Setting Up Virtual

Desktops in Horizon
Console
MAR 2020
VMware Horizon 7 7.12
Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console

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 Contents

1 Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console 9

2 Introduction to Virtual Desktops 10

Virtual Desktop Pools 10
Advantages of Desktop Pools 10
Desktop Pools for Specific Types of Workers 11
Pools for Task Workers 12
Pools for Knowledge Workers and Power Users 13
Pools for Kiosk Users 14
Creating Desktop Pools in Horizon Console 15

3 Creating and Preparing a Virtual Machine for Cloning 17

Creating a Virtual Machine for Cloning 18
Create a Virtual Machine in vSphere 18
Install a Guest Operating System 22
Prepare a Guest Operating System for Remote Desktop Deployment 22
Prepare Windows Server Operating Systems for Desktop Use 24
Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2 26
Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, or 2019 26
Configure the Windows Firewall Service to Restart After Failures 27
Install Horizon Agent on a Virtual Machine 28
Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options 30
Install Horizon Agent Silently 33
Microsoft Windows Installer Command-Line Options 34
Silent Installation Properties for Horizon Agent 37
Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for Horizon Agent 41
Optimize Guest Operating System Performance 41
Disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program 43
Optimizing Windows for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Virtual Machines 44
Benefits of Disabling Windows Services and Tasks 44
Windows Services and Tasks That Cause Disk Growth in Instant Clones and Linked Clones 44
Disable Scheduled Disk Defragmentation on a Windows Parent Virtual Machine 47
Disable Windows Update 47
Disable the Diagnostic Policy Service on Windows Virtual Machines 48
Disable the Prefetch and Superfetch Features on Windows Virtual Machines 48
Disable Windows Registry Backup on Windows Virtual Machines 49
Disable the System Restore on Windows Virtual Machines 49
Disable Windows Defender on Windows Virtual Machines 50

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Disable Microsoft Feeds Synchronization on Windows Virtual Machines 50

Preparing a Parent Virtual Machine 51
Configure a Parent Virtual Machine 51
Activating Windows on Instant Clones and Composer Linked Clones 53
Disable Windows Hibernation in the Parent Virtual Machine 54
Configure Local Storage for Horizon Composer Linked Clones 55
Record the Paging File Size of a Horizon Composer Parent Virtual Machine 55
Increase the Timeout Limit for ClonePrep and QuickPrep Customization Scripts 56
Creating Virtual Machine Templates 57
Creating Customization Specifications 57

4 Creating Instant-Clone Desktop Pools 58

Instant-Clone Desktop Pools 58
Image Publishing and Rebalancing an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool 60
Add an Instant-Clone Domain Administrator in Horizon Console 61
Worksheet for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 62
Create an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool 69
ClonePrep Guest Customization 69
Change the Image of an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 71
Monitor a Push-Image Operation in Horizon Console 72
Reschedule or Cancel a Push-Image Operation in Horizon Console 72
Perform Maintenance on Instant-Clone Hosts 73
Instant-Clone Maintenance Utilities 73
Configure Instant Clones with vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption 77

5 Creating Automated Desktop Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines 79

Worksheet for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines in Horizon Console
79
Create an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines 83
Rebuild a Virtual Machine in a Full-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 84
Desktop Settings for Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines 85
Configure Full Clones with vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption 86

6 Creating Linked-Clone Desktop Pools in Horizon Console 88

Worksheet for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 88
Desktop Pool Settings for Linked-Clone Desktop Pools in Horizon Console 99
Create a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 100
Horizon Composer Support for Linked-Clone SIDs and Third-Party Applications 101
Choosing QuickPrep or Sysprep to Customized Linked-Clone Machines 103
Keeping Linked-Clone Machines Provisioned for Use in Remote Desktop Sessions During Horizon
Composer Operations 107

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7 Creating Manual Desktop Pools in Horizon Console 109

Worksheet for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 109
Create a Manual Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 112
Desktop Pool Settings for Manual Pools in Horizon Console 114

8 Configuring Desktop Pools 116

User Assignment in Desktop Pools in Horizon Console 116
Naming Machines Manually or Providing a Naming Pattern in Horizon Console 117
Manually Customizing Machines 124
Customize Existing Machines in Maintenance Mode in Horizon Console 124
Customize Individual Machines in Horizon Console 125
Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop Pool Types in Horizon Console 125
Configure Desktop Session Timeouts in Horizon Console 129
Setting Power Policies for Desktop Pools 130
Power Policies for Desktop Pools 130
Configure Dedicated Machines To Be Suspended After Users Disconnect 133
How Power Policies Affect Automated Desktop Pools 134
Power Policy Examples for Automated Pools with Floating Assignments 134
Power Policy Example for Automated Pools with Dedicated Assignments 135
Preventing Horizon 7 Power Policy Conflicts 136
Configuring 3D Rendering for Desktops 136
3D Renderer Options 141
Best Practices for Configuring 3D Rendering 143
Preparing for vDGA Capabilities 145
Preparing for NVIDIA GRID vGPU Capabilities 146
Preparing to Use the Capabilities of AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA 148
Configuring AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA 149
Examining GPU Resources on an ESXi Host 150
Prevent Access to Horizon 7 Desktops Through RDP 151
Deploying Large Desktop Pools 152
Configuring Desktop Pools on Clusters With More Than Eight Hosts 152
Assigning Multiple Network Labels to a Desktop Pool 152
Creating Desktop Pools on a Single Host SDDC 153

9 Managing Desktop Pools and Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console 154

Managing Desktop Pools 154
Edit a Desktop Pool 154
Modifying Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool 155
Fixed Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool 157
Disable or Enable a Desktop Pool 158
Disable or Enable Provisioning in a Desktop Pool 158

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Duplicate an Automated Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 159

Delete a Desktop Pool 160
Configure Horizon 7 to Disallow the Deletion of a Desktop Pool That Contains Desktop Machines
161
Managing Virtual Machine-Based Desktops 162
Assign a Machine to a user in Horizon Console 162
Unassign a User from a Dedicated Machine in Horizon Console 163
Customize Existing Machines in Maintenance Mode 163
Delete Virtual-Machine Desktops in Horizon Console 164
Export Horizon 7 Information to External Files in Horizon Console 164

10 Managing Horizon Composer Linked-Clone Desktop Virtual Machines 166

Reduce Linked-Clone Size with Machine Refresh in Horizon Console 166
Machine Refresh Operations 167
Updated Linked-Clone Desktops in Horizon Console 168
Prepare a Parent Virtual Machine to Recompose Linked Clones 168
Recompose Linked-Clone Virtual Machines in Horizon Console 169
Updating Linked Clones with Recomposition 170
Correcting an Unsuccessful Recomposition 171
Rebalance Linked-Clone Virtual Machines in Horizon Console 172
Rebalancing Linked Clones Among Logical Drives 173
Filenames of Linked-Clone Disks After a Rebalance Operation 174
Manage Horizon Composer Persistent Disks 175
Horizon Composer Persistent Disks 175
Detach a Horizon Composer Persistent Disk in Horizon Console 175
Attach a Horizon Composer Persistent Disk to Another Linked Clone in Horizon Console 176
Edit a Horizon Composer Persistent Disk's Pool or User in Horizon Console 177
Recreate a Linked Clone With a Detached Persistent Disk in Horizon Console 178
Restore a Linked Clone in Horizon Console by Importing a Persistent Disk from vSphere 178
Delete a Detached Horizon Composer Persistent Disk in Horizon Console 179

11 Preparing Unmanaged Machines 181

Prepare an Unmanaged Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment 181
Install Horizon Agent on an Unmanaged Machine 182
Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines 183

12 Managing Unmanaged and Registered Machines in Horizon Console 186

Prepare an Unmanaged Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment 186
Install Horizon Agent on an Unmanaged Machine 187
Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines 188
Remove an Unmanaged Machine from a Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 190
Remove Registered Machines in Horizon Console 190

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13 Entitling Users and Groups in Horizon Console 191

Add Entitlements to a Desktop or Application Pool in Horizon Console 191
Remove Entitlements from a Desktop or Application Pool in Horizon Console 192
Review Desktop or Application Pool Entitlements 192
Configuring Shortcuts for Entitled Pools 193
Create Shortcuts for a Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 194

14 Reducing and Managing Storage Requirements 196

Managing Storage with vSphere 196
Using VMware vSAN for High-Performance Storage and Policy-Based Management 198
Default Storage Policy Profiles for vSAN Datastores 200
Using Virtual Volumes for Virtual-Machine-Centric Storage and Policy-Based Management 202
Reducing Storage Requirements with Instant Clones 203
Reducing Storage Requirements with Composer 205
Storing Composer Linked Clones on Local Datastores 206
Storing Replicas and Clones on Separate Datastores for Instant Clones and Composer Linked Clones
208
Availability Considerations for Storing Replicas on a Separate Datastore 209
Storage Sizing for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Desktop Pools 209
Sizing Guidelines for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Pools 210
Sizing Formulas for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Pools 212
Sizing Formulas for Creating Clones When You Edit a Pool or Store Replicas on a Separate
Datastore 213
Storage Overcommit for Linked-Clone Virtual Machines 214
Set the Storage Overcommit Level for Linked-Clone Virtual Machines 215
Composer Linked-Clone Data Disks 216
Configure View Storage Accelerator for Linked Clones 217
Reclaim Disk Space on Linked Clones, Instant Clones, and Automated Farms that Use Non-vSAN
Datastores 219
Reclaim Disk Space on vSAN Datastores 222
Using VAAI Storage for Linked Clones 222
Set Storage Accelerator and Space Reclamation Blackout Times 223

15 Configuring User Profiles with Horizon Persona Management 225

Providing User Personas in Horizon 7 225
Using Horizon Persona Management with Standalone Systems 226
Migrating User Profiles with Horizon Persona Management 227
Horizon Persona Management and Windows Roaming Profiles 231
Configuring a Horizon Persona Management Deployment 231
Overview of Setting Up a Horizon Persona Management Deployment 231
Configure a User Profile Repository 232
Install Horizon Agent with the Horizon Persona Management Option 235

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Install Standalone Horizon Persona Management 235

Add the Horizon Persona Management ADMX Template File 237
Configure Horizon Persona Management Policies 238
Create Desktop Pools That Use Horizon Persona Management 240
Best Practices for Configuring a Horizon Persona Management Deployment 240
Configuring User Profiles to Include ThinApp Sandbox Folders 243
Configuring View Composer Persistent Disks with Horizon Persona Management 243
Manage User Profiles on Standalone Laptops 243
Horizon Persona Management Group Policy Settings 244
Roaming and Synchronization Group Policy Settings 245
Folder Redirection Group Policy Settings 248
Desktop UI Group Policy Settings 252
Logging Group Policy Settings 252
Troubleshooting Group Policy Settings 253

16 Troubleshooting Machines and Desktop Pools 255

Display Problem Machines in Horizon Console 255
Verify User Assignment for Desktop Pools 256
Restart Desktops and Reset Virtual Machines in Horizon Console 257
Send Messages to Desktop Users in Horizon Console 257
Manage Machines and Policies for Unentitled Users in Horizon Console 258

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 1
Setting Up Virtual Desktops in
Horizon Console

Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console describes how to create and provision pools of virtual
machines. It includes information about preparing machines, provisioning desktop pools, and configuring
user profiles with Horizon 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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 2
Introduction to Virtual Desktops

With Horizon 7, you can create desktop pools that include thousands of virtual desktops. You can deploy
desktops that run on virtual machines (VMs) and physical machines. Create one VM as a master image,
and Horizon 7 can generate a pool of virtual desktops from that image. The master image is also known
as a base image or a golden image.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Virtual Desktop Pools

n Advantages of Desktop Pools

n Desktop Pools for Specific Types of Workers

n Creating Desktop Pools in Horizon Console

Virtual Desktop Pools

You can create desktop pools to give users remote access to virtual machine-based desktops. You can
also choose VMware PC-over-IP (PCoIP), or VMware Blast to provide remote access to users.

There are two main types of virtual desktop pools: automated and manual. 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
third-party virtual machines. In automated or manual pools, each machine is available for one user to
access remotely at a time.

Advantages of Desktop Pools

Horizon 7 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:

n A physical system such as a physical desktop PC.

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

n A virtual machine that runs on a virtualization platform other than vCenter Server that supports
Horizon Agent.

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n A session-based desktop on an RDS host. For more information about creating desktop pools from
an RDS host, see the Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon Console document.

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:

n Specify which remote display protocol to use as the default for the remote desktop and whether to let
end users override the default.

n For View Composer linked-clone virtual machines or full clone virtual machines, specify whether to
power off the virtual machine when it is not in use and whether to delete it altogether. Instant clone
virtual machines are always powered on.

n For View Composer linked-clone virtual machines, you can 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. Instant clones require a different customization
specification, called ClonePrep, from VMware.

You can also specify how users are assigned desktops in a pool.

Dedicated-assignment Each user is assigned a particular remote desktop and returns to the same
pools desktop at each login. Dedicated assignment pools require a one-to-one
desktop-to-user relationship. For example, a pool of 100 desktops are
needed for a group of 100 users.

Floating-assignment Using floating-assignment pools also allows you to create a pool of

pools 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. The remote desktop is sometimes deleted and re-created after
each use, offering a highly controlled environment.

Desktop Pools for Specific Types of Workers

Horizon 7 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 or a
stateless desktop. Users who need a stateful desktop 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.

Stateless desktop Also known as nonpersistent desktops, stateless architectures have many
advantages, such as being easier to support and having lower storage

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costs. Other benefits include a limited need to back up the virtual machines
and easier, less expensive disaster recovery and business continuity
options.

Stateful desktop Also known as persistent desktops, these desktops 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 Site Recovery Manager are
important when considering strategies for backup, disaster recovery, and
business continuity.

There are two ways to create stateless desktop images in Horizon 7:

n You can create floating assignment pools or dedicated assignment pools of instant clone virtual
machines. Folder redirection and roaming profiles can optionally be used to store user data.

n You can use View Composer to create floating or dedicated assignment pools of linked clone virtual
machines. Folder redirection and roaming profiles can optionally be used to store user data or
configure persistent disks to persist user data.

There are several ways to create stateful desktop images in Horizon 7:

n You can create full clones or full virtual machines. Some storage vendors have cost-effective storage
solutions for full clones. 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.

n You can create pools of instant-clone or linked-clone virtual machines and use App Volumes user
writable volumes to attach user data and user-installed apps.

Whether you use stateless or stateful desktops depends on the specific type of worker.

Pools for Task Workers

You can standardize on stateless desktop images for task workers so that the image is always in a well-
known, 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 for instant-clone desktop pools:

n For instant clone pools, to optimize resource utilization, use on demand provisioning to grow or shrink
the pool based on usage. Be sure to specify enough spare desktops to satisfy the login rate.

n For instant clone desktop pools, Horizon 7 automatically deletes the instant clone whenever a user
logs out. A new instant clone is created and ready for the next user to log in, thus effectively
refreshing the desktop on every log out.

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Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console

Use the following pool settings for Horizon Composer linked-clone desktop pools:

n For Horizon Composer desktop pools, 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.

n If applicable, and if you use Horizon Composer linked-clone pools, consider storing desktops on local
ESXi data stores. 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 Composer Linked Clones on Local Datastores.

Note For information about other types of storage options, see Chapter 14 Reducing and Managing
Storage Requirements.

n 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 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 Persona Management, an end
user of a floating-assignment desktop cannot tell the difference between their session and a session
on a dedicated-assignment desktop.

Use the following general pool settings for all desktop pools:

n 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.

n 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.

n Create instant-clone or Horizon Composer linked-clone desktops so that desktops share the same
base image and use less storage space in the data center than full virtual machines.

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.

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.

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Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console

Use the following pool settings for instant-clone desktop pools:

n If you use instant clone desktops, implement file share, roaming profile, or another profile
management solution.

Use the following pool settings for Horizon Composer linked-clone desktop pools:

n If you use Horizon Composer with vSphere 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.

n If you use Horizon Composer linked-clone desktops, implement Persona Management, roaming
profiles, or another profile management solution. You can also 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.

n Use the Persona Management feature so that users always have their preferred desktop appearance
and application settings, as with Windows user profiles.

Use the following general pool settings for all desktop pools:

n Some power users and knowledge workers, such as accountants, sales managers, marketing
research analysts, might need to log into the same desktop every time. Create dedicated assignment
pools for them. You can optionally configure dedicated assignment pools to not refresh after the user
logs out.

n Use vStorage thin provisioning so that at first, each desktop uses only as much storage space as the
disk needs for its initial operation.

n For power users and knowledge workers who must install their own applications, which adds data to
the operating system disk, there are two options. One option is to create full virtual machine desktops.

The other option is to create a pool of linked clones or instant clones, and use App Volumes to persist
user-installed applications and user data across logins.

n If knowledge workers do not require user-installed applications except for temporary use, you can
create Horizon Composer linked-clone desktops or instant clone desktops. The desktop images share
the same base image and use less storage space than full virtual machines.

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.

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As a best practice, use dedicated 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 VMware Horizon Console Administration
document.

As part of this setup, you can use the following instant-clone desktop pool settings.

n If you are using instant clone desktop pools, Horizon 7 automatically deletes the instant clone
whenever a user logs out. A new instant clone is created and ready for the next user to log in, thus
effectively refreshing the desktop on every log out.

As part of this setup, you can use the following View Composer linked-clone desktop pool settings.

n If you are using View Composer linked-clone desktops, institute a refresh policy so that the desktop is
refreshed frequently, such as at every user logoff.

n 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 Composer Linked Clones on Local
Datastores. Instant clone pools are not supported on local data stores.

Note For information about other types of storage options, see Chapter 14 Reducing and Managing
Storage Requirements.

As part of this setup, you can use the following general settings for all desktop pools.

n 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.

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

n Create instant-clone or linked-clone desktops so that desktops share the same base image and use
less storage space in the data center than full virtual machines.

n 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 (ADMX) templates, see Configuring Remote Desktop Features in Horizon
7.

n Use a GPO or Smart Policies to control whether local USB devices are connected to the desktop
when the desktop is launched or when USB devices are plugged in to the client computer.

Creating Desktop Pools in Horizon Console

In Horizon 7, you create pools of machines and select settings that give all the machines in a pool a
common desktop definition. Horizon 7 can then deliver the desktops to clients. Horizon 7 can deploy

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Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console

desktops from single-user machines, which can be virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server,
virtual machines that run on another virtualization platform, or physical computers.

In Horizon Console, you can create instant-clone desktop pools or automated desktop pools that contain
full virtual machines.

Horizon 7 can also deploy session-based desktops from Remote Desktop Session (RDS) hosts. For more
information about session-based desktops, see the Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in
Horizon Console document.

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 3
Creating and Preparing a Virtual
Machine for Cloning

You can create a pool of desktop machines by cloning a vCenter Server virtual machine (VM). Before you
create the desktop pool, you need to prepare and configure this VM, which will be the parent, or master
image of the clones.

For information about preparing machines that are used as Remote Desktop Services (RDS) hosts, see
the Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon Console guide.

For information about preparing Linux VMs for remote desktop deployment, see the Setting Up Horizon 7
for Linux Desktops guide.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Creating a Virtual Machine for Cloning

n Install Horizon Agent on a Virtual Machine

n Install Horizon Agent Silently

n Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for Horizon Agent

n Optimize Guest Operating System Performance

n Disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program

n Optimizing Windows for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Virtual Machines

n Preparing a Parent Virtual Machine

n Creating Virtual Machine Templates

n Creating Customization Specifications

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Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console

Creating a Virtual Machine for Cloning

The first step in the process of deploying a pool of cloned desktops is to create a virtual machine in
vSphere, install and configure the operating system.

Procedure

1 Create a Virtual Machine in vSphere

You can create a virtual machine in vSphere from scratch or by cloning an existing VM. This
procedure describes creating a VM from scratch.

2 Install a Guest Operating System

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

3 Prepare a Guest Operating System for Remote Desktop Deployment

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

4 Prepare Windows Server Operating Systems for Desktop Use

To use a Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows
Server 2016, or Windows Server 2019 virtual machine as a single-session virtual desktop (rather
than as an RDS host), you must perform certain steps before you install Horizon Agent in the virtual
machine. You must also configure Horizon Console to treat Windows Servers as supported
operating systems for Horizon 7 desktop use.

5 Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2

For published desktops and applications, and for virtual 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.

6 Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, or 2019
For published desktops and applications, and for virtual 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.

7 Configure the Windows Firewall Service to Restart After Failures

Some Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 2016, Windows 2019, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10
machines that are deployed as single-session desktops do not become available immediately after
they are provisioned. This issue occurs when the Windows Firewall service does not restart after its
timeout period expires. You can configure the Windows Firewall service on the parent (master
image) or template virtual machine to ensure that all machines in a desktop pool become available.

Create a Virtual Machine in vSphere

You can create a virtual machine in vSphere from scratch or by cloning an existing VM. This procedure
describes creating a VM from scratch.

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Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console

Prerequisites

n Familiarize yourself with the custom configuration parameters for virtual machines. See Virtual
Machine Custom Configuration Parameters.

Procedure

1 Log in to vSphere Client.

2 Right-click any inventory object that is a valid parent object of a virtual machine, such as a data
center, folder, cluster, resource pool, or host, and select New Virtual Machine.

3 Select Create a new virtual machine and click Next.

4 Follow the prompts to specify the virtual machine custom options.

5 On the Customize hardware page, select Virtual Hardware to configure hardware settings.

a Click Add New Device and select a CD/DVD drive, set the media type to use an ISO image file,
select the ISO image file of an appropriate operating system, and select Connect at power on.

6 On the Customize hardware page, select VM Options to configure virtual machine settings.

a (Optional) In the Boot Options, set Boot Delay to 10,000 milliseconds.

You can set the boot delay to easily access the virtual machine's BIOS on boot and modify the
system settings. After you modify the system settings, you can reboot the boot delay.

7 Click Finish to create the virtual machine.

What to do next

Install the operating system.

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.

Table 3-1. Custom Configuration Parameters

Parameter Description and Recommendations

Name and Folder 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.

Host/Cluster 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.

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

Datastore The location of files associated with the virtual machine.

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Table 3-1. Custom Configuration Parameters (continued)

Parameter Description and Recommendations

Hardware Machine Version 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 Horizon 7 features require
minimum hardware machine versions.

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

CPUs The number of virtual processors in the virtual machine.

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

Memory The amount of memory to allocate to the virtual machine.

In most cases, 512MB is sufficient.

Network 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 Horizon Agent on a virtual machine that has more than one NIC, you
must configure the subnet that Horizon Agent uses. See Configure a Virtual Machine
with Multiple NICs for Horizon Agent for more information.

Important For Windows 7, Windows 8.*, Windows 10, Windows Server 2008 R2, and
Windows Server 2012 R2 operating systems, you must select the VMXNET 3 network
adapter. Using the default E1000 adapter can cause customization timeout errors on
virtual machines.

SCSI Controller The type of SCSI adapter to use with the virtual machine.
For Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 7 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.

Select a Disk 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.

Create a Virtual Machine with Virtualization-Based Security

You can create a virtual machine in vSphere to use Virtualization-based security (VBS). Using a virtual
machine enabled with VBS provides better protection from vulnerabilities within and malicious exploits to
the operating system.

Prerequisites

n Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit) or Windows Server 2016 (64-bit) operating system.

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n Familiarize yourself with the custom configuration parameters for virtual machines. See Virtual
Machine Custom Configuration Parameters.

Note When you enable a virtual machine to use VBS, you can only deploy automated desktop pools that
contain full virtual machines or instant clones. VBS is not supported for vGPU enabled virtual machines.
URL redirection and scanner redirection might not work properly with VBS enabled.

Procedure

1 Log in to vSphere Client.

2 Right-click any inventory object that is a valid parent object of a virtual machine, such as a data
center, folder, cluster, resource pool, or host, and select New Virtual Machine.

3 Select Create a new virtual machine and click Next.

4 Follow the prompts to specify the virtual machine custom options.

5 On the Select a guest OS page, select Windows as the guest OS and select Microsoft Windows 10
(64-bit) as the guest OS version. Then, select Enable Windows Virtualization Based Security.

6 To deploy automated desktop pools that contain full virtual machines or instant clones, on the
Customize hardware page, verify that you do not add any Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) device.
Connection Server adds a vTPM device to each virtual machine during the desktop pool creation
process.

7 Follow the prompts to complete the virtual machine setup and click Finish to create the virtual
machine.

What to do next

n Install the Windows 10 (64-bit) or Windows Server 2016 (64-bit) operating system on the virtual
machine.

n On Windows 10 1803 builds, enable the VBS group policy. For more information, consult the article
"Enable virtualization-based protection of code integrity" in the Microsoft documentation. Then reboot
the virtual machine.

n Windows 10 versions earlier than 1803 and Windows Server 2016 require Hyper-V features to be
enabled for VBS. To enable Hyper-V features, navigate to Windows Features and enable Hyper-V >
Hyper-V-Platform > Hyper-V-Hypervisor. Then enable the VBS group policy. Hyper-V adds a virtual
switch to the virtual machine so that the virtual machine can acquire additional IP from a different IP
range. When Horizon Agent is installed on a virtual machine that has more than one NIC, you must
configure the subnet that Horizon Agent uses. The subnet determines which network address Horizon
Agent provides to the Connection Server instance for client protocol connections. See Configure a
Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for Horizon Agent

n On Windows Server 2016, enable the VBS group policy, install the Hyper-V role and reboot the virtual
machine.

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Install a Guest Operating System

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

Prerequisites

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

n 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.

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 Activate Windows.

What to do next

Prepare the guest operating system for Horizon 7 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

n Create a virtual machine and install a guest operating system.

n Configure an Active Directory domain controller for your remote desktops. See the Horizon 7
Installation document for more information.

n 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 Horizon 7
Installation document for more information.

n Verify that Remote Desktop Services are started on the virtual machine. Remote Desktop Services
are required for Horizon Agent installation, SSO, and other Horizon 7 operations. You can disable
RDP access to your Horizon 7 desktops by configuring desktop pool settings and group policy
settings. See Prevent Access to Horizon 7 Desktops Through RDP.

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

n On Windows Server operating systems, prepare the operating system for desktop use. See Prepare
Windows Server Operating Systems for Desktop Use.

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n 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 Horizon Agent. Virtual
printing is not supported if you install it with VMware Tools.

4 Ensure that the virtual machine is synchronized to a reliable time source.

In general, guests can use the VMware Tools time synchronization method in preference to other
methods of time synchronization. The VMware Tools online help provides information on configuring
time synchronization between guest and host.

A Windows guest that is a member of a Windows domain synchronizes its time with its domain
controller using the Windows Time Service. For these guests, this is the appropriate time
synchronization method and VMware Tools time synchronization must not be used.

Guests must use only one method of time synchronization. For example, a Windows guest that is not
a member of a Windows domain must have its Windows Time Service disabled.

Important Hosts that are being relied upon for time synchronization must themselves be
synchronized to a reliable time source, using the built-in NTP client. Verify that all hosts in a cluster
use the same time source.

Note Windows domain controllers can use either VMware Tools time synchronization or another
reliable time source. All domain controllers within a forest and domain controllers across forests with
inter-forest trusts must be configured to use the same time source.

5 Install service packs and updates.

6 Install antivirus software.

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

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

Important If you are installing Microsoft .NET Framework, you must install it after you install Horizon
Agent.

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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.

Horizon 7 does not support link-local (169.254.x.x) addresses for Horizon 7 desktops.

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

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

A parent or master image virtual machine for creating instant clones or Composer linked clones must
either belong to the same Active Directory domain as the domain that the desktop machines will join
or be a member of a workgroup.

13 Configure 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.

Prepare Windows Server Operating Systems for Desktop Use

To use a Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server
2016, or Windows Server 2019 virtual machine as a single-session virtual desktop (rather than as an
RDS host), you must perform certain steps before you install Horizon Agent in the virtual machine. You
must also configure Horizon Console to treat Windows Servers as supported operating systems for
Horizon 7 desktop use.

Prerequisites

n Familiarize yourself with the steps to install the Desktop Experience feature on Windows Server 2008
R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, or Windows Server
2019. See Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Install Desktop Experience on
Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, or 2019.

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n On Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, or Windows Server 2019 machines, familiarize
yourself with the steps to configure the Windows Firewall service to restart after failures occur. See
Configure the Windows Firewall Service to Restart After Failures.

Procedure

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

When the Remote Desktop Services role is not present, the Horizon Agent installer prompts you to
install Horizon Agent in RDS mode or desktop mode. If the Remote Desktop Services role is present,
the Horizon Agent installer does not display these options and it treats the Windows Server machine
as an RDS host instead of a single-session Horizon 7 desktop.

2 During Horizon Agent installation, select Desktop mode to install Horizon Agent as a single-user
virtual desktop where published desktop features will not be available.

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

If you do not install SP1 with Windows Server 2008 R2, an error occurs when you install Horizon
Agent.

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

n HTML Access

n Scanner redirection

n Windows Aero

5 (Optional) To use Windows Aero on a Windows Server 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.

6 On Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, or Windows Server 2019 machines, configure
the Windows Firewall service to restart after failures occur.

7 Configure Horizon Console to treat Windows Servers as supported desktop operating systems.

If you do not perform this step, you cannot select Windows Server machines for desktop use in
Horizon Console.
a In Horizon Console, select Settings > Global Settings.

b In the General Settings tab, click Edit.

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

Results

When you enable Windows Server desktops in Horizon Console, Horizon Console displays all available
Windows Server machines, including machines on which Connection Server is installed, as potential
machines for desktop use. You cannot install Horizon Agent on machines on which other Horizon 7
software components are installed.

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Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2

For published desktops and applications, and for virtual 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.

To use a Windows Server virtual machine as an RDS host, see #unique_25.

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 Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2,

2016, or 2019
For published desktops and applications, and for virtual 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.

Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019 are
supported on machines that are used as RDS hosts. Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016,
and Windows Server 2019 is supported on single-user virtual machines.

Note A Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019 installation with the Desktop Experience option,
installs the standard user interface and all tools, including the client experience and the desktop
experience features. For Windows Server 2012 RS, the client experience and desktop experience
features require a separate installation. For Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019 installation,
select Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019 or Windows Server (Server with Desktop
Experience). If you do not make a choice in the Setup wizard, Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server
2019 is installed as the Server Core installation option. You cannot switch between the installation
options. If you install Windows Server (Server with Desktop Experience), and later decide to use
Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019, you must perform a fresh installation of Windows
Server 2016 or Windows Server 2019.

Procedure

1 Log in as an administrator.

2 Start Server Manager.

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3 Select Add roles and features.

4 On the Select Installation Type page, select Role-based or feature-based installation.

5 On the Select Destination Server page, select a server.

6 On the Select Server Roles page, accept the default selection and click Next.

7 On the Select Features page, under User Interfaces and Infrastructure, select Desktop
Experience.

8 Follow the prompts and finish the installation.

Configure the Windows Firewall Service to Restart After Failures

Some Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 2016, Windows 2019, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10
machines that are deployed as single-session desktops do not become available immediately after they
are provisioned. This issue occurs when the Windows Firewall service does not restart after its timeout
period expires. You can configure the Windows Firewall service on the parent (master image) or template
virtual machine to ensure that all machines in a desktop pool become available.

If you encounter this issue during provisioning, the Windows event logs display the following error: The
Windows Firewall service terminated with the following service-specific error: This
operation returned because the timeout period expired.

This issue occurs on Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 2016, Windows 2019, Windows 8.1, and
Windows 10 machines. Other guest operating systems are not affected.

Procedure

1 On the Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 2016, Windows 2019, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10
parent (master image) or template virtual machine from which you will deploy a desktop pool, select
Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

2 In the Services dialog box, right-click the Windows Firewall service and select Properties.

3 In the Windows Firewall Properties dialog box, click the Recovery tab.

4 Select the recovery settings to restart the service after a failure occurs.

Setting Drop-down Menu Option

First failure: Restart the Service

Second failure: Restart the Service

Subsequent failures: Restart the Service

5 Select the Enable actions for stops with errors check box and click OK.

6 Deploy or redeploy the desktop pool from the parent (master image) or template virtual machine.

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Install Horizon Agent on a Virtual Machine

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

To install Horizon Agent on multiple Windows virtual machines without having to respond to wizard
prompts, you can install Horizon Agent silently. See Install Horizon Agent Silently.

The Horizon Agent software cannot coexist on the same virtual or physical machine with other Horizon
software components, including security server, Connection Server, and Composer. It can coexist with
Horizon Client.

Prerequisites

n Verify that you have prepared Active Directory. See the Horizon 7 Installation document.

n Prepare the guest operating system for remote desktop deployment. See Prepare a Guest Operating
System for Remote Desktop Deployment.

n To use a Windows Server virtual machine as a single-session virtual desktop (rather than as an RDS
host), perform the steps described in Prepare Windows Server Operating Systems for Desktop Use.
To use a Windows Server virtual machine as an RDS host, see Prepare Windows Server Operating
Systems for Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Host Use in the Setting Up Published Desktops and
Applications in Horizon 7 Console document.

n If the machine has the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package installed, verify that the version
of the package is 2005 SP1 or later. If the package version is 2005 or earlier, you can either upgrade
or uninstall the package.

n If you are installing the Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business component on a Windows 7 VM,
verify that you have .Net 4.0 or later installed.

n Download the Horizon Agent installer file from the VMware product page at http://
www.vmware.com/go/downloadview.

n Verify that you have administrative rights on the virtual machine.

n Familiarize yourself with the Horizon Agent custom setup options. See Horizon Agent Custom Setup
Options .

n Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the Horizon Agent installation program opens on the
firewall. See the Horizon 7 Architecture Planning document for more information.

n Verify that you have a minimum of 2 CPUs to install or upgrade Horizon Agent from versions 7.x or
later.

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n If you are installing Horizon Agent on an LSA enabled machine, use PowerShell to verify that the
credential guard and LSA protected mode are enabled on the system.

Note Horizon Agent installer version 7.11 supports LSA enabled machines. If you try to install
Horizon Agent version 7.9 or older on an LSA enabled machine, the installer will roll back the
installation process and the installation will fail. If you want to upgrade from Horizon Agent version 7.9
or older where LSA protection is enabled on the system, you must first disable LSA protection before
running the Horizon Agent installer. If you cannot disable LSA protection on the system, then contact
VMware Technical Support for a workaround.

Procedure

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

The installer filename is VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-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 Horizon Agent on a Windows Server machine on which the Remote Desktop Session
Host (RDSH) role is not installed, the Horizon Agent installer prompts you to install Horizon Agent in
RDS mode or Desktop mode. If the RDSH role is already installed on the system, by default the
Horizon Agent installer will install Horizon Agent in RDS mode.

n If you select RDS mode, the installer will install the Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) role
and/or the Desktop Experience role and prompt you to restart the system. After the roles are
installed and the system is restarted, launch the installer again to continue installing Horizon
Agent in RDS mode.

n If you select Desktop mode, the installer will install Horizon Agent as a single-user virtual
desktop where published desktop features will not be available.

4 Select the Internet Protocol (IP) version, IPv4 or IPv6.

You must install all Horizon 7 components with the same IP version.

5 Select whether to enable or disable FIPS mode.

This option is available only if FIPS mode is enabled in Windows.

