--- title: About the Connection Group Virtual Environment description: About the Connection Group Virtual Environment author: dansimp ms.assetid: 535fa640-cbd9-425e-8437-94650a70c264 ms.reviewer: manager: dansimp ms.author: dansimp ms.pagetype: mdop, appcompat, virtualization ms.mktglfcycl: deploy ms.sitesec: library ms.prod: w10 ms.date: 06/16/2016 --- # About the Connection Group Virtual Environment **In this topic:** - [How package priority is determined](#bkmk-pkg-priority-deter) - [Merging identical package paths into one virtual directory in connection groups](#bkmk-merged-root-ve-exp) ## How package priority is determined The virtual environment and its current state are associated with the connection group, not with the individual packages. If an App-V package is removed from the connection group, the state that existed as part of the connection group will not migrate with the package. If the same package is a part of two different connection groups, you have to indicate which connection group App-V should use. For example, you might have two packages in a connection group that each define the same registry DWORD value. The connection group that is used is based on the order in which a package appears inside the **AppConnectionGroup** XML document: - The first package has the highest precedence. - The second package has the second highest precedence. Consider the following example section: ```xml ``` Assume that same DWORD value ABC (HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\\software\\contoso\\finapp\\region) is defined in the first and third package, such as: - Package 1 (A8731008-4523-4713-83A4-CD1363907160): HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\\software\\contoso\\finapp\\region=5 - Package 3 (04220DCA-EE77-42BE-A9F5-96FD8E8593F2): HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\\software\\contoso\\finapp\\region=10 Since Package 1 appears first, the AppConnectionGroup's virtual environment will have the single DWORD value of 5 (HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\\software\\contoso\\finapp\\region=5). This means that the virtual applications in Package 1, Package 2, and Package 3 will all see the value 5 when they query for HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\\software\\contoso\\finapp\\region. Other virtual environment resources are resolved similarly, but the usual case is that the collisions occur in the registry. ## Merging identical package paths into one virtual directory in connection groups If two or more packages in a connection group contain identical directory paths, the paths are merged into a single virtual directory inside the connection group virtual environment. This merging of paths allows an application in one package to access files that are in a different package. When you remove a package from a connection group, the applications in that removed package are no longer able to access files in the remaining packages in the connection group. The order in which App-V looks up a file’s name in the connection group is specified by the order in which the App-V packages are listed in the connection group manifest file. The following example shows the order and relationship of a file name lookup in a connection group for **Package A** and **Package B**.
Package A Package B

C:\Windows\System32

C:\Windows\System32

C:\AppTest

C:\AppTest
  In the example above, when a virtualized application tries to find a specific file, Package A is searched first for a matching file path. If a matching path is not found, Package B is searched, using the following mapping rules: - If a file named **test.txt** exists in the same virtual folder hierarchy in both application packages, the first matching file is used. - If a file named **bar.txt** exists in the virtual folder hierarchy of one application package, but not in the other, the first matching file is used. ## Related topics [Managing Connection Groups](managing-connection-groups.md)