApp capability into other platforms might make direct use of this utility.
Creating a snapshot of a computer file system and registry involves scanning and saving a copy of the
following data:
File information for all local drives
This information includes directories, filenames, file attributes, file sizes, and file modification dates.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_USERS registry trees
ThinApp does not scan HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry entries because those
entries are subsets of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_USERS entries.
The snapshot.ini configuration file specifies what directories and subkeys to exclude from a ThinApp
project when you capture an application. You might customize this file for certain applications.
This information includes the following topics:
“Methods of Using the snapshot.exe Utility” on page 71
“Sample snapshot.exe Commands” on page 73
“Create a Project Without the Setup Capture Wizard” on page 73
“Customizing the snapshot.ini File” on page 74
“Use snapshot.exe Utility to Extract a ThinApp Project” on page 74
Methods of Using the snapshot.exe Utility
You can use the snapshot.exe utility to create snapshot files of machine states, create the template file for the
Package.ini file, create a ThinApp project, and display the contents of a snapshot file.
For information about the full procedure to create a ThinApp project from the command line, see “Create a
Project Without the Setup Capture Wizard” on page 73.
Creating Snapshots of Machine States
The snapshot.exe utility creates a snapshot file of a machine state. ThinApp captures the machine state and
saves it to a single file to create a project. The snapshot.exe utility saves a copy of registry data and file system
metadata that includes paths, filenames, sizes, attributes, and timestamps.
Usage
snapshot.exe SnapshotFileName.snapshot [-Config ConfigFile.ini][BaseDir1][BaseDir2][BaseReg1]
Creating ThinApp Snapshots and
Projects from the Command Line
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