6 Select your custom setup options.

To deploy View Composer linked-clone desktops, select the VMware Horizon View Composer
Agent option. To deploy instant-clone desktops, select the VMware Horizon Instant Clone Agent
option. You cannot select both of these options.

7 Accept or change the destination folder.

8 Follow the prompts in the Horizon Agent installation program and finish the installation.

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

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9 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.

What to do next

If the virtual machine has multiple NICs, configure the subnet that Horizon Agent uses. See Configure a
Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for Horizon Agent.

Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options

When you install Horizon Agent on a virtual machine, you can select or deselect custom setup options. In
addition, Horizon 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
Horizon Agent" in the Horizon 7 Architecture Planning document.

To change custom setup options after you install the latest Horizon Agent version, you must uninstall and
reinstall Horizon Agent. For patches and upgrades, you can run the new Horizon Agent installer and
select a new set of options without uninstalling the previous version.

All custom setup options are selected by default except USB Redirection, Scanner Redirection,
Smartcard Redirection, Serial Port Redirection, Flash Redirection, Skype for Business, VMware Horizon
Instant Clone Agent, HTML5 Multimedia Redirection, Horizon Performance Tracker, VMware Virtual Print,
and SDO Sensor Redirection.

Table 3-2. Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options in an IPv4 Environment

Option Description

Core Installs the core functionality.

USB Redirection Gives users access to locally connected USB devices on their desktops.
This option is not selected by default. You must select the option to install it.
For guidance about using USB redirection securely, see the Horizon 7 Security document. For
example, you can use group policy settings to disable USB redirection for specific users.
For information about using the USB redirection feature, and USB device type limitations, see "Using
USB Devices with Remote Desktops and Applications" in the Configuring Remote Desktop Features
in Horizon 7 document.

Real-Time Audio-Video Redirects webcam and audio devices that are connected to the client system so that they can be
used on the remote desktop.

Client Drive Redirection Allows Horizon Client users to share local drives with their remote desktops.
After this option is installed, no further configuration is required on the remote desktop.
Client Drive Redirection is also supported on published desktops and published applications and on
virtual desktops that run on unmanaged machines.

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Table 3-2. Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options in an IPv4 Environment (continued)
Option Description

Virtual Printing Lets users print to any printer available on their client computers. Users do not have to install
additional drivers on their desktops.
Virtual printing is supported on the following remote desktops and applications:
n Desktops that are deployed on single-user machines, including Windows desktop and Windows
server machines
n Published desktops and published applications that are deployed on RDS hosts, where the RDS
hosts are virtual machines or physical machines
n Published applications that are launched from Horizon Client inside remote desktops (nested
sessions).
The virtual printing feature is supported only when you install it from Horizon Agent. It is not
supported if you install it with VMware Tools.
If you select this option, you cannot select VMware Integrated Printing.

Help Desk Plugin for You must have a Horizon Enterprise edition license or Horizon Apps Advanced edition license for
Horizon Agent Horizon 7 to use the Help Desk Tool. This option is installed and enabled by default.

vRealize Operations Provides information that allows vRealize Operations Manager to monitor remote desktops.
Desktop Agent

VMware Horizon 7 Persona Synchronizes the user profile on the local desktop with a remote profile repository, so that users have
Management access to their profiles whenever they log in to a desktop.

Scanner Redirection Redirects scanning and imaging devices that are connected to the client system so that they can be
used on the remote desktop or application.
This option is not selected by default. You must select the option to install it.

VMware Client IP Enables remote connections to Internet Explorer to use the client's IP address instead of the remote
Transparency desktop machine's IP address.
This setup option is not selected by default. You must select the option to install it.

Smartcard Redirection Lets users authenticate with smart cards when they use the PCoIP or VMware Blast display protocol.
This option is not selected by default.
Smartcard Redirection is supported on remote desktops that are deployed on single-user machines.

Serial Port Redirection Redirects serial COM ports that are connected to the client system so that they can be used on the
remote desktop.
This option is not selected by default. You must select the option to install it.

VMware Audio Provides a virtual audio driver on the remote desktop.

Flash Redirection Redirects Flash multimedia content in an Internet Explorer 9, 10, or 11 browser to the client, for
performance optimization.

URL Content Redirection Redirects URL content in an Internet Explorer 9, 10, or 11 browser from client-to-client, for
performance optimization.

VMware Horizon View Lets this virtual machine be the parent virtual machine of a View Composer linked-clone desktop
Composer Agent pool. If you select this option, you cannot select the VMware Horizon Instant Clone Agent option.

VMware Horizon Instant Lets this virtual machine be the parent virtual machine of an instant-clone desktop pool. This option is
Clone Agent not selected by default. If you select this option, you cannot select the VMware Horizon View
Composer Agent option.

Fingerprint Scanner Redirects fingerprint scanner devices that are plugged into a serial port on a Windows client system
Redirection to virtual desktops, published desktops, and published applications.

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Table 3-2. Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options in an IPv4 Environment (continued)
Option Description

VMware Virtualization Pack Makes optimized audio and video calls with Skype for Business inside a virtual desktop. This option is
for Skype for Business not selected by default. You must select the option to install it.

Horizon Performance Monitors the performance of the display protocol and system resource usage. This option is not
Tracker selected by default. You must select the option to install it. .NET Framework 4.0 or later is required if
you install Horizon Performance Tracker.

VMware Integrated Printing Enables users to print to any printer available on their client machines. Location-based printing is
supported.
VMware Integrated Printing is supported on the following remote desktops and applications:
n Desktops that are deployed on single-user machines, including Windows desktop and Windows
server machines
n Published desktops and published applications that are deployed on RDS hosts, where the RDS
hosts are virtual machines or physical machines
This option is not selected by default. You must select the option to install it. If you select this option,
you cannot select Virtual Printing.

SDO Sensor Redirection Enables the Simple Device Orientation (SDO) sensor redirection feature. This option is not selected
by default. You must select the option to install it.

Geolocation Redirection Enables the Geolocation Redirection feature. This option is not selected by default. You must select
this option to install it.

In an IPv6 environment, Core, VMware Horizon View Composer Agent, Virtual Printing, and VMware
Audio options are selected and installed by default.

Table 3-3. Horizon Agent Features That Are Installed Automatically (Not Optional)
Feature Description

PCoIP Agent Lets users use the PCoIP display protocol to connect to the remote desktop.
Installing the PCoIP Agent feature disables sleep mode on Windows 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.

Windows Media Multimedia Extends multimedia redirection to Windows 7 and later desktops and clients. This feature
Redirection (MMR) 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.

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

VMware Blast Installs the VMware Blast display protocol on remote desktops.

Core Installs the core functionality.

PSG Agent Installs the PCoIP Secure Gateway on remote desktops to implement the PCoIP display
protocol.

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Table 3-3. Horizon Agent Features That Are Installed Automatically (Not Optional)
(continued)
Feature Description

HTML5 Multimedia Redirection Redirects HTML5 multimedia content in a Chrome or Edge browser to the client, for
performance optimization.

Browser Redirection Renders a website on the client system instead of the agent system, and displays the website
over the remote browser's viewport, when a user uses the Chrome browser in a remote
desktop.

Install Horizon Agent Silently

You can use the silent installation feature of the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) to install Horizon 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. A silent upgrade uses the same install commands.

With silent installation, you can efficiently deploy Horizon 7 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. MSI Command-Line Options and MSI Properties.

Prerequisites

n Verify that you have prepared Active Directory. See the Horizon 7 Installation document.

n Prepare the guest operating system for desktop deployment. See Prepare a Guest Operating System
for Remote Desktop Deployment.

n To use Windows Server as a single-session remote desktop or as an RDSH host, perform the steps
described in Prepare Windows Server Operating Systems for Desktop Use.

Note The Horizon Agent installer does not automatically install any role in silent mode. If you want
RDS mode, then pre-install the RDSH role on the system.

n If the machine has the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package installed, verify that the version
of the package is 2005 SP1 or later. If the package version is 2005 or earlier, you can either upgrade
or uninstall the package.

n Download the Horizon Agent installer file from the VMware product page at http://
www.vmware.com/go/downloadview.

The installer filename is VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe, where y.y.y is the

version number and xxxxxx is the build number.

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

n Familiarize yourself with the Horizon Agent custom setup options. See Horizon Agent Custom Setup
Options .

n Familiarize yourself with the MSI installer command-line options. See Microsoft Windows Installer
Command-Line Options.

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n Familiarize yourself with the silent installation properties available with Horizon Agent. See Silent
Installation Properties for Horizon Agent.

n Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the Horizon Agent installation program opens on the
firewall. See the Horizon 7 Architecture Planning document for more information.

n Verify that the latest Windows Update patches are installed on the guest operating systems on which
you plan to install Horizon 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.

2 Type the installation command on one line.

The following example installs Horizon Agent with the components Core, VMware Blast, PCoIP, Unity
Touch, VmVideo, PSG, View Composer Agent, Virtual Printing, USB redirection, and Real-Time
Audio-Video components.

VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT=1

ADDLOCAL=Core,SVIAgent,ThinPrint,USB,RTAV"
The following example installs Horizon Agent on an unmanaged computer and registers the desktop
with the specified View Connection Server, cs1.companydomain.com. In addition, the installer installs
the Core, VMware Blast, PCoIP, Unity Touch, VmVideo, PSG, Virtual Printing, and USB redirection
components.

VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT=0

VDM_SERVER_NAME=cs1.companydomain.com VDM_SERVER_USERNAME=admin.companydomain.com
VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD=secret ADDLOCAL=Core,ThinPrint,USB"
If you install Horizon Agent on a Windows Server machine, and you intend to configure the machine
as a single-user View desktop rather than as an RDS host, you must include the
VDM_FORCE_DESKTOP_AGENT=1 property in the installation command. This requirement applies to
machines that are managed by vCenter Server and unmanaged machines.

What to do next

If the virtual machine has multiple NICs, configure the subnet that Horizon Agent uses. See Configure a
Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for Horizon Agent.

Microsoft Windows Installer Command-Line Options

To install Horizon 7 components silently, you must use Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) command-line
options and properties. The Horizon 7 component installers are MSI programs and use standard MSI
features.

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For details about MSI, see the Microsoft Web site. For MSI command-line options, see the Microsoft
Developer Network (MSDN) Library Web site and search for MSI command-line options. To see MSI
command-line usage, you can open a command prompt on the Horizon 7 component computer and type
msiexec /?.

To run a Horizon 7 component installer silently, you begin by silencing the bootstrap program that extracts
the installer into a temporary directory and starts an interactive installation.

At the command line, you must enter command-line options that control the installer's bootstrap program.

Table 3-4. Command-Line Options for a Horizon 7 Component's Bootstrap Program

Option Description

/s Disables the bootstrap splash screen and extraction dialog, which prevents the display of
interactive dialogs.
For example: VMware-viewconnectionserver-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s
The /s option is required to run a silent installation.

/v" Instructs the installer to pass the double-quote-enclosed string that you enter at the command
MSI_command_line_options" line as a set of options for MSI to interpret. You must enclose your command-line entries
between double quotes. Place a double quote after the /v and at the end of the command
line.
For example: VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /
v"command_line_options"
To instruct the MSI installer to interpret a string that contains spaces, enclose the string in two
sets of double quotes. For example, you might want to install the Horizon 7 component in an
installation path name that contains spaces.
For example: VMware-viewconnectionserver-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /
v"command_line_options INSTALLDIR=""d:\abc\my folder"""
In this example, the MSI installer passes on the installation-directory path and does not
attempt to interpret the string as two command-line options. Note the final double quote that
encloses the entire command line.
The /v"command_line_options" option is required to run a silent installation.

You control the remainder of a silent installation by passing command-line options and MSI property
values to the MSI installer, msiexec.exe. The MSI installer includes the Horizon 7 component's
installation code. The installer uses the values and options that you enter in the command line to interpret
installation choices and setup options that are specific to the Horizon 7 component.

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Table 3-5. MSI Command-Line Options and MSI Properties

MSI Option or
Property Description

/qn Instructs the MSI installer not to display the installer wizard pages.
For example, you might want to install Horizon Agent silently and use only default setup options and
features:
VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn"
Alternatively, you can use the /qb option to display a basic progress dialog box in a noninteractive,
automated installation.
The /qn or /qb option is required to run a silent installation.
For information about additional /q parameters, see the Microsoft Dev Center website.

INSTALLDIR Specifies an alternative installation path for the Horizon 7 component.

Use the format INSTALLDIR=path to specify an installation path. You can ignore this MSI property if you
want to install the Horizon 7 component in the default path.
This MSI property is optional.

ADDLOCAL Determines the component-specific options to install.

In an interactive installation, the Horizon 7 installer displays custom setup options that you can select or
deselect. In a silent installation, you can use the ADDLOCAL property to selectively install individual setup
options by specifying the options on the command line. Options that you do not explicitly specify are not
installed.
In both interactive and silent installations, the Horizon 7 installer automatically installs certain features.
You cannot use ADDLOCAL to control whether or not to install these non-optional features.
Type ADDLOCAL=ALL to install all custom setup options that can be installed during an interactive
installation, including those that are installed by default and those that you must select to install, except
NGVC. NGVC and SVIAgent are mutually exclusive.
The following example installs Core, BlastProtocol, PCoIP, UnityTouch, VmVideo, PSG, and all features
that are supported on the guest operating system: VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-y.y.y-
xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn ADDLOCAL=ALL"
If you do not use the ADDLOCAL property, the custom setup options that are installed by default and the
automatically installed features are installed. Custom setup options that are off (unselected) by default are
not installed.
The following example installs Core, BlastProtocol, PCoIP, UnityTouch, VmVideo, PSG, and the on-by-
default custom setup options that are supported on the guest operating system: VMware-Horizon-
Agent-x86-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn"
To specify individual setup options, type a comma-separated list of setup option names. Do not use
spaces between names. Use the format ADDLOCAL=value,value,value....
You must include Core when you use the ADDLOCAL=value,value,value... property.
The following example installs Horizon Agent with the Core, BlastProtocol, PCoIP, UnityTouch, VmVideo,
PSG, Instant Clone Agent, and Virtual Printing features:
VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn ADDLOCAL=Core,NGVC,ThinPrint"
The preceding example does not install other components, even those that are installed by default
interactively.
The ADDLOCAL MSI property is optional.

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Table 3-5. MSI Command-Line Options and MSI Properties (continued)

MSI Option or
Property Description

REBOOT You can use the REBOOT=ReallySuppress option to allow system configuration tasks to complete before
the system reboots.
This MSI property is optional.

/l*v log_file Writes logging information into the specified log file with verbose output.
For example: /l*v ""%TEMP%\vmmsi.log""
This example generates a detailed log file that is similar to the log generated during an interactive
installation.
You can use this option to record custom features that might apply uniquely to your installation. You can
use the recorded information to specify installation features in future silent installations.
The /l*v option is optional.

Silent Installation Properties for Horizon Agent

You can include specific properties when you silently install Horizon Agent from the command line. You
must use a PROPERTY=value format so that Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) can interpret the properties
and values. A silent upgrade uses the same install commands.

The following table shows the Horizon Agent silent installation properties that you can use at the
command-line.

Table 3-6. MSI Properties for Silently Installing Horizon Agent

MSI Property Description Default Value

INSTALLDIR Path and folder in which the Horizon Agent software is installed. %ProgramFiles%
For example: \VMware\VMware View
INSTALLDIR=""D:\abc\my folder"" \Agent

The sets of two double quotes that enclose the path permit the MSI
installer to ignore the space in the path.
This MSI property is optional.

RDP_CHOICE Determines whether to enable Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) on 1

the desktop.
A value of 1 enables RDP. A value of 0 leaves the RDP setting
disabled.
This MSI property is optional.

SUPPRESS_RUNONCE_CHECK Ignores pending Windows Update tasks scheduled at the next None
operating system reboot in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\RunOnce and RunOnceEx keys. Using this flag
allows concurrent installation but does not guarantee the
installation outcome when the system updates affect the Horizon
Agent run-time dependencies.
This MSI property is optional.

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Table 3-6. MSI Properties for Silently Installing Horizon Agent (continued)
MSI Property Description Default Value

URL_FILTERING_ENABLED Specifies whether the URL Content Redirection feature is installed. 0

A value of 1 installs the feature. You must use group policy settings
to configure which URLs to redirect. See "Configuring URL Content
Redirection in the Configuring Remote Desktop Features in
Horizon 7 document.
This MSI property is optional.

VDM_SKIP_BROKER_REGISTRATION A value of 1 skips unmanaged desktops. None

VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT Determines whether vCenter Server manages the virtual machine None
on which Horizon Agent is installed.
A value of 1 configures the desktop as a vCenter Server-managed
virtual machine.
A value of 0 configures the desktop as unmanaged by vCenter
Server.
This MSI property is required.

Note The installer repair option is not supported for an

unmanaged installation. Repairing such an installation will result in
an installation of a managed Horizon Agent.

VDM_SERVER_NAME Host name or IP address of the Connection Server instance on None

which the Horizon Agent installer registers an unmanaged desktop.
This property applies to unmanaged desktops only. For example:
VDM_SERVER_NAME=10.123.01.01
This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.
Do not use this MSI property for virtual desktops that are managed
by vCenter Server.

VDM_SERVER_USERNAME User name of the administrator on the Connection Server instance. None
This MSI property applies only to unmanaged desktops. For
example:
VDM_SERVER_USERNAME=domain\username
This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.
Do not use this MSI property for virtual desktops that are managed
by vCenter Server.

VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD Connection Server administrator user password. For example: None

VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD=secret
This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.
Do not use this MSI property for virtual desktops that are managed
by vCenter Server.

VDM_IP_PROTOCOL_USAGE Specifies the IP version that Horizon Agent uses. Valid values are IPv4
IPv4 and IPv6.

VDM_FIPS_ENABLED Specifies whether to enable or disable FIPS mode. A value of 1 0

enables FIPS mode. A value of 0 disables FIPS mode. If this
property is set to 1 and Windows is not in FIPS mode, the installer
will abort.

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Table 3-6. MSI Properties for Silently Installing Horizon Agent (continued)
MSI Property Description Default Value

VDM_FLASH_URL_REDIRECTION Determines whether Horizon Agent can install the Flash URL 0
redirection feature. Specify 1 to enable installation or 0 to disable
installation.
This MSI property is optional.

VDM_FORCE_DESKTOP_AGENT If you install Horizon Agent on a Windows Server machine and 0

configure it as a single-user Horizon 7 desktop rather than as an
RDS host, set the value to 1. This requirement applies to machines
that are managed by vCenter Server and unmanaged machines.
For non-server Windows guests that host application sessions, set
the value to 0.
This MSI property is optional.

INSTALL_VDISPLAY_DRIVER Configures the Horizon WDDM display driver. A value of 1 enables 0

the driver installation. A value of 0 or empty disables the driver
installation.

In a silent installation command, you can use the ADDLOCAL property to specify options that the Horizon
Agent installer configures.

The following table shows the Horizon Agent options that you can type at the command line. These
options have corresponding setup options that you can deselect or select during an interactive
installation.

For more information about the custom setup options, see Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options .

When you do not use the ADDLOCAL property at the command line, Horizon Agent installs all of the options
that are installed by default during an interactive installation, if they are supported on the guest operating
system. When you use ADDLOCAL=ALL, Horizon Agent installs all of the following options, both on-by-
default and off-by-default, if they are supported on the guest operating system, except NGVC. NGVC and
SVIAgent are mutually exclusive. To install NGVC, you must specify it explicitly.

For more information, see the ADDLOCAL table entry in Microsoft Windows Installer Command-Line
Options.

Table 3-7. Horizon Agent Silent Installation Options and Interactive Custom Setup Options
Custom Setup Option in an Interactive Installed by Default Interactively or When
Silent Installation Option Installation ADDLOCAL Is Not Used

Core Core Yes

USB USB Redirection No

SVIAgent View Composer Agent Yes

NGVC Instant Clone Agent No

RTAV Real-Time Audio-Video Yes

ClientDriveRedirection Client Drive Redirection Yes

SerialPortRedirection Serial Port Redirection No

ScannerRedirection Scanner Redirection No

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Table 3-7. Horizon Agent Silent Installation Options and Interactive Custom Setup Options
(continued)
Custom Setup Option in an Interactive Installed by Default Interactively or When
Silent Installation Option Installation ADDLOCAL Is Not Used

FlashURLRedirection Flash URL Redirection No

This feature is hidden unless you use the
VDM_FLASH_URL_REDIRECTION=1 property on the
command line.

FLASHMMR Flash Redirection No

GEOREDIR Geolocation Redirection No

ThinPrint Virtual Printing Yes

V4V vRealize Operations Desktop Agent Yes

VPA View Persona Management Yes

SmartCard PCoIP Smartcard No

This feature is not installed by default in an
interactive installation.

VmwVaudio VMware Audio (virtual audio driver) Yes

VmVideo VMware Video (virtual video driver) No

VmwVidd VMware Indirect Display Driver Yes

TSMMR Windows Media Multimedia Redirection (MMR) Yes

RDP Enables RDP in the registry if you use the Yes

RDP_CHOICE=1 property on the command line or
select RDP as the default display protocol when
you create or edit a desktop pool.
This feature is hidden during interactive
installations.

VMWMediaProviderProxy VMware Virtualization Pack for Skype for No

Business

RDSH3D 3D rendering on RDS hosts No

BlastUDP UDP Transport support for Blast Yes

HTML5MMR HTML5 Multimedia Redirection No

CIT (64 bit only) Client IP Transparency. No

Only exists in the 64bit installer. If you try to
install the feature through the command line with
the 32bit installer, MSI will return an error.

SdoSensor SDO Sensor Redirection No

PerfTracker Horizon Performance Tracker No

HelpDesk Horizon Help Desk Tool No

PrintRedir VMware Integrated Printing No

If you use ADDLOCAL to specify features individually (you do not specify ADDLOCAL=ALL), you must always
specify Core.

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Table 3-8. Horizon Agent Silent Installation Features That Are Installed Automatically
Silent Installation Feature Description

Core The core Horizon Agent functions.

If you specify ADDLOCAL=ALL, the Core features are installed.

BlastProtocol VMware Blast

PCoIP PCoIP Protocol Agent

VmVideo Virtual video driver

UnityTouch Unity Touch

PSG This feature sets a registry entry that tells Connection Server whether Horizon
Agent is using IPv4 or IPv6.

You install the Flash URL Redirection feature by using the VDM_FLASH_URL_REDIRECTION=1 property in a
silent installation. This feature is not installed during an interactive installation or by using ADDLOCAL=ALL
in a silent installation. For example:

VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT=1

VDM_FLASH_URL_REDIRECTION=1
ADDLOCAL=Core,SVIAgent,ThinPrint,USB,FlashURLRedirection,RTAV"

Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for

Horizon Agent
When you install Horizon Agent on a virtual machine that has more than one NIC, you must configure the
subnet that Horizon Agent uses. The subnet determines which network address Horizon Agent provides
to the Connection Server instance for client protocol connections.

Procedure

u On the virtual machine on which Horizon Agent is installed, open a command prompt, type
regedit.exe and create a registry entry to configure the subnet.

For example, in an IPv4 network:

HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\IpPrefix = n.n.n.n/m (REG_SZ)
In this example, n.n.n.n is the TCP/IP subnet and m is the number of bits in the subnet mask.

Note In releases earlier than Horizon 6 version 6.1, this registry path was
HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\Node Manager\subnet = n.n.n.n/m (REG_SZ).
The old registry setting is not used with View Agent 6.1 or later. If you upgrade View Agent from an
earlier release to version 6.1 or later, make sure to use the current registry setting.

Optimize Guest Operating System Performance

You can perform certain steps to optimize guest operating system performance for remote desktop
deployment. All of the steps are optional.

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These recommendations include turning off the screen saver and not specifying a sleep timer. Your
organization might require the use of screen savers. For example, you might have a GPO-managed
security policy that locks a desktop a certain time after the screen saver starts. In this case, use a blank
screen saver.

Prerequisites

n Prepare a guest operating system for remote desktop deployment.

n Familiarize yourself with the procedure for disabling the Windows Customer Experience Improvement
Program. See Disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program.

Procedure

u Disable any unused ports, such as COM1, COM2, and LPT.

u Adjust display properties.

a Choose a basic theme.

b Set the background to a solid color.

c Set the screen saver to None.

d Verify that hardware acceleration is enabled.

u Select a high-performance power option and do not specify a sleep timer.

u Disable the Indexing Service component.

Note Indexing improves searches by cataloging files. Do not disable this feature for users who
search often.

u Remove or minimize System Restore points.

u Turn off system protection on C:\.

u Disable any unnecessary services.

u Set the sound scheme to No Sounds.

u Set visual effects to Adjust for best performance.

u Open Windows Media Player and use the default settings.

u Turn off automatic computer maintenance.

u Adjust performance settings for best performance.

u Delete any hidden uninstall folders in C:\Windows, such $NtUninstallKB893756$.

u Delete all event logs.

u Run Disk Cleanup to remove temporary files, empty the Recycle Bin, and remove system files and
other items that are no longer needed.

u Run Disk Defragmenter to rearrange fragmented data.

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u Uninstall Tablet PC Components, unless this feature is needed.

u Disable IPv6, unless it is needed.

u Use the File System Utility (fsutil) command to disable the setting that keeps track of the last time
a file was accessed.

For example: fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1

u Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and change the TimeOutValue REG_DWORD in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Disk to 0x000000be(190).

u Turn off the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program and disable related tasks from the
Task Scheduler.

u Restart Windows after you make the above changes.

What to do next

See Optimizing Windows for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Virtual Machines for information on
disabling certain Windows services and tasks to reduce the growth of instant clones and View Composer
linked clones. Disabling certain services and tasks can also result in performance benefits for full virtual
machines.

Disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement

Program
Disabling the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program and the related Task Scheduler
tasks that control this program can improve Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10 system
performance in large desktop pools.

The following steps apply to Windows 7 and Windows 8. The steps might vary on different Windows
operating systems.

Procedure

1 In the Windows 7 or Windows 8 guest operating system, start the control panel and click Action
Center > Change Action Center settings.

2 Click Customer Experience Improvement Program settings.

3 Select No, I don't want to participate in the program and click Save changes.

4 Start the control panel and click Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler.

5 In the Task Scheduler (Local) pane of the Task Scheduler dialog box, expand the Task Scheduler
Library > Microsoft > Windows nodes and open the Application Experience folder.

6 Disable the AITAgent, ProgramDataUpdater, and if available, Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser

tasks.

7 In the Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows node, open the Customer Experience
Improvement Program folder.

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8 Disable the Consolidator, KernelCEIPTask, and UsbCEIP tasks.

9 In the Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows node, open the Autochk folder.

10 Disable the Proxy task.

What to do next

Perform other Windows optimization tasks. See Optimize Guest Operating System Performance.

Optimizing Windows for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone

Virtual Machines
By disabling certain Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10 services and tasks, you can reduce the
growth in disk usage of instant clones and linked clones. Disabling certain services and tasks can also
result in performance benefits for full virtual machines.

Benefits of Disabling Windows Services and Tasks

Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10 schedule services and tasks that can cause instant clones
and linked clones to grow, even when the machines are idle. The incremental growth of the OS disk can
undo the storage savings that you achieve when you first create the clones. You can reduce growth in
disk size by disabling these Windows services.

Windows guest operating systems schedule services such as disk defragmentation to run by default.
These services run in the background if you do not disable them.

Services that affect OS disk growth also generate input/output operations. Disabling these services can
reduce IOPS (input/output operations per second) and improve performance for any type of desktop
machines.

These best practices for optimizing Windows apply to most user environments. However, you must
evaluate the effect of disabling each service on your users, applications, and desktops. You might require
certain services to stay active.

For example, disabling Windows Update Service makes sense for instant clones because the OS is
refreshed each time a user logs off, and for linked clones if you refresh or recompose regularly.

Windows Services and Tasks That Cause Disk Growth in Instant

Clones and Linked Clones
Certain services and tasks in Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10 can cause the OS disk of an
instant clone or linked clone to grow incrementally, even when the machine is idle. If you disable these
services and tasks, you can control the OS disk growth.

Services that affect OS disk growth also generate I/O operations. You can evaluate the benefits of
disabling these services for full clones as well.

Before you disable the Windows services that are shown in Table 3-9. Impact of Windows Services and
Tasks on OS Disk Growth and IOPS, verify that you took the optimization steps in Optimize Guest
Operating System Performance.

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Table 3-9. Impact of Windows Services and Tasks on OS Disk Growth and IOPS
Default
Occurrence or Impact on OS Turn Off This
Service or Task Description Startup Disk Impact on IOPS Service or Task?

Windows Provides a power- Default power-plan High. High. Yes

Hibernation saving state by settings disable By default, the size When hibernation Hibernation
storing open hibernation. of the hibernation is triggered, the provides no benefit
documents and file, system writes a in a virtual
programs in a file hiberfil.sys, is hiberfil.sys file environment.
before the the same as the the size of the For instructions, see
computer is installed RAM on installed RAM. Disable Windows
powered off. The the virtual Hibernation in the
file is reloaded into machine. This Parent Virtual
memory when the feature affects all Machine.
computer is guest operating
restarted, restoring systems.
the state when the
hibernation was
invoked.

Windows Scheduled Disk Once a week High. High Yes

Disk defragmentation is Repeated
Defragmentation scheduled as a defragmentation
background operations can
process. increase the size
of the OS disk by
several GB and do
little to make disk
access more
efficient .

Windows Update Detects, Automatic startup Medium to high. Medium to high Yes, for instant
Service downloads, and Causes frequent clones and for
installs updates for writes to the OS linked clones that
Windows and disk because you refresh or
other programs. update checks recompose
occur often. The regularly.
impact depends on
the updates that
are downloaded.

Windows Diagnostic Detects, Automatic startup Medium to high. Small to medium Yes, if you do not
Policy Service troubleshoots, and The service is need the diagnostic
resolves problems triggered on tools to function on
in Windows demand. The write the desktops.
components. If you frequency varies,
stop this service, depending on
diagnostics no demand.
longer function.

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Table 3-9. Impact of Windows Services and Tasks on OS Disk Growth and IOPS (continued)
Default
Occurrence or Impact on OS Turn Off This
Service or Task Description Startup Disk Impact on IOPS Service or Task?

Prefetch/Superfetch Stores specific Always on, unless Medium Medium Yes, if application
information about it is disabled. Causes periodic startup times are
applications that updates to its acceptable after you
you run to help layout and disable this feature.
them start faster. database
information and
individual prefetch
files, which are
generated on
demand.

Windows Registry Automatically Every 10 days at Medium. Medium. Yes. Both instant
Backup backs up the 12:00 am Each time this task clones and linked
(RegIdleBackup) Windows registry runs, it generates clones let you revert
when the system registry backup to a snapshot and
is idle. files. achieve the goal of
restoring the
registry.

System Restore Reverts the When Windows Small to medium. No major impact. Yes. Both instant
Windows system starts up and once Captures a system clones and linked
to a previous, a day thereafter. restore point clones let you revert
healthy state. whenever the to a healthy state.
system detects
that it is needed.

Windows Defender Provides anti- When Windows Medium to high. Medium to high. Yes, if other anti-
spyware features. starts up. Performs Performs definition spyware software is
a quick scan once updates, installed.
a day. Checks for scheduled scans,
updates before and scans that are
each scan. started on
demand.

Microsoft Feeds Periodically Once a day. Medium. Medium Yes, if your users do
Synchronization updates RSS Affects OS-disk not require
task feeds in Windows growth if persistent automatic RSS feed
(msfeedssync.exe) Internet Explorer disks are not updates on their
Web browsers. configured. If desktops.
This task updates persistent disks
RSS feeds that are configured, the
have automatic impact is diverted
RSS feeds to the persistent
synchronization disks.
turned on. The
process appears in
Windows Task
Manager only
when Internet
Explorer is
running.

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Disable Scheduled Disk Defragmentation on a Windows Parent

Virtual Machine
When you prepare a parent or master image virtual machine for instant clones or linked clones, it is
recommended that you disable scheduled defragmentation. Windows schedule weekly disk
defragmentations by default. Defragmentation significantly increase the size of a clone's virtual disk and
does not make disk access more efficient for instant clones or linked clones.

The clones share the parent or master image virtual machine's OS disk but each clone maintains
changes to the file system in its own virtual disk. Any activity, including defragmentation, will increase the
size of each clone's individual virtual disk and therefore increase storage consumption. As a best practice,
defragment the parent or master image virtual machine before you take a snapshot and create the pool.

The following steps apply to Windows 7 and Windows 8. The steps might vary on different Windows
operating systems.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in as an administrator.

3 Click Start and type defrag in the Search programs and files box.

4 In the Programs pane, click Disk Defragmenter.

5 In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click Defragment disk.

The Disk Defragmenter consolidates defragmented files on the virtual machine's hard disk.

6 In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click Configure schedule.

7 Deselect Run on a schedule (recommended) and click OK.

Disable Windows Update

Disabling the Windows Update feature avoids some I/O operations to the file system and can reduce the
growth of an instant clone's or a linked clone's virtual disk.

Evaluate the needs of your environment before disabling Windows Update. If you disable this feature, you
can manually download the updates to the parent or master image virtual machine and then use the
push-image operation for instant clones or recompose for linked clones to apply the updates to all the
clones.

The following steps apply to Windows 7 and Windows 8. The steps might vary on different Windows
operating systems.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in as an administrator.

3 Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Turn automatic updating on or off.

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4 In the Important updates menu, select Never check for updates.

5 Deselect Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates.

6 Deselect Allow all users to install updates on this computer and click OK.

Disable the Diagnostic Policy Service on Windows Virtual

Machines
Disabling the Windows Diagnostic Policy Service avoids some I/O operations to the file system and can
reduce the growth of an instant clone's or a linked clone's virtual disk.

Do no disable the Windows Diagnostic Policy Service if your users require the diagnostic tools on their
desktops.

The following steps apply to Windows 7 and Windows 8. The steps might vary on different Windows
operating systems.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in as an administrator.

3 Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools.

4 Select Services and click Open.

5 Double-click Diagnostic Policy Service.

6 In the Diagnostic Policy Service Properties (Local Computer) dialog, click Stop.

7 In the Startup type menu, select Disabled.

8 Click OK.

Disable the Prefetch and Superfetch Features on Windows Virtual

Machines
Disabling the prefetch and superfetch features avoids some I/O operations to the file system and can
reduce the growth of an instant clone's or a linked clone's virtual disk.

To disable the prefetch and superfetch features, you must edit a Windows registry key and disable the
Prefetch service on the virtual machine.

The following steps apply to Windows 7 and Windows 8. The steps might vary on different Windows
operating systems.

Prerequisites

See the Microsoft TechNet Web site for information on how to use the Windows Registry Editor.

Procedure

1 Start the Windows Registry Editor on the local Windows virtual machine.

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2 Navigate to the registry key called PrefetchParameters.

The registry key is located in the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM

\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters.

3 Set the EnablePrefetcher and EnableSuperfetch values to 0.

4 Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools.

5 Select Services and click Open.

6 Double-click the Superfetch service.

7 In the Superfetch Properties (Local Computer) dialog, click Stop.

8 In the Startup type menu, select Disabled.

9 Click OK.

Disable Windows Registry Backup on Windows Virtual Machines

Disabling the Windows registry backup feature, RegIdleBackup, avoids some I/O operations to the file
system and can reduce the growth of an instant clone's or a linked clone's virtual disk.

