VMware Horizon View - 6.0.1 User Manual

Setting Up Desktop and Application

Pools in View

VMware Horizon 6.0.0 VMware Horizon 6.0.1 VMware Horizon 6.0.2

This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

EN-001485-04

Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

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Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View 7

Introduction to Desktop and Application Pools 9

Farms, RDS Hosts, and Desktop and Application Pools 9

Advantages of Desktop Pools 10

Desktop Pools for Specific Types of Workers 11

Advantages of Application Pools 14

Preparing Unmanaged Machines 15

Prepare an Unmanaged Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment 15

Install View Agent on an Unmanaged Machine 15

Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines 19

Creating Virtual Machines for Remote Desktop Deployment 19

Install View Agent on a Virtual Machine 26

Install View Agent Silently 30

Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for View Agent 35

Optimize Guest Operating System Performance for All Windows Versions 36

Optimize Windows 7 and Windows 8 Guest Operating System Performance 37

Optimizing Windows 7 and Windows 8 for Linked-Clone Virtual Machines 38

Preparing Virtual Machines for View Composer 45

Creating Virtual Machine Templates 51

Creating Customization Specifications 52

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Creating Automated Desktop Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines 53

Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines 53

Worksheet for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines 53

Create an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines 57

Desktop Settings for Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines 58

Creating Linked-Clone Desktop Pools 59

Linked-Clone Desktop Pools 59

Worksheet for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool 59

Create a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool 68

Desktop Pool Settings for Linked-Clone Desktop Pools 70

View Composer Support for Linked-Clone SIDs and Third-Party Applications 70

Keeping Linked-Clone Machines Provisioned and Ready During View Composer Operations 75

Use Existing Active Directory Computer Accounts for Linked Clones 75

Creating Manual Desktop Pools 77

Manual Desktop Pools 77

Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

Worksheet for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool 77

Create a Manual Desktop Pool 79

Create a Manual Pool That Contains One Machine 79

Desktop Pool Settings for Manual Pools 80

Setting Up Remote Desktop Services Hosts 83

Remote Desktop Services Hosts 83

Install Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2008 R2 85

Install Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 85

Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2 86

Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 86

Restrict Users to a Single Session 87

Install View Agent on a Remote Desktop Services Host 87

Enable Time Zone Redirection for RDS Desktop and Application Sessions 89

Enable Windows Basic Theme for Applications 89

Configure Group Policy to Start Runonce.exe 90

RDS Host Performance Options 90

Creating Farms 93

Farms 93

Worksheet for Creating a Farm 94

Create a Farm 95

Creating Application Pools 97

Application Pools 97

Worksheet for Creating an Application Pool Manually 97

Create an Application Pool 98

Creating RDS Desktop Pools 99

Understanding RDS Desktop Pools 99

Create an RDS Desktop Pool 100

Desktop Pool Settings for RDS Desktop Pools 100

Configure Adobe Flash Throttling with Internet Explorer for RDS Desktop Pools 101

Provisioning Desktop Pools 103

User Assignment in Desktop Pools 103

Naming Machines Manually or Providing a Naming Pattern 104

Manually Customizing Machines 109

Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop Pool Types 111

Adobe Flash Quality and Throttling 114

Setting Power Policies for Desktop Pools 115

Configuring 3D Rendering on Windows 7 or Later Desktops 120

Prevent Access to View Desktops Through RDP 124

Deploying Large Desktop Pools 124

Entitling Users and Groups 127

Add Entitlements to a Desktop or Application Pool 127

Remove Entitlements from a Desktop or Application Pool 128

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Review Desktop or Application Pool Entitlements 128

Restricting Remote Desktop Access 128

Contents

Configuring Remote Desktop Features 133

Configuring Unity Touch 133

Configuring Flash URL Redirection for Multicast or Unicast Streaming 136

Configuring Real-Time Audio-Video 140

Configuring Scanner Redirection 154

Managing Access to Windows Media Multimedia Redirection (MMR) 158

Using USB Devices with Remote Desktops 163

Limitations Regarding USB Device Types 164

Overview of Setting Up USB Redirection 165

Network Traffic and USB Redirection 165

Automatic Connections to USB Devices 166

Disabling USB Redirection 167

Using Log Files for Troubleshooting and to Determine USB Device IDs 167

Using Policies to Control USB Redirection 168

Troubleshooting USB Redirection Problems 178

Reducing and Managing Storage Requirements 181

Managing Storage with vSphere 181

Using Virtual SAN for High-Performance Storage and Policy-Based Management 182

Reducing Storage Requirements with View Composer 185

Storage Sizing for Linked-Clone Desktop Pools 186

Storage Overcommit for Linked-Clone Virtual Machines 190

Linked-Clone Data Disks 192

Storing Linked Clones on Local Datastores 193

Storing View Composer Replicas and Linked Clones on Separate Datastores 194

Configure View Storage Accelerator for Desktop Pools 195

Reclaim Disk Space on Linked-Clone Virtual Machines 196

Using View Composer Array Integration with Native NFS Snapshot Technology (VAAI) 198

Set Blackout Times for ESXi Operations on View Virtual Machines 199

Configuring Policies for Desktop and Application Pools 201

Setting Policies in View Administrator 201

Using Active Directory Group Policies 203

Using View Group Policy Administrative Template Files 204

View ADM and ADMX Template Files 205

View Agent Configuration ADM Template Settings 206

View PCoIP Session Variables ADM Template Settings 211

Using Remote Desktop Services Group Policies 222

Setting Up Location-Based Printing 230

Active Directory Group Policy Example 235

Configuring User Profiles with View Persona Management 239

Providing User Personas in View 239

Using View Persona Management with Standalone Systems 240

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Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

Migrating User Profiles with View Persona Management 241

Persona Management and Windows Roaming Profiles 243

Configuring a View Persona Management Deployment 244

Best Practices for Configuring a View Persona Management Deployment 253

View Persona Management Group Policy Settings 256

Troubleshooting Machines and Desktop Pools 265

Display Problem Machines 265

Send Messages to Desktop Users 266

Troubleshooting Desktop Pool Creation Problems 266

Troubleshooting Network Connection Problems 276

Troubleshooting USB Redirection Problems 280

Troubleshooting GINA Problems on Windows XP Machines 281

Manage Machines and Policies for Unentitled Users 282

Further Troubleshooting Information 283

Index 285

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Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View describes how to create and provision pools of machines and create pools of remote applications that run on Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) hosts. It includes information about preparing machines, configuring policies, entitling users and groups, configuring remote desktop features, and configuring user profiles with View Persona Management.

