Virtualizing ArcGIS Pro - Resources

JeffDeWeese · ‎06-27-2022

For the past several years, the Architecture Practice team in Professional Services in partnership with the Performance Team in Product Development have been writing various articles to assist the community to plan, design and deploy ArcGIS Pro in virtualized environments. This purpose of this post is to present a single resource for the related resources and will be updated as new posts are created.

General Information

Technical Topics

James_Whitacre_PGC · ‎12-16-2022

We are using a VMware Horizon VDI and have it setup so that when users login, they are presented with a new image each time, but certain settings and customizations are saved in the user profile. Some settings persist session to session, such as licensing info (we are using concurrent) and portals. However, if we want to set custom settings, like Remove layers that reference data overwritten by geoprocessing tools, the setting does not persist between sessions. The Pro.settingsConfig solution could handle this, but the the setting referenced above is not supported. Also, custom interface changes don't persist, such as moving and docking panes, but Quick Access Toolbar customizations do persist.

This seems to be an inconsistent way of implementing such customizations and it seems as though there should be a better way to implement customizations. Any guidance on how to enable more custom settings? Thank you.

JeffDeWeese · ‎12-19-2022

Thanks for the information. With each release, the Pro.settingsConfig method is being expanded to include additional items, though I don't have insight into what specifically will be added next, I know more is coming. Quite a bit was added between 2.9 and 3.0. For moving and docking panes, my understanding is that is controlled by the ArcGISSettings.xml file located at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\ESRI so may want to ensure that file is being updated and persisting.

James_Whitacre_PGC · ‎12-20-2022

Thanks for your response @JeffDeWeese! We were able to successfully implement the persistence of the ArcGISSettings.xml file and all is resolved there! This doesn't save a users ArcGIS Pro Settings/Options on the application as mentioned in my previous comment. Any idea if there is a different file that manages those settings?

Great to hear the Pro.settingsConfig method is being expanded! Seems like a good solution.

JeffDeWeese · ‎12-20-2022

Sure James. There is also the user.config files which are dynamically updated by the ArcGIS Pro and stored in both the local and roaming portions of the profile (examples below). I don't have insight as to exactly how each of these are used or which settings land where but I would advise to ensure these are persisting in the profile as well. Also, as these files are dynamically managed by ArcGIS Pro, its not advisable to try and manipulate these files directly.

C:\Users\username>\AppData\Local\ESRI\ArcGISPro_StrongName_zvah3uykicxkwb5qgbiayac4t4a1cvw4\3.0.0.0
C:\Users\username>\AppData\Roaming\Esri\ArcGISPro_StrongName_zvah3uykicxkwb5qgbiayac4t4a1cvw4\3.0.0.0

James_Whitacre_PGC · ‎12-21-2022

@JeffDeWeese I see where these files are located and I think we should be able to persist them. However, I will note that in our VDI we are using 2.9.5 and I can see that some settings are stored in Roaming and others in Local . But, on my work laptop, I have 3.0.3 installed, and the user.config file is only present in Roaming. Further, the file in Roaming 3.0.0.0 that includes the missing settings found in the Roaming 2.9.0.0. Also, I have no folder for 3.0.0.0 in Local...