The following steps apply to Windows 7 and Windows 8. The steps might vary on different Windows
operating systems.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in as an administrator.

3 Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools.

4 Select Task Scheduler and click Open.

5 In the left pane, expand Task Scheduler Library, Microsoft, Windows.

6 Double-click Registry and select RegIdleBackup.

7 In the Actions pane, click Disable.

Disable the System Restore on Windows Virtual Machines

Disabling the Windows System Restore feature avoids some I/O operations to the file system and can
reduce the growth of an instant clone's or a linked clone's virtual disk.

With System Restore, you can revert a machine's state to a previous point in time. You can achieve the
same result with the push image operation for instant clones and the recompose or refresh operation for
linked clones. Furthermore, with instant clones, when a user logs off, the machine is recreated, making a
system restore unnecessary

The following steps apply to Windows 7 and Windows 8. The steps might vary on different Windows
operating systems.

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Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in as an administrator.

3 Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools.

4 Select Task Scheduler and click Open.

5 In the left pane, expand Task Scheduler Library, Microsoft, Windows.

6 Double-click SystemRestore and select SR.

7 In the Actions pane, click Disable.

Disable Windows Defender on Windows Virtual Machines

Disabling Windows Defender avoids some I/O operations to the file system and can reduce the growth of
an instant clone's or a linked clone's virtual disk.

If Windows Defender is the only anti-spyware installed on the virtual machine, you might prefer to keep
Windows Defender active on the desktops in your environment.

The following steps apply to Windows 7 and Windows 8. The steps might vary on different Windows
operating systems.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in as an administrator.

3 Click Start and type Windows Defender in the Search programs and files box.

4 Click Tools > Options > Administrator.

5 Deselect Use this program and click Save.

Disable Microsoft Feeds Synchronization on Windows Virtual

Machines
Windows Internet Explorer uses the Microsoft Feeds Synchronization task to update RSS feeds in users'
Web browsers. Disabling this task avoids some I/O operations to the file system and can reduce the
growth of an instant clone's or a linked clone's virtual disk.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in as an administrator.

3 Click Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet > Internet Options.

4 Click the Content tab.

5 Under Feeds and Web Slices, click Settings.

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6 Deselect Automatically check feeds and Web Slices for updates and click OK.

7 In the Internet Properties dialog, click OK.

Preparing a Parent Virtual Machine

To deploy an instant-clone or a View Composer linked-clone desktop pool, you must first prepare a parent
virtual machine in vCenter Server. This virtual machine is also known as the master image.

n Configure a Parent Virtual Machine

After creating a virtual machine that you plan to use as a parent, configure the Windows
environment. This virtual machine is also known as a master image.

n Activating Windows on Instant Clones and Composer Linked Clones

To make sure that Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10, and Windows Server clones are
properly activated when the clones are created, you must use Microsoft volume activation on the
parent virtual machine. The volume-activation technology requires a volume license key.

n Disable Windows Hibernation in the Parent Virtual Machine

The Windows hibernation feature creates a hidden system file, Hiberfil.sys and uses this file to
store information that is needed for hybrid sleep. Disabling hibernation reduces the size of an instant
clone's or a View Composer linked clone's virtual disk.

n Configure Local Storage for Horizon Composer Linked Clones

For a View Composer linked-clone desktop pool, you can configure the parent virtual machine to
store virtual-machine swap files on a local datastore. The linked clones' swap files will reside on
local storage.

n Record the Paging File Size of a Horizon Composer Parent Virtual Machine
When you create a Composer linked-clone desktop pool, you can redirect the clones' paging and
temp files to a separate disk. You must configure this disk to be larger than the size of the paging file
on the parent virtual machine.

n Increase the Timeout Limit for ClonePrep and QuickPrep Customization Scripts
ClonePrep and QuickPrep post-synchronization or power-off scripts have a timeout limit of 20
seconds. You can increase this limit by changing the ExecScriptTimeout Windows registry value
on the parent virtual machine.

Configure a Parent Virtual Machine

After creating a virtual machine that you plan to use as a parent, configure the Windows environment.
This virtual machine is also known as a master image.

Prerequisites

n Verify that you prepared a virtual machine to use for deploying remote desktops. See Creating a
Virtual Machine for Cloning.

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The parent virtual machine, can either belong to the same Active Directory domain as the domain that
the desktop machines will join or be a member of a workgroup.

n Verify that the virtual machine was not converted from an instant clone or a View Composer linked
clone.

Important You also cannot use an instant clone or a View Composer linked clones as a parent
virtual machine.

n When you install Horizon Agent on the parent virtual machine, select the VMware Horizon Instant
Clone Agent option for instant clones or the VMware Horizon View Composer Agent option. See
Install Horizon Agent on a Virtual Machine.

To update Horizon Agent in a large environment, you can use standard Windows update mechanisms
such as Altiris, SMS, LanDesk, BMC, or other systems management software. You can also use the
push image or the recompose operation to update Horizon Agent.

Note For View Composer linked clones, do not change the log on account for the VMware View
Composer Guest Agent Server service in a parent virtual machine. By default, this is the Local
System account. If you change this account, the linked clones created from the parent will not start.

n To deploy Windows machines, configure a volume license key and activate the parent virtual
machine's operating system with volume activation. See Activating Windows on Instant Clones and
Composer Linked Clones.

n Verify that you followed the best practices for optimizing the operating system. See Optimizing
Windows for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Virtual Machines.

n Familiarize yourself with the procedure for disabling searching Windows Update for device drivers.
See the Microsoft Technet article, "Disable Searching Windows Update for Device Drivers" at http://
technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc730606(v=ws.10).aspx.

Procedure

u Remove the DHCP lease on the parent virtual machine to avoid copying a leased IP address to the
linked clones in the pool.

a On the parent virtual machine, open a command prompt.

b Type the ipconfig /release command.

u Verify that the system disk contains a single volume.

You cannot deploy linked clones from a parent virtual machine that contains more than one volume.
Multiple virtual disks are supported.

Note For View Composer linked clones, if the parent virtual machine contains multiple virtual disks,
when you create a desktop pool, do not select a drive letter for the View Composer persistent disk or
disposable data disk that already exists on the parent virtual machine or that conflicts with a drive
letter that is used for a network-mounted drive.

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u Verify that the virtual machine does not contain an independent disk.

An independent disk is excluded when you take a snapshot of the virtual machine. Clones are based
on a snapshot and therefore will not contain the independent disk.

u For View Composer linked clones, if you plan to configure disposable data disks when you create
linked-clone machines, remove default user TEMP and TMP variables from the parent virtual machine.

You can also remove the pagefile.sys file to avoid duplicating the file on all the linked clones. If you
leave the pagefile.sys file on the parent virtual machine, a read-only version of the file is inherited
by the linked clones, while a second version of the file is used on the disposable data disk.

u Disable the hibernation option to reduce the size of each clone's virtual disk.

u Before you take a snapshot of the parent virtual machine, disable searching Windows Update for
device drivers.

This Windows feature can interfere with the customization process. As each clone is customized,
Windows might search for the best drivers on the Internet for that clone, resulting in delays.

u In vSphere Client, disable the vApp Options setting on the parent virtual machine.

u On Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2012 R2 machines, disable the
scheduled maintenance task that recovers disk space by removing unused features.

For example: Schtasks.exe /change /disable /tn "\Microsoft\Windows

\AppxDeploymentClient\Pre-staged app cleanup"

For example, in the case of View Composer linked clones, this maintenance task can remove the
Sysprep customization script after the linked clones are created, which would cause subsequent
recompose operations to fail with customization operation timeout errors. For more information, see
the Microsoft KB article available at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2928948.

u Disable the HotPlug capability on removable devices. See KB 1012225.

What to do next

Use vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client to take a snapshot of the parent virtual machine in its
powered-down state. This snapshot is provides the base image for the clones.

Important Before you take a snapshot, shut down the parent virtual machine.

Sometimes, restarting the virtual machine can result in an error. See KB 2094318 on how to resolve the
issue.

Activating Windows on Instant Clones and Composer Linked

Clones
To make sure that Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10, and Windows Server clones are properly
activated when the clones are created, you must use Microsoft volume activation on the parent virtual
machine. The volume-activation technology requires a volume license key.

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To activate Windows with volume activation, you use Key Management Service (KMS), which requires a
KMS license key. See your Microsoft dealer to acquire a volume license key and configure volume
activation.

Note Multiple Activation Key (MAK) licensing is not supported.

Before you create an instant-clone or Composer linked-clone desktop pool, you must use volume
activation to activate Windows on the parent virtual machine.

The following steps describe how activation takes place:

1 Invoke a script to remove the existing license. For more information, see the Microsoft Windows
documentation to remove the Windows license key using a command.

2 Restart Windows.

3 Invoke a script that uses KMS licensing to activate Windows.

KMS treats each activated clone as a computer with a newly issued license.

Note If you set up a new KMS server and use QuickPrep to create linked-clone desktop pools, the KMS
client count might not increment and the linked-clones might not be able to activate Windows. For more
information, see the VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2048742.

Disable Windows Hibernation in the Parent Virtual Machine

The Windows hibernation feature creates a hidden system file, Hiberfil.sys and uses this file to store
information that is needed for hybrid sleep. Disabling hibernation reduces the size of an instant clone's or
a View Composer linked clone's virtual disk.

Caution When you make hibernation unavailable, hybrid sleep does not work. Users can lose data if a
power loss occurs.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in as an administrator.

3 Disable the hibernation option.

a Click Start and type cmd in the Start Search box.

b In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt and click Run as Administrator.

c At the User Account Control prompt, click Continue.

d At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate off and press Enter.

e Type exit and press Enter.

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Configure Local Storage for Horizon Composer Linked Clones

For a View Composer linked-clone desktop pool, you can configure the parent virtual machine to store
virtual-machine swap files on a local datastore. The linked clones' swap files will reside on local storage.

In this procedure, you configure local storage for the virtual-machine swap files, not the paging and temp
files in the guest OS. When you create a linked-clone pool, you also can redirect guest OS paging and
temp files to a separate disk. See Worksheet for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool.

Procedure

1 Configure a swapfile datastore on the ESXi host or cluster on which you will deploy the linked-clone
pool.

2 When you create the parent virtual machine in vCenter Server, store the virtual-machine swap files on
the swapfile datastore on the local ESXi host or cluster:

a In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine.

b Click Edit Settings and click the Options tab.

c Click Swapfile location and click Store in the host's swapfile datastore.
For detailed instructions, see the VMware vSphere documentation.

Record the Paging File Size of a Horizon Composer Parent Virtual

Machine
When you create a Composer linked-clone desktop pool, you can redirect the clones' paging and temp
files to a separate disk. You must configure this disk to be larger than the size of the paging file on the
parent virtual machine.

When a linked clone that is configured with a separate disk for the disposable files is powered off, the disk
is recreated. This feature can slow the growth in the size of a linked clone. However, this feature can work
only if you configure the disposable-file disk to be large enough to hold the clone's paging file.

Before you can configure the disposable-file disk, record the maximum paging-file size in the parent
virtual machine. The linked clones have the same paging-file size as the parent virtual machine.

As a best practice, remove the pagefile.sys file from the parent virtual machine before you take a
snapshot, to avoid duplicating the file on all the linked clones. See Configure a Parent Virtual Machine.

Note This feature is not that same as configuring local storage for the virtual-machine swap files. See
Configure Local Storage for Horizon Composer Linked Clones.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, right-click the parent virtual machine and click Open Console.

2 Select Start > Settings > Control Panel > System.

3 Click the Advanced tab.

4 In the Performance pane, click Settings.

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5 Click the Advanced tab.

6 In the Virtual memory pane, click Change.

The Virtual Memory page appears.

7 Set the paging file size to a larger value than the size of the memory that is assigned to the virtual
machine.

Important If the Maximum size (MB) setting is smaller than the virtual-machine memory size, type
a larger value and save the new value.

8 Keep a record of the Maximum size (MB) setting that is configured in the Paging file size for selected
drive pane.

What to do next

When you configure a linked-clone pool from this parent virtual machine, configure a disposable-file disk
that is larger than the paging-file size.

Increase the Timeout Limit for ClonePrep and QuickPrep

Customization Scripts
ClonePrep and QuickPrep post-synchronization or power-off scripts have a timeout limit of 20 seconds.
You can increase this limit by changing the ExecScriptTimeout Windows registry value on the parent
virtual machine.

Instead of increasing the timeout limit you can also use your customization script to launch another script
or process that performs the long-running task.

Note Most QuickPrep customization scripts can finish running within the 20-second limit. Test your
scripts before you increase the limit.

Procedure

1 On the parent virtual machine, start the Windows Registry Editor.

a Select Start > Command Prompt.

b At the command prompt, type regedit.

2 In the Windows registry, locate the vmware-viewcomposer-ga registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\vmware-viewcomposer-ga

3 Click Edit and modify the registry value.

Value Name: ExecScriptTimeout

Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value unit: milliseconds

The default value is 20000 milliseconds.

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Creating Virtual Machine Templates

You must create a virtual machine template before you can create an automated pool that contains full
virtual machines.

A virtual machine template is a master copy of a virtual machine that can be used to create and provision
new virtual machines. Typically, a template includes an installed guest operating system and a set of
applications.

You create virtual machine templates in vSphere Client. You can create a virtual machine template from a
previously configured virtual machine, or you can convert a previously configured virtual machine to a
virtual machine template.

See the vSphere Basic System Administration guide for information on using vSphere Client to create
virtual machine templates. See Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines for information on
creating automated pools.

Note A virtual machine template is not for creating an instant-clone or a Composer linked-clone desktop
pool.

Creating Customization Specifications

When you customize a clone using Sysprep, you need to provide a customization specification.

Sysprep is available for linked-clone desktop pools and automated full-clone desktop pools, but not
instant-clone desktop pools. You create customization specifications by using the Customization
Specification wizard in vSphere. See the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration document for
information on using the Customization Specification wizard.

It is recommended that you test a customization specification in vSphere before you use it to create a
desktop pool. When you use a Sysprep customization specification to join a Windows desktop to a
domain, you must use the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the Active Directory domain. You cannot
use the NetBIOS name.

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 4
Creating Instant-Clone Desktop
Pools

To provide users access to instant-clone desktops, you must create an instant-clone desktop pool.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Instant-Clone Desktop Pools

n Image Publishing and Rebalancing an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool

n Add an Instant-Clone Domain Administrator in Horizon Console

n Worksheet for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

n Create an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool

n ClonePrep Guest Customization

n Change the Image of an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

n Monitor a Push-Image Operation in Horizon Console

n Reschedule or Cancel a Push-Image Operation in Horizon Console

n Perform Maintenance on Instant-Clone Hosts

n Instant-Clone Maintenance Utilities

n Configure Instant Clones with vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption

Instant-Clone Desktop Pools

An instant-clone desktop pool is an automated desktop pool. vCenter Server creates the desktop VMs
based on the settings that you specify when you create the pool.

An instant-clone desktop pool is based on a parent VM in vCenter Server. For instant-clone desktop
pools, a parent VM is an internal VM that Horizon 7 creates and maintains, which is based on the master
image in vCenter Server. You cannot modify this internal parent VM. However, you can make changes to
the master image.

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Instant clones share a virtual disk of the parent VM and therefore consume less storage than full VMs. In
addition, instant clones share the memory of the parent VM. Instant clones are created using the vmFork
technology in vSphere. An instant-clone desktop pool has the following key characteristics:

n The provisioning of instant clones is faster than View Composer linked clones.

n Instant clones are always created in a powered-on state, ready for users to connect to. Guest
customization and joining the Active Directory domain are completed as part of the initial power-on
workflow.

n For dedicated instant-clone desktop pools, users are assigned a particular remote desktop and return
to the same desktop at each login. When a user logs out, a resync operation on the master image
retains the VM name and the Mac IP address of the VM after logoff. You can optionally configure the
instant-clone desktop pool to not refresh after log off.

n For floating instant-clone desktop pools, users are assigned random desktops from the pool. When a
user logs out, the desktop VM is deleted. New clones are created according to the provisioning policy,
which can be on-demand or up-front.

n With the push-image operation, you can re-create the pool from any snapshot of any master image.
You can use a push image to roll out operating system and application patches.

n When clones are created, Horizon 7 selects a datastore to achieve the best distribution of the clones
across the datastores. No manual rebalancing is necessary.

n View storage accelerator is automatically enabled.

n Transparent page sharing is automatically enabled.

n Instant clones require static port binding with the elastic port allocation. Do not change the port
binding to ephemeral. If you get an error message with static port binding, see the VMware
Knowledge Base (KB) article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2150925.

n Instant clones and Storage vMotion are compatible. When you create an instant-clone desktop pool
on a Storage DRS datastore, the Storage DRS cluster does not appear in the list in the desktop pool
creation wizard. However, you can select individual Storage DRS datastores.

n In Horizon 7 version 7.0.3 or later, internal validation checks determine if the instant clone and
internal template have valid IP addresses and a network connection. If a virtual machine has a NIC
that cannot be assigned an IP address during provisioning, instant-clone provisioning fails.

n You can add a Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) device to instant clone desktop pools.

n To set up the Key Management Server cluster, which is a prerequisite, see Set up the Key
Management Server Cluster in the vSphere Security document.

n For compatibility requirements, see Securing Virtual Machines with Virtual Trusted Platform
Module in the vSphere Security document.

n The master image used for vTPM Instant Clone pools must have VBS enabled when creating the
VM, as well as the local security policy set to enable VBS inside the guest.

n You can also select or deselect the option to add or remove a vTPM during a push-image
operation.

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n You can vMotion instant clones that are configured with NVIDIA GRID vGPU without any impact to
vGPU functionality.

Instant clones have the following compatibility requirements:

n vSphere 6.0 Update 1 or later.

n Virtual machine hardware version 11 or later.

As a best practice, configure distributed virtual switches in the vSphere environment. It is mandatory to
configure distributed virtual switches in the vSphere environment for dedicated instant clones.

Instant clones have the following multi-LAN compatibility requirements:

1 vSphere 6.0 Update 1 or later.

2 ESXi 6.0 U1 or newer.

3 Virtual distributed switch only. There is no support for the standard switch.

4 Port group must be static port binding with a fixed port allocation. There is no support for dynamic
ports or ephemeral ports.

In Horizon 7, instant clones have the following restrictions:

n Instant-clone desktops cannot have persistent disks. Users can use network share or VMware App
Volumes to store persistent user data. For more information about App Volumes, see https://
www.vmware.com/products/appvolumes.

n Virtual Volumes and VAAI (vStorage APIs for Array Integration) native NFS snapshots are not
supported.

n Sysprep and Quickprep are not available for desktop customization. Use ClonePrep, which is
designed for instant clones.

n Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 are not supported.

n Persona Management is not available.

n You cannot specify a minimum number of ready (provisioned) machines during instant-clone
maintenance operations. This feature is not needed because the high speed of creating instant
clones means that some desktops are always available even during maintenance operations.

Image Publishing and Rebalancing an Instant-Clone

Desktop Pool
The clones in an instant-clone desktop pool are based on the same image. When an instant clone is
created, the desktop pool are rebalanced across datastores automatically.

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Publishing an image is a process by which internal VMs needed for instant cloning are created from a
master image and its snapshot. This process only happens once per image and may take some time.
Creating an instant-clone desktop pool involves the following operations:

1 Horizon 7 publishes the image that you select. In vCenter Server, four folders
(ClonePrepInternalTemplateFolder, ClonePrepParentVmFolder,
ClonePrepReplicaVmFolder, and ClonePrepResyncVmFolder) are created if they do not exist, and
some internal VMs that are required for cloning are created. In Horizon Console, you can see the
progress of this operation on the Summary tab of the desktop pool. During publishing, the Pending
Image pane shows the name and state of the image.

Note Do not tamper with the four folders or the internal VMs that they contain. Otherwise, errors
might occur. The internal VMs are removed when they are no longer needed. Normally the VMs are
removed within 5 minutes of pool deletion or a push-image operation. However, sometimes the
removal can take up to 30 minutes. If there are no internal VMs in all four folders, these folders are
unprotected and you can delete these folders.

2 The clones are created. This process is fast. During this process, the Current Image pane in Horizon
Console shows the name and state of the image.

After the pool is created, you can change the image through the push-image operation. As with the
creation of a pool, the new image is first published. Then the clones are recreated.

If you edit a pool to add or remove datastores, rebalancing of the VMs happens automatically when a new
clone is created. If you want rebalancing to happen faster, take the following actions:

n If you remove a datastore, manually remove the desktops on that datastore so that the new desktops
are created on the remaining datastores.

n If you add a datastore, manually remove some desktops from the original datastores so that the new
desktops are created on the new datastore. You can also remove all desktops or simply do a push
image with the same image so that when the clones are recreated, they are evenly distributed across
the datastores.

Add an Instant-Clone Domain Administrator in Horizon

Console
Before you create an instant-clone desktop pool, you must add an instant-clone domain administrator to
Horizon 7.

Prerequisites

n Verify that the instant-clone domain administrator has the required Active Directory domain privileges.
For more information, see "Create a User Account for Instant-Clone Operations" in the Horizon 7
Installation document.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Settings > Instant Clone Domain Accounts.

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2 Click Add.

3 Select the domain for the instant-clone domain administrator.

4 Enter the user name and password.

What to do next

In Horizon Console, you can add or remove an instant-clone domain administrator or export the list of
instant-clone administrators to Microsoft Excel. Navigate to Settings > Instant Clone Domain Accounts
and select an instant-clone domain administrator. Click Edit to edit the domain and login information for
the administrator. Click Remove to remove an administrator. Click the export icon to export the list of
instant-clone administrators to a Microsoft Excel file.

Worksheet for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool in

Horizon Console
When you create an instant-clone desktop pool, you can configure certain options. You can use this
worksheet to record your configuration options before you create the pool.

Before creating an instant-clone desktop pool, take a snapshot of the master image. You must shut down
the master image in vCenter Server before taking the snapshot.

Note You cannot create an instant-clone desktop pool from a VM template. You must first convert the
VM template to a VM.

Table 4-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool
Fill In Your Value
Option Description Here

User assignment Select Floating or Dedicated.

In a floating user assignment, users are assigned random desktops from the
pool. Floating instant-clones are compatible with App Volumes. For a floating
instant-clone desktop pool, the MAC address is preserved on a resync or
refresh.
In a dedicated user assignment, each user is assigned a particular remote
desktop and returns to the same desktop at each login. Between each login and
logout, the computer name and MAC address is retained for the same desktop.
Any other changes that the user makes to the desktop are not preserved.
Dedicated instant-clones with Refresh OS Disk After Logoff to Always are
compatible with App Volumes.

Enable automatic In a dedicated-assignment pool, a machine is assigned to a user when the user
assignment first logs in to the pool. You can also explicitly assign machines to users.
If you do not enable automatic assignment, you must explicitly assign a machine
to each user.

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Table 4-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Fill In Your Value
Option Description Here

Enable Multi-User In a dedicated-assignment pool, you can assign multiple users to each machine
Assignment in the pool.
Multi-user assignment is not supported for automatic user assignment or linked-
clone desktop pools.
If an assigned user has a connected or disconnected session on a multi-user
assignment machine, other assigned users will be unable to launch a session on
that machine.

vCenter Server Select Instant clones and select the vCenter Server that manages the instant-
clone VMs.

Desktop Pool ID The unique name that identifies the pool.

If you have multiple Connection Server configurations, make sure that another
Connection Server configuration does not use the same pool ID. A Connection
Server configuration can consist of a single Connection Server or multiple
Connection Servers

Display name The pool name that users see when they log in from a client. If you do not
specify a name, the pool ID is used.

Access group Select an access group for the pool, or leave the pool in the default root access
group.
If you use an access group, you can delegate managing the pool to an
administrator who has a specific role.

Note Access groups are different from vCenter Server folders that store
desktop VMs. You select a vCenter Server folder later in the wizard.

State If set to Enabled, the pool is ready for use after provisioning. If set to Disabled,
the pool is not available to users. During provisioning, if you disable the pool,
provisioning stops.

Connection Server You can restrict access to the pool to certain Connection Servers by clicking
restrictions Browse and selecting one or more Connection Servers.
If you intend to provide access to desktops through VMware Identity Manager,
and you configure Connection Server restrictions, the VMware Identity Manager
app might display desktops to users when those desktops are actually restricted.
VMware Identity Manager users will be unable to launch these desktops.

Category Folder Specifies the name of the category folder that contains a Start menu shortcut for
the desktop pool entitlement on Windows client devices.

Automatically logoff after n Immediately. Users are logged off when they disconnect.
disconnect n Never. Users are never logged off.
n After. The time after which users are logged off when they disconnect. Type
the duration in minutes.

The logoff time applies to future disconnections. If a desktop session is

already disconnected when you set a logoff time, the logoff duration for that
user starts when you set the logoff time, not when the session was originally
disconnected. For example, if you set this value to 5 minutes, and a session
was disconnected 10 minutes earlier, Horizon 7 will log off that session 5
minutes after you set the value.

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Table 4-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Fill In Your Value
Option Description Here

Allow users to reset/ Specify whether users can reset the virtual machine or restart the virtual desktop.
restart their machines A reset operation resets the virtual machine without a graceful operating system
restart. This action applies only to an automated pool or a manual pool that
contains vCenter Server virtual machines.
A restart operation restarts the virtual machine with a graceful operating system
restart. This action applies only to an automated pool or a manual pool that
contains vCenter Server virtual machines.

Refresh OS disk after Select whether and when to refresh the OS disks. This option is available for
logoff dedicated assignment pools.
n Always. The OS disk is refreshed every time the user logs off. Dedicated
instant-clones are compatible with App Volumes.
n Every. The OS disk is refreshed at regular intervals of a specified number of
days. Enter the number of days.

The number of days is counted from the last refresh, or from the initial
provisioning if no refresh has occurred yet. For example, if the specified
value is 3 days, and three days have passed since the last refresh, the
desktop is refreshed after the user logs off.
n At. The OS disk is refreshed when its current size reaches a specified
percentage of its maximum allowable size. The maximum size of a instant
clone's OS disk is the size of the replica's OS disk. Enter the percentage at
which refresh operations occur.
n Never. The OS disk is never refreshed.

Reclaim VM disk space Determine whether to allow ESXi hosts to reclaim unused disk space on instant
clones that are created in space-efficient disk format. The space reclamation
feature reduces the total storage space required for instant clone desktops.

Initiate reclamation when Type the minimum amount of unused disk space, in gigabytes, that must
unused space on VM accumulate on a instant clone OS disk to trigger space reclamation. When the
exceeds: unused disk space exceeds this threshold, Horizon 7 initiates the operation that
directs the ESXi host to reclaim space on the OS disk.
This value is measured per virtual machine. The unused disk space must exceed
the specified threshold on an individual virtual machine before Horizon 7 starts
the space reclamation process on that machine.
The default value is 1 GB.

Display Assigned Machine Displays the host name of the assigned machine instead of the desktop pool
Name display name when you log in to Horizon Client.
If no machine is assigned to the user then, Display Name (No Machine
Assigned) appears for the desktop pool when you log in to Horizon Client.

Allow user to initiate With this option selected, a user connecting to the same desktop pool from
separate sessions from different client devices gets different desktop sessions. The user can only
different client devices reconnect to an existing session from the same client device. When this setting
is not selected, users are always reconnected to their existing session no matter
which client device is used.

Default display protocol Select the default display protocol. The choices are Microsoft RDP, PCoIP, and
VMware Blast.

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Table 4-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Fill In Your Value
Option Description Here

Allow users to choose Specify whether users can choose display protocols other than the default.
protocol n Yes. Allow uers to choose a display protocol.
n No. Do not allow users to choose a display protocol.

3D Renderer Select 3D graphics rendering for desktops.

3D rendering is supported on Windows 7 or later guests running on VMs with
virtual hardware version 8 or later. The hardware-based renderer is supported (at
minimum) on virtual hardware version 9 in a vSphere 5.1 environment. The
software renderer is supported (at minimum) on virtual hardware version 8 in a
vSphere 5.0 environment.
On ESXi 5.0 hosts, the renderer allows a maximum VRAM size of 128MB. On
ESXi 5.1 and later hosts, the maximum VRAM size is 512MB. On hardware
version 11 (HWv11) virtual machines in vSphere 6.0, the VRAM value (video
memory) has changed. Select the Manage Using vSphere Client option and
configure video memory for these machines in vSphere Web Client. For details,
see "Configuring 3D Graphics" in the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
guide.
3D rendering is disabled if you select Microsoft RDP as the default display
protocol and do not allow users to choose a display protocol.
n NVIDIA GRID vGPU. 3D rendering is enabled for NVIDIA GRID vGPU. The
ESXi host reserves GPU hardware resources on a first-come, first-served
basis as virtual machines are powered on. You cannot use vSphere
Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) when you select this option.

You can select either PCoIP or VMware Blast as a display protocol with
NVIDIA GRID vGPU for an instant-clone desktop pool.
n Manage using vSphere Client. Select this setting for all non-vGPU options.
The 3D Renderer option that is set in vSphere Web Client (or vSphere Client
in vSphere 5.1 or later) for a virtual machine determines the type of 3D
graphics rendering that takes place. Horizon 7 does not control 3D
rendering. In the vSphere Web Client, you can configure the Automatic,
Software, or Hardware options. These options have the same effect as they
do when you set them in Horizon Console. Use this setting when configuring
vDGA and AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA. This setting is also an option
for vSGA. When you select the Manage using vSphere Client option, the
Configure VRAM for 3D Guests, Max number of monitors, and Max
resolution of any one monitor settings are inactive in Horizon Console. You
can configure the amount of memory in vSphere Web Client.
n Disabled. 3D rendering is inactive. Default is disabled.

HTML Access Select Enabled to allow users to connect to remote desktops from a Web
browser. For more information about this feature, see the VMware Horizon HTML
Access Installation and Setup Guide.
To use HTML Access with VMware Identity Manager, you must pair Connection
Server with a SAML authentication server, as described in the Horizon 7
Administration document. VMware Identity Manager must be installed and
configured for use with Connection Server.

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Table 4-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Fill In Your Value
Option Description Here

Allow Session Select Enabled to allow users of the desktop pool to invite other users to join
Collaboration their remote desktop sessions. Session owners and session collaborators must
use the VMware Blast protocol.

Stop provisioning on error Specify whether Horizon 7 stops provisioning desktop VMs if an error occurs and
prevents the error from affecting multiple VMs.

Naming pattern Specify a pattern that Horizon 7 uses as a prefix in all the desktop VM names,
followed by a unique number.

Max number of machines Specify the total number of desktop VMs in the pool.

Provision machines on Specify whether to provision all desktop VMs when the pool is created or to
demand provision the VMs when they are needed.
Min number of machines n Provision all machines up front. When the pool is created, Horizon 7
Provision all machines up provisions the number of VMs you specify in Max number of machines. For
front a floating instant-clone desktop pool, the MAC address is preserved on a
resync or refresh.
n Provision machines on demand. When the pool is created, Horizon 7
creates the number of VMs based on the Min number of machines value or
the Number of spare (powered on) machines value, whichever is higher.
Additional VMs are created to maintain this minimum number of available
VMs as more users connect to desktops. This provides dynamic pool
expansion capability where the size of the pool expands and contracts to
accommodate the number of users who need desktops. When Horizon 7 is
deployed on VMware Cloud on AWS, you can configure the Elastic DRS
feature (rapid scaling) so that additional hosts can be automatically created
(and conversely decommissioned) to meet the capacity required by the
desktop pool. For more information about VMware Cloud on AWS, see the
VMware Cloud on AWS documentation at https://docs.vmware.com/en/
VMware-Cloud-on-AWS/index.html.

Desktop pool sizing Specify the maximum number of desktop VMs and powered on spare machines
in the pool. For details, see Naming Machines Manually or Providing a Naming
Pattern in Horizon Console.

Number of spare Specify the number of desktop VMs to keep available to users.
(powered on) machines

Select separate Specify whether to store the replica and OS disks on a datastore that is different
datastores for replica and from the datastores that the instant clones are on.
OS disks If you select this option, you can select the options to select one or more instant-
clone datastores or replica disk datastores.

Parent VM in vCenter Select the master image in vCenter Server for the pool.

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Table 4-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Fill In Your Value
Option Description Here

Snapshot (default image) You can specify the number of monitors and resolution for your instant-clone
desktop pool by setting those parameters in the master image and taking a
snapshot. The required vRAM size is calculated based on your specifications.
Select the snapshot of the master image to use for the pool. The instant-clone
desktop pool that is created is based on the snapshot and inherits those memory
settings. For more information about configuring video memory settings in
vSphere Client, see the vSphere Single Host Management guide in the vSphere
documentation. For more information about changing the resolution for your
instant-clone desktop pool, see the VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article http://
kb.vmware.com/kb/2151745.
The snapshot lists the following details:
n Number of monitors
n VRAM size
n Resolution

VM folder location Select the folder in vCenter Server for the desktop VMs.

Cluster Select the vCenter Server cluster for the desktop VMs.

Resource pool Select the vCenter Server resource pool for the desktop VMs.

Datastores Select one or more datastores for the desktop VMs.

The Select Instant Clone Datastores window provides high-level guidelines for
estimating the pool's storage requirements. These guidelines help you determine
which datastores are large enough to store the clones. The Storage Overcommit
value is always set to Unbounded and is not configurable.

Note Instant clones and Storage vMotion are compatible. When you create an
instant-clone desktop pool on a Storage DRS datastore, the Storage DRS cluster
does not appear in the list of datastores. However, you can select individual
Storage DRS datastores.

Networks Select the networks to use for the instant-clone desktop pool. You can select
multiple vLAN networks to create a larger instant-clone desktop pool. The default
setting uses the network from the current master image.
The Select Networks wizard provides a list of networks based on the parent VM
network type: DVS, NSX-t, and Standard. To use multiple networks, you must
unselect Use network from current parent VM image and then select the
networks to use with the instant-clone pool. The Show All Networks switch
shows or hides (greys out) incompatible networks within the selected network
type. By default, only compatible networks are shown. If you select an
incompatible network, such as vmcNetworks, you see this error message: This
network belongs to VMC internal network.
The wizard also provides the list of ports and port bindings that are available to
use: static (early binding) and dynamic (ephemeral). Instant-clones only support
static port group types even though dynamic port bindings are also listed.
All selected NSX-t network segments must be the same size, such as all /24
networks. Unequal sized segments can result in provisioning errors.

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Table 4-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Fill In Your Value
Option Description Here

vGPU Profile The vGPU profile for the pool is the vGPU profile of the snapshot you selected.
The pool inherits this profile. This profile cannot be edited during the pool
creation process.
After a pool is provisioned, you can publish a new image to change the vGPU
profile.
Mixed vGPU profiles on a single vSphere cluster (containing any number of ESXi
hosts) are supported.
For vCenter Server version 6.0, only single vGPU profiles with performance
mode are supported.
For vCenter Server version 6.5 and later, use the following guidelines for multiple
vGPU profiles:
n You can use multiple vGPU profiles with the GPU consolidation assignment
policy for all GPU hosts within a cluster.
n A mixed cluster of GPU enabled and non-GPU enabled hosts is supported.
n Using a mixed cluster of some hosts with GPU consolidation assignment
policy and some hosts with GPU Performance assignment policy is not
recommended.
To get better performance from a single profile for all vGPU desktops, you need
to set GPU assignment policy of all GPU hosts within a cluster to best
performance.