Intended Audience

This information is intended for anyone who wants to create and provision desktop and application pools. The information is written for experienced Windows system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and datacenter operations.

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Introduction to Desktop and

Application Pools 1

With VMware Horizon with View, you can create desktop pools that include one or hundreds or thousands of virtual desktops. You can deploy desktops that run on virtual machines, physical machines, and Windows Remote Desktop Services (RDS) hosts. Create one virtual machine as a base image, and View can generate a pool of virtual desktops from that image. You can also create application pools that give users remote access to applications.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Farms, RDS Hosts, and Desktop and Application Pools,” on page 9

“Advantages of Desktop Pools,” on page 10

“Desktop Pools for Specific Types of Workers,” on page 11

“Advantages of Application Pools,” on page 14

Farms, RDS Hosts, and Desktop and Application Pools

With View, you can create desktop and application pools to give users remote access to virtual machinebased desktops, session-based desktops, physical computers, and applications. View takes advantage of Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and VMware PC-over-IP (PCoIP) technologies to provide highquality remote access to users.

RDS Hosts

RDS hosts are server computers that have Windows Remote Desktop Services and View Agent installed. These servers host applications and desktop sessions that users can access remotely. To use RDS desktop pools or applications, your end users must have access to Horizon Client 3.0 or later software.

Desktop Pools

There are three types of desktop pools: automated, manual, and RDS. Automated desktop pools use a vCenter Server virtual machine template or snapshot to create a pool of identical virtual machines. Manual desktop pools are a collection of existing vCenter Server virtual machines, physical computers, or thirdparty virtual machines. In automated or manual pools, each Windows machine is available for one user to access remotely at a time. RDS desktop pools are not a collection of Windows machines, but instead, provide users with desktop sessions on RDS hosts. Multiple users can have desktop sessions on an RDS host simultaneously.

Application Pools

Application pools let you deliver applications to many users. The applications in application pools run on a farm of RDS hosts.

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Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

Farms

Farms are collections of RDS hosts and facilitate the management of those hosts. Farms can have a variable number of RDS hosts and provide a common set of applications or RDS desktops to users. When you create an RDS desktop pool or an application pool, you must specify a farm. The RDS hosts in the farm provide desktop and application sessions to users.

Advantages of Desktop Pools

View offers the ability to create and provision pools of desktops as its basis of centralized management.

You create a remote desktop pool from one of the following sources:

A physical system such as a physical desktop PC or an RDS host

A virtual machine that is hosted on an ESXi host and managed by vCenter Server

A virtual machine that runs on a virtualization platform other than vCenter Server that supports View

Agent

If you use a vSphere virtual machine as a desktop source, you can automate the process of making as many identical virtual desktops as you need. You can set a minimum and maximum number of virtual desktops to be generated for the pool. Setting these parameters ensures that you always have enough remote desktops available for immediate use but not so many that you overuse available resources.

Using pools to manage desktops allows you to apply settings or deploy applications to all remote desktops in a pool. The following examples show some of the settings available:

Specify which remote display protocol to use as the default for the remote desktop and whether to let

end users override the default.

If using a virtual machine, specify whether to power off the virtual machine when it is not in use and

whether to delete it altogether.

Specify whether to use a Microsoft Sysprep customization specification or QuickPrep from VMware.

Sysprep generates a unique SID and GUID for each virtual machine in the pool.

In addition, using desktop pools provides many conveniences.

Dedicated-assignment pools

Each user is assigned a particular remote desktop and returns to the same desktop at each login. Users can personalize their desktops, install applications, and store data.

Floating-assignment pools

The remote desktop is optionally deleted and re-created after each use, offering a highly controlled environment. A floating-assignment desktop is like a computer lab or kiosk environment where each desktop is loaded with the necessary applications and all desktops have access to necessary data.

Using floating-assignment pools also allows you to create a pool of desktops that can be used by shifts of users. For example, a pool of 100 desktops could be used by 300 users if they worked in shifts of 100 users at a time.

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Desktop Pools for Specific Types of Workers

View provides many features to help you conserve storage and reduce the amount of processing power required for various use cases. Many of these features are available as pool settings.

The most fundamental question to consider is whether a certain type of user needs a stateful desktop image or a stateless desktop image. Users who need a stateful desktop image have data in the operating system image itself that must be preserved, maintained, and backed up. For example, these users install some of their own applications or have data that cannot be saved outside of the virtual machine itself, such as on a file server or in an application database.

Chapter 1 Introduction to Desktop and Application Pools

Stateless desktop images

Stateful desktop images

You create stateless desktop images by using View Composer and creating floating-assignment pools of linked-clone virtual machines.

You create stateful desktop images by creating dedicated-assignment pools of either linked-clone virtual machines or full virtual machines. If you use linked-clone virtual machines, you can configure View Composer persistent disks and folder redirection. Some storage vendors have cost-effective storage solutions for stateful desktop images. These vendors often have their own best practices and provisioning utilities. Using one of these vendors might require that you create a manual dedicated-assignment pool.

Stateless architectures have many advantages, such as being easier to support and having lower storage costs. Other benefits include a limited need to back up the linked-clone virtual machines and easier, less expensive disaster recovery and business continuity options.

These images might require traditional image management techniques. Stateful images can have low storage costs in conjunction with certain storage system technologies. Backup and recovery technologies such as VMware Consolidated Backup and VMware Site Recovery Manager are important when considering strategies for backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity.

