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KB - `Run Once` unwanted behavior

· One min read
Guy Klages
Guy Klages
Ex-Meta Technical Writer, Co-founder FindFit

Symptoms​

The checkbox Run Once for UEM configurations (like shortcuts) can still run multiple times when a Local User Profile is used. This could be unwanted behavior of UEM, and this KB describes how to change this behavior to really run once.

Resolution​

User Environment Manager has support for a runOnceSpecial attribute in UEM XML configuration files (like shortcuts and printer mappings for example).

If this attribute is used, it only has effect if run-once is enabled, and the User Profile type is local.

This is how the behavior works technically:

  • If no run once flag file exists matching .[L-computername.1], we check for .[L-*.1].
  • If match is found, we consider the UEM action as having run before, but we also create .[L-computername.1] (in the standard way, so at logoff) to ensure that run-once logic remains working correctly in case the special attribute is cleared later on.

How to enable:

  • Manually edit the UEM configuration file (i.e. the Notepad.XML file for the shortcut to Notepad)
  • Add the XML-attribuut: runOnceSpecial="1"
  • The result looks something like this: ... runOnce="1 "runOnceSpecial="1" ...