Domain Select an Active Directory domain. The drop-down list shows the domains that
you specify when you configure instant-clone domain administrators.

AD container Specify the Active Directory container's relative distinguished name.

For example: CN=Computers
In the Add Desktop Pool window, you can browse the Active Directory tree for
the container. You can also copy, paste, or enter the path for the AD tree for the
container.

Allow reuse of pre-existing Select this option to use existing computer accounts in Active Directory when the
computer accounts virtual machine names of new instant clones match the existing computer
account names.
When an instant clone is created, if an existing AD computer account name
matches the instant-clone virtual machine name, Horizon 7 uses the existing
computer account after resetting the password. Otherwise, a new computer
account is created. When the instant clone is deleted, Horizon 7 does not delete
the corresponding computer accounts.
The existing computer accounts must be located in the Active Directory container
that you specify with the AD container setting.
When this option is disabled, a new AD computer account is created when
Horizon 7 creates an instant clone. If an existing computer account is found,
Horizon 7 uses the existing computer account after resetting the password.
When the instant clone is deleted, Horizon 7 deletes the corresponding computer
account. This option is disabled by default.

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Table 4-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Fill In Your Value
Option Description Here

Power-off script Specify the path name of a script to run on the desktop VMs and the script
parameters before the VMs are powered off.

Post-synchronization Specify the path name of a script to run on the desktop VMs and the script
script parameters after the VMs are created.

Create an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool

An instant-clone desktop pool is an automated desktop pool. vCenter Server creates the desktop VMs
based on the settings that you specify when you create the pool.

Prerequisites

n Verify that the virtual switch that the instant-clone VMs connect to has enough ports to support the
expected number of VMs. Each network card on a VM requires one port.

n Verify that you have the master image ready. For more information, see Creating a Virtual Machine for
Cloning.

n Gather the configuration information for the pool. See Worksheet for Creating an Instant-Clone
Desktop Pool in Horizon Console.

n Verify that you added an instant-clone domain administrator in Horizon Administrator. See "Add an
Instant-Clone Domain Administrator" in the VMware Horizon Console Administration document.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Click Add.

3 Select Automated Desktop Pool and click Next.

4 Select Instant Clones, select the vCenter Server instance, and click Next.

5 Follow the prompts to create the pool.

Use the configuration information you gathered in the worksheet. You can go directly back to any
wizard page by clicking the page name in the navigation pane.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool. See, Add Entitlements to a Desktop or Application Pool in Horizon
Console.

ClonePrep Guest Customization

ClonePrep customizes instant clones during the creation process.

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ClonePrep ensures that all instant clones join an Active Directory domain. The clones have the same
computer security identifiers (SIDs) as the master image. ClonePrep also preserves the globally unique
identifiers (GUIDs) of applications, although some applications might generate a new GUID during
customization.

When you add an instant-clone desktop pool, you can specify a script to run immediately after a clone is
created and another script to run before the clone is powered off.

How ClonePrep Runs Scripts

ClonePrep uses the Windows CreateProcess API to run scripts. Your script can invoke any process that
can be created with the CreateProcess API. For example, cmd, vbscript, exe, and batch-file processes
work with the API.

Specifically, ClonePrep passes the path of the script as the second parameter to the CreateProcess API
and sets the first parameter to NULL. For example, if the script path is c:\myscript.cmd, the call to
CreateProcess is CreateProcess(NULL,c:\myscript.cmd,...).

Providing Paths to ClonePrep Scripts

You can specify the scripts when you create or edit the desktop pool. The scripts must reside on the
master image. You cannot use a UNC path to a network share.

If you use a scripting language that needs an interpreter to run the script, the script path must start with
the interpreter executable. For example, instead of specifying C:\script\myvb.vbs, you must specify
C:\windows\system32\cscript.exe c:\script\myvb.vbs.

Important Put the ClonePrep customization scripts in a secure folder to prevent unauthorized access.

ClonePrep Script Timeout Limit

By default, ClonePrep terminates a script if the execution takes longer than 20 seconds. You can increase
this timeout limit. For details, see Increase the Timeout Limit for ClonePrep and QuickPrep Customization
Scripts.

Alternatively, you can specify a script that runs another script or process that takes a long time to run.

ClonePrep Script Account

ClonePrep runs the scripts using the same account that the VMware Horizon Instant Clone Agent service
uses. By default, this account is Local System. Do not change this login account. If you do, the clones will
fail to start.

ClonePrep Process Privileges

For security reasons, certain Windows operating system privileges are removed from the VMware
Horizon Instant Clone Agent process that runs ClonePrep customization scripts. The scripts cannot
perform actions that require those privileges.

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The process that runs ClonePrep scripts do not have the following privileges:

n SeCreateTokenPrivilege

n SeTakeOwnershipPrivilege

n SeSecurityPrivilege

n SeSystemEnvironmentPrivilege

n SeLoadDriverPrivilege

n SeSystemtimePrivilege

n SeUndockPrivilege

n SeManageVolumePrivilege

n SeLockMemoryPrivilege

n SeIncreaseBasePriorityPrivilege

n SeCreatePermanentPrivilege

n SeDebugPrivilege

n SeAuditPrivilege

ClonePrep Script Logs

ClonePrep writes messages to a log file. The log file is C:\Windows\Temp\vmware-viewcomposer-ga-
new.log.

Change the Image of an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool in

Horizon Console
You can change the image of an instant-clone desktop pool to push out changes or to revert to a previous
image. You can select any snapshot from any virtual machine to be the new image.

Once a pool is provisioned, you cannot edit the vGPU profile by editing the pool or changing the image of
the pool. When you push a new image to an instant clone pool, you must verify that the new image has
the same vGPU profile as the previous image, or your push image operation might fail. To change the
vGPU profile of an instant clone pool, you must delete the pool and create a new pool with the desired
vGPU profile.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops

2 Click the pool ID.

3 On the Summary tab, click Maintain > Schedule.

The Schedule Push Image window opens.

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4 Follow the prompts.

You can schedule the task to start immediately or sometime in the future. For clones with user
sessions, you can specify whether to force the users to log out or to wait. When the users log out,
Horizon 7 recreates the clones.

5 Click Finish.

Results

After you initiate this operation, publishing of the new image starts immediately. Recreating the clones
starts at the time that you specify in the Schedule Push Image wizard.

Monitor a Push-Image Operation in Horizon Console

You can monitor the progress of a push-image operation on an instant-clone desktop pool.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Click the pool ID.

The Summary tab shows the current image and pending image information, including any push-
image error messages.

3 Click the Tasks tab.

The list of tasks that are associated with the push-image operation appears.

Reschedule or Cancel a Push-Image Operation in Horizon

Console
You can reschedule or cancel a push-image operation on an instant-clone desktop pool.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Click the pool ID.

The Summary tab shows the current image and pending image information.

3 Select Maintain > Reschedule or Maintain > Cancel.

4 Follow the prompts.

Results

If you cancel the push-image operation while clone creation is in progress, the clones that have the new
image remain in the pool and the pool has a mix of clones, some with the new image and the others with
the old image. To ensure that all the clones have the same image, you can remove all the clones. Horizon
7 recreates the clones with the same image.

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Perform Maintenance on Instant-Clone Hosts

You can performance maintenance on hosts where instant clones reside by putting the ESXi hosts into
maintenance mode. You can use vSphere Web Client to put the ESXi host into maintenance mode. By
default, the instant clones on these hosts will be vMotioned to another host in the cluster.

Starting with Horizon 7 version 7.1, when you put the ESXi host into maintenance mode, Horizon 7 will
automatically delete the parent VM so that the host can go into maintenance mode without any manual
intervention.

Instant clones configured with NVIDIA GRID vGPU can vMotion to another host without losing any
functionality.

To use the instant-clone utilities, see Instant-Clone Maintenance Utilities.

Note After the ESXi host is put into maintenance, you must wait approximately five minutes before
performing any actions on instant clones after the ESXi host performs entering or exiting operations.

Procedure

1 Log in to vSphere Web Client.

2 Select the ESXi host that you want to put into maintenance and click Maintenance Mode > Enter
Maintenance Mode.

Instant-Clone Maintenance Utilities

On the Connection Server are three utilities that you can use for the maintenance of instant-clone VMs in
vCenter Server and the clusters that the VMs are in.

The utilities are IcMaint.cmd, IcUnprotect.cmd, and IcCleanup.cmd and are located in C:\Program
Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\tools\bin.

IcMaint.cmd
This command deletes the master images, which are the parent VMs in vCenter Server from the ESXi
host so that the host can be put into maintenance mode. The host is not automatically put into
maintenance mode. To perform maintenance on the host, the vCenter Server administrator must
manually put the host into maintenance mode.

Syntax:

IcMaint.cmd -vc hostname_or_IP_address -uid user_ID -hostName ESXi_hostname -maintenance ON|OFF

Parameters:

n -vc host name or IP address of vCenter Server

n -uid vCenter Server user ID

n -hostname ESXi host name

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n -maintenance ON|OFF

This parameter specifies whether the host is available for hosting the master image VM.

After the command is run on the host, the InstantClone.Maintenance annotation value is set to 1 and
the master image VMs are deleted. After the master image VMs are deleted, the
InstantClone.Maintenance annotation value is set to 2 and no more master image VMs are created
on the host. When you run this command again with -maintenance OFF, the
InstantClone.Maintenance annotation value is cleared for the host to become available for hosting
master image VMs.

All the parameters are required.

IcUnprotect.cmd
After ClonePrep creates folders and VMs, you can use this utility to unprotect folders and VMs, delete
VMs, and detect VMs whose master image or snapshot is deleted. ClonePrep is the mechanism that
customizes instant clones during the creation process.

Note An internal service for instant clones that runs during instant clone operations, detects if any
internal folders need to be reprotected. If these folders are not empty then the service automatically
protects the folders again.

Syntax:

IcUnprotect.cmd -vc hostname_or_IP_address -uid user_ID [-includeFolders][-skipCertVeri]

Parameters:

n -action

You can use the following options for this parameter:

n unprotect. Unprotect internal VMs.

n delete. Delete internal VMs.

n detect. Detect and list internal VMs whose master image or snapshot is deleted.

If you don't specify the -action parameter, the internal VMs are unprotected by default.

n -vc host name or IP address of vCenter Server

n -uid vCenter Server user ID

n -clientId instant-clone client ID (Optional)

If clientId is not specified, protection is removed from all ClonePrep VMs in all data centers.

n -domain domain name (Optional)

You can use multiple domain names separated by comma and no space.

n -host host name (Optional)

You can use multiple host names separated by comma and no space.

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n -datastore datastore name (Optional)

You can use multiple datastore names separated by comma and no space.

n -vmName VM name (Optional)

You can use multiple VM names separated by comma and no space.

n -vmType internal VM type (Optional)

You can use multiple VM types separated by comma and no space. You can use template, replica,
parent as options for this parameter.

n -includeFolders include folders

This parameter unprotects the folders in addition to the VMs.

n -skipCertVeri skip certification verification

IcUnprotect.cmd enforces host name verification. You must enter the correct host name of the
vCenter Server instead of its IP address when you specify the command parameters. To disable host
name verification and use the IP address of vCenter Server instead, use -skipCertVeri.

Specify the following parameters to delete all parent VMs in vCenter Server:

IcUnprotect -action delete -vc <IP address of vCenter Server> -uid <vCenter Server user ID> -clientId
<instant clone client ID> -host <hostname 1>,<hostname 2> -vmType parent

Specify the following parameters to delete specific parent VMs in vCenter Server:

IcUnprotect -action delete -vc <IP address of vCenter Server> -uid <vCenter Server user ID> -clientId
<instant clone client ID> -host <hostname 1>,<hostname 2> -vmType parent -vmName <parent VM name 1>,<
parent VM name 2>

IcCleanup.cmd
You can use this utility to unprotect and delete some or all of the internal VMs created by instant clones.
This utility also provides a list command to group internal VMs into the hierarchical structure according to
their master VM and the snapshot used to create the instant clone pool. The list command has a detect
option which only reveals the internal VM groups with priming tag or snapshot missing. You can then
unprotect and delete a specific group or all of these groups. You can also output all the groups into a disk
file for future reference.

Syntax:

iccleanup.cmd -vc vcName -uid userId [-skipCertVeri] [-clientId clientUuid]

Parameters:

n -vc host name or IP address of vCenter Server

n -uid vCenter Server user ID

n -skipCertVeri Skip the vCenter Server certificate verification (Optional)

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n -clientId Client UUID, the unique ID for the server cluster made up of Connection Server and one
or more replica servers. (Optional)

Note To find the client UUID, log into Connection Server or any of the replica servers, run ADSI
Edit. In DC=vdi, dc=vmware, dc=int > OU=Properties > OU=Global > CN=Common, find the
value for pae-GUID, which is the value for the client UUID. If you do not specify the client UUID, the
cleanup tool will deal with all the internal VMs. If you specify the client UUID, the cleanup tool will deal
with only the internal VMs that belong to that particular client UUID.

Commands:

n list List some or all the internal VMs and present them in a hierarchical structure, also known as
internal VM groups. Options include:

n -all List all the internal VM groups

n -D,--detect Detect mode lists only the internal VM groups with missing priming tag or snapshot

n -h,--help Print the available usage and options for this command

After you run the list command, you can see qualified internal VMs presented in a hierarchical
structure known as internal VM groups. For these internal VM groups, you can run these commands:

n unprotect Unprotect some or all the internal VM groups using these options:

n -all Unprotect all the internal VMs. Without the -I option, you must specify -all to
unprotect all the internal VM groups

n -I,--index Unprotect a certain internal VM group

n -h,--help Print the available usage and options for this command

n delete Delete some or all the internal VM groups

n output Output the internal VM groups into a disk file.

n -F,--file File name to save the internal VM groups

n -h,--help Print the available usage and options for this command

n back Return to the main menu

n unprotect unprotect some or all the internal VMs, including folders. Options include:

n -A,--adDomain Domain name

n -H,--host Host name

n -D,--datastore Datastore name

n -T,--vmType Internal VM type: template, replica, or parent

n -N,--name Internal VM name

n -I,--includeFolders Include the internal VM folders

n -all Unprotect all the internal VMs

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n -h,--help Print the available usage and options for this command

n delete delete some or all internal VMs, including folders. Options include:

n -A,--adDomain Domain name

n -H,--host Host name

n -D,--datastore Datastore name

n -T,--vmType Internal VM type: template, replica, or parent

n -N,--name Internal VM name

n -I,--includeFolders Include the internal VM folders

n -all Delete all the internal VMs

n -h,--help Print the available usage and options for this command

n exit Log off vCenter Server and quit the program

Configure Instant Clones with vSphere Virtual Machine

Encryption
You can configure instant clones to use the vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption feature so that instant-
clone desktops have the same encryption keys.

Prerequisites

n vSphere 7.0 or later.

n Create the Key Management Server (KMS) cluster with key management servers.

n To create a trust between KMS and vCenter Server, accept the self signed CA certificate or create a
CA signed certificate.

n In vSphere Web Client, create the VMcrypt/VMEncryption storage profile.

n Horizon 7

Note For details about the Virtual Machine Encryption feature in vSphere, see the vSphere Security
document in the vSphere documentation.

Procedure

1 To configure instant-clones that use the same encryption keys, use the vSphere Web Client to create
a parent VM with the vmencrypt storage policy or create a parent VM and then apply the vmencrypt
storage policy.

The vmencrypt storage policy applies only when the parent VM does not have any snapshots. The
clone inherits the parent encryption state, including keys.

2 Take snapshot of the parent VM with the vmencrypt storage policy applied.

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3 Create instant-clone desktops that point to the parent VM with the vmencrypt storage policy applied
so that all desktops have the same encryption keys.

Note Instant-clone desktops with CBRC digestive disks that exist cannot get the vmencrypt storage
policy.

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 5
Creating Automated Desktop
Pools That Contain Full Virtual
Machines

With an automated desktop pool that contains full virtual machines, you create a virtual machine template
and Horizon 7 uses that template to create virtual machines for each desktop. You can optionally create
customization specifications to expedite automated pool deployments.

To create an automated desktop pool, Horizon 7 dynamically provisions machines based on settings that
you apply to the pool. Horizon 7 uses a virtual machine template as the basis of the pool. From the
template, Horizon 7 creates a new virtual machine in vCenter Server for each desktop.

For more information about the configuration information required for creating and maintaining automated
desktop pools that contain full virtual machines, see the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7
document.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Worksheet for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines in Horizon Console

n Create an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines

n Rebuild a Virtual Machine in a Full-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

n Desktop Settings for Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines

n Configure Full Clones with vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption

Worksheet for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains

Full Virtual Machines in Horizon Console
When you create an automated desktop pool, you can configure certain options. Use this worksheet to
prepare your configuration options before you create the pool.

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Table 5-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains
Full Virtual Machines
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

User assignment Choose the type of user assignment:

n In a dedicated-assignment pool, each user is
assigned to a machine. Users receive the same
machine each time they log in to the pool.
n In a floating-assignment pool, users receive
different machines each time they log in.

Enable automatic assignment In a dedicated-assignment pool, a machine is

assigned to a user when the user first logs in to the
pool. You can also explicitly assign machines to
users.
If you do not enable automatic assignment, you must
explicitly assign a machine to each user.
You can assign machines manually even when
automatic assignment is enabled.

Enable Multi-User Assignment In a dedicated-assignment pool, you can assign

multiple users to each machine in the pool.
Multi-user assignment is not supported for automatic
user assignment or linked-clone desktop pools.
If an assigned user has a connected or disconnected
session on a multi-user assignment machine, other
assigned users will be unable to launch a session on
that machine.

vCenter Server Select the vCenter Server that manages the virtual
machines in the pool.

Desktop Pool ID The unique name that identifies the pool in Horizon
Administrator.
If multiple vCenter Servers are running in your
environment, make sure that another vCenter Server
is not using the same pool ID.
A Connection Server configuration can be a
standalone Connection Server instance or a pod of
replicated instances that share a common View
LDAP configuration.

Display name The pool name that users see when they log in from
a client device. If you do not specify a display name,
the pool ID is displayed to users.

Access group Select an access group in which to place the pool or

leave the pool in the default root access group.
If you use an access group, you can delegate
managing the pool to an administrator who has a
specific role.

Note Access groups are different from vCenter

Server folders that store desktop virtual machines.
You select a vCenter Server folder later in the wizard
with other vCenter Server settings.

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Table 5-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains
Full Virtual Machines (continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Delete machine after logoff If you select floating user assignment, choose
whether to delete machines after users log off.

Note You set this option on the Desktop Pool

Settings page.

Desktop Pool Settings Settings that determine the desktop state, power
status when a virtual machine is not in use such as
display protocol and so on.
For descriptions, see Desktop Pool Settings for All
Desktop Pool Types in Horizon Console.

Display Assigned Machine Name Displays the host name of the assigned machine
instead of the desktop pool display name when you
log in to Horizon Client.
If no machine is assigned to the user then, Display
Name (No Machine Assigned) appears for the
desktop pool when you log in to Horizon Client.

Stop provisioning on error You can direct Horizon 7 to stop provisioning or

continue to provision virtual machines in a desktop
pool after an error occurs during the provisioning of a
virtual machine. If you leave this setting selected, you
can prevent a provisioning error from recurring on
multiple virtual machines.

Virtual Machine Naming Choose whether to provision machines by manually

specifying a list of machine names or by providing a
naming pattern and the total number of machines.

Specify names manually If you specify names manually, prepare a list of

machine names and, optionally, the associated user
names.

Naming Pattern If you use this naming method, provide the pattern.
The pattern you specify is used as a prefix in all the
machine names, followed by a unique number to
identify each machine.

Maximum number of machines If you use a naming pattern, specify the total number
of machines in the pool.
You can also specify a minimum number of machines
to provision when you first create the pool.

Number of spare (powered on) If you specify names manually or use a naming
machines pattern, specify a number of machines to keep
available and powered on for new users.
When you specify names manually, this option is
called # Unassigned machines kept powered on.

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Table 5-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains
Full Virtual Machines (continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Minimum number of machines If you use a naming pattern and provision machines
on demand, specify a minimum number of machines
in the pool.
The minimum number of machines is created when
you create the pool.
If you provision machines on demand, additional
machines are created as users connect to the pool
for the first time or as you assign machines to users.

Use VMware vSAN Specify whether to use VMware vSAN, if available.

vSAN is a software-defined storage tier that
virtualizes the local physical storage disks available
on a cluster of ESXi hosts.

Template Select the virtual machine template to use for

creating the pool.

vCenter Server folder Select the folder in vCenter Server in which the
desktop pool resides.

Host or cluster Select the ESXi host or cluster on which the virtual
machines run.
In vSphere 5.1 or later, you can select a cluster with
up to 32 ESXi hosts.

Resource pool Select the vCenter Server resource pool in which the
desktop pool resides.

Datastores Choose the type of datastore:

n Individual datastore. Select individual
datastores on which to store the desktop pool.
n Storage DRS. Select the Storage Distributed
Resource Scheduler (DRS) cluster that contains
shared or local datastores. Storage DRS is a load
balancing utility that assigns and moves storage
workloads to available datastores.

If your desktop pool was upgraded from Horizon

7 version 7.1 to Horizon 7 version 7.2, and you
want to modify the pool to use the Storage DRS
cluster, you must deselect the existing datastores
and select Storage DRS.

Note If you use vSAN, select only one datastore.

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Table 5-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains
Full Virtual Machines (continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Use View Storage Accelerator Determine whether ESXi hosts cache common virtual
machine disk data. View Storage Accelerator can
improve performance and reduce the need for extra
storage I/O bandwidth to manage boot storms and
anti-virus scanning I/O storms.
This feature is supported on vSphere 5.0 and later.
This feature is enabled by default.

Note Horizon Console does not save the blackout

times if you add or delete blackout times and then
disable View Storage Accelerator.

Transparent Page Sharing Scope Select the level at which to allow transparent page
sharing (TPS). The choices are Virtual Machine (the
default), Pool, Pod, or Global. If you turn on TPS for
all the machines in the pool, pod, or globally, the
ESXi host eliminates redundant copies of memory
pages that result if the machines use the same guest
operating system or applications.
Page sharing happens on the ESXi host. For
example, if you enable TPS at the pool level but the
pool is spread across multiple ESXi hosts, only virtual
machines on the same host and within the same pool
will share pages. At the global level, all machines
managed by Horizon 7 on the same ESXi host can
share memory pages, regardless of which pool the
machines reside in.

Note The default setting is not to share memory

pages among machines because TPS can pose a
security risk. Research indicates that TPS could
possibly be abused to gain unauthorized access to
data in very limited configuration scenarios.

Guest customization Select a customization specification (SYSPREP) from

the list to configure licensing, domain attachment,
DHCP settings, and other properties on the
machines. You can only select a customization
specification that matches the guest operating system
of the template.
Alternatively, you can customize the machines
manually after they are created.

Create an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual

Machines
You can create an automated desktop pool based on a virtual machine template that you select. Horizon
7 dynamically deploys the desktops, creating a new virtual machine in vCenter Server for each desktop.

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Prerequisites

n Prepare a virtual machine template that Horizon 7 will use to create the machines. Horizon 7 must be
installed on the template. See Chapter 3 Creating and Preparing a Virtual Machine for Cloning.

n If you intend to use a customization specification, make sure that the specifications are accurate. In
vSphere Client, deploy and customize a virtual machine from your template using the customization
specification. Fully test the resulting virtual machine, including DHCP and authentication.

n Verify that you have a sufficient number of ports on the ESXi virtual switch that is used for the virtual
machines that are used as remote desktops. The default value might not be sufficient if you create
large desktop pools. The number of virtual switch ports on the ESXi host must equal or exceed the
number of virtual machines multiplied by the number of virtual NICs per virtual machine.

n Gather the configuration information you must provide to create the pool. See Worksheet for Creating
an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines in Horizon Console.

n Decide how to configure power settings, display protocol, Adobe Flash quality, and other settings.
See Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop Pool Types in Horizon Console.

n If you intend to provide access to your desktops and applications through VMware Identity Manager,
verify that you create the desktop and application pools as a user who has the Administrators role on
the root access group in Horizon Administrator. If you give the user the Administrators role on an
access group other than the root access group, VMware Identity Manager will not recognize the
SAML authenticator you configure in Horizon 7, and you cannot configure the pool in VMware Identity
Manager.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Click Add.

3 Select Automated Desktop Pool and click Next.

4 Select Full Virtual Machines, select the vCenter Server instance, and click Next.

5 Follow the prompts to create the pool.

Use the configuration information you gathered in the worksheet. You can go directly back to any
wizard page by clicking the page name in the navigation pane.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool.

Rebuild a Virtual Machine in a Full-Clone Desktop Pool in

Horizon Console
Rebuild a virtual machine in a full-clone desktop pool if you want to replace the virtual machine with a new
virtual machine and want to reuse the machine name. You can rebuild a virtual machine that is in an error
state to replace the virtual machine with an error free virtual machine of the same name. When you

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rebuild a virtual machine, the virtual machine is deleted and then cloned with the same virtual machine
name and the AD computer accounts are reused. All user data or settings from the previous virtual
machine are lost and the new virtual machine is created using the desktop pool template.

Prerequisites

n Create an automated full-clone desktop pool. See Create an Automated Pool That Contains Full
Virtual Machines.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Select the desktop pool that contains the virtual machine you want to rebuild and click the Inventory
tab.

3 Select the virtual machine that you want to rebuild and click Rebuild.

In vCenter Client, you can view the virtual machine as it is deleted and cloned again with the same
name. In Horizon Console, the status of the rebuilt virtual machine goes through the following states:
Deleting > Provisioning > Customizing > Available.

Desktop Settings for Automated Pools That Contain Full

Virtual Machines
You must specify desktop pool settings when you configure automated pools that contain full virtual
machines. Different settings apply to pools with dedicated user assignments and floating user
assignments.

Settings for Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines lists the settings that apply to automated
pools with dedicated assignments and floating assignments.

For descriptions of each desktop pool setting, see Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop Pool Types in
Horizon Console.

Table 5-2. Settings for Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines
Automated Pool, Dedicated
Setting Assignment Automated Pool, Floating Assignment

State Yes Yes

Connection Server restrictions Yes Yes

Remote machine power policy Yes Yes

Automatic logoff after disconnect Yes Yes

Allow users to reset/restart their machines Yes Yes

Allow user to initiate separate sessions Yes

from different client devices

Delete machine after logoff Yes

Default display protocol Yes Yes

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Table 5-2. Settings for Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines (continued)
Automated Pool, Dedicated
Setting Assignment Automated Pool, Floating Assignment

Allow users to choose protocol Yes Yes

3D Renderer Yes Yes

Max number of monitors Yes Yes

Max resolution of any one monitor Yes Yes

Override global Mirage settings Yes Yes

Mirage Server configuration Yes Yes

Enable Multi-User Assignment Yes No

Display Assigned Machine Name Yes No

Configure Full Clones with vSphere Virtual Machine

Encryption
You can configure full clones to use the vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption feature. You can create full-
clone desktops that have the same encryption keys or, full-clone desktops with different keys.

Prerequisites

n vSphere 6.5 or later.

n Create the Key Management Server (KMS) cluster with key management servers.

n To create a trust between KMS and vCenter Server, accept the self signed CA certificate or create a
CA signed certificate.

n In vSphere Web Client, create the VMcrypt/VMEncryption storage profile.

n Horizon 7

Note For details about the Virtual Machine Encryption feature in vSphere, see the vSphere Security
document in the vSphere documentation.

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Procedure

1 To configure full clones that use the same encryption keys, create a parent template for all desktops
to have the same encryption keys.

The clone inherits the parent encryption state including keys.

a In vSphere Web Client, create a parent VM with the vmencrypt storage policy or create a parent
VM and then apply the vmencrypt storage policy.

b Convert the parent VM to a virtual machine template.

c Create full-clone desktops that point to the parent template so that all desktops have the same
encryption keys.

Note Do not select the Content Based Read Cache (CBRC) feature when you create the full-clone
desktop pool. The CBRC and Virtual Machine Encryption features are not compatible.

2 To configure full clones that use different encryption keys, you must change the storage policy for
each full-clone desktop.

a In vSphere Web Client, create the full-clone desktop pool and then edit the full-clone desktops.

You can also edit existing full-clone desktops.

b Navigate to each full-clone desktop and edit the storage policy and change the storage policy to
vmencrypt.

Each full-clone desktop gets a different encryption key.

Note Full-clone desktops with CBRC digestive disks that exist cannot get the vmencrypt storage
policy. The vmencrypt storage policy applies only when the parent VM does not have any snapshots.

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 6
Creating Linked-Clone Desktop
Pools in Horizon Console

With a linked-clone desktop pool, Horizon 7 creates a desktop pool based on a parent virtual machine
that you select. The Horizon Composer service dynamically creates a linked-clone virtual machine in
vCenter Server for each desktop.

Horizon 7 dynamically provisions the linked-clone desktops based on settings that you apply to the pool.
Because linked-clone desktops share a base system-disk image, they use less storage than full virtual
machines.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Worksheet for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

n Desktop Pool Settings for Linked-Clone Desktop Pools in Horizon Console

n Create a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

n Horizon Composer Support for Linked-Clone SIDs and Third-Party Applications

Worksheet for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool in

Horizon Console
When you create a linked-clone desktop pool, you can configure certain options. Use this worksheet to
prepare your configuration options before you create the linked-clone desktop pool.

Before you create a linked-clone pool, you must use vCenter Server to take a snapshot of the parent
virtual machine that you prepare for the pool. You must shut down the parent virtual machine before you
take the snapshot. Horizon Composer uses the snapshot as the base image from which the clones are
created.

Note You cannot create a linked-clone pool from a virtual machine template.

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Table 6-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

vCenter Server Select the vCenter Server that manages the virtual
machines in the pool.

User assignment Choose the type of user assignment:

n In a dedicated-assignment pool, each user is assigned
to a machine. Users receive the same machine each
time they log in.
n In a floating-assignment pool, users receive different
machines each time they log in.

Enable automatic assignment In a dedicated-assignment pool, a machine is assigned to a

user when the user first logs in to the pool. You can also
explicitly assign machines to users.
If you do not enable automatic assignment, you must
explicitly assign a machine to each user.

Persistent disk If you select dedicated user assignments, choose whether

to store Windows user-profile data on a separate Horizon
Composer persistent disk or the same disk as the OS data.
n Redirect Windows profile to a persistent disk. Select
this option to store data on a separate Horizon
Composer persistent disk. Separate persistent disks let
you preserve user data and settings. Horizon Composer
refresh, recompose, and rebalance operations do not
affect persistent disks. You can detach a persistent disk
from a linked clone and recreate the linked-clone virtual
machine from the detached disk. For example, when a
machine or pool is deleted, you can detach the
persistent disk and recreate the desktop, preserving the
original user data and settings.
n Disk size. If you store user profile data on a separate
Horizon Composer persistent disk, provide the disk size
in megabytes.
n Drive letter. If you store user profile data on a separate
Horizon Composer persistent disk, provide the drive
letter.

Note Do not select a drive letter that already exists on

the parent virtual machine or that conflicts with a drive
letter that is used for a network-mounted drive.
n Do not redirect Windows profile. Select this option if
you store the Windows profile in the OS disk. The user
data and settings are removed during refresh,
recompose, and rebalance operations.

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Table 6-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Disposable File Redirection Choose whether to redirect the guest operating system's
paging and temporary files to a separate, non-persistent
disk.
n Redirect disposable files to a non-persistent disk.
Select this option to redirect the guest operating
system's paging and temporary files to a separate, non-
persistent disk. With this configuration, when a linked
clone is powered off, the disposable-file disk is replaced
with a copy of the original disk that was created with the
linked-clone pool. Linked clones can increase in size as
users interact with their desktops. Disposable file
redirection can save storage space by slowing the
growth of linked clones.
n Disk size. If you redirect disposable files to a non-
persistent disk, provide the disk size in megabytes.

The disk size should be larger than page-file size of the

guest OS. To determine the page-file size, see "Keep a
Record of the Parent Virtual Machine's Paging-File
Size" in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7
document. When you configure the disposable file disk
size, consider that the actual size of a formatted disk
partition is slightly smaller than the value you provide in
Horizon Console.
n Drive letter. If you redirect disposable files to a non-
persistent disk, provide the drive letter. You can select a
drive letter for the disposable file disk. The default
value, Auto, directs Horizon 7 to assign the drive letter.
n Do not redirect disposable files. Select this option if
you do not want to redirect the guest operating systems
paging and temporary files.

Note Do not select a drive letter that already exists on

the parent virtual machine or that conflicts with a drive
letter that is used for a network-mounted drive.

Use VMware vSAN Specify whether to use VMware vSAN, if available. vSAN is
a software-defined storage tier that virtualizes the local
physical storage disks available on a cluster of ESXi hosts.
For more information, see "Using vSAN for High-
Performance Storage and Policy-Based Management" in
the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

Select separate datastores for (Available only if you do not use vSAN) If you redirect user
persistent and OS disks profiles to separate persistent disks, you can store the
persistent disks and OS disks on different datastores.

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Table 6-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Select separate datastores for (Available only if you do not use vSAN or Virtual Volumes)
replica and OS disks You can store the replica (master) virtual machine disk on a
high performance datastore and the linked clones on
separate datastores.
For details, see the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7
document.
If you store replicas and OS disks on separate datastores,
native NFS snapshots cannot be used. Native cloning on a
NAS device can only take place if the replica and OS disks
are stored on the same datastores.

Desktop Pool ID The unique name that identifies the pool.

If multiple Connection Server configurations are running in
your environment, make sure that another Connection
Server configuration is not using the same pool ID.
A Connection Server configuration can be a standalone
Connection Server instance or a pod of replicated instances
that share a common View LDAP configuration.

Display name The pool name that users see when they log in from a client
device. If you do not specify a display name, the pool ID is
displayed to users.

Access group Select an access group in which to place the pool or leave
the pool in the default root access group.
If you use an access group, you can delegate managing the
pool to an administrator who has a specific role. For details,
see the role-based delegated administration chapter in the
Horizon 7 Administration document.

Note Access groups are different from vCenter Server

folders that store virtual machines that are used as
desktops. You select a vCenter Server folder later in the
wizard with other vCenter Server settings.

Enable provisioning Select this option to provision virtual machines in a desktop

pool.

Stop provisioning on error You can direct Horizon 7 to stop provisioning or continue to
provision virtual machines in a desktop pool after an error
occurs during the provisioning of a virtual machine. If you
leave this setting selected, you can prevent a provisioning
error from recurring on multiple virtual machines.

Virtual machine naming Choose whether to provision machines by manually

specifying a list of machine names or by providing a naming
pattern and the total number of machines.
For details, see Naming Machines Manually or Providing a
Naming Pattern in Horizon Console.