Pools for Task Workers

You can standardize on stateless desktop images for task workers so that the image is always in a wellknown, easily supportable configuration and so that workers can log in to any available desktop.

Because task workers perform repetitive tasks within a small set of applications, you can create stateless desktop images, which help conserve storage space and processing requirements. Use the following pool settings:

Create an automated pool so that desktops can be created when the pool is created or can be generated

on demand based on pool usage.

Use floating assignment so that users log in to any available desktop. This setting reduces the number

of desktops required if everyone does not need to be logged in at the same time.

Create View Composer linked-clone desktops so that desktops share the same base image and use less

storage space in the datacenter than full virtual machines.

Determine what action, if any, to take when users log off. Disks grow over time. You can conserve disk

space by refreshing the desktop to its original state when users log off. You can also set a schedule for periodically refreshing desktops. For example, you can schedule desktops to refresh daily, weekly, or monthly.

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Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

If applicable, use Virtual SAN datastores. Virtual SAN virtualizes the local physical storage disks

available on ESXi hosts into a single datastore shared by all hosts in a vSphere cluster. Virtual SAN also lets you manage virtual machine storage and performance by using storage policy profiles. For more information, see “Using Virtual SAN for High-Performance Storage and Policy-Based Management,” on page 182.

If applicable, consider storing desktops on local ESXi datastores. This strategy can offer advantages

such as inexpensive hardware, fast virtual-machine provisioning, high-performance power operations, and simple management. For a list of the limitations, see “Storing Linked Clones on Local Datastores,” on page 193.

Use the Persona Management feature so that users always have their preferred desktop appearance and

application settings, as with Windows user profiles. If you do not have the desktops set to be refreshed or deleted at logoff, you can configure the persona to be removed at logoff.

IMPORTANT View Persona Management facilitates implementing a floating-assignment pool for those users who want to retain settings between sessions. Previously, one of the limitations of floating-assignment desktops was that when end users logged off, they lost all their configuration settings and any data stored in the remote desktop.

Each time end users logged on, their desktop background was set to the default wallpaper, and they would have to configure each application's preferences again. With View Persona Management, an end user of a floating-assignment desktop cannot tell the difference between their session and a session on a dedicatedassignment desktop.

Pools for Knowledge Workers and Power Users

Knowledge workers must be able to create complex documents and have them persist on the desktop. Power users must be able to install their own applications and have them persist. Depending on the nature and amount of personal data that must be retained, the desktop can be stateful or stateless.

Because power users and knowledge workers, such as accountants, sales managers, marketing research analysts, must be able to create and retain documents and settings, you create dedicated-assignment desktops for them. For knowledge workers who do not need user-installed applications except for temporary use, you can create stateless desktop images and save all their personal data outside of the virtual machine, on a file server or in an application database. For other knowledge workers and for power users, you can create stateful desktop images. Use the following pool settings:

Use dedicated assignment pools so that each knowledge worker or power user logs in to the same

desktop every time.

Use the Persona Management feature so that users always have their preferred desktop appearance and

application settings, as with Windows user profiles.

Use vStorage thin provisioning so that at first, each desktop uses only as much storage space as the disk

needs for its initial operation.

For power users and knowledge workers who must install their own applications, which adds data to

the operating system disk, create full virtual machine desktops. Use Mirage to deploy and update applications without overwriting user-installed applications.

If knowledge workers do not require user-installed applications except for temporary use, you can

create View Composer linked-clone desktops. The desktop images share the same base image and use less storage space than full virtual machines.

If you use View Composer with vSphere 5.1 or later virtual desktops, enable the space reclamation

feature for vCenter Server and for the desktop pool. With the space reclamation feature, stale or deleted data within a guest operating system is automatically reclaimed with a wipe and shrink process.

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Chapter 1 Introduction to Desktop and Application Pools

If you use View Composer linked-clone desktops, implement View Persona Management, roaming

profiles, or another profile management solution.

Configure persistent disks so that you can refresh and recompose the linked-clone OS disks while keeping a copy of the user profile on the persistent disks.

Pools for Kiosk Users

Kiosk users might include customers at airline check-in stations, students in classrooms or libraries, medical personnel at medical data entry workstations, or customers at self-service points. Accounts associated with client devices rather than users are entitled to use these desktop pools because users do not need to log in to use the client device or the remote desktop. Users can still be required to provide authentication credentials for some applications.

Virtual machine desktops that are set to run in kiosk mode use stateless desktop images because user data does not need to be preserved in the operating system disk. Kiosk mode desktops are used with thin client devices or locked-down PCs. You must ensure that the desktop application implements authentication mechanisms for secure transactions, that the physical network is secure against tampering and snooping, and that all devices connected to the network are trusted.

As a best practice, use dedicated View Connection Server instances to handle clients in kiosk mode, and create dedicated organizational units and groups in Active Directory for the accounts of these clients. This practice not only partitions these systems against unwarranted intrusion, but also makes it easier to configure and administer the clients.

To set up kiosk mode, you must use the vdmadmin command-line interface and perform several procedures documented in the topics about kiosk mode in the View Administration document. As part of this setup, you can use the following pool settings.

Create an automated pool so that desktops can be created when the pool is created or can be generated

on demand based on pool usage.

Use floating assignment so that users can access any available desktop in the pool.

Create View Composer linked-clone desktops so that desktops share the same base image and use less

storage space in the datacenter than full virtual machines.

Institute a refresh policy so that the desktop is refreshed frequently, such as at every user logoff.

If applicable, use Virtual SAN datastores. Virtual SAN virtualizes the local physical storage disks

If applicable, consider storing desktops on local ESXi datastores. This strategy can offer advantages

Use an Active Directory GPO (group policy object) to configure location-based printing, so that the

desktop uses the nearest printer. For a complete list and description of the settings available through Group Policy administrative (ADM) templates, see Chapter 16, “Configuring Policies for Desktop and

Application Pools,” on page 201.

