Inclusions and Exclusions
In this section:
About Inclusions and Exclusions
Specific registry keys, registry values, folders and files can be included in or excluded from Personalization at the following levels:
- Application Group - Inclusions and exclusions that apply to all applications in an Application Group. It is recommended that inclusions and exclusions are added at Application Group level.
- Global - Inclusions and exclusions that apply to all managed applications, unless contradicted at Application Group or application level.
- Application - Inclusions and exclusions that apply to individual applications. Application level inclusions and exclusions can be viewed or edited only when ungrouped applications exist that are not part of any Application Group.
Application Group inclusions and exclusions take precedence over those set at global and application levels. This ensures consistency across all applications within a group.
Files with .tmp extensions are excluded by default. This can cause issues with some managed applications if the virtual cache is on a different drive than the user's profile. If you want to use the virtual cache on a different drive, remove .tmp from the global file exclusion list.
Files and folders, registry keys and values can be excluded using Personalization Analysis reports.
Inclusion and Exclusion Rules
The following rules apply to inclusions and exclusions:
- Everything is excluded by default - to personalize something, it must be explicitly included.
- Exclusions take priority over inclusions, except where the include path is deeper.
- Inclusions and exclusions apply to the path and all sub-folders, subject to the rules.
- A filename added to exclusions will exclude that file from all locations. For inclusions, the full file path must be specified. For example, File.tmp is a valid exclusion but an invalid inclusion.
- Wildcards can be used anywhere in a registry path inclusion and exclusion. However, for files, wildcards can be only be used for the filename - the path cannot include wildcards.
Using wildcards in includes and excludes can affect performance by increasing processing times.
Inclusion and Exclusion Examples
The two tables below show examples of inclusions and exclusions and the behavior displayed in certain situations for files, folders and registry keys.
Registry
| Include Path | Exclude Path | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Exclude everything Nothing is personalized as to personalize something, it must be explicitly included. | ||
| HKCU\Software\Key | HKCU\Software\Key | Exclude HKCU\Software\Key The registry exclusion is applied as exclusions take priority over inclusions. |
| HKCU\Software\Key | HKCU\Software | Exclude HKCU\Software Include HKCU\Software\Key Although the inclusion is within the exclusion path, the registry inclusion is applied as its path is deeper. |
| HKCU\Software | HKCU\Software\Key | Include HKCU\Software Exclude HKCU\Software\Key Although the exclusion is within the inclusion path, the registry exclusion is applied as its path is deeper. |
| HKCU\Software\Key\Value | HKCU\Software\Key\Value | Exclude HKCU\Software\Key\Value The registry exclusion is applied as exclusions take priority over inclusions. |
| HKCU\Software\Key\Value | HKCU\Software\Key | Include HKCU\Software\Key\Value Exclude HKCU\Software\Key Although the inclusion is within the exclusion path, the registry inclusion is applied as its path is deeper. |
| HKCU\Software\Key | HKCU\Software\Key\Value | Include HKCU\Software\Key Exclude HKCU\Software\Key\Value Although the exclusion is within the inclusion path, the registry exclusion is applied as its path is deeper. |
File and Folder
| Include Path | Exclude Path | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Exclude everything Nothing is personalized as to personalize something, it must be explicitly included. | ||
| C:\Folder | C:\Folder | Exclude C:\Folder The folder exclusion is applied as exclusions take priority over inclusions. |
| C:\Folder\AppSense | C:\Folder\Ivanti | Exclude C:\FolderInclude C:\Folder\Ivanti Although the inclusion is within the exclusion path, the folder inclusion is applied as its path is deeper. |
| C:\Folder | C:\Folder\Ivanti | Include C:\FolderExclude C:\Folder\Ivanti Although the exclusion is within the inclusion path, the folder exclusion is applied as its path is deeper. |
| C:\File.tmp | C:\File.tmp | Exclude C:\File.tmp The file exclusion is applied as exclusions take priority over inclusions. |
| C:\Folder\File.tmp | File.tmp | Exclude C:\File.tmp The file exclusion is applied as full paths are not required for exclusions and they take priority over inclusions |
| C:\Folder\File.tmp | C:\Folder | Include
C:\Folder\File.tmp
The file inclusion is applied as the path is
deeper.
As everything is excluded by default, it is not recommended that whole folders are excluded as this requires unnecessary processing which has a negative effect on performance. |
| C:\Folder | C:\Folder\File.tmp | Exclude C:\Folder\File.tmp The file exclusion is applied as the path is deeper. |