Specify names manually If you specify names manually, prepare a list of machine
names and, optionally, the associated user names.

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Table 6-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Naming pattern If you use this naming method, provide the pattern.
The pattern you specify is used as a prefix in all the
machine names, followed by a unique number to identify
each machine.
For details, see Using a Naming Pattern for Automated
Desktop Pools.

Max number of machines If you use a naming pattern, specify the total number of
machines in the pool.
You can also specify a minimum number of machines to
provision when you first create the pool.

Number of spare (powered on) If you specify names manually or use a naming pattern,
machines specify a number of machines to keep available and
powered on for new users. For details, see Naming
Machines Manually or Providing a Naming Pattern in
Horizon Console.
When you specify names manually, this option is called #
Unassigned machines kept powered on.

Minimum number of ready If you specify names manually or use a naming pattern,
(provisioned) machines during specify a minimum number of machines that are
Horizon Composer maintenance provisioned for use in remote desktop sessions while
operations Horizon Composer maintenance operations take place.
This setting allows users to maintain existing connections or
make new connection requests while Horizon Composer
refreshes, recomposes, or rebalances the machines in the
pool. The setting does not distinguish between spare
machines that are ready to accept new connections and
machines that are already connected in existing desktop
sessions.
This value must be smaller than the Max number of
machines, which you specify if you provision machines on
demand.
For more information, see the Setting Up Virtual Desktops
in Horizon 7 document.

Provision machines on demand If you use a naming pattern, choose whether to provision all
or machines when the pool is created or provision machines
Provision all machines up front as they are needed.
n Provision all machines up front. When the pool is
created, the system provisions the number of machines
you specify in Max number of machines.
n Provision machines on demand. When the pool is
created, the system creates the number of machines
that you specify in Min number of machines.
Additional machines are created as users connect to
the pool for the first time or as you assign machines to
users.

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Table 6-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Min number of machines If you use a naming pattern and provision desktops on
demand, specify a minimum number of machines in the
pool.
The system creates the minimum number of machines
when you create the pool. This number is maintained even
when other settings such as Delete or refresh machine on
logoff cause machines to be deleted.

Parent VM Select the parent virtual machine for the pool.

Snapshot (default image) Select the snapshot of the parent virtual machine to use as
the base image for the pool.
Do not delete the snapshot and parent virtual machine from
vCenter Server, unless no linked clones in the pool use the
default image, and no more linked clones will be created
from this default image. The system requires the parent
virtual machine and snapshot to provision new linked clones
in the pool, according to pool policies. The parent virtual
machine and snapshot are also required for Horizon
Composer maintenance operations.

VM folder location Select the folder in vCenter Server in which the desktop
pool resides.

Host or cluster Select the ESXi host or cluster on which the desktop virtual
machines run.
With vSAN datastores (a vSphere 5.5 Update 1 feature),
you can select a cluster with up to 20 ESXi hosts. With
Virtual Volumes datastores (a vSphere 6.0 feature), you can
select a cluster with up to 32 ESXi hosts.
In vSphere 5.1 or later, you can select a cluster with up to
32 ESXi hosts if the replicas are stored on VMFS5 or later
datastores or NFS datastores. If you store replicas on a
VMFS version earlier than VMFS5, a cluster can have at
most eight hosts.
In vSphere 5.0, you can select a cluster with more than
eight ESXi hosts if the replicas are stored on NFS
datastores. If you store replicas on VMFS datastores, a
cluster can have at most eight hosts. See, "Configuring
Desktop Pools on Clusters With More Than Eight Hosts," in
the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

Resource pool Select the vCenter Server resource pool in which the
desktop pool resides.

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Table 6-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Linked clone datastores Select one or more datastores on which to store the
desktop pool.
A table on the Select Linked Clone Datastores page of
the Add Pool wizard provides high-level guidelines for
estimating the pool's storage requirements. These
guidelines can help you determine which datastores are
large enough to store the linked-clone disks. For details,
see "Storage Sizing for Linked-Clone Desktop Pools," in the
Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.
You can use shared or local datastores for an individual
ESXi host or for ESXi clusters. If you use local datastores in
an ESXi cluster, you must consider the vSphere
infrastructure constraints that are imposed on your desktop
deployment. See, "Storing Linked Clones on Local
Datastores," in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7
document.
With vSAN datastores (a vSphere 5.5 Update 1 feature),
you can select a cluster with up to 20 ESXi hosts. With
Virtual Volumes datastores (a vSphere 6.0 feature), you can
select a cluster with up to 32 ESXi hosts.
For more information about the disks that are created for
linked clones, see "Linked-Clone Data Disks," in the Setting
Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

Note If you use vSAN, select only one datastore.

Replica disk datastores Select a replica disk datastore on which to store the
replicas.
In vSphere 5.1 or later, a cluster can have more than eight
ESXi hosts if the replicas are stored on datastores that are
VMFS5 or later or NFS. In vSphere 5.0, a cluster can have
more than eight ESXi hosts only if the replicas are stored on
NFS datastores. See, "Configuring Desktop Pools on
Clusters With More Than Eight Hosts," in the Setting Up
Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

Delete or refresh machine on If you select floating user assignment, choose whether to
logoff refresh machines, delete machines, or do nothing after
users log off.

Note You set this option on the Desktop Pool Settings

page.

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Table 6-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Desktop Pool Settings Settings that determine the machine state, power status
when a virtual machine is not in use, display protocol,
Adobe Flash quality, and so on.
For descriptions, see "Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop
Pool Types," in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7
document.
For a list of the settings that apply to linked-clone pools, see
Desktop Pool Settings for Linked-Clone Desktop Pools in
Horizon Console.
For more information about power policies and automated
pools, see Setting Power Policies for Desktop Pools.

Display Assigned Machine Displays the host name of the assigned machine instead of
Name the desktop pool display name when you log in to Horizon
Client.
If no machine is assigned to the user then, Display Name
(No Machine Assigned) appears for the desktop pool
when you log in to Horizon Client.

Use Horizon Storage Determine whether to use Horizon Storage Accelerator,

Accelerator which allows ESXi hosts to cache common virtual machine
disk data. Horizon Storage Accelerator can improve
performance and reduce the need for extra storage I/O
bandwidth to manage boot storms and anti-virus scanning
I/O storms.
This feature is supported on vSphere 5.0 and later.
This feature is enabled by default.
For details, see the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7
document.

Storage Overcommit Determine the storage-overcommit level at which linked-

clones are created on each datastore.
As the level increases, more linked clones fit on the
datastore and less space is reserved to let individual clones
grow. A high storage-overcommit level lets you create linked
clones that have a total logical size larger than the physical
storage limit of the datastore. For details, see "Set the
Storage Overcommit Level for Linked-Clone Virtual
Machines," in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7
document.

Note This setting has no effect if you use vSAN.

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Table 6-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Use native NFS snapshots (Available only if you do not use vSAN) If your deployment
(VAAI) includes NAS devices that support the vStorage APIs for
Array Integration (VAAI), you can use native snapshot
technology to clone virtual machines.
You can use this feature only if you select datastores that
reside on NAS devices that support native cloning
operations through VAAI.
You cannot use this feature if you store replicas and OS
disks on separate datastores. You cannot use this feature
on virtual machines with space-efficient disks.
This feature is supported on vSphere 5.0 and later.
For details, see the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7
document.

Reclaim VM disk space (Available only if you do not use vSAN or Virtual Volumes)
Determine whether to allow ESXi hosts to reclaim unused
disk space on linked clones that are created in space-
efficient disk format. The space reclamation feature reduces
the total storage space required for linked-clone desktops.
This feature is supported on vSphere 5.1 and later. The
linked-clone virtual machines must be virtual hardware
version 9 or later.
For details, see "Reclaim Disk Space on Linked-Clone
Virtual Machines," in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in
Horizon 7 document.

Initiate reclamation when (Available only if you do not use vSAN or Virtual Volumes)
unused space on VM exceeds: Type the minimum amount of unused disk space, in
gigabytes, that must accumulate on a linked-clone OS disk
to trigger space reclamation. When the unused disk space
exceeds this threshold, Horizon 7 initiates the operation that
directs the ESXi host to reclaim space on the OS disk.
This value is measured per virtual machine. The unused
disk space must exceed the specified threshold on an
individual virtual machine before Horizon 7 starts the space
reclamation process on that machine.
For example: 2 GB.
The default value is 1 GB.

Blackout Times Configure days and times during which Horizon Storage
Accelerator regeneration and the reclamation of virtual
machine disk space do not take place.
To ensure that ESXi resources are dedicated to foreground
tasks when necessary, you can prevent the ESXi hosts from
performing these operations during specified periods of time
on specified days.
For details, see "Set Blackout Times for ESXi Operations on
Virtual Machines," in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in
Horizon 7 document.

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Table 6-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Transparent Page Sharing Select the level at which to allow transparent page sharing
Scope (TPS). The choices are Virtual Machine (the default), Pool,
Pod, or Global. If you turn on TPS for all the machines in
the pool, pod, or globally, the ESXi host eliminates
redundant copies of memory pages that result if the
machines use the same guest operating system or
applications.
Page sharing happens on the ESXi host. For example, if
you enable TPS at the pool level but the pool is spread
across multiple ESXi hosts, only virtual machines on the
same host and within the same pool will share pages. At the
global level, all machines managed by Horizon 7 on the
same ESXi host can share memory pages, regardless of
which pool the machines reside in.

Note The default setting is not to share memory pages

among machines because TPS can pose a security risk.
Research indicates that TPS could possibly be abused to
gain unauthorized access to data in very limited
configuration scenarios.

Domain Select the Active Directory domain and user name.

Horizon Composer requires certain user privileges to create
a linked-clone pool. The domain and user account are used
by QuickPrep or Sysprep to customize the linked-clone
machines.
You specify this user when you configure Horizon
Composer settings for vCenter Server. You can specify
multiple domains and users when you configure Horizon
Composer settings. When you use the Add Desktop Pool
wizard to create a pool, you must select one domain and
user from the list.

AD container Provide the Active Directory container relative distinguished

name.
For example: CN=Computers
When you run the Add Desktop Pool wizard, you can
browse your Active Directory tree for the container.

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Table 6-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool
(continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Allow reuse of pre-existing Select this option to use existing computer accounts in
computer accounts Active Directory for linked clones that are provisioned by
Horizon Composer. This option lets you control the
computer accounts that are created in Active Directory.
When a linked clone is provisioned, if an existing AD
computer account name matches the linked clone machine
name, Horizon Composer uses the existing computer
account. Otherwise, a new computer account is created.
The existing computer accounts must be located in the
Active Directory container that you specify with the Active
Directory container setting.
When this option is disabled, a new AD computer account is
created when Horizon Composer provisions a linked clone.
This option is disabled by default.
For details, see "Use Existing Active Directory Computer
Accounts for Linked Clones," in the Setting Up Virtual
Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

Use QuickPrep or a Choose whether to use QuickPrep or select a customization

customization specification specification (Sysprep) to configure licensing, domain
(Sysprep) attachment, DHCP settings, and other properties on the
machines.
Sysprep is supported for linked clones only on vSphere 4.1
or later software.
After you use QuickPrep or Sysprep when you create a
pool, you cannot switch to the other customization method
later on, when you create or recompose machines in the
pool.
For details, see "Choosing QuickPrep or Sysprep to
Customize Linked-Clone Machine," in the Setting Up Virtual
Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

Power-off script QuickPrep can run a customization script on linked-clone

machines before they are powered off.
Provide the path to the script on the parent virtual machine
and the script parameters.

Post-synchronization script QuickPrep can run a customization script on linked-clone

machines after they are created, recomposed, and
refreshed.
Provide the path to the script on the parent virtual machine
and the script parameters.

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Desktop Pool Settings for Linked-Clone Desktop Pools in

Horizon Console
You must specify machine and desktop pool settings when you configure automated pools that contain
linked clones created by Horizon Composer. Different settings apply to pools with dedicated user
assignments and floating user assignments.

The following table lists the settings that apply to linked-clone pools with dedicated assignments and
floating assignments.

For descriptions of each setting, see Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop Pool Types in Horizon
Console.

Table 6-2. Settings for Automated, Linked-Clone Desktop Pools

Linked-Clone Pool, Dedicated Linked-Clone Pool, Floating
Setting Assignment Assignment

State Yes Yes

Connection Server restrictions Yes Yes

Category Folder (*Supported in Horizon Yes Yes

Administrator)

Remote machine power policy Yes Yes

Automatically logoff after disconnect Yes Yes

Allow users to reset/restart their machines Yes Yes

Allow user to initiate separate sessions Yes

from different client devices

Delete or refresh machine on logoff Yes

Refresh OS disk after logoff Yes

Default display protocol Yes Yes

Allow users to choose protocol Yes Yes

3D Renderer Yes Yes

Max number of monitors Yes Yes

Max resolution of any one monitor Yes Yes

Adobe Flash quality Yes Yes

Adobe Flash throttling Yes Yes

Override global Mirage settings Yes Yes

Mirage Server configuration Yes Yes

Display Assigned Machine Name Yes No

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Create a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

You can create an automated, linked-clone desktop pool based on a parent virtual machine that you
select. The Horizon Composer service dynamically creates a new linked-clone virtual machine in vCenter
Server for each desktop.

Prerequisites

n Verify that the Horizon Composer service is installed, either on the same host as vCenter Server or
on a separate host, and that a Horizon Composer database is configured. See the Horizon 7
Installation document.

n Verify that Horizon Composer settings for vCenter Server are configured in Horizon Console. See the
VMware Horizon Console Administration document.

n Verify that you have a sufficient number of ports on the ESXi virtual switch that is used for the virtual
machines that are used as remote desktops. The default value might not be sufficient if you create
large desktop pools. The number of virtual switch ports on the ESXi host must equal or exceed the
number of virtual machines multiplied by the number of virtual NICs per virtual machine.

n Verify that you prepared a parent virtual machine. Horizon Agent must be installed on the parent
virtual machine. See Chapter 3 Creating and Preparing a Virtual Machine for Cloning.

n Take a snapshot of the parent virtual machine in vCenter Server. You must shut down the parent
virtual machine before you take the snapshot. Horizon Composer uses the snapshot as the base
image from which the clones are created.

Note You cannot create a linked-clone pool from a virtual machine template.

n Gather the configuration information you must provide to create the pool. See Worksheet for Creating
a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console.

n Decide how to configure power settings, display protocol, Adobe Flash quality, and other settings.
See, Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop Pool Types in Horizon Console.

n If you intend to provide access to your desktops and applications through VMware Identity Manager,
verify that you create the desktop and application pools as a user who has the Administrators role on
the root access group in Horizon Console. If you give the user the Administrators role on an access
group other than the root access group, VMware Identity Manager will not recognize the SAML
authenticator you configure in Horizon 7, and you cannot configure the pool in VMware Identity
Manager.

Important While a linked-clone pool is created, do not modify the parent virtual machine in vCenter
Server. For example, do not convert the parent virtual machine to a template. The Horizon Composer
service requires that the parent virtual machine remain in a static, unaltered state during pool creation.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Click Add.

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3 Select Automated Desktop Pool and click Next.

4 Select View Composer linked clones, select the vCenter Server instance, and click Next.

5 Follow the prompts to create the pool.

Use the configuration information you gathered in the worksheet. You can go directly back to any
wizard page by clicking the page name in the navigation pane.

Results

In Horizon Console, you can view the machines as they are added to the pool by selecting Inventory >
Desktops.

The linked clones might restart one or more times while they are provisioned. If a linked clone is in an
error state, the automatic recovery mechanism attempts to power on, or shut down and restart, the linked
clone. If repeated recovery attempts fail, the linked clone is deleted.

Horizon Composer also creates a replica virtual machine that serves as the master image for provisioning
the linked clones. To reduce space consumption, the replica is created as a thin disk. If all the virtual
machines are recomposed or deleted, and no clones are linked to the replica, the replica virtual machine
is deleted from vCenter Server.

If you do not store the replica on a separate datastore, Horizon Composer creates a replica on each
datastore on which linked clones are created.

If you store the replica on a separate datastore, one replica is created for the entire pool, even when
linked clones are created on multiple datastores.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool. See, Add Entitlements to a Desktop or Application Pool in Horizon
Console.

Horizon Composer Support for Linked-Clone SIDs and

Third-Party Applications
Horizon Composer can generate and preserve local computer security identifiers (SIDs) for linked-clone
virtual machines in some situations. Horizon Composer can preserve globally unique identifiers (GUIDs)
of third-party applications, depending on the way that the applications generate GUIDs.

To understand how Horizon Composer operations affect SIDs and application GUIDs, you should
understand how linked-clone machines are created and provisioned:

1 Horizon Composer creates a linked clone by taking these actions:

a Creates the replica by cloning the parent virtual-machine snapshot.

b Creates the linked clone to refer to the replica as its parent disk.

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2 Horizon Composer and Horizon customize the linked clone with QuickPrep or a Sysprep
customization specification, depending on which customization tool you select when you create the
pool.

n If you use Sysprep, a unique SID is generated for each clone.

n If you use QuickPrep, no new SID is generated. The parent virtual machine's SID is replicated on
all provisioned linked-clone machines in the pool.

n Some applications generate a GUID during customization.

3 Horizon creates a snapshot of the linked clone.

The snapshot contains the unique SID generated with Sysprep or common SID generated with
QuickPrep.

4 Horizon 7 powers on the machine according to the settings you select when you create the pool.

Some applications generate a GUID the first time the machine is powered on.

For a comparison of QuickPrep and Sysprep customization, see Choosing QuickPrep or Sysprep to
Customized Linked-Clone Machines.

When you refresh the linked clone, Horizon Composer uses the snapshot to restore the clone to its initial
state. Its SID is preserved.

If you use QuickPrep, when you recompose the linked clone, the parent virtual machine's SID is
preserved on the linked clone as long as you select the same parent virtual machine for the recompose
operation. If you select a different parent virtual machine for the recomposition, the new parent's SID is
replicated on the clone.

If you use Sysprep, a new SID is always generated on the clone. For details, see Recomposing Linked
Clones Customized with Sysprep.

Horizon Composer Operations, Linked-Clone SIDs, and Application GUIDs shows the effect of Horizon
Composer operations on linked-clone SIDs and third-party application GUIDs.

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Table 6-3. Horizon Composer Operations, Linked-Clone SIDs, and Application GUIDs
Support for SIDs or GUIDs Clone Creation Refresh Recompose

Sysprep: Unique SIDs for With Sysprep customization, Unique SIDs are preserved. Unique SIDS are not
linked clones unique SIDs are generated preserved.
for linked clones.

QuickPrep: Common SIDs for With QuickPrep Common SID is preserved. Common SID is preserved.
linked clones customization, a common SID
is generated for all clones in a
pool.

Third-party application GUIDs Each application behaves The GUID is preserved if an Recompose operations do not
differently. application generates the preserve an application GUID
GUID before the initial unless the application writes
Note Sysprep and
snapshot is taken. the GUID on the drive specified
QuickPrep have the same
The GUID is not preserved if as a Horizon Composer
effect on GUID preservation.
an application generates the persistent disk.
GUID after the initial snapshot
is taken.

Choosing QuickPrep or Sysprep to Customized Linked-Clone

Machines
QuickPrep and Microsoft Sysprep provide different approaches to customizing linked-clone machines.
QuickPrep is designed to work efficiently with Horizon Composer. Microsoft Sysprep offers standard
customization tools.

When you create linked-clone machines, you must modify each virtual machine so that it can function as
a unique computer on the network. Horizon and Horizon Composer provide two methods for
personalizing linked-clone machines.

Comparing QuickPrep and Microsoft Sysprep compares QuickPrep with customization specifications that
are created with Microsoft Sysprep.

Table 6-4. Comparing QuickPrep and Microsoft Sysprep

QuickPrep Customization Specification (Sysprep)

Designed to work with Horizon Composer. Can be created with the standard Microsoft Sysprep tools.
For details, see Customizing Linked-Clone Machines with
QuickPrep.

Uses the same local computer security identifier (SID) for all Generates a unique local computer SID for each linked clone in
linked clones in the pool. the pool.

Can run additional customization scripts before linked clones are Can run an additional script when the user first logs in.
powered off and after linked clones are created, refreshed, or
recomposed.

Joins the linked clone computer to the Active Directory domain. Joins the linked-clone computer to the Active Directory domain.
The domain and Console information in the Sysprep
customization specification is not used. The virtual machine is
joined to the domain using the guest customization information
that you enter in Horizon Console when you create the pool.

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Table 6-4. Comparing QuickPrep and Microsoft Sysprep (continued)

QuickPrep Customization Specification (Sysprep)

For each linked clone, adds a unique ID to the Active Directory For each linked clone, adds a unique ID to the Active Directory
domain account. domain account.

Does not generate a new SID after linked clones are refreshed. Generates a new SID when each linked clone is customized.
The common SID is preserved. Preserves the unique SIDs during a refresh operation, but not
during a recompose or rebalance operation.

Does not generate a new SID after linked clones are Runs again after linked clones are recomposed, generating new
recomposed. The common SID is preserved. SIDs for the virtual machines.
For details, see Recomposing Linked Clones Customized with
Sysprep.

Runs faster than Sysprep. Can take longer than QuickPrep.

After you customize a linked-clone pool with QuickPrep or Sysprep, you cannot switch to the other
customization method when you create or recompose machines in the pool.

Customizing Linked-Clone Machines with QuickPrep

You can personalize the linked-clone machines that are created from a parent virtual machine by using
the QuickPrep system tool. Horizon Composer executes QuickPrep when a linked-clone machine is
created or recomposed.

QuickPrep customizes a linked-clone machine in several ways:

n Gives the computer a name that you specify when you create the linked-clone pool.

n Creates a computer account in Active Directory, joining the computer to the appropriate domain.

n Mounts the Horizon Composer persistent disk. The Windows user profile is redirected to this disk.

n Redirects temp and paging files to a separate disk.

These steps might require the linked clones to restart one or more times.

QuickPrep uses KMS volume license keys to activate Windows linked-clone machines.

You can create your own scripts to further customize the linked clones. QuickPrep can run two types of
scripts at predefined times:

n After linked clones are created or recomposed

n Immediately before linked clones are powered off

For guidelines and rules for using QuickPrep customization scripts, see Running QuickPrep
Customization Scripts.

Note Horizon Composer requires domain user credentials to join linked-clone machines to an Active
Directory domain.

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Running QuickPrep Customization Scripts

With the QuickPrep tool, you can create scripts to customize the linked-clone machines in a pool. You can
configure QuickPrep to run customization scripts at two predefined times.

When QuickPrep Scripts Run

The post-synchronization script runs after linked clones are created, recomposed, or rebalanced, and the
clones' status is Ready. The power-off script runs before linked clones are powered off. The scripts run in
the guest operating systems of the linked clones.

How QuickPrep Executes Scripts

The QuickPrep process uses the Windows CreateProcess API call to execute scripts. Your script can
invoke any process that can be created with the CreateProcess API. For example, cmd, vbscript, exe,
and batch-file processes work with the API.

In particular, QuickPrep passes the path that is specified for the script as the second parameter to the
CreateProcess API and sets the first parameter to NULL.

For example, if the script path is c:\myscript.cmd, the path appears as the second parameter in the
function in the Composer log file: CreateProcess(NULL,c:\myscript.cmd,...).

Providing Paths to QuickPrep Scripts

You provide paths to the QuickPrep customization scripts when you create a linked-clone machine pool or
when you edit a pool's guest customization settings. The scripts must reside on the parent virtual
machine. You cannot use a UNC path to a network share.

If you use a scripting language that needs an interpreter to execute the script, the script path must start
with the interpreter binary.

For example, if you specify the path C:\script\myvb.vbs as a QuickPrep customization script, Horizon
Composer Agent cannot execute the script. You must specify a path that starts with the interpreter binary
path:

C:\windows\system32\cscript.exe c:\script\myvb.vbs

Important Protect QuickPrep customization scripts from access by ordinary users. Place the scripts in a
secure folder.

QuickPrep Script Timeout Limit

Horizon Composer terminates a post-synchronization or power-off script that takes longer than 20
seconds. If your script takes longer than 20 seconds, you can increase the timeout limit. For details, see
Increase the Timeout Limit for ClonePrep and QuickPrep Customization Scripts.

Alternatively, you can use your script to launch another script or process that performs the long-running
task.

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QuickPrep Script Account

QuickPrep runs the scripts under the account under which the VMware View Composer Guest Agent
Server service is configured to run. By default, this account is Local System.

Do not change this log on account. If you do, the linked clones do not start.

QuickPrep Process Privileges

For security reasons, certain Windows operating system privileges are removed from the View Composer
Guest Agent process that invokes QuickPrep customization scripts.

A QuickPrep customization script cannot perform any action that requires a privilege that is removed from
the View Composer Guest Agent process.

The following privileges are removed from the process that invokes QuickPrep scripts:

SeCreateTokenPrivilege
SeTakeOwnershipPrivilege
SeSecurityPrivilege
SeSystemEnvironmentPrivilege
SeLoadDriverPrivilege
SeSystemtimePrivilege
SeUndockPrivilege
SeManageVolumePrivilege
SeLockMemoryPrivilege
SeIncreaseBasePriorityPrivilege
SeCreatePermanentPrivilege
SeDebugPrivilege
SeAuditPrivilege

QuickPrep Script Logs

Horizon Composer logs contain information about QuickPrep script execution. The log records the start
and end of execution and logs output or error messages. The log is located in the Windows temp
directory:

C:\Windows\Temp\vmware-viewcomposer-ga-new.log

Recomposing Linked Clones Customized with Sysprep

If you recompose a linked-clone machine that was customized with Sysprep, Horizon 7 runs the Sysprep
customization specification again after the OS disk is recomposed. This operation generates a new SID
for the linked-clone virtual machine.

If a new SID is generated, the recomposed linked clone functions as a new computer on the network.
Some software programs such as system-management tools depend on the SID to identify the computers
under their management. These programs might not be able to identify or locate the linked-clone virtual
machine.

Also, if third-party software is installed on the system disk, the customization specification might
regenerate the GUIDs for that software after the recomposition.

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A recomposition restores the linked clone to its original state, before the customization specification was
run the first time. In this state, the linked clone does not have a local computer SID or the GUID of any
third-party software installed in the system drive. Horizon 7 must run the Sysprep customization
specification after the linked clone is recomposed.

Keeping Linked-Clone Machines Provisioned for Use in Remote

Desktop Sessions During Horizon Composer Operations
If your users must be able to access remote desktops at all times, you must maintain a certain number of
machines that are provisioned for use in remote desktop sessions even when Horizon Composer
maintenance operations take place. You can set a minimum number of machines that are not placed in
maintenance mode while Horizon Composer refreshes, recomposes, or rebalances the linked-clone
virtual machines in a pool.

When you set a Minimum number of ready (provisioned) machines during Horizon Composer
maintenance operations, Horizon 7 ensures that the specified number of machines stay provisioned,
and are not placed in maintenance mode, while Horizon Composer proceeds through the maintenance
operation.

This setting lets users maintain existing connections or make new connection requests during the Horizon
Composer maintenance operation. The setting does not distinguish between spare machines that are
ready to accept new connections and machines that are already connected in existing desktop sessions.

You can specify this setting when you create or edit a linked-clone pool.

The following guidelines apply to this setting:

n To allow a number of users to maintain their existing desktop connections and keep a minimum
number of spare (powered on) machines that can accept new connection requests, set the Minimum
number of ready (provisioned) machines during Horizon Composer maintenance operations to
a large enough value to include both sets of machines.

n If you use a naming pattern to provision machines and provision machines on demand, set the
number of provisioned machines during Horizon Composer operations to a smaller value than the
specified Max number of machines. If the maximum number were smaller, your pool could end up
with fewer total machines than the minimum number you want to keep provisioned during Horizon
Composer operations. In this case, Horizon Composer maintenance operations could not take place.

n If you provision machines by manually specifying a list of machine names, do not reduce the total
pool size (by removing machine names) to a lower number than the minimum number of provisioned
machines. In this case, Horizon Composer maintenance operations could not take place.

n If you set a large minimum number of provisioned machines in relation to the pool size, Horizon
Composer maintenance operations might take longer to complete. While Horizon 7 maintains the
minimum number of provisioned machines during a maintenance operation, the operation might not
reach the concurrency limit that is specified in the Max concurrent Horizon Composer
maintenance operations setting.

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For example, if a pool contains 20 machines and the minimum number of provisioned machines is 15,
Horizon Composer can operate on at most five machines at a time. If the concurrency limit for
Horizon Composer maintenance operations is 12, the concurrency limit is never reached.

n In this setting name, the term "ready" applies to the state of the linked-clone virtual machine, not the
machine status that is displayed in Horizon Console. A virtual machine is ready when it is provisioned
and ready to be powered on. The machine status reflects the Horizon 7-managed condition of the
machine. For example, a machine can have a status of Connected, Disconnected, Agent
Unreachable, Deleting, and so on, and still be considered "ready".

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 7
Creating Manual Desktop Pools
in Horizon Console

In a manual desktop pool, each remote desktop that is accessed by an end user is a separate machine.
When you create a manual desktop pool, you select existing machines. You can create a pool that
contains a single desktop by creating a manual desktop pool and selecting a single machine.

Horizon 7 can use several types of machines in manual pools:

n Virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server

n Virtual machines that run on a virtualization platform other than vCenter Server

n Physical computers

For information about creating a manual desktop pool that uses Linux virtual machines, see the Setting
Up Horizon 7 for Linux Desktops guide.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Worksheet for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

n Create a Manual Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

n Desktop Pool Settings for Manual Pools in Horizon Console

Worksheet for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool in Horizon

Console
When you create a manual desktop pool, you can configure certain options. Use this worksheet to
prepare your configuration options before you create the pool.

Note In a manual pool, you must prepare each machine to deliver remote desktop access. Horizon
Agent must be installed and running on each machine.

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Table 7-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

User assignment Choose the type of user assignment:

n In a dedicated-assignment pool, each user is
assigned to a machine. Users receive the same
machine each time they log in.
n In a floating-assignment pool, users receive
different machines each time they log in.
For details, see User Assignment in Desktop Pools in
Horizon Console.

Enable automatic assignment In a dedicated-assignment pool, a machine is

assigned to a user when the user first logs in to the
pool. You can also explicitly assign machines to
users.
If you do not enable automatic assignment, you must
explicitly assign a machine to each user.
You can assign machines manually even when
automatic assignment is enabled.

Enable Multi-User Assignment In a dedicated-assignment pool, you can assign

multiple users to each machine in the pool.
Multi-user assignment is not supported for automatic
user assignment or linked-clone desktop pools.
If an assigned user has a connected or disconnected
session on a multi-user assignment machine, other
assigned users will be unable to launch a session on
that machine.

vCenter Server The vCenter Server that manages the machines.

This option appears only if the machines are virtual
machines that are managed by vCenter Server.

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Table 7-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool (continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Machine Source The virtual machines or physical computers that you

want to include in the desktop pool.
1 Decide which type of machine you want to use.
You can use either virtual machines that are
managed by vCenter Server or unmanaged
virtual machines and physical computers.
2 Prepare a list of the vCenter Server virtual
machines or unmanaged virtual machines and
physical computers that you want to include in
the desktop pool.
3 Install Horizon Agent on each machine that you
want to include in the desktop pool.
To use PCoIP with machines that are unmanaged
virtual machines or physical computers, you must use
Teradici hardware.

Note When you enable Windows Server desktops in

Horizon Console, Horizon Console displays all
available Windows Server machines, including
machines on which Connection Server and other
Horizon 7 servers are installed, as potential machine
sources.

You cannot select machines for the desktop pool if

Horizon 7 server software is installed on the
machines. Horizon Agent cannot coexist on the same
virtual or physical machine with any other Horizon 7
software component, including Connection Server,
security server, View Composer, or Horizon Client.

Desktop Pool ID The pool name that users see when they log in and
that identifies the pool in Horizon Console.
If multiple vCenter Servers are running in your
environment, make sure that another vCenter Server
is not using the same pool ID.

Desktop Pool Settings Settings that determine the machine state, power
status when a virtual machine is not in use, display
protocol, Adobe Flash quality, and so on.
For details, see Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop
Pool Types in Horizon Console.
For a list of the settings that apply to manual pools,
see Desktop Pool Settings for Manual Pools in
Horizon Console.

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Table 7-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool (continued)
Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Display Assigned Machine Name Displays the host name of the assigned machine
instead of the desktop pool display name when you
log in to Horizon Client.
If no machine is assigned to the user then, Display
Name (No Machine Assigned) appears for the
desktop pool when you log in to Horizon Client.

Transparent Page Sharing Scope Select the level at which to allow transparent page
sharing (TPS). The choices are Virtual Machine (the
default), Pool, Pod, or Global. If you turn on TPS for
all the machines in the pool, pod, or globally, the
ESXi host eliminates redundant copies of memory
pages that result if the machines use the same guest
operating system or applications.
Page sharing happens on the ESXi host. For
example, if you enable TPS at the pool level but the
pool is spread across multiple ESXi hosts, only virtual
machines on the same host and within the same pool
will share pages. At the global level, all machines
managed by Horizon 7 on the same ESXi host can
share memory pages, regardless of which pool the
machines reside in.

Note The default setting is not to share memory

pages among machines because TPS can pose a
security risk. Research indicates that TPS could
possibly be abused to gain unauthorized access to
data in very limited configuration scenarios.

Create a Manual Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

You can create a manual desktop pool that provisions desktops from existing virtual machines or physical
computers. You must select the machines that will be included in the desktop pool.

For manual pools with virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server, Horizon 7 ensures that a
spare machine is powered on so that users can connect to it. The spare machine is powered on no matter
which power policy is in effect.

Prerequisites

n Prepare the machines to deliver remote desktop access. In a manual pool, you must prepare each
machine individually. Horizon Agent must be installed and running on each machine.

To prepare virtual machines managed by vCenter Server, see Chapter 3 Creating and Preparing a
Virtual Machine for Cloning.

To prepare unmanaged virtual machines and physical computers, see Chapter 11 Preparing
Unmanaged Machines.

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n Gather the configuration information that you must provide to create the pool. See Worksheet for
Creating a Manual Desktop Pool in Horizon Console.

n Decide how to configure power settings, display protocol, Adobe Flash quality, and other settings.
See Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop Pool Types in Horizon Console.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Click Add.

3 Select Manual Desktop Pool.

4 Choose virtual machines managed by vCenter Server or unmanaged virtual machines that are not
managed by vCenter Server and click Next.

Option Description

vCenter virtual machines Virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server. Select the vCenter Server
on which the virtual machines reside.

Other Sources Physical computers or virtual machines that are not managed by vCenter Server

5 Select the type of user assignment.

Option Description

Dedicated The machine is assigned to one user. Only that user can log in to the desktop.
If you select dedicated user assignment, you can also choose to enable automatic
user assignment or multi-user assignment.
n Select Enable automatic user assignment to automatically assign a machine
to a user when the user first logs in to the pool.
n Select Enable Multi-User Assignment to assign multiple users to each
machine in the pool.
See, Worksheet for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool in Horizon Console.

Floating The machine is shared by all users who are entitled to the pool. Any entitled user
can log in to the desktop as long as another user is not logged in.