Use a GPO if you want to override the default policy that enables connecting local USB devices to the

desktop when the desktop is launched or when USB devices are plugged in to the client computer.

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Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

Advantages of Application Pools

With application pools, you give users access to applications that run on servers in a data center instead of on their personal computers or devices.

Application pools offer several important benefits:

Accessibility

Users can access applications from anywhere on the network. You can also configure secure network access.

Device independence

With application pools, you can support a range of client devices, such as smart phones, tablets, laptops, thin clients, and personal computers. The client devices can run various operating systems, such as Windows, iOS, Mac OS, or Android.

Access control

You can easily and quickly grant or remove access to applications for one user or a group of users.

Accelerated deployment

With application pools, deploying applications can be accelerated because you only deploy applications on servers in a data center and each server can support multiple users.

Manageability

Managing software that is deployed on client computers and devices typically requires significant resources. Management tasks include deployment, configuration, maintenance, support, and upgrades. With application pools, you can simplify software management in an enterprise because the software runs on servers in a data center, which requires fewer installed copies.

Security and regulatory compliance

With application pools, you can improve security because applications and their associated data are centrally located in a data center. Centralized data can address security concerns and regulatory compliance issues.

Reduced cost

Depending on software license agreements, hosting applications in a data center can be more costeffective. Other factors, including accelerated deployment and improved manageability, can also reduce the cost of software in an enterprise.

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Preparing Unmanaged Machines 2

Users can access remote desktops delivered by machines that are not managed by vCenter Server. These unmanaged machines can include physical computers and virtual machines running on virtualization platforms other than vCenter Server. You must prepare an unmanaged machine to deliver remote desktop access.

For information about preparing machines that are used as Remote Desktop Services (RDS) hosts, see

Chapter 7, “Setting Up Remote Desktop Services Hosts,” on page 83.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Prepare an Unmanaged Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment,” on page 15

“Install View Agent on an Unmanaged Machine,” on page 15

Prepare an Unmanaged Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment

You must perform certain tasks to prepare an unmanaged machine for remote desktop deployment.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have administrative rights on the unmanaged machine.

To make sure that remote desktop users are added to the local Remote Desktop Users group of the

unmanaged machine, create a restricted Remote Desktop Users group in Active Directory. See the View Installation document for more information.

Procedure

1 Power on the unmanaged machine and verify that it is accessible to the View Connection Server

instance.

2 Join the unmanaged machine to the Active Directory domain for your remote desktops.

3 Configure the Windows firewall to allow Remote Desktop connections to the unmanaged machine.

What to do next

Install View Agent on the unmanaged machine. See “Install View Agent on an Unmanaged Machine,” on page 15.

Install View Agent on an Unmanaged Machine

You must install View Agent on an all unmanaged machines. View cannot manage an unmanaged machine unless View Agent is installed.

To install View Agent on multiple Windows physical computers without having to respond to wizard prompts, you can install View Agent silently. See “Install View Agent Silently,” on page 30.

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Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

Prerequisites

Verify that you have administrative rights on the unmanaged machine.

To use an unmanaged Windows Server 2008 R2 machine as a remote desktop rather than as an RDS

host, perform the steps described in “Prepare Windows Server 2008 R2 for Desktop Use,” on page 25.

Familiarize yourself with the View Agent custom setup options for unmanaged machines. See “View

Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines,” on page 17.

Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the View Agent installation program opens on the firewall.

See the View Architecture Planning document for more information.

Download the View Agent installer file from the VMware product page at

http://www.vmware.com/products/.

Procedure

1 To start the View Agent installation program, double-click the installer file.

The installer filename is VMware-viewagent-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe or VMware-viewagent-x86_64-y.y.y-

xxxxxx.exe, where y.y.y is the version number and xxxxxx is the build number.

2 Accept the VMware license terms.

3 Select your custom setup options.

4 Accept or change the destination folder.

5 In the Server text box, type the host name or IP address of a View Connection Server host.

During installation, the installer registers the unmanaged machine with this View Connection Server instance. After registration, the specified View Connection Server instance, and any additional instances in the same View Connection Server group, can communicate with the unmanaged machine.

6 Select an authentication method to register the unmanaged machine with the View Connection Server

instance.

Option Action

Authenticate as the currently logged in user

Specify administrator credentials

The Username and Password text boxes are disabled and you are logged in to the View Connection Server instance with your current username and password.

You must provide the username and password of a View Connection Server administrator in the Username and Password text boxes.

The user account must be a domain user with access to View LDAP on the View Connection Server instance. A local user does not work.

7 Follow the prompts in the View Agent installation program and finish the installation.

8 If you selected the USB redirection option, restart the unmanaged machine to enable USB support.

In addition, the Found New Hardware wizard might start. Follow the prompts in the wizard to configure the hardware before you restart the unmanaged machine.

The VMware Horizon View Agent service is started on the unmanaged machine.

What to do next

Use the unmanaged machine to create a remote desktop. See “Manual Desktop Pools,” on page 77.

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Chapter 2 Preparing Unmanaged Machines

View Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines

When you install View Agent on an unmanaged machine, you can select or deselect certain custom setup options. In addition, View Agent installs certain features automatically on all guest operating systems on which they are supported. These features are not optional.

Table 2‑1. View Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines (Optional)

Option Description

USB Redirection Gives users access to locally connected USB devices on

their desktops.

USB redirection is supported on remote desktops that are deployed on single-user machines but is not supported on RDS host-based remote desktops.

NOTE You can use group policy settings to disable USB redirection for specific users.

View Persona Management Synchronizes the user profile on the local desktop with a

remote profile repository, so that users have access to their profiles whenever they log in to a desktop.

PCoIP Smartcard Lets users authenticate with smart cards when they use the

PCoIP display protocol.

PCoIP Smartcard is supported on remote desktops that are deployed on single-user machines but is not supported on RDS host-based remote desktops.

