Autonomous network streaming

At a client computer system including at least one processor and a memory, in a computer networking environment including a plurality of computing systems, a computer-implemented method for allocating application data between local and network data stores, the method comprising:

• an act of receiving from an administrative user an indication of which specified portions of a virtual application are to be stored in a local data store and which portions are to be stored in a network data store;
• an act of generating one or more portions of metadata describing which specified portions of the virtual application are stored on the local data store;
• an act of receiving a data file request from a virtual application requesting the data of a specified data file;
• an act of determining, based on the generated metadata, whether the specified data file is stored on the local data store or the remote data store;
• and
• based on the determination, sending the data file request to at least one the local data store and the remote data store.

A computer system comprising the following:

• one or more processors;
• system memory;
• one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the computing system to perform a method for dynamically delivering virtual software applications, the method comprising:
• an act of establishing a data input/output (I/O) filter configured to intercept data file requests being sent from a virtual software application to a file system;
• an act of I/O filter intercepting a data file read request that is configured to a retrieve a specified data file from the file system;
• an act of creating a sparse file on the file system for the requested data file, the sparse file including placeholder information for the requested data file including the file's name and size;
• an act of indicating to the virtual software application that the file exists, the indication including the requested data file's file name and size;
• an act of receiving a request from the virtual software application for the actual data content of the requested data file;
• an act of forwarding the intercepted read request to a user-mode service that forwards the data request to a network-accessible data store configured to return the specific data file;
• and
• upon receiving the specified data file from the network data store at the user-mode service, an act of the user-mode service forwarding the data file content to the I/O filter which sends the data file content to the virtual software application, such that the specified data file is usable by the virtual application in response to its read request.