6 Follow the prompts in the wizard to create the pool.

Use the configuration information that you gathered in the worksheet. You can go directly back to any
wizard page that you completed by clicking the page name in the navigation panel.

Results

In Horizon Console, you can view the machines as they are added to the pool by selecting Inventory >
Desktops.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool. See Add Entitlements to a Desktop or Application Pool in Horizon
Console.

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Desktop Pool Settings for Manual Pools in Horizon

Console
You must specify machine and pool settings when you configure manual desktop pools. Not all settings
apply to all types of manual pools.

The settings for manual desktop pools lists the settings that apply to manual desktop pools that are
configured with these properties:

n Dedicated user assignments

n Floating user assignments

n Managed machines (vCenter Server virtual machines)

n Unmanaged machines

These settings also apply to a manual pool that contains a single machine.

For descriptions of each desktop pool setting, see Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop Pool Types in
Horizon Console.

Table 7-2. Settings for Manual Desktop Pools

Manual
Managed Pool,
Dedicated Manual Managed Pool, Manual Unmanaged Pool, Manual Unmanaged Pool,
Setting Assignment Floating Assignment Dedicated Assignment Floating Assignment

State Yes Yes Yes Yes

Connection Server Yes Yes Yes Yes

restrictions

Remote machine Yes Yes

power policy

Automatically Yes Yes Yes Yes

logoff after
disconnect

Allow users to Yes Yes

reset/restart their
machines

Allow user to Yes Yes

initiate separate
sessions from
different client
devices

Default display Yes Yes Yes Yes

protocol To use PCoIP with a To use PCoIP with a
machine that is not machine that is not managed
managed by vCenter by vCenter Server, you must
Server, you must install install Teradici hardware on
Teradici hardware on the the machine.
machine.

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Table 7-2. Settings for Manual Desktop Pools (continued)

Manual
Managed Pool,
Dedicated Manual Managed Pool, Manual Unmanaged Pool, Manual Unmanaged Pool,
Setting Assignment Floating Assignment Dedicated Assignment Floating Assignment

Allow users to Yes Yes Yes Yes

choose protocol

3D Renderer Yes Yes

Max number of Yes Yes

monitors

Max resolution of Yes Yes

any one monitor

Adobe Flash Yes Yes Yes Yes

quality

Adobe Flash Yes Yes Yes Yes

throttling

Override global Yes Yes Yes Yes

Mirage settings

Mirage Server Yes Yes Yes Yes

configuration

Enable automatic Yes No Yes No

user assignment

Enable Multi-User Yes No Yes No

Assignment

Display Assigned Yes No Yes No

Machine Name

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Configuring Desktop Pools

When you create a desktop pool, you select configuration options that determine how the pool is
managed and how users interact with the desktops.

These tasks apply to desktop pools that are deployed on single-user machines.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n User Assignment in Desktop Pools in Horizon Console

n Manually Customizing Machines

n Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop Pool Types in Horizon Console

n Configure Desktop Session Timeouts in Horizon Console

n Setting Power Policies for Desktop Pools

n Configuring 3D Rendering for Desktops

n Prevent Access to Horizon 7 Desktops Through RDP

n Deploying Large Desktop Pools

n Creating Desktop Pools on a Single Host SDDC

User Assignment in Desktop Pools in Horizon Console

You can choose floating or dedicated user assignment for the desktops in a desktop pool.

With a dedicated assignment, each desktop is assigned to a specific user. A user logging in for the first
time gets a desktop that is not assigned to another user. Thereafter, this user will always get this desktop
after logging in, and this desktop is not available to any other user. Between each login and logout, the
computer name and MAC address is retained for the same desktop. Any other changes that the user
makes to the desktop are not preserved.

With a floating assignment, users get a random desktop every time they log in. When a user logs off, the
desktop is returned to the pool.

With floating instant clones, the desktop is always deleted and recreated from the current image when a
user logs out.

With floating-assignment, you might be able to reduce software licensing costs.

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Naming Machines Manually or Providing a Naming Pattern in

Horizon Console
With an automated desktop pool of full virtual machines or View Composer linked clones, you can specify
a list of names for the desktop machines or provide a naming pattern. With an instant-clone desktop pool,
you can only specify a naming pattern when provisioning the pool.

If you name machines by specifying a list, you can use your company's naming scheme, and you can
associate each machine name with a user.

If you provide a naming pattern, Horizon 7 can dynamically create and assign machines as users need
them.

The following table compares the two naming methods, showing how each method affects the way you
create and administer a desktop pool.

Table 8-1. Naming machines Manually or Providing a machine-Naming Pattern

Feature Using a Machine-Naming Pattern Naming Machines Manually

Machine names The machine names are generated by You specify a list of machine names.
appending a number to the naming pattern. In a dedicated-assignment pool, you can
For details, see Using a Naming Pattern for pair users with machines by listing user
Automated Desktop Pools. names with the machine names.
For details, see Specify a List of Machine
Names in Horizon Console.

Pool size You specify a maximum number of machines. Your list of machine names determines
the number of machines.

To add machines to the pool You can increase the maximum pool size. You can add machine names to the list.
For details, see Add Machines to an
Automated Pool Provisioned by a List of
Names.

On-demand provisioning Available. Not available.

Horizon 7 dynamically creates and provisions Horizon 7 creates and provisions all the
the specified minimum and spare number of machines that you specify in your list
machines as users first log in or as you when the pool is created.
assign machines to users.
Horizon 7 can also create and provision all
the machines when you create the pool.

Initial customization Available. Available.

When a machine is provisioned, Horizon 7 When a machine is provisioned, Horizon 7
can run a customization specification that you can run a customization specification that
select. you select.

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Table 8-1. Naming machines Manually or Providing a machine-Naming Pattern (continued)

Feature Using a Machine-Naming Pattern Naming Machines Manually

Manual customization of dedicated Not available to instant clones. You can customize and test machines
machines To customize machines and return desktop without having to reassign ownership.
access to your users, you must remove and When you create the pool, you can start
reassign the ownership of each machine. all machines in maintenance mode to
Depending on whether you assign machines prevent users from accessing them. You
on first log in, you might have to perform can customize the machines and exit
these steps twice. You cannot start machines maintenance mode to return access to
in maintenance mode. After the pool is your users.
created, you can manually put the machines For details, see Manually Customizing
into maintenance mode. Machines.

Dynamic or fixed pool size Dynamic. Fixed.

If you remove a user assignment from a The pool contains the number of
machine in a dedicated-assignment pool, the machines you provide in the list of
machine is returned to the pool of available machine names.
machines. You cannot select the Delete machine on
If you choose to delete machines on logoff in logoff setting if you name machines
a floating-assignment pool, the pool size can manually.
grow or shrink depending on the number of
active user sessions.

Note Instant-clone pools can only be

floating-assignment pools. The machines are
always deleted on logoff.

Spare machines You can specify a number of spare machines You can specify a number of spare
that Horizon 7 keeps powered on for new machines that Horizon 7 keeps powered
users. on for new users.
Horizon 7 creates new machines to maintain Horizon 7 does not create new spare
the specified number. Horizon 7 stops machines to maintain the specified
creating spare machines when it reaches the number.
maximum pool size. Horizon 7 keeps the spare machines
Horizon 7 keeps the spare machines powered on even when the pool power
powered on even when the pool power policy policy is Power off or Suspend, or when
is Power off or Suspend, or when you do not you do not set a power policy.
set a power policy.

Note Instant-clone pools do not have a

power policy.

User assignment You can use a naming pattern for dedicated- You can specify machine names for
assignment and floating-assignment pools. dedicated-assignment and floating-
assignment pools.

Note In a floating-assignment pool, you

cannot associate user names with
machine names. The machines are not
dedicated to the associated users. In a
floating-assignment pool, all machines
that are not currently in use remain
accessible to any user who logs in.

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Specify a List of Machine Names in Horizon Console

You can provision an automated desktop pool by manually specifying a list of machine names. This
naming method lets you use your company's naming conventions to identify the machines in a pool.

When you explicitly specify machine names, users can see familiar names based on their company's
organization when they log in to their remote desktops.

Follow these guidelines for manually specifying machine names:

n Type each machine name on a separate line.

n A machine name can have up to 15 alphanumeric characters.

n You can add a user name to each machine entry. Use a comma to separate the user name from the
machine name.

In this example, two machines are specified. The second machine is associated with a user:

Desktop-001
Desktop-002,abccorp.com\jdoe

Note In a floating-assignment pool, you cannot associate user names with machine names. The
machines are not dedicated to the associated users. In a floating-assignment pool, all machines that are
not currently in use remain accessible to any user who logs in.

Prerequisites

Make sure that each machine name is unique. You cannot use the names of existing virtual machines in
vCenter Server.

Procedure

1 Create a text file that contains the list of machine names.

If you intend to create a desktop pool with only a few machines, you can type the machine names
directly in the Add Pool wizard. You do not have to create a separate text file.

2 In Horizon Console start the Add Pool wizard to begin creating an automated desktop pool that
contains full virtual machines.

3 On the Provisioning Settings page, select Specify names manually and click Enter names.

4 Copy your list of machine names in the Enter Machine Names page and click Next.

5 Click Submit.

6 (Optional) Select Start machines in maintenance mode.

This option lets you customize the machines before users can log in and use them.

7 Follow the prompts in the wizard to finish creating the desktop pool.

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Results

Horizon 7 creates a machine for each name in the list. When an entry includes a machine and user name,
Horizon 7 assigns the machine to that user.

After the desktop pool is created, you can add machines by importing another list file that contains
additional machine names and users. See Add Machines to an Automated Pool Provisioned by a List of
Names."

Using a Naming Pattern for Automated Desktop Pools

You can provision the machines in a pool by providing a naming pattern and the total number of machines
you want in the pool. By default, Horizon 7 uses your pattern as a prefix in all the machine names and
appends a unique number to identify each machine.

Length of the Naming Pattern in a Machine Name

Machine names have a 15-character limit, including your naming pattern and the automatically generated
number.

Table 8-2. Maximum Length of the Naming Pattern in a Machine Name

If You Set This Number of Machines in the Pool This Is the Maximum Prefix Length

1-99 13 characters

100-999 12 characters

1,000 or more 11 characters

Names that contain fixed-length tokens have different length limits. See Length of the Naming Pattern
When You Use a Fixed-Length Token.

Using a Token in a Machine Name

You can place the automatically generated number anywhere else in the name by using a token. When
you type the pool name, type n surrounded by curly brackets to designate the token.

For example: amber-{n}-desktop

When a machine is created, Horizon 7 replaces {n} with a unique number.

You can generate a fixed-length token by typing {n:fixed=number of digits}.

Horizon 7 replaces the token with numbers containing the specified number of digits.

For example, if you type amber-{n:fixed=3}, Horizon 7 replaces {n:fixed=3} with a three-digit
number and creates these machine names: amber-001, amber-002, amber-003, and so on.

Length of the Naming Pattern When You Use a Fixed-Length Token

Names that contain fixed-length tokens have a 15-character limit, including your naming pattern and the
number of digits in the token.

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Table 8-3. Maximum Length of the Naming Pattern When You Use a Fixed-Length Token
Fixed-Length Token Maximum Length of the Naming Pattern

{n:fixed=1} 14 characters

{n:fixed=2} 13 characters

{n:fixed=3} 12 characters

Machine-Naming Example
This example shows how to create two automated desktop pools that use the same machine names, but
different sets of numbers. The strategies that are used in this example achieve a specific user objective
and show the flexibility of the machine-naming methods.

The objective is to create two pools with the same naming convention such as VDIABC-XX, where XX
represents a number. Each pool has a different set of sequential numbers. For example, the first pool
might contain machines VDIABC-01 through VDIABC-10. The second pool contains machines
VDIABC-11 through VDIABC-20.

You can use either machine-naming method to satisfy this objective.

n To create fixed sets of machines at one time, specify machine names manually.

n To create machines dynamically when users log in for the first time, provide a naming pattern and use
a token to designate the sequential numbers.

Specifying the Names Manually

1 Prepare a text file for the first pool that contains a list of machine names from VDIABC-01 through
VDIABC-10.

2 In Horizon Console, create the pool and specify machine names manually.

3 Click Enter Names and copy your list into the Enter Machine Names list box.

4 Repeat these steps for the second pool, using the names VDIABC-11 through VDIABC-20.

For detailed instructions, see Specify a List of Machine Names in Horizon Console.

You can add machines to each pool after it is created. For example, you can add machines VDIABC-21
through VDIABC-30 to the first pool, and VDIABC-31 through VDIABC-40 to the second pool. See Add
Machines to an Automated Pool Provisioned by a List of Names.

Providing a Naming Pattern With a Token

1 In Horizon Console, create the first pool and use a naming pattern to provision the machine names.

2 In the naming-pattern text box, type VDIABC-0{n}.

3 Limit the pool's maximum size to 9.

4 Repeat these steps for the second pool, but in the naming-pattern text box, type VDIABC-1{n}.

The first pool contains machines VDIABC-01 through VDIABC-09. The second pool contains machines
VDIABC-11 through VDIABC-19.

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Alternatively, you can configure the pools to contain up to 99 machines each by using a fixed-length token
of 2 digits:

n For the first pool, type VDIABC-0{n:fixed=2}.

n For the second pool, type VDIABC-1{n:fixed=2}.

Limit each pool's maximum size to 99. This configuration produces machines that contain a 3-digit
sequential naming pattern.

First pool:

VDIABC-001
VDIABC-002
VDIABC-003

Second pool:

VDIABC-101
VDIABC-102
VDIABC-103

For details about naming patterns and tokens, see Using a Naming Pattern for Automated Desktop Pools.

Add Machines to an Automated Pool Provisioned by a List of Names

To add machines to an automated desktop pool provisioned by manually specifying machine names, you
provide another list of new machine names. This feature lets you expand a desktop pool and continue to
use your company's naming conventions.

Follow these guidelines for manually adding machine names:

n Type each machine name on a separate line.

n A machine name can have up to 15 alphanumeric characters.

n You can add a user name to each machine entry. Use a comma to separate the user name from the
machine name.

In this example, two machines are added. The second machine is associated with a user:

Desktop-001
Desktop-002,abccorp.com/jdoe

Note In a floating-assignment pool, you cannot associate user names with machine names. The
machines are not dedicated to the associated users. In a floating-assignment pool, all machines that are
not currently in use remain accessible to any user who logs in.

Prerequisites

Verify that you created the automated desktop pool of full virtual machines by manually specifying
machine names. You cannot add machines by providing new machine names if you created the pool by
providing a naming pattern.

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Procedure

1 Create a text file that contains the list of additional machine names.

If you intend to add only a few machines, you can type the machine names directly in the Add Pool
wizard. You do not have to create a separate text file.

2 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

3 Select the desktop pool to be expanded.

4 Click Edit.

5 Click the Provisioning Settings tab.

6 Click Add Machines.

7 Copy your list of machine names in the Enter Machine Names page and click Next.

8 Click Submit.

9 Click OK.

Results

In vCenter Server, you can monitor the creation of the new virtual machines.

In Horizon Console, you can view the machines as they are added to the desktop pool by selecting
Inventory > Desktops.

Change the Size of an Automated Pool Provisioned by a Naming Pattern in

Horizon Console
When you provision an automated desktop pool by using a naming pattern, you can increase or decrease
the size of the pool by changing the maximum number of machines.

Prerequisites

n Verify that you provisioned the desktop pool by using a naming pattern.

n Verify that the desktop pool is automated.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Click the desktop pool ID and click Edit.

3 On the Provisioning Settings tab, type the new number of machines in the desktop pool in the Max
number of machines text box.

Results

If you increase the desktop pool size, new machines can be added to the pool up to the maximum
number.

If you decrease the size of a floating-assignment pool, unused machines are deleted. If more users are
logged into the pool than the new maximum, the pool size decreases after users log off.

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If you decrease the size of a dedicated-assignment pool, unassigned machines are deleted. If more users
are assigned to machines than the new maximum, the pool size decreases after you unassign users.

Note When you decrease the size of a desktop pool, the actual number of machines might be larger
than Max number of machines if more users are currently logged in or assigned to machines than the
value that is specified in Max number of machines.

Manually Customizing Machines

After you create an automated pool, you can customize particular machines without reassigning
ownership. By starting the machines in maintenance mode, you can modify and test the machines before
you release them to users.

Note This feature is not available to an instant-clone desktop pool.

Maintenance mode prevents users from accessing their desktops. If you start machines in maintenance
mode, Horizon 7 places each machine in maintenance mode when the machine is created. In a
dedicated-assignment pool of full virtual machines, you can use maintenance mode to log in to a machine
without having to reassign ownership to your own administrator account. When you finish the
customization, you do not have to return ownership to the user assigned to the machine.

To perform the same customization on all machines in an automated pool, customize the virtual machine
you prepare as a template or parent. Horizon 7 deploys your customization to all the machines.

Note You can start machines in maintenance mode if you manually specify machine names for the pool,
not if you name machines by providing a naming pattern.

Customize Existing Machines in Maintenance Mode in Horizon

Console
After a desktop pool is created, you can customize, modify, or test individual machines by placing them in
maintenance mode. When a machine is in maintenance mode, users cannot access the virtual-machine
desktop.

You place existing machines in maintenance mode one at a time. You can remove multiple machines from
maintenance mode in one operation.

When you create a desktop pool, you can start all the machines in the pool in maintenance mode if you
specify machine names manually.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops, double-click a pool ID, and select the Inventory
tab.

2 Select a machine.

3 Select Enter Maintenance Mode from the More Commands drop-down menu.

4 Customize, modify, or test the virtual-machine desktop.

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5 Repeat Step 2 through Step 4

6 Select the customized machines and select Exit Maintenance Mode from the More Commands
drop-down menu.

Results

The modified virtual-machine desktops are available to users.

Customize Individual Machines in Horizon Console

You can customize individual machines after a pool is created by starting the machines in maintenance
mode.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, begin creating an automated desktop pool by starting the Add Pool wizard.

2 On the Provisioning Settings page, select Specify names manually.

3 Select Start machines in maintenance mode.

4 Complete the Add Pool wizard to finish creating the desktop pool.

5 In vCenter Server, log in, customize, and test the individual virtual machines.

You can customize the machines manually or by using standard Windows systems-management
software such as Altiris, SMS, LanDesk, or BMC.

6 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Machines.

7 Select specific machines to release to your users.

8 Click More Commands > Exit Maintenance Mode.

What to do next

Notify your users that they can log in to their desktops.

Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop Pool Types in

Horizon Console
You must specify machine and desktop pool settings when you configure automated pools that contain
full virtual machines, linked-clone desktop pools, manual desktop pools, and instant-clone desktop pools.
Not all settings apply to all types of desktop pools.

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Table 8-4. Desktop Pool Setting Descriptions

Setting Options

State n Enabled. After being created, the desktop pool is enabled and ready for immediate use.
n Disabled. After being created, the desktop pool is disabled and unavailable for use, and provisioning
is stopped for the pool. This is an appropriate setting if you want to conduct post deployment activities
such as testing or other forms of baseline maintenance.

When this state is in effect, remote desktops are unavailable for use.

Connection Server n None. The desktop pool can be accessed by any Connection Server instance.
restrictions n With tags. Select one or more Connection Server tags to make the desktop pool accessible only to
Connection Server instances that have those tags. You can use the check boxes to select multiple
tags.
If you intend to provide access to your desktops through VMware Identity Manager, and you configure
Connection Server restrictions, the VMware Identity Manager app might display desktops to users when
those desktops are actually restricted. VMware Identity Manager users will be unable to launch these
desktops.

Category Folder Specifies the name of the category folder that contains a Start menu shortcut for the desktop pool
entitlement on Windows client devices. For more information, see "Configuring Start Menu Shortcuts for
Desktop and Application Pools," in the Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7
document. This feature is available with Horizon Administrator.

Session Types You can create application pools based on desktop pools by selecting the supported session type for the
desktop pool:
n Desktop. Only desktops are supported.
n Application. Only applications are supported.
n Desktop and Application. Both desktop and applications are supported.

Remote machine Determines how a virtual machine behaves when the user logs off of the associated desktop.
power policy For descriptions of the power-policy options, see "Power Policies for Desktop Pools," in the Setting Up
Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.
For more information about how power policies affect automated pools, see "setting Power Policies for
Desktop Pools," in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.
Not applicable to instant-clone desktop pools. Instant clones are always powered on.

Automatically logoff n Immediately. Users are logged off as soon as they disconnect.
after disconnect n Never. Users are never logged off.
n After. The time after which users are logged off when they disconnect. Type the duration in minutes.

The log off time applies to future disconnections. If a desktop session was already disconnected when
you set a log off time, the log off duration for that user starts when you set the log off time, not when
the session was originally disconnected. For example, if you set this value to five minutes, and a
session was disconnected 10 minutes earlier, View will log off that session five minutes after you set
the value.

Allow users to reset/ Allow users to reset or restart their own desktops.
restart their machines

Allow user to initiate When this setting is selected, a user connecting to the same desktop pool from different client devices will
separate sessions get different desktop sessions. The user can only reconnect to an existing session from the client device
from different client where that session was initiated. When this setting is not selected, the user will be reconnected to his or
devices her existing session no matter which client device is used.

Note Multi-session is not supported for applications running on desktop pools, so this setting is not
applicable for applications created from a desktop pool.

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Table 8-4. Desktop Pool Setting Descriptions (continued)

Setting Options

Empty session Determines the amount of time that an empty application session is kept open. An application session is
timeout (applications empty when all the applications that run in the session are closed. While the session is open, users can
only) open applications faster. You can save system resources if you disconnect or log off empty application
sessions. Select Never, Immediate, or set the number of minutes as the timeout value. The default is
After 1 minute. If you select Immediate, the session logs off or disconnects within 30 seconds.
You can further reduce the time the session logs off or disconnects by editing a registry key on the RDS
Host on which Horizon Agent is installed. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware,
Inc.\VMware VDM\Plugins\wssm\applaunchmgr\Params and set a value for WindowCheckInterval. The
default value is 20000. This means that the poll for the empty session check is every 20 seconds, which
sets the maximum time between the last application session close and session log off to 40 seconds. You
can change this value to 2500. This means that the poll for the empty session check is every 2.5 seconds,
which sets the maximum time between the last application close and session log off to 5 seconds.

When timeout occurs Determines whether an empty application session is disconnected or logged off after the Empty session
timeout limit is reached. Select Disconnect or Log off. A session that is logged off frees up resources,
but opening an application takes longer. The default is Disconnect.

Delete machine after Select whether to delete floating-assignment, full virtual machines.
logoff n No. Virtual machines remain in the desktop pool after users log off.
n Yes. Virtual machines are powered off and deleted as soon as users log off.
For instant-clone desktops, the machine is always deleted and recreated after logoff.

Delete or refresh Select whether to delete, refresh, or leave alone floating-assignment, linked-clone virtual machines.
machine on logoff n Never. Virtual machines remain in the pool and are not refreshed after users log off.
n Delete immediately. Virtual machines are powered off and deleted as soon as users log off. When
users log off, virtual machines immediately go into a Deleting state.
n Refresh immediately. Virtual machines are refreshed as soon as users log off. When users log off,
virtual machines immediately go into maintenance mode to prevent other users from logging in as the
refresh operation begins.
For instant-clone desktops, the machine is always deleted and recreated after logoff.

Refresh OS disk after Select whether and when to refresh the OS disks for dedicated-assignment, linked-clone virtual machines.
logoff n Never. The OS disk is never refreshed.
n Always. The OS disk is refreshed every time the user logs off.
n Every. The OS disk is refreshed at regular intervals of a specified number of days. Type the number of
days.

The number of days is counted from the last refresh, or from the initial provisioning if no refresh has
occurred yet. For example, if the specified value is 3 days, and three days have passed since the last
refresh, the machine is refreshed after the user logs off.
n At. The OS disk is refreshed when its current size reaches a specified percentage of its maximum
allowable size. The maximum size of a linked clone's OS disk is the size of the replica's OS disk. Type
the percentage at which refresh operations occur.

With the At option, the size of the linked clone's OS disk in the datastore is compared to its maximum
allowable size. This disk-utilization percentage does not reflect disk usage that you might see inside
the machine's guest operating system.
When you refresh the OS disks in a linked-clone pool with dedicated assignment, the View Composer
persistent disks are not affected.
For instant-clone desktops, the machine is always deleted and recreated after logoff.

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Table 8-4. Desktop Pool Setting Descriptions (continued)

Setting Options

Default display Select the display protocol that you want Connection Server to use to communicate with clients.
protocol
VMware Blast The VMware Blast Extreme protocol is built on the H.264 protocol and
supports the broadest range of client devices, including smart phones,
tablets, ultra-low-cost PCs, and Macs, across any network. This protocol
consumes the least CPU resources and so provides longer battery life on
mobile devices.

PCoIP PCoIP is supported as the display protocol for virtual and physical
machines that have Teradici hardware. PCoIP provides an optimized PC
experience for the delivery of images, audio, and video content for a wide
range of users on the LAN or across the WAN.

Microsoft RDP Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) uses RDP to transmit data.
RDP is a multichannel protocol that allows a user to connect to a computer
remotely.

Allow users to choose Allow users to override the default display protocol for their desktops by using Horizon Client.
protocol

3D Renderer You can select whether to enable 3D graphics rendering if your pool comprises Windows 7 or later
desktops. You can configure the 3D Renderer to use software rendering or hardware rendering based on
physical GPU graphics cards installed on ESXi 5.1 or later hosts.
To enable this feature, you must select PCoIP, VMware Blast, or RDP as the protocol and enable the
Allow users to choose protocol setting (select Yes). If the default display protocol is RDP and you
disable the Allow users to choose protocol setting (select No), the 3D rendering option is disabled.
With the hardware-based 3D Renderer options, users can take advantage of graphics applications for
design, modeling, and multimedia. With the software 3D Renderer option, users can take advantage of
graphics enhancements in less demanding applications such as AERO, Microsoft Office, and Google
Earth. For system requirements, see "Configuring 3D Rendering for Desktops," in the Setting Up Virtual
Desktops in Horizon 7 document.
If your View deployment does not run on vSphere 5.0 or later, this setting is not available and is inactive in
View Administrator.
When you select this feature, if you select the Automatic, Software, or Hardware option, you can
configure the amount of VRAM that is assigned to machines in the pool. The maximum number of
monitors is 2 and the maximum resolution is 1920 x 1200.
If you select Manage using vSphere Client, or NVIDIA GRID vGPU, you must configure the amount of
3D memory and the number of monitors in vCenter Server. You can select at most four monitors for your
machines that are used as remote desktops, depending on the monitor resolution.

Note When you configure or edit this setting, you must power off existing virtual machines, verify that the
machines are reconfigured in vCenter Server, and power on the machines to cause the new setting to take
effect. Restarting a virtual machine does not cause the new setting to take effect.

For instant-clone desktop pools, NVIDIA GRID vGPU is the only 3D Renderer option available.

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Table 8-4. Desktop Pool Setting Descriptions (continued)

Setting Options

Max number of If you select PCoIP or VMware Blast as the display protocol, you can select the Maximum number of
monitors monitors on which users can display the desktop.
You can select up to four monitors.
When the 3D Renderer setting is not selected, the Max number of monitors setting affects the amount of
VRAM that is assigned to machines in the pool. When you increase the number of monitors, more memory
is consumed on the associated ESXi hosts.
When the 3D Renderer setting is not selected, up to three monitors are supported at 3840 x 2160
resolution on a Windows 7 guest operating system with Aero disabled. For other operating systems, or for
Windows 7 with Aero enabled, one monitor is supported at 3840 x 2160 resolution.
When the 3D Renderer setting is selected, one monitor is supported at 3840 x 2160 resolution. Multiple
monitors are best supported at a lower resolution. Select fewer monitors if you select a higher resolution.

Note You must power off and on existing virtual machines for this setting to take effect. Restarting a
virtual machine does not cause the setting to take effect.

Max resolution of any If you select PCoIP or VMware Blast as the display protocol, you should specify the Maximum resolution
one monitor of any one monitor.
The Maximum resolution of any one monitor is set to 1920 x 1200 pixels by default, but you can
configure this value.
When the 3D Renderer setting is not selected, the Max resolution of any one monitor setting affects the
amount of VRAM that is assigned to machines in the pool. When you increase the resolution, more
memory is consumed on the associated ESXi hosts.
When the 3D Renderer setting is not selected, up to three monitors are supported at 3840 x 2160
resolution on a Windows 7 guest operating system with Aero disabled. For other operating systems, or for
Windows 7 with Aero enabled, one monitor is supported at 3840 x 2160 resolution.
When the 3D Renderer setting is selected, one monitor is supported at 3840 x 2160 resolution. Multiple
monitors are best supported at a lower resolution. Select fewer monitors if you select a higher resolution.

Note You must power off and on existing virtual machines for this setting to take effect. Restarting a
virtual machine does not cause the setting to take effect.

HTML Access Select Enabled to allow users to connect to remote desktops from within their Web browsers.
When a user logs in through the VMware Horizon Web portal page or the VMware Identity Manager app
and selects a remote desktop, the HTML Access agent enables the user to connect to the desktop over
HTTPS. The desktop is displayed in the user's browser. Other display protocols, such as PCoIP or RDP,
are not used. Horizon Client software does not have to be installed on the client devices.
To use HTML Access, you must install HTML Access in your View deployment. For more information, see
Using HTML Access, available from https://www.vmware.com/support/viewclients/doc/
viewclients_pubs.html.
To use HTML Access with VMware Identity Manager, you must pair Connection Server with a SAML
Authentication server, as described in the Horizon 7 Administration document. VMware Identity Manager
must be installed and configured for use with Connection Server.

Allow Session Select Enabled to allow users of the pool to invite other users to join their remote desktop sessions.
Collaboration Session owners and session collaborators must use the VMware Blast display protocol.

Configure Desktop Session Timeouts in Horizon Console

You can specify timeout values for user inactivity and disconnected sessions.

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Procedure

u In the VMware View Agent Configuration > Agent Configuration folder in the Group Policy
Management Editor, enable these settings:

Setting Properties

Disconnect Session Time Limit (VDI) Specifies the amount of time after which a disconnected desktop session will
automatically log off.
n Never: disconnected sessions on this machine will never log off.
n Immediately: disconnected sessions will immediately be logged off.
You can also configure the time limit in the desktop pool setting Automatically
logoff after disconnect in Horizon Console. If you configure this setting in
both places, the GPO value takes precedence.
For example, selecting Never here will prevent a disconnected session on this
machine from ever logging off, regardless of what is set in Horizon Console.

Idle Time Until Disconnect (VDI) Specifies the amount of time after which a desktop session will disconnect due
to user inactivity.
If disabled, unconfigured, or enabled with the setting Never, then the desktop
sessions will never be disconnected.
If the desktop pool or machine is configured to log off automatically after a
disconnect, then that setting will be honored.
The internal idle timer has a margin of error of 38 seconds. If you select 1
minute as the idle timeout, then the user will be disconnected automatically
after 1 minute to 1 minute and 38 seconds of inactivity. If you select 5 minutes,
then the user will be disconnected after 5 minutes to 5 minutes 38 seconds of
inactivity.

Changes take effect the next time the user connects to the session.
For more information on group policy settings, see VMware View Agent Configuration ADMX
Template Settings in the Configuring Remote Desktop Features in Horizon 7 document.

Setting Power Policies for Desktop Pools

You can configure a power policy for the virtual machines in a desktop pool if the virtual machines are
managed by vCenter Server except instant clones.

Power policies control how a virtual machine behaves when its associated desktop is not in use. A
desktop is considered not in use before a user logs in and after a user disconnects or logs off. Power
policies also control how a virtual machine behaves after administrative tasks such as refresh,
recompose, and rebalance are completed.

You configure power policies when you create or edit desktop pools in Horizon Console.

Note You cannot configure power policies for desktop pools that have unmanaged machines or instant
clones. Instant clones are always powered on.

Power Policies for Desktop Pools

Power policies control how a virtual machine behaves when the associated remote desktop is not in use.

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You set power policies when you create or edit a desktop pool. Table 8-5. Power Policies describes the
available power policies.

Table 8-5. Power Policies

Power Policy Description

Take no power action Horizon 7 does not enforce any power policy after a user logs
off. This setting has two consequences.
n Horizon 7 does not change the power state of the virtual
machine after a user logs off.

For example, if a user shuts down the virtual machine, the

virtual machine remains powered off. If a user logs off
without shutting down, the virtual machine remains powered
on. When a user reconnects to the desktop, the virtual
machine restarts if it was powered off.
n Horizon 7 does not enforce any power state after an
administrative task is completed.

For example, a user might log off without shutting down. The
virtual machine remains powered on. When a scheduled
recomposition takes place, the virtual machine is powered
off. After the recomposition is completed, Horizon 7 does
nothing to change the power state of the virtual machine. It
remains powered off.

Ensure machines are always powered on The virtual machine remains powered on, even when it is not in
use. If a user shuts down the virtual machine, it immediately
restarts. The virtual machine also restarts after an administrative
task such as refresh, recompose, or rebalance is completed.
Select Ensure machines are always powered on if you run
batch processes or system management tools that must contact
the virtual machines at scheduled times.

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Table 8-5. Power Policies (continued)

Power Policy Description

Suspend The virtual machine enters a suspended state when a user logs
off, but not when a user disconnects.
You can also configure machines in a dedicated pool to be
suspended when a user disconnects without logging off. To
configure this policy, you must set an attribute in View LDAP.
See Configure Dedicated Machines To Be Suspended After
Users Disconnect.
When multiple virtual machines are resumed from a suspended
state, some virtual machines might have delays in powering on.
Whether any delays occur depends on the ESXi host hardware
and the number of virtual machines that are configured on an
ESXi host. Users connecting to their desktops from Horizon
Client might temporarily see a desktop-not-available message.
To access their desktops, users can connect again.

Power off The virtual machine shuts down when a user logs off, but not
when a user disconnects. This policy is not applicable for
automated pools with floating assignments.

Note When you add a machine to a manual pool, Horizon 7 powers on the machine to ensure that it is
fully configured, even when you select the Power off or Take no power action power policy. After
Horizon Agent is configured, it is marked as Ready, and the normal power-management settings for the
pool apply.

For manual pools with machines that are managed by vCenter Server, Horizon 7 ensures that a spare
machine is powered on so that users can connect to it. The spare machine is powered on no matter
which power policy is in effect.

When you configure an automated pool with floating assignments, the machine is not powered off even
with the power policy set to Power off when the maximum number of machines is equal to the number of
spare (power on) machines.

Table 8-6. When Horizon 7 Applies the Power Policy describes when Horizon 7 applies the configured
power policy.

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Table 8-6. When Horizon 7 Applies the Power Policy

Desktop Pool Type The power policy is applied ...

Manual pool that contains one machine (vCenter Server- Power operations are initiated by session management. The
managed virtual machine) virtual machine is powered on when a user requests the desktop
and powered off or suspended when the user logs off.

Note The Ensure machines are always powered on policy

always applies, whether the single-machine pool uses floating or
dedicated assignment, and whether the machine is assigned or
unassigned.

Automated pool with dedicated assignment To unassigned machines only.