Table 2‑2. View Agent Features That Are Installed Automatically on Unmanaged Machines (Not Optional)

Feature Description

PCoIP Agent Lets users connect to the remote desktop with the PCoIP

display protocol.

The PCoIP Agent feature is supported on physical machines that are configured with a Teradici TERA host card.

NOTE On Windows Vista, if you install the PCoIP Agent component, the Windows group policy Disable or enable

software Secure Attention Sequence is enabled and set to Services and Ease of Access applications. If you change

this setting, single sign-on does not work correctly.

Wyse Multimedia Redirection (MMR) Provide multimedia redirection to Windows XP and

Windows Vista desktops and clients. This feature delivers a multimedia stream directly to the client computer, allowing the multimedia stream to be processed on the client hardware instead of the remote ESXi host.

Lync Provides support for Microsoft Lync 2013 Client on remote

desktops.

Unity Touch Allows tablet and smart phone users to interact easily with

Windows applications that run on the remote desktop. Users can browse, search, and open Windows applications and files, choose favorite applications and files, and switch between running applications, all without using the Start menu or Taskbar.

Virtual audio driver Provides a virtual audio driver on the remote desktop.

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Creating and Preparing Virtual

Machines 3

You can use virtual machines managed by vCenter Server to provision and deploy remote desktops. You can use a virtual machine managed by vCenter Server as a template for an automated pool, a parent for a linked-clone pool, or a machine in a manual pool. You must prepare virtual machines to deliver remote desktop access.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Creating Virtual Machines for Remote Desktop Deployment,” on page 19

“Install View Agent on a Virtual Machine,” on page 26

“Install View Agent Silently,” on page 30

“Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for View Agent,” on page 35

“Optimize Guest Operating System Performance for All Windows Versions,” on page 36

“Optimize Windows 7 and Windows 8 Guest Operating System Performance,” on page 37

“Optimizing Windows 7 and Windows 8 for Linked-Clone Virtual Machines,” on page 38

“Preparing Virtual Machines for View Composer,” on page 45

“Creating Virtual Machine Templates,” on page 51

“Creating Customization Specifications,” on page 52

Creating Virtual Machines for Remote Desktop Deployment

The initial virtual machine establishes a virtual hardware profile and operating system to be used for rapid deployment of remote desktops.

1 Create a Virtual Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment on page 20

You use vSphere Client to create virtual machines in vCenter Server for remote desktops.

2 Install a Guest Operating System on page 22

After you create a virtual machine, you must install a guest operating system.

3 Prepare a Guest Operating System for Remote Desktop Deployment on page 23

You must perform certain tasks to prepare a guest operating system for remote desktop deployment.

4 Prepare Windows Server 2008 R2 for Desktop Use on page 25

To use a Windows Server 2008 R2 virtual machine as a single-session View desktop (rather than as an RDS host), you must perform certain steps before you install View Agent in the virtual machine. You must also configure View Administrator to treat Windows Server 2008 R2 as a supported operating system for View desktop use.

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5 Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2 on page 26

For RDS desktops and applications, and for VDI desktops that are deployed on single-user virtual machines that run Windows Server, scanner redirection requires that you install the Desktop Experience feature on the RDS hosts and the single-user virtual machines.

Create a Virtual Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment

You use vSphere Client to create virtual machines in vCenter Server for remote desktops.

Prerequisites

Upload an ISO image file of the guest operating system to a datastore on your ESXi server.

Familiarize yourself with the custom configuration parameters for virtual machines. See “Virtual

Machine Custom Configuration Parameters,” on page 20.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, log in to the vCenter Server system.

2 Select File > New > Virtual Machine to start the New Virtual Machine wizard.

3 Select Custom and configure custom configuration parameters.

4 Select Edit the virtual machine settings before completion and click Continue to configure hardware

settings.

a Add a CD/DVD drive, set the media type to use an ISO image file, select the ISO image file of the

guest operating system that you uploaded to your datastore, and select Connect at power on.

b If you are installing a Windows XP guest operating system, add a floppy drive and set the Device

Type to Client Device.

c Set Power-on Boot Delay to 10,000 milliseconds.

5 Click Finish to create the virtual machine.

What to do next

Install a guest operating system on the virtual machine.

Virtual Machine Custom Configuration Parameters

You can use virtual machine custom configuration parameters as baseline settings when you create a virtual machine for remote desktop deployment.

You can change certain settings when you use View Administrator to deploy desktop pools from the virtual machine.

Table 3‑1. Custom Configuration Parameters

Parameter Description and Recommendations

Name and Location

Host/Cluster

The name and location of the virtual machine.

If you plan to use the virtual machine as a template, assign a generic name. The location can be any folder within your datacenter inventory.

The ESXi server or cluster of server resources that will run the virtual machine.

If you plan to use the virtual machine as a template, the location of the initial virtual machine does not necessarily specify where future virtual machines created from template will reside.

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Table 3‑1. Custom Configuration Parameters (Continued)

Parameter Description and Recommendations

Resource Pool

Datastore

Hardware Machine Version

Guest Operating System

CPUs

Memory

Network

If the physical ESXi server resources are divided into resource pools, you can assign them to the virtual machine.

The location of files associated with the virtual machine.

The hardware machine version that is available depends on the ESXi version you are running. As a best practice, select the latest available hardware machine version, which provides the greatest virtual machine functionality. Certain View features require minimum hardware machine versions.

The type of operating system that you will install in the virtual machine.

The number of virtual processors in the virtual machine.

For most guest operating systems, a single processor is sufficient.

The amount of memory to allocate to the virtual machine.

In most cases, 512MB is sufficient.

The number of virtual network adapters (NICs) in the virtual machine.

One NIC is usually sufficient. The network name should be consistent across virtual infrastructures. An incorrect network name in a template can cause failures during the instance customization phases.

When you install View Agent on a virtual machine that has more than one NIC, you must configure the subnet that View Agent uses. See “Configure a Virtual Machine with

Multiple NICs for View Agent,” on page 35 for more

information.

IMPORTANT For Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems, you must select the VMXNET 3 network adapter. Using the default E1000 adapter can cause customization timeout errors on virtual machines. To use the VMXNET 3 adapter, you must install a Microsoft hotfix patch:

For Windows 7 SP1:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2550978

For Windows 7 versions previous to SP1:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2344941

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Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

Table 3‑1. Custom Configuration Parameters (Continued)

Parameter Description and Recommendations

SCSI Controller

Select a Disk

The type of SCSI adapter to use with the virtual machine.

For Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows XP guest operating systems, you should specify the LSI Logic adapter. The LSI Logic adapter has improved performance and works better with generic SCSI devices.

LSI Logic SAS is available only for virtual machines with hardware version 7 and later.

NOTE Windows XP does not include a driver for the LSI Logic adapter. You must download the driver from the LSI Logic Web site.

The disk to use with the virtual machine.

Create a new virtual disk based on the amount of local storage that you decide to allocate to each user. Allow enough storage space for the OS installation, patches, and locally installed applications.

To reduce the need for disk space and management of local data, you should store the user's information, profile, and documents on network shares rather than on a local disk.

Install a Guest Operating System

After you create a virtual machine, you must install a guest operating system.

Prerequisites

Verify that an ISO image file of the guest operating system is on a datastore on your ESXi server.

Verify that the CD/DVD drive in the virtual machine points to the ISO image file of the guest operating

system and that the CD/DVD drive is configured to connect at power on.

If you are installing Windows XP and you selected the LSI Logic adapter for the virtual machine,

download the LSI20320-R controller driver from the LSI Logic Web site, create a floppy image (.flp) file that contains the driver, and upload the file to a datastore on your server.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, log in to the vCenter Server system where the virtual machine resides.

2 Right-click the virtual machine, select Power, and select Power On to start the virtual machine.

Because you configured the CD/DVD drive to point to the ISO image of the guest operating system and to connect at power on, the guest operating system installation process begins automatically.

3 Click the Console tab and follow the installation instructions provided by the operating system vendor.

4 If you are installing Windows XP and you selected the LSI Logic adapter for the virtual machine, install

the LSI Logic driver during the Windows setup process.

a Press F6 to select additional SCSI drivers.

b Type S to specify an additional device.

c On the vSphere Client toolbar, click Connect Floppy to select the LSI Logic driver floppy image

(.flp) file.

d Return to the Windows Setup screen and press Enter to continue the Windows setup process.

e When the Windows setup process has finished, disconnect the virtual floppy disk drive.

5 If you are installing Windows 7 or Windows 8, activate Windows online.

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Chapter 3 Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines

What to do next

Prepare the guest operating system for View desktop deployment.

Prepare a Guest Operating System for Remote Desktop Deployment

You must perform certain tasks to prepare a guest operating system for remote desktop deployment.

Prerequisites

Create a virtual machine and install a guest operating system.

Configure an Active Directory domain controller for your remote desktops. See the View Installation

document for more information.

To make sure that desktop users are added to the local Remote Desktop Users group of the virtual

machine, create a restricted Remote Desktop Users group in Active Directory. See the View Installation document for more information.

Verify that Remote Desktop Services, called Terminal Services on Windows XP systems, are started on

the virtual machine. Remote Desktop Services are required for View Agent installation, SSO, and other View operations. You can disable RDP access to your View desktops by configuring desktop pool settings and group policy settings. See “Prevent Access to View Desktops Through RDP,” on page 124.

Verify that you have administrative rights on the guest operating system.

On Windows Vista operating systems, verify that the Windows Update Service is enabled. If you

disable this service on Windows Vista, the View Agent installer fails to install the USB driver.

On Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems, prepare the operating system for desktop use. See

“Prepare Windows Server 2008 R2 for Desktop Use,” on page 25.

If you intend to configure 3D graphics rendering for desktop pools, familiarize yourself with the Enable

3D Support setting for virtual machines.

This setting is active on Windows 7 and later operating systems. On ESXi 5.1 and later hosts, you can also select options that determine how the 3D renderer is managed on the ESXi host. For details, see the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration document.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, log in to the vCenter Server system where the virtual machine resides.

2 Right-click the virtual machine, select Power, and select Power On to start the virtual machine.

3 Right-click the virtual machine, select Guest, and select Install/Upgrade VMware Tools to install the

latest version of VMware Tools.

NOTE The virtual printing feature is supported only when you install it from View Agent. Virtual printing is not supported if you install it with VMware Tools.

4 Use the VMware Tools time synchronization function to ensure that the virtual machine is

synchronized to ESXi.

ESXi must synchronize to an external NTP source, for example, the same time source as Active Directory.

Disable other time synchronization mechanisms such as Windows Time Service.

The VMware Tools online help provides information on configuring time synchronization between guest and host.

5 Install service packs and updates.

6 Install antivirus software.

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Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

7 Install other applications and software, such as smart card drivers if you are using smart card

authentication.

If you plan to use Workspace to offer a catalog that includes ThinApp applications, you must install Workspace for Windows.

On Windows XP systems, install all third-party applications and software (except Microsoft .NET Framework) before you install View Agent.

IMPORTANT If you are installing Microsoft .NET Framework, you must install it after you install View Agent.

8 If Horizon Client devices will connect to the virtual machine with the PCoIP display protocol, set the

power option Turn off the display to Never.

If you do not disable this setting, the display will appear to freeze in its last state when power savings mode starts.

9 If Horizon Client devices will connect to the virtual machine with the PCoIP display protocol, go to

Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Performance Settings and change the setting for Visual Effects to Adjust for best performance.

If you instead use the setting called Adjust for best appearance or Let Windows choose what's best for my computer and Windows chooses appearance instead of performance, performance is negatively affected.

10 If a proxy server is used in your network environment, configure network proxy settings.

11 Configure network connection properties.

a Assign a static IP address or specify that an IP address is assigned by a DHCP server.