On assigned machines, power operations are initiated by
session management. Virtual machines are powered on when a
user requests an assigned machine and are powered off or
suspended when the user logs off.

Note The Ensure machines are always powered on policy

applies to assigned and unassigned machines.

Automated pool with floating assignment When a machine is not in use and after a user logs off.
When you configure the Power off or Suspend power policy for
a floating-assignment desktop pool, set Automatically logoff
after disconnect to Immediately to prevent discarded or
orphaned sessions.

Manual pool with dedicated assignment To unassigned machines only.

On assigned machines, power operations are initiated by
session management. Virtual machines are powered on when a
user requests an assigned machine and are powered off or
suspended when the user logs off.

Note The Ensure machines are always powered on policy

applies to assigned and unassigned machines.

Manual pool with floating assignment When a machine is not in use and after a user logs off.
When you configure the Power off or Suspend power policy for
a floating-assignment desktop pool, set Automatically logoff
after disconnect to Immediately to prevent discarded or
orphaned sessions.

How Horizon 7 applies the configured power policy to automated pools depends on whether a machine is
available. See How Power Policies Affect Automated Desktop Pools for more information.

Configure Dedicated Machines To Be Suspended After Users

Disconnect
The Suspend power policy causes virtual machines to be suspended when a user logs off, but not when
a user disconnects. You can also configure machines in a dedicated pool to be suspended when a user
disconnects from a desktop without logging off. Using suspend when users disconnect helps to conserve
resources.

To enable suspend on disconnect for dedicated machines, you must set an attribute in View LDAP.

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Procedure

1 Start the ADSI Edit utility on your Connection Server host.

2 In the console tree, select Connect to.

3 In the Select or type a domain or server field, type the server name as localhost:389

4 Under Connection point, click Select or type a distinguished name or naming context, type the
distinguished name as DC=vdi,DC=vmware,DC=int, and click OK.

The ADAM ADSI Edit main window appears.

5 Expand the ADAM ADSI tree and expand OU=Properties.

6 Select OU=Global and select CN=Common in the right pane

7 Select Action > Properties, and under the pae-NameValuePair attribute, add the new entry
suspendOnDisconnect=1.

8 Restart the VMware Horizon View Connection Server service or Connection Server.

How Power Policies Affect Automated Desktop Pools

How Horizon 7 applies the configured power policy to automated pools depends on whether a machine is
available.

A machine in an automated pool is considered available when it meets the following criteria:

n Is active

n Does not contain a user session

n Is not assigned to a user

The Horizon Agent service running on the machine confirms the availability of the machine to Connection
Server.

When you configure an automated pool, you can specify the minimum and maximum number of virtual
machines that must be provisioned and the number of spare machines that must be kept powered on and
available at any given time.

Power Policy Examples for Automated Pools with Floating

Assignments
When you configure an automated pool with floating assignments, you can specify that a particular
number of machines must be available at a given time. The spare, available machines are always
powered on, no matter how the pool policy is set.

Power Policy Example 1

Table 8-7. Desktop Pool Settings for Automated Pool with Floating Assignment Example 1 describes the
floating-assignment, automated pool in this example. The pool uses a machine-naming pattern to
provision and name the machines.

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Table 8-7. Desktop Pool Settings for Automated Pool with Floating Assignment Example 1
Desktop Pool Setting Value

Number of machines (minimum) 10

Number of machines (maximum) 20

Number of spare, powered-on machines 2

Remote machine power policy Power off

When this desktop pool is provisioned, 10 machines are created, two machines are powered on and
immediately available, and eight machines are powered off.

For each new user that connects to the pool, a machine is powered on to maintain the number of spare,
available machines. When the number of connected users exceeds eight, additional machines, up to the
maximum of 20, are created to maintain the number of spare machines. After the maximum number is
reached, the machines of the first two users who disconnect remain powered on to maintain the number
of spare machines. The machine of each subsequent user is powered off according to the power policy.

Power Policy Example 2

Table 8-8. Desktop Pool Settings for Automated Pool with Floating Assignments Example 2 describes the
floating-assignment, automated pool in this example. The pool uses a machine-naming pattern to
provision and name the machines.

Table 8-8. Desktop Pool Settings for Automated Pool with Floating Assignments Example 2
Desktop Pool Setting Value

Number of machines (minimum) 5

Number of machines (maximum) 5

Number of spare, powered-on machines 2

Remote machine power policy Power off

When this desktop pool is provisioned, five machines are created, two machines are powered on and
immediately available, and three machines are powered off.

If a fourth machine in this pool is powered off, one of the existing machines is powered on. An additional
machine is not powered on because the maximum of number of machines has already been reached.

Power Policy Example for Automated Pools with Dedicated

Assignments
Unlike a powered-on machine in an automated pool with floating assignments, a powered-on machine in
an automated pool with dedicated assignments is not necessarily available. It is available only if the
machine is not assigned to a user.

Table 8-9. Desktop Pool Settings for Automated Pool with Dedicated Assignments Example describes the
dedicated-assignment, automated pool in this example.

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Table 8-9. Desktop Pool Settings for Automated Pool with Dedicated Assignments Example
Desktop Pool Setting Value

Number of machines (minimum) 3

Number of machines (maximum) 5

Number of spare, powered-on machines 2

Remote machine power policy Ensure machines are always powered on

When this desktop pool is provisioned, three machines are created and powered on. If the machines are
powered off in vCenter Server, they are immediately powered on again, according to the power policy.

After a user connects to a machine in the pool, the machine becomes permanently assigned to that user.
After the user disconnects from the machine, the machine is no longer available to any other user.
However, the Ensure machines are always powered on policy still applies. If the assigned machine is
powered off in vCenter Server, it is immediately powered on again.

When another user connects, a second machine is assigned. Because the number of spare machines
falls below the limit when the second user connects, another machine is created and powered on. An
additional machine is created and powered on each time a new user is assigned until the maximum
machine limit is reached.

Preventing Horizon 7 Power Policy Conflicts

When you use Horizon Console to configure a power policy, you must compare the power policy to the
settings in the guest operating system's Power Options control panel to prevent power policy conflicts.

A virtual machine can become temporarily inaccessible if the power policy configured for the machine is
not compatible with a power option configured for the guest operating system. If there are other machines
in the same pool, they can also be affected.

The following configuration is an example of a power policy conflict:

n In Horizon Console, the power policy Suspend is configured for the virtual machine. This policy
causes the virtual machine to enter a suspended state when it is not in use.

n In the Power Options control panel in the guest operating system, the option Put the Computer to
sleep is set to three minutes.

In this configuration, both Connection Server and the guest operating system can suspend the virtual
machine. The guest operating system power option might cause the virtual machine to be unavailable
when Connection Server expects it to be powered on.

Configuring 3D Rendering for Desktops

When you create or edit a desktop pool of virtual machines, you can configure 3D graphics rendering for
your desktops. Desktops can take advantage of Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration (vSGA), Virtual
Dedicated Graphics Acceleration (vDGA), or shared GPU hardware acceleration (NVIDIA GRID vGPU).
vDGA and NVIDIA GRID vGPU are vSphere features that use physical graphics cards installed on the
ESXi hosts and manage the graphics processing unit (GPU) resources among the virtual machines.

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End users can take advantage of 3D applications for design, modeling, and multimedia, which typically
require GPU hardware to perform well. For users that do not require physical GPU, a software option
provides graphics enhancements that can support less demanding applications such as Windows AERO,
Microsoft Office, and Google Earth. Following are brief descriptions of the 3D graphics options:

NVIDIA GRID vGPU Available with vSphere 6.0 and later, this feature allows a physical GPU on
(shared GPU hardware an ESXi host to be shared among virtual machines. This feature offers
acceleration) flexible hardware-accelerated 3D profiles ranging from lightweight 3D task
workers to high-end workstation graphics power users.

AMD Multiuser GPU Available with vSphere 6.0 and later, this feature allows multiple virtual
using vDGA machines to share an AMD GPU by making the GPU appear as multiple
PCI passthrough devices. This feature offers flexible hardware-accelerated
3D profiles, ranging from lightweight 3D task workers to high-end
workstation graphics power users.

Virtual Dedicated Available with vSphere 5.5 and later, this feature dedicates a single
Graphics Acceleration physical GPU on an ESXi host to a single virtual machine. Use this feature
(vDGA) if you require high-end, hardware-accelerated workstation graphics.

Note Some Intel vDGA cards require a certain vSphere 6 version. See the
VMware Hardware Compatibility List at http://www.vmware.com/resources/
compatibility/search.php. Also, for Intel vDGA, the Intel integrated GPU is
used rather than discrete GPUs, as is the case with other vendors.

Virtual Shared Graphics Available with vSphere 5.1 and later, this feature allows multiple virtual
Acceleration (vSGA) machines to share the physical GPUs on ESXi hosts. This feature is
suitable for mid-range 3D design, modeling, and multimedia applications.

Soft 3D Software-accelerated graphics, available with vSphere 5.0 and later, allows
you to run DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2.1 applications without requiring a
physical GPU. Use this feature for less demanding 3D applications such as
Windows Aero themes, Microsoft Office 2010, and Google Earth.

Because NVIDIA GRID vGPU, AMD Multiuser GPU using vDGA, and all vDGA solutions use PCI pass-
through on the ESXi host, live VMotion is not supported. vSGA and Soft 3D support live VMotion.

In some cases, if an application such as a video game or 3D benchmark forces the desktop to display in
full screen resolution, the desktop session can be disconnected. Possible workarounds include setting the
application to run in Windowed mode or matching the Horizon 7 session desktop resolution to the default
resolution expected by the application.

Requirements for All Types of 3D Rendering

To enable 3D graphics rendering, your pool deployment must meet the following requirements:

n The virtual machines must be Windows 7 or later.

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n The pool can use PCoIP, VMware Blast Extreme, or RDP as the default display protocol when the 3D
Renderer setting Allow users to choose protocol is enabled (select Yes).

n 3D rendering settings are disabled when the default display protocol is set to RDP and users are not
allowed to choose a protocol.

Important When you configure or edit the 3D Renderer setting, you must power off existing virtual
machines, verify that the machines are reconfigured in vCenter Server, and power on the machines to
cause the new setting to take effect. Restarting a virtual machine does not cause the new setting to take
effect.

Additional Requirements for NVIDIA GRID vGPU

With NVIDIA GRID vGPU, a single physical GPU on an ESXi host can be shared among virtual
machines. To support this type of shared GPU hardware acceleration, a pool must meet these additional
requirements:

n The virtual machines must run on ESXi 6.0 or later hosts, be virtual hardware version 11 or later, and
be managed by vCenter Server 6.0 or later software.

You must configure the parent virtual machine or the virtual machine template to use a shared PCI
device before you create the desktop pool in Horizon 7. For detailed instructions, see the NVIDIA
GRID vGPU Deployment Guide for VMware Horizon 6.1.

n You must install graphics drivers from the GPU vendor in the guest operating system of the virtual
machine.

Note For a list of supported GPU hardware, see the VMware Hardware Compatibility List at http://
www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.

n You must set the 3D Renderer option in Horizon Administrator to NVIDIA GRID vGPU.

n You can use the same vGPU profile for a mix of full clones and instant clones. If you use different
vGPU profiles for a mix of full clones and instant clones, avoid creating or powering on full clones and
instant clones at the same time. See KB 57297 to set the host assignment policy to GPU
consolidation.

Additional Requirements for AMD Multiuser GPU using vDGA

With AMD Multiuser GPU using vDGA, multiple virtual machines to share an AMD GPU by making the
GPU appear as multiple PCI passthrough devices. To support this type of shared GPU hardware
acceleration, a pool must meet these additional requirements:

n The virtual machines must run on ESXi 6.0 or later hosts, be virtual hardware version 11 or later, and
be managed by vCenter Server 6.0 or later software.

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n You must enable GPU pass-through on the ESXi hosts, configure AMD SR-IOV (Single Root I/O
Virtualization), and configure the individual virtual machines to use dedicated PCI devices. See
Preparing to Use the Capabilities of AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA .

Note Only manual desktop pools are supported for this release.

n You must install graphics drivers from the GPU vendor in the guest operating system of the virtual
machine.

Note For a list of supported GPU hardware, see the VMware Hardware Compatibility List at http://
www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.

n You must set the 3D Renderer option in Horizon Administrator to Manage using vSphere Client.

Additional Requirements for Using vDGA

vDGA dedicates a single physical GPU on an ESXi host to a single virtual machine. To support vDGA, a
pool must meet these additional requirements:

n The virtual machines must run on ESXi 5.5 or later hosts, be virtual hardware version 9 or later, and
be managed by vCenter Server 5.5 or later software.

You must enable GPU pass-through on the ESXi hosts and configure the individual virtual machines
to use dedicated PCI devices after the desktop pool is created in Horizon 7. You cannot configure the
parent virtual machine or template for vDGA and then create a desktop pool, because the same
physical GPU would be dedicated to every virtual machine in the pool. See "vDGA Installation" in the
VMware white paper about graphics acceleration.

For linked-clone virtual machines, vDGA settings are preserved after refresh, recompose, and
rebalance operations.

n You must install graphics drivers from the GPU vendor in the guest operating system of the virtual
machine.

Note For a list of supported GPU hardware, see the VMware Hardware Compatibility List at http://
www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.

n You must set the 3D Renderer option to Manage using vSphere Client.

Additional Requirements for Using vSGA

vSGA allows multiple virtual machines to share the physical GPUs on ESXi hosts. To support vSGA, a
pool must meet these additional requirements:

n The virtual machines must run on ESXi 5.1 or later hosts and be managed by vCenter Server 5.1 or
later software.

n GPU graphics cards and the associated vSphere Installation Bundles (VIBs) must be installed on the
ESXi hosts. For a list of supported GPU hardware, see the VMware Hardware Compatibility List at
http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.

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n Windows 7 machines must be virtual hardware version 8 or later. Windows 8 machines must be
virtual hardware version 9 or later. Windows 10 machines must be virtual hardware version 10 or
later.

n You can set the 3D Renderer option to any of the following settings: Manage using vSphere Client,
Automatic, or Hardware. See the "Video RAM Configuration Options for the 3D Renderer" section.

Automatic uses hardware acceleration if there is a capable and available hardware GPU in the ESXi
host. If a hardware GPU is not available, the virtual machine uses software 3D rendering for any 3D
tasks.

Additional Requirements for Using Soft 3D

To support software 3D rendering, a pool must meet these additional requirements:

n The virtual machines must run on ESXi 5.0 or later hosts and be managed by vCenter Server 5.0 or
later software.

n The machines must be virtual hardware version 8 or later.

n You must set the 3D Renderer option to Software. See the "Video RAM Configuration Options for the
3D Renderer" section.

Video RAM Configuration Options for the 3D Renderer

When you enable the 3D Renderer setting, if you select the Automatic, Software, or Hardware option,
you can configure the amount of VRAM that is assigned to the virtual machines in the pool by moving the
slider in the Configure VRAM for 3D guests dialog box. The minimum VRAM size is 64MB. The default
VRAM amount depends on the virtual hardware version:

n For virtual hardware version 8 (vSphere 5.0) virtual machines, the default VRAM size is 64MB, and
you can configure a maximum size of 128MB.

n For virtual hardware version 9 (vSphere 5.1) and 10 (vSphere 5.5 Update 1) virtual machines, the
default VRAM size is 96MB, and you can configure a maximum size of 512MB.

n For virtual hardware version 11 (vSphere 6.0) virtual machines, the default VRAM size is 96MB, and
you can configure a maximum size of 128MB. In vSphere 6.0 and later virtual machines, this setting
refers only to the amount of display memory in the graphics card and therefore has a lower maximum
setting than earlier virtual hardware versions, which included both display memory and guest memory
for storing 3D objects.

The VRAM settings that you configure in Horizon Console take precedence over the VRAM settings that
can be configured for the virtual machines in vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, unless you select the
Manage using vSphere Client option.

For more information about the Automatic, Software, or Hardware 3D rendering options, see 3D
Renderer Options.

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3D Renderer Options
The 3D Renderer setting for desktop pools provides options that let you configure graphics rendering in
different ways.

The following table describes the differences between the various types of 3D rendering options available
in Horizon Administrator but does not provide complete information for configuring virtual machines and
ESXi hosts for Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration (vSGA), Virtual Dedicated Graphics Acceleration
(vDGA), AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA, and NVIDIA GRID vGPU. These tasks must be done with
vSphere Web Client before you attempt to create desktop pools in Horizon Administrator. For instructions
about these tasks for vSGA and vDGA, see the VMware white paper about graphics acceleration. For
instructions about NVIDIA GRID vGPU, see the NVIDIA GRID vGPU Deployment Guide for VMware
Horizon 6.1. For instructions about AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA, see the Preparing to Use the
Capabilities of AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA .

Table 8-10. 3D Renderer Options for Pools Running on vSphere 5.1 or Later
Option Description

Manage using The 3D Renderer option that is set in vSphere Web Client (or vSphere Client in vSphere 5.1 or later) for a
vSphere Client virtual machine determines the type of 3D graphics rendering that takes place. Horizon 7 does not control
3D rendering.
In the vSphere Web Client, you can configure the Automatic, Software, or Hardware options. These
options have the same effect as they do when you set them in Horizon Console.
Use this setting when configuring vDGA and AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA. This setting is also an
option for vSGA.
When you select the Manage using vSphere Client option, the Configure VRAM for 3D Guests, Max
number of monitors, and Max resolution of any one monitor settings are inactive in Horizon Console.
You can configure the amount of memory in vSphere Web Client.

Automatic 3D rendering is enabled. The ESXi host controls the type of 3D rendering that takes place.
For example, the ESXi host reserves GPU hardware resources on a first-come, first-served basis as virtual
machines are powered on. If all GPU hardware resources are already reserved when a virtual machine is
powered on, ESXi uses the software renderer for that machine.
This setting is an option when configuring vSGA.
The ESXi host allocates VRAM to a virtual machine based on the value that is set in the Configure VRAM
for 3D Guests dialog box.

Software 3D rendering is enabled. The ESXi host uses software 3D graphics rendering. If a GPU graphics card is
installed on the ESXi host, this pool will not use it.
Use this setting to configure Soft 3D.
The ESXi host allocates VRAM to a virtual machine based on the value that is set in the Configure VRAM
for 3D Guests dialog box.

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Table 8-10. 3D Renderer Options for Pools Running on vSphere 5.1 or Later (continued)
Option Description

Hardware 3D rendering is enabled. The ESXi host reserves GPU hardware resources on a first-come, first-served
basis as virtual machines are powered on.
This setting is an option when configuring vSGA.
The ESXi host allocates VRAM to a virtual machine based on the value that is set in the Configure VRAM
for 3D Guests dialog box.

Important If you configure the Hardware option, consider these potential constraints:
n If a user tries to connect to a machine when all GPU hardware resources are reserved, the virtual
machine will not power on, and the user will receive an error message.
n If you use vMotion to move the machine to an ESXi host that does not have GPU hardware
configured, the virtual machine will not power on.

When you configure hardware-based 3D rendering, you can examine the GPU resources that are
allocated to each virtual machine on an ESXi host. For details, see Examining GPU Resources on an ESXi
Host.

NVIDIA GRID vGPU 3D rendering is enabled for NVIDIA GRID vGPU . The ESXi host reserves GPU hardware resources on a
first-come, first-served basis as virtual machines are powered on. If a user tries to connect to a machine
when all GPU hardware resources are being used by other virtual machines on the host, Connection
Server will attempt to move the virtual machine to another ESXi host in the cluster before powering on.
Use this setting when configuring NVIDIA GRID vGPU.
When you select the NVIDIA GRID vGPU option, the Configure VRAM for 3D Guests, Max number of
monitors, and Max resolution of any one monitor settings are inactive in Horizon Console. When you
configure the parent virtual machine or virtual machine template with vSphere Web Client, you are
prompted to reserve all memory.

Important If you configure the NVIDIA GRID vGPU option, consider these potential constraints:
n The virtual machine cannot be suspended or resumed. Therefore the Remote Machine Power Policy
option for suspending the virtual machine is not available.
n If you use vMotion to move the machine to an ESXi host that does not have GPU hardware
configured, the virtual machine will not power on. Live vMotion is not available.
n All ESXi hosts in the cluster must be version 6.0 or later, and the virtual machines must be hardware
version 11 or later.
n If an ESXi cluster contains a host that is NVIDIA GRID vGPU enabled and a host that is not NVIDIA
GRID vGPU enabled, the hosts display a yellow (warning) status in the Horizon Console Dashboard. If
a user tries to connect to a machine when all GPU hardware resources are being used by other virtual
machines on the host, Connection Server will attempt to move the virtual machine to another ESXi
host in the cluster before powering on. In this case, hosts that are not NVIDIA GRID vGPU enabled
cannot be used for this type of dynamic migration.

Disabled 3D rendering is inactive.

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Table 8-11. 3D Renderer Options for Pools Running on vSphere 5.0

Option Description

Enabled The 3D Renderer option is enabled. The ESXi host uses software 3D graphics rendering.
When software rendering is configured, the default VRAM size is 64MB, the minimum size. In the
Configure VRAM for 3D Guests dialog box, you can use the slider to increase the amount of VRAM that
is reserved. With software rendering, the ESXi host allocates up to a maximum of 128MB per virtual
machine. If you set a higher VRAM size, it is ignored.

Disabled 3D rendering is inactive.

If a desktop pool is running on earlier vSphere version than 5.0, the 3D Renderer setting is inactive and
is not available in Horizon Console.

Best Practices for Configuring 3D Rendering

The 3D rendering options and other pool settings offer various advantages and drawbacks. Select the
option that best supports your vSphere hardware infrastructure and your users' requirements for graphics
rendering.

Note For detailed information about all the various choices and requirements for 3D rendering, see the
VMware white paper about graphics acceleration.

When to Choose the Automatic Option

The Automatic option is the best choice for many Horizon 7 deployments that require 3D rendering.
vSGA (Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration)-enabled virtual machines can dynamically switch between
software and hardware 3D rendering, without your having to reconfigure. This option ensures that some
type of 3D rendering takes place even when GPU resources are completely reserved. In a mixed cluster
of ESXi 5.1 and ESXi 5.0 hosts, this option ensures that a virtual machine is powered on successfully and
uses 3D rendering even if, for example, vMotion moved the virtual machine to an ESXi 5.0 host.

The only drawback with the Automatic option is that you cannot easily tell whether a virtual machine is
using hardware or software 3D rendering.

When to Choose the Hardware Option

The Hardware option guarantees that every virtual machine in the pool uses hardware 3D rendering,
provided that GPU resources are available on the ESXi hosts. This option might be the best choice when
all your users run graphically intensive applications. You can use this option when configuring vSGA
(Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration).

With the Hardware option, you must strictly control your vSphere environment. All ESXi hosts must be
version 5.1 or later and must have GPU graphics cards installed.

When all GPU resources on an ESXi host are reserved, Horizon 7 cannot power on a virtual machine for
the next user who tries to log in to a desktop. You must manage the allocation of GPU resources and the
use of vMotion to ensure that resources are available for your desktops.

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When to Choose the Option to Manage Using vSphere Client

When you select the Manage using vSphere Client option, you can use vSphere Web Client to
configure individual virtual machines with different options and VRAM values.

n For vSGA (Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration), you can support a mixed configuration of 3D
rendering and VRAM sizes for virtual machines in a pool.

n For vDGA (Virtual Dedicated Graphics Acceleration), each virtual machine must be individually
configured to share a specific PCI device with the ESXi host and all memory must be reserved. For
more information, see #unique_117.

All ESXi hosts must be version 5.5 or later and must have GPU graphics cards installed.

Note Some Intel vDGA cards require a certain vSphere 6 version. See the VMware Hardware
Compatibility List at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php. Also, for Intel vDGA,
the Intel integrated GPU is used rather than discrete GPUs, as is the case with other vendors.

n For AMD Multiuser GPU using vDGA, each virtual machine must be individually configured to share a
specific PCI device with the ESXi host and all memory must be reserved. This feature allows a PCI
device to appear to be multiple separate physical PCI devices so that the GPU can be shared
between 2 to 15 users. For more information, see Preparing to Use the Capabilities of AMD Multiuser
GPU Using vDGA .

All ESXi hosts must be version 6.0 or later and must have GPU graphics cards installed.

You might also choose this option if you want to explicitly manage graphics settings of clones and linked
clones by having the clones inherit settings from the parent virtual machine.

When to Choose the NVIDIA GRID vGPU Option

With the NVIDIA GRID vGPU option, you can achieve a higher consolidation ratio of virtual machines on
an NVIDIA GRID vGPU-enabled ESXi host than is possible by using vDGA, while maintaining the same
performance level. As with vDGA (Dedicated Virtual Graphics), the ESXi and virtual machine also use
GPU pass-through for NVIDIA GRID vGPU.

Note To improve virtual machine consolidation ratios, you can set the ESXi host to use consolidation
mode. Edit the /etc/vmware/config file on the ESXi host and add the following entry:

vGPU.consolidation = "true"

By default, the ESXi host assigns virtual machines to the physical GPU with the fewest virtual machines
already assigned. This is called performance mode. If you would rather have the ESXi host assign virtual
machines to the same physical GPU until the maximum number of virtual machines is reached before
placing virtual machines on the next physical GPU, you can use consolidation mode.

Because a GPU does not need to be dedicated to one specific virtual machine, with the NVIDIA GRID
vGPU option, you can create and configure a parent virtual machine or virtual machine template to be
NVIDIA GRID vGPU-enabled and then create a desktop pool of virtual machines that can share the same
physical GPU.

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If all GPU resources on an ESXi host are being used by other virtual machines, when the next user tries
to log in to a desktop, Horizon 7 can move the virtual machine to another NVIDIA GRID vGPU-enabled
ESXi server in the cluster and then power on the virtual machine. All ESXi hosts must be version 6.0 or
later and must have GPU graphics cards installed.

For more information, see #unique_118.

When to Choose the Software Option

Select the Software option if you have ESXi 5.0 hosts only, or if ESXi 5.1 or later hosts do not have GPU
graphics cards, or if your users only run applications such as AERO and Microsoft Office, which do not
require hardware graphics acceleration.

Configuring Desktop Settings to Manage GPU Resources

You can configure other desktop settings to ensure that GPU resources are not wasted when users are
not actively using them.

For floating pools, set a session timeout so that GPU resources are freed up for other users when a user
is not using the desktop.

For dedicated pools, you can configure the Automatically logoff after disconnect setting to
Immediately and a Suspend power policy if these settings are appropriate for your users. For example,
do not use these settings for a pool of researchers who execute long-running simulations. Note that the
Suspend power policy is not available if you use the NVIDIA GRID vGPU option.

Preparing for vDGA Capabilities

Virtual Dedicated Graphics Acceleration (vDGA) provides direct pass-through to a physical GPU,
providing a user with unrestricted, dedicated access to a single GPU. Before you attempt to create a
desktop pool that has vDGA capabilities, you must perform certain configuration tasks on the virtual
machines and ESXi hosts.

This overview is an outline of tasks you must perform in vSphere before you can create or configure
desktop pools in Horizon Console. For complete information and detailed procedures, see the VMware
white paper about graphics acceleration.

Note Some Intel vDGA cards require a certain vSphere 6 version. See the VMware Hardware
Compatibility List at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php. Also, for Intel vDGA, the
Intel integrated GPU is used rather than discrete GPUs, as is the case with other vendors.

1 Install the graphics card on the ESXi host.

2 Verify that VT-d or AMD IOMMU is enabled on the ESXi host.

3 Enable pass-through for the GPU in the ESXi host configuration and reboot.

4 Add a PCI device to the virtual machine and select the appropriate PCI device to enable GPU pass-
through on the virtual machine.

5 Reserve all memory when creating the virtual machine.

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6 Configure virtual machine video card 3D capabilities.

7 Obtain the GPU drivers from the GPU vendor and install the GPU device drivers in the guest
operating system of the virtual machine.

8 Install VMware Tools and Horizon Agent in the guest operating system and reboot.

After you perform these tasks, you must add the virtual machine to a manual desktop pool so that you
can access the guest operating system using PCoIP or VMware Blast Extreme. In a PCoIP or VMware
Blast session, you can then activate the NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel display adapter in the guest operating
system.

Preparing for NVIDIA GRID vGPU Capabilities

NVIDIA GRID vGPU provides direct access to the physical GPU on an ESXi host, allowing multiple VMs
to share a single GPU using vendor graphics card drivers.

Follow these instructions to configure VMs and ESXi hosts to create NVIDIA GRID vGPU-enabled
desktop pools in Horizon 7. For complete information and detailed procedures, see NVIDIA GRID vGPU
Deployment Guide for VMware Horizon 6.1.

1 Verify the host machine is supported in the VMware Compatibility Guide, and check with the vendor
to verify the host meets power and configuration requirements. Install the graphics card in the ESXi
host.

2 Download the NVIDIA vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB) for the appropriate version of ESXi. VIBs are
compatible with major version releases. For instance, the NVIDIA ESXi 6.5 VIB works with ESXi
6.5U2, but will not work with ESXi 6.7.

3 Update VMware Tools and Virtual Hardware (vSphere Compatability) for the template or each VM
that will use vGPU.

4 In the vSphere Web Client, edit the VM settings and add a shared PCI device. PCI devices require
reserving guest memory. Expand New PCI Device and click Reserve all guest memory. You can
also modify this setting in the VM Memory settings.

5 Select the appropriate GPU Profile for your use case. For sizing guidelines, see NVIDIA vGPU™
GRID Deployment Guide for VMware Horizon 7.x on VMware vSphere 6.7

6 Download the NVIDIA Guest Driver installer package to the VM. Make sure it matches the version of
the installed NVIDIA VIB on ESXi.

7 Choose one of the following methods to install the NVIDIA Guest Driver. After the NVIDIA driver is
installed, vCenter Server console will display a black screen.

n Desktop Pool

n View Agent Direct-Connection Plugin

n RDP

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Desktop Pool
This method is for creating a template VM or a small manual pool of dedicated desktops.

1 Install Horizon Agent.

2 Configure domain and other network settings, as needed.

3 Configure the VMs as desktops in the pool.

4 Assign admin level access to accounts.

5 Connect Horizon Client to Horizon Console to access desktops.

6 Install NVIDIA driver, reboot, and reconnect.

7 Access NVIDIA Control Panel and enter license server information.

View Agent Direct-Connection Plugin

This method is for a quick environment verification, or a simple user level access.

1 Install Horizon Agent.

2 Install the matching View Agent Direct Connection Plugin. You need local administrator account
access.

3 Log in with Horizon Client. Use the VM IP address as Connection Server.

4 Install NVIDIA driver, reboot, and reconnect.

5 Access NVIDIA Control Panel and enter license server information.

RDP
This method is for creating a template VM or a snapshot before installing Horizon Agent.

1 Enable Remote Desktop access in the VMs. For Windows 7, apply https://support.microsoft.com/en-
us/kb/3080079.

2 Log in using Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection.

3 Install NVIDIA driver, reboot, and reconnect.

4 Access NVIDIA Control Panel and enter license server information.

5 Install Horizon Agent.

6 Configure domain and other network settings, as needed.

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After a base VM is configured and licensed for vGPU, you can configure the VM as a template or take a
snapshot for use as a base image in a View Composer linked-clone pool. You must power off the virtual
machine before taking the snapshot. In the Add Desktop Pool wizard, select the NVIDIA GRID vGPU
option for 3D Renderer and only NVIDIA GRID vGPU-enabled ESXi hosts and NVIDIA GRID vGPU-
enabled virtual machine templates and snapshots appear for selection in the wizard. VMware
recommends using the default Blast settings for the pool protocol. For additional protocol options and
other advanced configuration settings, consult the following guides:

n NVIDIA vGPU™ GRID Deployment Guide for VMware Horizon 7.x on VMware vSphere 6.7

n NVIDIA GRID vGPU Deployment Guide for VMware Horizon 6.1

n NVIDIA GRID Virtual GPU User Guide

Preparing to Use the Capabilities of AMD Multiuser GPU Using

vDGA
AMD Multiuser GPU using vDGA provides direct pass-through to a physical GPU, providing a user with
unrestricted, dedicated access to a single GPU. Before you attempt to create a desktop pool that has
capabilities to use AMD Multiuser GPU using vDGA, you must perform certain configuration tasks on the
virtual machines and ESXi hosts.

This overview is an outline of tasks you must perform in vSphere before you can create or configure
desktop pools in Horizon 7. For information about enabling GPU device pass-through and adding a PCI
device to a virtual machine, see the VMware white paper about graphics acceleration.

1 Install the graphics card on the ESXi host.

2 Install the GPU vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB).

3 Verify that SR-IOV and VT-d or AMD IOMMU are enabled on the ESXi host.

4 Use the esxcfg-module command to configure the graphics card for SR-IOV (Single Root I/O
Virtualization) .

See Configuring AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA.

5 Reboot the ESXi host.

6 Add a PCI device to the virtual machine and select the appropriate PCI device to enable GPU pass-
through on the virtual machine.

7 Reserve all memory when creating the virtual machine.

8 Configure virtual machine video card 3D capabilities.

9 Obtain the GPU drivers from the GPU vendor and install the GPU device drivers in the guest
operating system of the virtual machine.

10 Install VMware Tools and Horizon Agent in the guest operating system and reboot.

After you perform these tasks, you must add the virtual machine to a manual desktop pool so that you
can access the guest operating system using PCoIP or VMware Blast Extreme. If you attempt to access
the virtual machine using a vSphere, the display will show a black screen.

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Configuring AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA

You use the esxcfg-module command-line command to configure such parameters as the number of
users who can share the GPU, the amount of frame buffer allocated to each user, and some performance
control.

Syntax
esxcfg-module -s "adapter1_conf=bus#,device#,function#,number_of_VFs,FB_size,time_slice,mode" amdgpuv

Usage Notes
The vicfg-module command supports setting and retrieving VMkernel module options on an ESXi host.
For general reference information about this command, go to https://code.vmware.com/docs/5512/
vsphere-command-line-interface-reference#/doc/vicfg-module.html.

Required Flags
You must specify several flags when configuring AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA. If the command does
not include all the required flags, no error message is provided, but the configuration defaults to a simple
4 SR-IOV device configuration.

Table 8-12. Flags for Configuring AMD SR-IOV

Flag Description

bus# Bus number in decimal format.

device# PCIe device ID for the supported AMD card, in decimal format. To see a list, use the command lspci | grep
-i display.
For example, for a system that has two AMD GPU cards, you might see the following output when you run this
command:

[root@host:~] lspci | grep -i display

0000:04:00.0 Display controller:
0000:82:00.0 Display controller:

In this example, the PCIe device IDs are 04 and 82. Note that these IDs are listed in hexadecimal format and
must be converted to decimal format for use in the vicfg-module command .
AMD S7150 cards support only a single GPU per card, and so the device ID and function ID are 0 for these
cards.

function# Function number in decimal format.

number_of_VFs Number of VFs (virtual functions), from 2 to 15. This number represents the number users who will share the
GPU.

FB_size Amount of fame buffer memory, in MB, allocated to each VF. To determine the size, take the overall amount of
video memory on the card and divide that amount by the number of VFs. Then round that number to the
nearest number that is a multiple of 8. For example, for an AMD S7150 card, which has 8000 MB, you could
use the following settings;
n For 2 VFs, use 4096.
n For 4 VFs, use 2048.
n For 8 VFs, use 1024.
n For 15 VFs, use 544.