View does not support link-local (169.254.x.x) addresses for View desktops.

b Set the preferred and alternate DNS server addresses to your Active Directory server address.

12 Join the virtual machine to the Active Directory domain for your remote desktops.

A parent virtual machine that you use for View Composer must either belong to the same Active Directory domain as the domain that the linked-clone desktops will join or be a member of the local WORKGROUP.

13 Configure the Windows firewall to allow Remote Desktop connections to the virtual machine.

14 (Optional) Disable Hot Plug PCI devices.

This step prevents users from accidentally disconnecting the virtual network device (vNIC) from the virtual machine.

15 (Optional) Configure user customization scripts.

What to do next

Install View Agent. See “Install View Agent on a Virtual Machine,” on page 26.

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Chapter 3 Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines

Prepare Windows Server 2008 R2 for Desktop Use

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the steps to install the Desktop Experience feature on Windows Server 2008 R2. See “Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2,” on page 26.

Procedure

1 Verify that the Remote Desktop Services role is not installed.

When the Remote Desktop Services role is not present, the View Agent installer prompts you to confirm that you want to install View Agent in desktop mode. If the Remote Desktop Services role is present, the View Agent installer does not display this prompt and it treats the Windows Server 2008 R2 machine as an RDS host instead of a single-session View desktop.

2 Install Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1).

If you do not install SP1, an error occurs when you install View Agent.

3 (Optional) Install the Desktop Experience feature if you plan to use the following features.

HTML Access

Scanner redirection

Windows Aero

4 (Optional) To use Windows Aero on a Windows Server 2008 R2 desktop, start the Themes service.

When you create or edit a desktop pool, you can configure 3D graphics rendering for your desktops. The 3D Renderer setting offers a Software option that enables users to run Windows Aero on the desktops in the pool.

5 Configure View Administrator to treat Windows Server 2008 R2 as a supported desktop operating

system.

If you do not perform this step, you cannot select Windows Server 2008 R2 machines for desktop use in View Administrator.

a In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Global Settings.

b In the General pane, click Edit.

c Select the Enable Windows Server 2008 R2 desktops check box and click OK.

When you enable Windows Server 2008 R2 desktops in View Administrator, View Administrator displays all available Windows Server 2008 R2 machines, including machines on which View Connection Server is installed, as potential machines for desktop use. You cannot install View Agent on machines on which other View software components are installed.

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Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2

Procedure

1 Log in as an administrator.

2 Start Server Manager.

3 Click Features.

4 Click Add Features.

5 On the Select Features page, select the Desktop Experience checkbox.

6 Review the information about other features that are required by the Desktop Experience feature, and

click Add Required Features.

7 Follow the prompts and finish the installation.

Install View Agent on a Virtual Machine

You must install View Agent on virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server so that View Connection Server can communicate with them. Install View Agent on all virtual machines that you use as templates for automated desktop pools, parents for linked-clone desktop pools, and machines in manual desktop pools.

To install View Agent on multiple Windows virtual machines without having to respond to wizard prompts, you can install View Agent silently. See “Install View Agent Silently,” on page 30.

The View Agent software cannot coexist on the same virtual or physical machine with any other View software component, including a security server, View Connection Server, View Composer, or Horizon Client.

Prerequisites

Prepare the guest operating system for remote desktop deployment. See “Prepare a Guest Operating

System for Remote Desktop Deployment,” on page 23.

To use a Windows Server 2008 R2 virtual machine as a remote desktop (rather than as an RDS host),

perform the steps described in “Prepare Windows Server 2008 R2 for Desktop Use,” on page 25.

Download the View Agent installer file from the VMware product page at

http://www.vmware.com/products/.

Verify that you have administrative rights on the virtual machine.

Familiarize yourself with the View Agent custom setup options. See “View Agent Custom Setup

Options,” on page 27.

Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the View Agent installation program opens on the firewall.

See the View Architecture Planning document for more information.

If you select the View Composer Agent custom setup option, verify that you have a license to use View

Composer.

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Chapter 3 Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines

Procedure

1 To start the View Agent installation program, double-click the installer file.

The installer filename is VMware-viewagent-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe or VMware-viewagent-x86_64-y.y.y-

xxxxxx.exe, where y.y.y is the version number and xxxxxx is the build number.

2 Accept the VMware license terms.

3 If you install View Agent on a Windows Server machine on which the Remote Desktop Session Host

(RDSH) role is not installed, select Install VMware Horizon View Agent in 'desktop mode'.

Selecting this option configures the Windows Server machine as a single-user View desktop rather than as an RDS host. If you intend the machine to function as an RDS host, cancel the View Agent installation, install the RDSH role on the machine, and restart the View Agent installation.

4 Select your custom setup options.

To deploy linked-clone desktops, select the View Composer Agent option.

5 Accept or change the destination folder.

6 Follow the prompts in the View Agent installation program and finish the installation.

NOTE If you did not enable Remote Desktop support during guest operating system preparation, the View Agent installation program prompts you to enable it. If you do not enable Remote Desktop support during View Agent installation, you must enable it manually after the installation is finished.

7 If you selected the USB redirection option, restart the virtual machine to enable USB support.

In addition, the Found New Hardware wizard might start. Follow the prompts in the wizard to configure the hardware before you restart the virtual machine.

The VMware Horizon View Agent service is started on the virtual machine.

If you selected the View Composer Agent option, the VMware Horizon View Composer Guest Agent Server service is started on the virtual machine.

What to do next

If the virtual machine has multiple NICs, configure the subnet that View Agent uses. See “Configure a

Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for View Agent,” on page 35.

View Agent Custom Setup Options

When you install View Agent on a virtual machine, you can select or deselect custom setup options. In addition, View Agent installs certain features automatically on all guest operating systems on which they are supported. These features are not optional.

To learn which features are supported on which guest operating systems, see "Feature Support Matrix for View Agent" in the View Architecture Planning document.

All custom setup options are selected by default except PCoIP Smartcard and Scanner Redirection on Windows Server guest operating systems.

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Table 3‑2. View Agent Custom Setup Options

Option Description

USB Redirection Gives users access to locally connected USB devices on

HTML Access Allows users to connect to View desktops by using

View Composer Agent Lets View Agent run on the linked-clone desktops that are

Real-Time Audio-Video Redirects webcam and audio devices that are connected to

Scanner Redirection Redirects scanning and imaging devices that are connected

Virtual Printing Lets users print to any printer available on their client

vCenter Operations Manager Agent Provides information that allows vCenter Operations

their desktops.

USB redirection is supported on remote desktops that are deployed on single-user machines but is not supported on RDS host-based remote desktops.

NOTE You can use group policy settings to disable USB redirection for specific users.

HTML Access. The HTML Access Agent must be installed on View desktops to allow users to make connections with HTML Access.

deployed from this virtual machine.

the client system so that they can be used on the remote desktop.

to the client system so that they can be used on the remote desktop or application.

This setup option is selected by default on Windows Desktop guest operating systems.

The option is not selected by default on Windows Server guest operating systems. You must select the option to install it.

Scanner redirection is available in Horizon 6.0.2 and later releases.

computers. Users do not have to install additional drivers on their desktops.

In Horizon 6.0.1 and later, virtual printing is supported on the following remote desktops and applications:

Desktops that are deployed on single-user machines,

including Windows Desktop and Windows Server 2008 R2 machines

Desktops that are deployed on RDS hosts, where the

RDS hosts are virtual machines

Hosted Apps

Hosted Apps that are launched from Horizon Client

inside remote desktops

In Horizon 6.0 and earlier, virtual printing is supported on desktops that are deployed on single-user, Windows Desktop machines.

The virtual printing feature is supported only when you install it from View Agent. It is not supported if you install it with VMware Tools.

Manager for View to monitor View desktops.

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Table 3‑2. View Agent Custom Setup Options (Continued)

Option Description

View Persona Management Synchronizes the user profile on the local desktop with a

remote profile repository, so that users have access to their profiles whenever they log in to a desktop.

PCoIP Smartcard Lets users authenticate with smart cards when they use the

PCoIP display protocol. This option is not selected by default.

PCoIP Smartcard is supported on remote desktops that are deployed on single-user machines but is not supported on RDS host-based remote desktops.

Table 3‑3. View Agent Features That Are Installed Automatically (Not Optional)

Feature Description

PCoIP Agent Lets users connect to the View desktop using the PCoIP

display protocol.

Installing the PCoIP Agent feature disables sleep mode on Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista desktops and standby mode on Windows XP desktops. When a user navigates to the Power Options or Shut Down menu, sleep mode or standby mode is inactive. Desktops do not go into sleep or standby mode after a default period of inactivity. Desktops remain in active mode.

NOTE If you install the PCoIP Agent feature on Windows Vista, the Windows group policy Disable or enable

software Secure Attention Sequence is enabled and set to Services and Ease of Access applications. If you change

this setting, single sign-on does not work correctly.

Wyse Multimedia Redirection (MMR) Provide multimedia redirection to Windows XP and

Windows Media Multimedia Redirection (MMR) Extends multimedia redirection to Windows 7 and later

desktops and clients. This feature delivers a multimedia stream directly to the client computer, allowing the multimedia stream to be processed on the client hardware instead of the remote ESXi host.

In Horizon 6.0.2 and later, Windows Media MMR is installed on Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1desktops. In Horizon 6.0.1 and earlier, Win7 Multimedia Redirection is installed on Windows 7 desktops.

Lync Provides support for Microsoft Lync 2013 Client on View

desktops.

Virtual Printing with PCoIP Provides virtual printing over PCoIP. This feature lets

users print to any printer available on their Windows client computers. Users do not have to install additional drivers on their desktops.

Unity Touch Allows tablet and smart phone users to interact easily with

Virtual video driver Provides a virtual video driver on the remote desktop.

Virtual audio driver Provides a virtual audio driver on the remote desktop.

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Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View

Install View Agent Silently

You can use the silent installation feature of the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) to install View Agent on several Windows virtual machines or physical computers. In a silent installation, you use the command line and do not have to respond to wizard prompts.

With silent installation, you can efficiently deploy View components in a large enterprise.

If you do not want to install all features that are installed automatically or by default, you can use the

ADDLOCAL MSI property to selectively install individual setup options and features. For details about the ADDLOCAL property, see Table 3-5.

Prerequisites

Prepare the guest operating system for desktop deployment. See “Prepare a Guest Operating System

for Remote Desktop Deployment,” on page 23.

To use Windows Server 2008 R2 as a single-session remote desktop (rather than as an RDS host),

perform the steps described in “Prepare Windows Server 2008 R2 for Desktop Use,” on page 25.

Download the View Agent installer file from the VMware product page at

http://www.vmware.com/products/.

The installer filename is VMware-viewagent-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe or VMware-viewagent-x86_64-y.y.y-

xxxxxx.exe, where y.y.y is the version number and xxxxxx is the build number.

Verify that you have administrative rights on the virtual machine or physical PC.

Familiarize yourself with the View Agent custom setup options. See “View Agent Custom Setup

Options,” on page 27.

If you select the View Composer Agent custom setup option, verify that you have a license to use View

Composer.

Familiarize yourself with the MSI installer command-line options. See “Microsoft Windows Installer

Command-Line Options,” on page 31.

Familiarize yourself with the silent installation properties available with View Agent. See “Silent

Installation Properties for View Agent,” on page 33.

Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the View Agent installation program opens on the firewall.

See the View Architecture Planning document for more information.

Verify that the latest Windows Update patches are installed on the guest operating systems on which

you plan to install View Agent silently. In certain cases, an interactive installation by an administrator might be required to execute pending Windows Update patches. Verify that all OS operations and subsequent reboots are completed.

Procedure

1 Open a Windows command prompt on the virtual machine or physical PC.

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