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Table 8-12. Flags for Configuring AMD SR-IOV (continued)

Flag Description

time_slice Interval between VF switches, in microseconds. This setting adjusts the delay in queuing and processing
commands between the SR-IOV devices. Use a value between 3000 and 40000. Adjust this value if you see
significant stuttering when multiple SR-IOV desktops are active.

mode Following are the valid values: 0 = reclaimed performance; 1 = fixed percentage performance.

Important After you run the esxcfg-module command, you must reboot the ESXi host for the settings
to take effect.

Examples
1 For a single AMD S7150 card on PCI ID 4 shared between 8 users:

esxcfg-module -s "adapter1_conf=4,0,0,8,1024,4000" amdgpuv

2 For a single server with two AMD S7150 cards on PCI ID 4 and PCI ID 82 shared between 4 power
users:

esxcfg-module -s "adapter1_conf=3,0,0,2,4096,4000 adapter2_conf=130,0,0,2,4096,4000" amdgpuv

3 For a single server with two AMD S7150 cards, you can set each card with different parameters. For
instance if your View environment needs to support 2 power users and 16 task workers:

esxcfg-module -s "adapter1_conf=3,0,0,2,4096,4000 adapter2_conf=130,0,0,15,544,7000" amdgpuv

4 Enable the SR-IOV option on the ESXi host.

Some hosts have SR-IOV as a configurable option in the BIOS.

Examining GPU Resources on an ESXi Host

To better manage the GPU resources that are available on an ESXi host, you can examine the current
GPU resource reservation. The ESXi command-line query utility, gpuvm, lists the GPUs that are installed
on an ESXi host and displays the amount of GPU memory that is reserved for each virtual machine on
the host. Note that this GPU memory reservation is not the same as virtual machine VRAM size.

To run the utility, type gpuvm from a shell prompt on the ESXi host. You can use a console on the host or
an SSH connection.

For example, the utility might display the following output:

~ # gpuvm
Xserver unix:0, GPU maximum memory 2076672KB
pid 118561, VM "JB-w7-64-FC3", reserved 131072KB of GPU memory.
pid 64408, VM "JB-w7-64-FC5", reserved 261120KB of GPU memory.
GPU memory left 1684480KB.

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Similarly, you can use the nvidia-smi command on the ESXi host to see a list of NVIDIA GRID vGPU-
enabled virtual machines, the amount of frame buffer memory consumed, and the slot ID of the physical
GPU that the virtual machine is using.

Prevent Access to Horizon 7 Desktops Through RDP

In certain Horizon 7 environments, it is a priority to prohibit access to Horizon 7 desktops through the
RDP display protocol. You can prevent users and administrators from using RDP to access Horizon 7
desktops by configuring pool settings and a group policy setting.

By default, while a user is logged in to a remote desktop session, you can use RDP to connect to the
virtual machine. The RDP connection terminates the remote desktop session, and the user's unsaved
data and settings might be lost. The user cannot log in to the desktop until the external RDP connection is
closed. To avoid this situation, disable the AllowDirectRDP setting.

Note Remote Desktop Services must be started on the virtual machine that you use to create pools and
on the virtual machines that are deployed in the pools. Remote Desktop Services are required for Horizon
Agent installation, SSO, and other Horizon session-management operations.

Prerequisites

Verify that the Horizon Agent Configuration Administrative Template (ADMX) file is installed in Active
Directory.

Procedure

1 Select PCoIP as the display protocol that you want Horizon Connection Server to use to
communicate with Horizon Client devices.

Option Description

Create a desktop pool a In Horizon Console, start the Add Pool wizard.
b On the Remote Display Protocol page, select VMware Blast or PCoIP as the
default display protocol.

Edit an existing desktop pool a In Horizon Console, select the desktop pool and click Edit.
b On the Desktop Pool Settings tab, select VMware Blast or PCoIP as the
default display protocol.

2 For the Allow users to choose protocol setting, select No.

3 Prevent devices that are not running Horizon Client from connecting directly to Horizon desktops
through RDP by disabling the AllowDirectRDP group policy setting.

a On your Active Directory server, open the Group Policy Management Console and select
Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Classic Administrative
Templates > VMware Horizon Agent Configuration.

b Disable the AllowDirectRDP setting.

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Deploying Large Desktop Pools

When many users require the same desktop image, you can create one large automated pool from a
single template or parent virtual machine. By using a single base image and pool name, you can avoid
dividing the machines arbitrarily into smaller groups that must be managed separately. This strategy
simplifies your deployment and administration tasks.

To support large pools, you can create pools on ESXi clusters that contain up to 32 ESXi hosts. You can
also configure a pool to use multiple network labels, making the IP addresses of multiple port groups
available for the virtual machines in the pool.

Configuring Desktop Pools on Clusters With More Than Eight

Hosts
In vSphere 5.1 and later, you can deploy a linked clone desktop pool on a cluster that contains up to 32
ESXi hosts. All ESXi hosts in the cluster must be version 5.1 or later. The hosts can use VMFS or NFS
datastores. VMFS datastores must be VMFS5 or later.

In vSphere 5.0, you can deploy linked clones on a cluster that contains more than eight ESXi hosts, but
you must store the replica disks on NFS datastores. You can store replica disks on VMFS datastores only
with clusters that contain eight or fewer hosts.

In vSphere 5.0, the following rules apply when you configure a linked clone pool on a cluster that contains
more than eight hosts:

n If you store replica disks on the same datastores as OS disks, you must store the replica and OS
disks on NFS datastores.

n If you store replica disks on separate datastores than OS disks, the replica disks must be stored on
NFS datastores. The OS disks can be stored on NFS or VMFS datastores.

n If you store Composer persistent disks on separate datastores, the persistent disks can be configured
on NFS or VMFS datastores.

In vSphere 4.1 and earlier releases, you can deploy desktop pools only with clusters that contain eight or
fewer hosts.

Assigning Multiple Network Labels to a Desktop Pool

You can configure an automated desktop pool to use multiple network labels. You can assign multiple
network labels to a linked-clone pool or an automated pool that contains full virtual machines.

You can assign network labels that are available in vCenter Server for all the ESXi hosts in the cluster
where the desktop pool is deployed. By configuring multiple network labels for the pool, you greatly
expand the number of IP addresses that can be assigned to the virtual machines in the pool.

You must use Horizon PowerCLI cmdlets to assign multiple network labels to a pool. For more information
about Horizon PowerCLI cmdlets, read the VMware PowerCLI Cmdlets Reference.

For information on the API specifications to create advanced functions and scripts to use with Horizon
PowerCLI, see the View API Reference at the VMware Developer Center.

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For more information on sample scripts that you can use to create your own Horizon PowerCLI scripts,
see the Horizon PowerCLI community on GitHub.

Creating Desktop Pools on a Single Host SDDC

Horizon 7 supports creating desktops on a single host SDDC for proof of concept use cases.

VMware Cloud on AWS allows you to deploy a starter configuration containing a single host. The single
host SDDC starter configuration is appropriate for test and development or proof of concept (PoC) use
cases. Horizon 7 supports creating full clones and instant clones on a single host SDDC for PoCs.

Do not run production workloads on a single host SDDC. Delete any desktop pools created for PoCs
before scaling your SDDC to a full production SDDC.

For single host SDDC limitations, see "Deploying a Single Host SDDC Starter Configuration" in VMware
Cloud on AWS Product Documentation.

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Managing Desktop Pools and
Virtual Desktops in Horizon
Console

In Horizon Console, you can manage desktop pools, virtual machine-based desktops, physical machine-
based desktops, and desktop sessions.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Managing Desktop Pools

n Managing Virtual Machine-Based Desktops

n Export Horizon 7 Information to External Files in Horizon Console

Managing Desktop Pools

You can perform administrative tasks on a desktop pool such as editing its properties, enabling, disabling,
or deleting the pool.

Edit a Desktop Pool

You can edit an existing desktop pool to configure settings such as the number of spare machines,
datastores, and customization specifications.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the desktop pool settings that you can and cannot change after a desktop pool is
created. See Modifying Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool and Fixed Settings in an Existing Desktop
Pool.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Select a desktop pool and click Edit.

3 Click a tab in the Edit dialog box and reconfigure desktop pool options.

4 Click OK.

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Results

If you change the image of an instant-clone desktop pool, the image publishing operation starts
immediately. In Horizon Console, the summary page for the desktop pool shows the state for the pending
image as Publishing.

If you change the cluster of an instant-clone desktop pool, new replica and parent VMs are created in the
new cluster. You can initiate a push image using the same image to have new clones created in the new
cluster. However, the template VM, which is used in the cloning process, remains in the old cluster. You
can put the ESXi host that the template VM is on in maintenance mode but you cannot migrate the
template VM. To completely remove all infrastructure VMs, including the template VM, from the old
cluster, you can initiate a push image using a new image.

Modifying Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool

After you create a desktop pool, you can change certain configuration settings.

Table 9-1. Editable Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool

Configuration Tab Description

General Edit desktop pool-naming options and storage policy management settings. Storage policy management
settings determine whether to use a vSAN datastore. If you do not use vSAN, you can select separate
datastores for replica and OS disks.

Note For Horizon Composer linked clones, if you change to using vSAN, you must use a rebalance
operation to migrate all virtual machines in the desktop pool to the vSAN datastore.

Desktop Pool Settings Edit machine settings such as the power policy and display protocol. Power policy is not available for
instant clones. Instant clones are always powered on.

Provisioning Settings Edit desktop pool provisioning options and add machines to the desktop pool.
This tab is available for automated desktop pools only.

vCenter Settings Edit the virtual machine template or default base image. Add or change the vCenter Server instance,
ESXi host or cluster, datastores, and other vCenter features.
The new values only affect virtual machines that are created after the settings are changed. The new
settings do not affect existing virtual machines.
This tab is available for automated desktop pools only.

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Table 9-1. Editable Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool (continued)

Configuration Tab Description

Guest Customization If Sysprep was selected, you can change the customization specification. In Horizon 7.0, Sysprep is not
available to instant clones.
If QuickPrep was selected, you can change the Active Directory domain and container and specify the
power-off and post-synchronization scripts.
If ClonePrep was selected, you can change the Active Directory container and specify the power-off and
post-synchronization scripts. You cannot change the domain.

Note For instant clones, if you change the power-off or post-synchronization script name, or their
parameters, and the new script exists in the current image, the new script is executed and the new
parameters are used when a new clone is created. If the new script does not exist in the current image,
you must select or create an image that has the new script and do a push image.

For Horizon Composer linked clones, if you change the power-off or post-synchronization script name,
the change applies at the next recompose operation. However, changes to the power-off script
parameters or the post-synchronization script parameters do apply to the clones that are created with the
current snapshot.

This tab is available for automated desktop pools only.

Advanced Storage > If you select or deselect Use View Storage Accelerator, or reschedule when the View Storage
Use View Storage Accelerator digest files are regenerated, the settings do affect existing virtual machines. If you modify
Accelerator View Storage Accelerator settings for an existing desktop pool, the changes do not take effect until the
virtual machines in the desktop pool are powered off. See Configure View Storage Accelerator for Linked
Clones.

Note If you select Use View Storage Accelerator on an existing linked-clone desktop pool, and the
replica was not previously enabled for View Storage Accelerator, this feature might not take effect right
away. View Storage Accelerator cannot be enabled while the replica is in use. You can force View
Storage Accelerator to be enabled by recomposing the desktop pool to a new parent virtual machine.

This option is automatically enabled on instant clones.

Advanced Storage > If you select or deselect Reclaim VM disk space, or reschedule when the virtual machine disk space
Reclaim VM disk reclamation occurs, the new settings do affect existing virtual machines if they were created with space-
space efficient disks. See Reclaim Disk Space on Linked Clones, Instant Clones, and Automated Farms that
Use Non-vSAN Datastores.
This option does not apply to instant clones.

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Table 9-1. Editable Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool (continued)

Configuration Tab Description

Advanced Storage > If you select or deselect Use native NFS snapshots (VAAI), the new setting only affects virtual
Use native NFS machines that are created after the settings are changed. You can change existing virtual machines to
snapshots (VAAI) become native NFS snapshot clones by recomposing and, if needed, rebalancing the desktop pool. See
Using VAAI Storage for Linked Clones.
This option is not supported for instant clones.

Advanced Storage > If you change the Transparent Page Sharing Scope setting, the new setting takes effect the next time
Transparent Page the virtual machine is powered on.
Sharing Scope Select the level at which to allow transparent page sharing (TPS). The choices are Virtual Machine (the
default), Pool, Pod, or Global. If you turn on TPS for all the machines in the pool, pod, or globally, the
ESXi host eliminates redundant copies of memory pages that result if the machines use the same guest
operating system or applications.
Page sharing happens on the ESXi host. For example, if you enable TPS at the pool level but the pool is
spread across multiple ESXi hosts, only virtual machines on the same host and within the same pool will
share pages. At the global level, all machines managed by Horizon 7 on the same ESXi host can share
memory pages, regardless of which pool the machines reside in.

Note The default setting is not to share memory pages among machines because TPS can pose a
security risk. Research indicates that TPS could possibly be abused to gain unauthorized access to data
in very limited configuration scenarios.

This option is automatically enabled on instant clones.

If you edit a instant-clone desktop pool to add or remove datastores, rebalancing of the VMs happens
automatically when a new clone must be created, for example, when a user logs off or when you increase
the size of the pool. If you want rebalancing to happen faster, take the following actions:

n If you remove a datastore, manually remove the desktops on that datastore so that the new desktops
will be created on the remaining datastores.

n If you add a datastore, manually remove some desktops from the original datastores so that the new
desktops will be created on the new datastore. You can also remove all desktops so that when they
are recreated, they will be evenly distributed across the datastores.

Fixed Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool

After you create a desktop pool, you cannot change certain configuration settings.

Table 9-2. Fixed Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool

Setting Description

Pool type After you create an automated, manual, or RDS desktop pool, you cannot change the
pool type.

User assignment You cannot switch between dedicated assignments and floating assignments.

Type of virtual machine You cannot switch between full virtual machines and linked-clone virtual machines.

Pool ID You cannot change the pool ID.

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Table 9-2. Fixed Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool (continued)

Setting Description

Machine-naming and provisioning To add virtual machines to a desktop pool, you must use the provisioning method that
method was used to create the pool. You cannot switch between specifying machine names
manually and using a naming pattern.
If you specify names manually, you can add names to the list of machine names.
If you use a naming pattern, you can increase the maximum number of machines.

vCenter settings You cannot change vCenter settings for existing virtual machines.
You can change vCenter settings in the Edit dialog box, but the values affect only new
virtual machines that are created after the settings are changed.

Horizon Composer persistent disks You cannot configure persistent disks after a linked-clone desktop pool is created
without persistent disks.

Horizon Composer customization After you customize a linked-clone desktop pool with QuickPrep or Sysprep, you cannot
method switch to the other customization method when you create or recompose virtual
machines in the pool.

Disable or Enable a Desktop Pool

When you disable a desktop pool, the pool is no longer presented to users and pool provisioning is
stopped. Users have no access to the pool. After you disable a pool, you can enable it again.

Prerequisites

You can disable a desktop pool to prevent users from accessing their remote desktops while you prepare
the desktops for use. If a desktop pool is no longer needed, you can use the disable feature to withdraw
the pool from active use without having to delete the desktop pool definition from Horizon 7.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Select a desktop pool and change the status of the pool.

Option Action

Disable the pool Select Disable Desktop Pool from the Status drop-down menu.

Enable the pool Select Enable Desktop Pool from the Status drop-down menu.

3 Click OK.

Disable or Enable Provisioning in a Desktop Pool

When you disable provisioning in an automated desktop pool, Horizon 7 stops provisioning new virtual
machines for the pool. After you disable provisioning, you can enable provisioning again.

Before you change a desktop pool's configuration, you can disable provisioning to ensure that no new
machines are created with the old configuration. You also can disable provisioning to prevent Horizon 7
from using additional storage when a pool is close to filling up the available space.

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Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Select a desktop pool and change the status of the pool.

Option Action

Disable provisioning Select Disable Provisioning from the Status drop-down menu.

Enable provisioning Select Enable Provisioning from the Status drop-down menu.

3 Click OK.

Duplicate an Automated Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

You can duplicate an automated desktop pool from an existing pool. When you duplicate a pool, the
existing desktop pool's settings are copied into the duplicate desktop pool, allowing you to create a new
pool without having to fill in each setting manually.

With this feature, you can streamline pool creation because you do not have to type every option in the
wizard to add a desktop pool. You can ensure that desktop pool attributes are standardized by using the
pre-filled values in the wizard.

You can duplicate automated desktop pools that contain full virtual machines, linked clones, or instant
clones. You cannot duplicate manual desktop pools, or published desktop pools.

When you duplicate a desktop pool, you cannot change certain settings:

n Desktop pool type

n Clone type, either instant clone, linked clone, or full virtual machine

n User assignment, either dedicated or floating

n vCenter Server instance

Prerequisites

n Verify that the prerequisites for creating the original desktop pool are still valid.

For example, for a pool that contains full virtual machines, verify that a virtual machine template was
prepared.

For a linked-clone pool, verify that a parent virtual machine was prepared and a snapshot was taken
after the virtual machine was powered off.

When you clone a pool, you can use the same virtual machine template or parent virtual machine, or
you can select another one.

n For prerequisites for cloning an automated, full-clone pool, see Create an Automated Pool That
Contains Full Virtual Machines.

n For prerequisites for cloning a linked-cone pool, see Create a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon
Console.

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n For prerequisites for cloning an instant-clone pool, see Create an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Select the desktop pool that you want to duplicate and click Duplicate.

The Duplicate Pool wizard appears.

Note You cannot change the settings for the desktop pool on the Type, vCenter Server, and User
Assignment pages. You can modify settings on the other pages in the Duplicate Pool wizard.

3 To uniquely identify the duplicate desktop pool, on the Desktop Pool Identification page, type a
unique pool ID.

4 On the Provisioning Settings page, provide unique names for the virtual machines.

Option Description

Use a naming pattern Type a virtual machine naming pattern.

Specify names manually Provide a list of unique names for the virtual machines.

5 Click Submit or follow the other prompts in the wizard to complete and create the pool.

Change desktop pool settings and values as needed.

Results

In Horizon Console, you can view the machines as they are added to the pool by selecting Inventory >
Desktops.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool.

Delete a Desktop Pool

When you delete a desktop pool, users can no longer launch new remote desktops in the pool.

Depending on the type of desktop pool, you have various options regarding how Horizon 7 handles
persistent disks, vCenter Server full virtual machines, and users' active sessions.

By default, you can delete a desktop pool even if desktop machines exist in the pool. For details, see
Configure Horizon 7 to Disallow the Deletion of a Desktop Pool That Contains Desktop Machines. If you
configure the setting, you must delete all the machines in a desktop pool before you can delete the pool.

With an automated desktop pool of instant clones, Horizon 7 always deletes the virtual machines from
disk.

Important Do not delete the virtual machines in vCenter Server before you delete a desktop pool with
Horizon Console. This action could put Horizon 7 components into an inconsistent state.

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Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

2 Select a desktop pool and click Delete.

3 Choose how to delete the desktop pool.

Pool Options

Automated desktop pool of instant No available options. Horizon 7 deletes all virtual machines from disk. Users'
clones without persistent disks. sessions to their remote desktops are terminated.

Automated desktop pool of full virtual Choose whether to keep or delete the virtual machines in vCenter Server.
machines.

RDS desktop pool. If there are users who are connected to their remote desktops, choose whether to
Automated desktop pool of full virtual keep users' sessions active or terminate them. Note that Connection Server does
machines. not keep track of sessions that are kept active.

Results

When you delete a desktop pool, full virtual machines' computer accounts remain in Active Directory. To
remove these accounts, you must manually delete them from Active Directory.

If you delete an instant-clone desktop pool, it can take some time for Horizon 7 to delete the internal VMs
from vCenter Server. Do not remove vCenter Server from Horizon Console until you verify that all the
internal VMs are deleted.

Configure Horizon 7 to Disallow the Deletion of a Desktop Pool

That Contains Desktop Machines
You can configure Horizon 7 to disallow the deletion of a desktop pool that contains desktop machines.
By default, Horizon 7 allows the deletion of such a pool.

If you configure this setting, you must delete all the machines in a desktop pool before you can delete the
pool.

Prerequisites

See the Microsoft TechNet Web site for information on how to use the ADSI Edit utility on your Windows
server.

Procedure

1 Start the ADSI Edit utility on the Connection Server host.

2 In the Connection Settings dialog box, select or connect to DC=vdi,DC=vmware,DC=int.

3 In the Computer pane, select or type localhost:389 or the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of
the View Connection Server host followed by port 389.

For example: localhost:389 or mycomputer.mydomain.com:389

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4 On the object CN=Common, OU=Global, OU=Properties, edit the pae-NameValuePair attribute

and add the value cs-disableNonEmptyPoolDelete=1.

Results

The new setting takes effect immediately. You do not need to restart the Connection Server service.

Managing Virtual Machine-Based Desktops

A virtual machine-based desktop is a desktop that is from an automated desktop pool or a manual
desktop pool that contains vCenter Server virtual machines.

Assign a Machine to a user in Horizon Console

In a dedicated-assignment pool, you can assign a user or multiple users to the virtual machine that hosts
a remote desktop. Only the assigned user can log in and connect to the remote desktop. If a user is
connected to session on a remote desktop, another user entitled to use the virtual machine cannot log in
and connect to the remote desktop till the previous user logs off from the remote desktop.

Horizon Console assigns machines to users in these situations.

n When you create a dedicated-assignment desktop pool and select the Enable automatic
assignment setting, Horizon Console automatically assigns machines to users.

Note If you select the Enable automatic assignment setting, you can still manually assign
machines to users.

n When you create an automated pool, select the Specify names manually setting, and provide user
names with the machine names, Horizon Console automatically assigns machines to users.

n When you create a dedicated-assignment desktop pool and select the Enable Multi-User
Assignment setting, you can manually assign multiple machines to users.

If you do not select either setting in a dedicated-assignment pool, users do not have access to virtual
desktops. You must manually assign a machine to each user.

You can also use the vdmadmin command to assign machines to users. For more information about the
vdmadmin command, see the VMware Horizon Console Administration guide.

Prerequisites

n Verify that the virtual machine belongs to a dedicated-assignment pool. In Horizon Console, the
desktop pool assignment appears in the User Assignment column on the Desktop Pools page.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops, click a pool ID, and click the Machines tab.

2 Select the machine.

3 Select Assign User(s) from the More Commands drop-down menu.

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4 Click Add and choose to select a domain, and type a search string in the Name or Description text
box.

5 Select the user or users and click Submit.

Unassign a User from a Dedicated Machine in Horizon Console

In a dedicated-assignment pool, you can remove a machine assignment to a user. If the dedicated-
assignment pool is configured for multiple user assignment, you can remove a machine assignment for
multiple users.

You can also use the vdmadmin command to remove a machine assignment to a user. For more
information about the vdmadmin command, see the VMware Horizon Console Administration guide.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops, double-click a pool ID, and click the Inventory
tab.

2 Select the machine.

3 Select Unassign User(s) from the More Commands drop-down menu and select the user or users
that you want to remove from the machine assignment.

4 Click OK.

Results

The machine is available and can be assigned to another user.

Customize Existing Machines in Maintenance Mode

After a desktop pool is created, you can customize, modify, or test individual machines by placing them in
maintenance mode. When a machine is in maintenance mode, users cannot access the virtual-machine
desktop.

You place existing machines in maintenance mode one at a time. You can remove multiple machines from
maintenance mode in one operation.

When you create a desktop pool, you can start all the machines in the pool in maintenance mode if you
specify machine names manually.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Machines.

2 Select a machine.

3 Select Enter Maintenance Mode from the More Commands drop-down menu.

4 Customize, modify, or test the virtual-machine desktop.

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5 Repeat #unique_144/unique_144_Connect_42_STEP_2EB58C73324243CFB64499F652575828
through #unique_144/unique_144_Connect_42_STEP_BE63A03BFB50426BB0E8CB74B830DD96
for all virtual machines that you want to customize.

6 Select the customized machines and select Exit Maintenance Mode from the More Commands
drop-down menu.

Results

The modified virtual-machine desktops are available to users.

Delete Virtual-Machine Desktops in Horizon Console

When you delete a virtual-machine desktop, users can no longer access the desktop.

Users in currently active sessions can continue to use full virtual-machine desktops if you keep the virtual
machines in vCenter Server. After the users log off, they cannot access the deleted virtual-machine
desktops.

With instant clones, vCenter Server always deletes the virtual machines from disk.

Note Do not delete the virtual machines in vCenter Server before you delete virtual-machine desktops
with Horizon Console. This action could put Horizon 7 components into an inconsistent state.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Machines

2 Select the vCenter VMs tab.

3 Select one or more machines and click Remove.

4 Choose how to delete the virtual-machine desktop.

Option Description

Pool that contains full virtual-machine Choose whether to keep or delete the virtual machines in vCenter Server.
desktops If you delete the virtual machines from disk, users in active sessions are
disconnected from their desktops.
If you keep the virtual machines in vCenter Server, choose whether to let users in
active sessions stay connected to their desktops or disconnect them.

Instant-clone pool without persistent vCenter Server deletes the instant-clone virtual machines from disk. Users in
disks currently active sessions are disconnected from their remote desktops.

Export Horizon 7 Information to External Files in Horizon

Console
In Horizon Console, you can export Horizon 7 table information to external files. You can export the tables
that list users and groups, pools, machines, View Composer persistent disks, ThinApp applications,
events, and VDI sessions. You can view and manage the information in a spreadsheet or another tool.

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For example, you might collect information about machines that are managed by more than one
Connection Server instance or group of replicated Connection Server instances. You can export the
Machines table from each Horizon Console interface and view it in a spreadsheet.

When you export a Horizon Console table, it is saved as a Microsoft Excel Open XML Format
Spreadsheet (XLSX) file. This feature exports the entire table, not individual pages.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, display the table you want to export.

For example, click Inventory > Machines to display the machines table.

2 Click the export icon in the upper right corner of the table.

When you point to the icon, the Export table contents tooltip appears.

3 Type a filename for the XLSX file in the Select location for download dialog box.

4 Browse to a location to store the file.

5 Click Save.

What to do next

Open a spreadsheet or another tool to view the XLSX format file.

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Managing Horizon Composer
Linked-Clone Desktop Virtual
Machines

You can update Horizon Composer linked-clone desktop machines, reduce the size of their operating
system data, and rebalance the machines among datastores. You also can manage the persistent disks
associated with linked clones.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Reduce Linked-Clone Size with Machine Refresh in Horizon Console

n Updated Linked-Clone Desktops in Horizon Console

n Rebalance Linked-Clone Virtual Machines in Horizon Console

n Manage Horizon Composer Persistent Disks

Reduce Linked-Clone Size with Machine Refresh in

Horizon Console
A machine refresh operation restores the operating system disk of each linked clone to its original state
and size, reducing storage costs.

If possible, schedule refresh operations during off-peak hours.

For guidelines, see Machine Refresh Operations.

Prerequisites

n Decide when to schedule the refresh operation. By default, Horizon Composer starts the operation
immediately.

You can schedule only one refresh operation at a time for a given set of linked clones. You can
schedule multiple refresh operations if they affect different linked clones.

n Decide whether to force all users to log off when the operation begins or wait for each user to log off
before refreshing that user's linked-clone desktop.

If you force users to log off, Horizon 7 notifies users before they are disconnected and allows them to
close their applications and log off.

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If you force users to log off, the maximum number of concurrent refresh operations on remote
desktops that require logoffs is half the value of the Max concurrent View Composer maintenance
operations setting. For example, if this setting is configured as 24 and you force users to log off, the
maximum number of concurrent refresh operations on remote desktops that require logoffs is 12.

n If your deployment includes replicated Connection Server instances, verify that all instances are the
same version.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Machines.

2 Select a linked-clone virtual machine.

3 On the Inventory tab, choose to refresh one virtual machine or multiple virtual machines.

n To refresh one virtual machine, select the virtual machine, and select Refresh from the View
Composer drop-down menu.

n To refresh multiple virtual machines, select multiple virtual machines, and select Refresh from the
View Composer drop-down menu.

4 Follow the wizard instructions.

Results

The OS disks are reduced to their original size.

In vCenter Server, you can monitor the progress of the refresh operation on the linked-clone virtual
machines.

In Horizon Console, you can monitor the operation by selecting Inventory > Desktops, clicking the pool
ID, and clicking the Tasks tab. Only administrators with privileges to schedule the task can cancel, pause,
or resume the suspended task.

Machine Refresh Operations

As users interact with linked clones, the clones' OS disks grow. A machine refresh operation restores the
OS disks to their original state and size, reducing storage costs.

A refresh operation does not affect Horizon Composer persistent disks.

A linked clone uses less storage space than the parent virtual machine, which contains the complete OS
data. However, a clone's OS disk expands each time data is written to it from within the guest operating
system.

When Horizon Composer creates a linked clone, it takes a snapshot of the clone's OS disk. The snapshot
uniquely identifies the linked-clone virtual machine. A refresh operation reverts the OS disk to the
snapshot.

Horizon Composer can refresh a linked clone in as little as half the time it takes to delete and recreate the
clone.

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Apply these guidelines to refresh operations:

n You can refresh a desktop pool on demand, as a scheduled event, or when the OS data reaches a
specified size.

You can schedule only one refresh operation at a time for a given set of linked clones. If you start a
refresh operation immediately, the operation overwrites any previously scheduled task.

You can schedule multiple refresh operations if they affect different linked clones.

Before you schedule a new refresh operation, you must cancel any previously scheduled task.

n You can refresh dedicated-assignment and floating-assignment pools.

n A refresh can only occur when users are disconnected from their linked-clone desktops.

n A refresh preserves the unique computer information set up by QuickPrep or Sysprep. You do not
need to rerun Sysprep after a refresh to restore the SID or the GUIDs of third-party software installed
in the system drive.

n After you recompose a linked clone, Horizon 7 takes a new snapshot of the linked clone's OS disk.
Future refresh operations restore the OS data to that snapshot, not the one originally taken when the
linked clone was first created.

If you use native NFS snapshot (VAAI) technology to generate linked clones, certain vendors' NAS
devices take snapshots of the replica disk when they refresh the linked clones' OS disks. These NAS
devices do not support taking direct snapshots of each clone's OS disk.

n You can set a minimum number of ready, provisioned desktops that remain available for users to
connect to during the refresh operation.

Note You can slow the growth of linked clones by redirecting their paging files and system temp files to a
temporary disk. When a linked clone is powered off, Horizon 7 replaces the temporary disk with a copy of
the original temporary disk that Horizon Composer created with the linked-clone pool. This operation
shrinks the temporary disk to its original size.

You can configure this option when you create a linked-clone desktop pool.

Updated Linked-Clone Desktops in Horizon Console

You can update linked-clone virtual machines by creating a new base image on the parent virtual machine
and using the recompose feature to distribute the updated image to the linked clones.

Prepare a Parent Virtual Machine to Recompose Linked Clones

Before you recompose a linked-clone desktop pool, you must update the parent virtual machine that you
used as a base image for the linked clones.

Horizon Composer does not support recomposing linked clones that use one operating system to a
parent virtual machine that uses a different operating system. For example, you cannot use a snapshot of
a Windows 8 parent virtual machine to recompose a Windows 7 linked clone.

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Procedure

1 In vCenter Server, update the parent virtual machine for the recomposition.

n Install OS patches or service packs, new applications, application updates, or make other
changes in the parent virtual machine.

n Alternatively, prepare another virtual machine to be selected as the new parent during the
recomposition.

2 In vCenter Server, power off the updated or new parent virtual machine.

3 In vCenter Server, take a snapshot of the parent virtual machine.

What to do next

Recompose the linked-clone desktop pool.

Recompose Linked-Clone Virtual Machines in Horizon Console

Machine recomposition simultaneously updates all the linked-clone virtual machines anchored to a parent
virtual machine.

If possible, schedule recompositions during off-peak hours.

Prerequisites

n Verify that you have a snapshot of the parent virtual machine. See Prepare a Parent Virtual Machine
to Recompose Linked Clones.

n Familiarize yourself with the recomposition guidelines. See Updating Linked Clones with
Recomposition.

n Decide when to schedule the recomposition. By default, Horizon Composer starts the recomposition
immediately.

You can schedule only one recomposition at a time for a given set of linked clones. You can schedule
multiple recompositions if they affect different linked clones.

n Decide whether to force all users to log off as soon as the recomposition begins or wait for each user
to log off before recomposing that user's linked-clone desktop.

If you force users to log off, Horizon 7 notifies users before they are disconnected and allows them to
close their applications and log off.

n Decide whether to stop provisioning at first error. If you select this option and an error occurs when
Horizon Composer provisions a linked clone, provisioning stops for all clones in the desktop pool. You
can select this option to ensure that resources such as storage are not consumed unnecessarily.

Selecting the Stop at first error option does not affect customization. If a customization error occurs
on a linked clone, other clones continue to be provisioned and customized.

n Verify that provisioning for the desktop pool is enabled. When desktop pool provisioning is disabled,
Horizon 7 stops the desktops from being customized after they are recomposed.

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n If your deployment includes replicated Horizon Connection Server instances, verify that all instances
are the same version.

Procedure

1 Choose whether to recompose the whole desktop pool or a single machine.

Option Action

Recompose all virtual machines in a In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.
the desktop pool b Select the desktop pool to recompose by clicking the pool ID.
c On the Inventory tab, click Machines.
d Select all the machine IDs in the left column.
e Select Recompose from the Horizon Composer drop-down menu.

Recompose selected virtual machines a In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Machines.
b Select the machine to recompose by clicking the machine ID in the left column.
c On the Summary tab, select Recompose from the Horizon Composer drop-
down menu.

2 Follow the wizard instructions.

You can select a new virtual machine to be used as the parent virtual machine for the desktop pool.

On the Ready to Complete page, you can click Show Details to display the recomposed linked-clone
desktops.

Results

The linked-clone virtual machines are refreshed and updated. The OS disks are reduced to their original
size.

In a dedicated-assignment pool, unassigned linked clones are deleted and recreated. The specified
number of spare virtual machines is maintained.

In a floating-assignment pool, all selected linked clones are recomposed.

In vCenter Server, you can monitor the progress of the recomposition on the linked-clone virtual
machines.

In Horizon Console, you can monitor the operation by selecting Inventory > Desktops, clicking the pool
ID, and clicking the Tasks tab. Only administrators with privileges to schedule the task can cancel, pause,
or resume the suspended task.

Note If you used a Sysprep customization specification to customize the linked clones when you created
the desktop pool, new SIDs might be generated for the recomposed virtual machines.

Updating Linked Clones with Recomposition

In a recomposition, you can provide operating system patches, install or update applications, or modify
the virtual machine hardware settings in all the linked clones in a desktop pool.

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To recompose linked-clone virtual machines, you update the parent virtual machine in vCenter Server or
select a different virtual machine to become the new parent. Next, you take a snapshot of the new parent
virtual machine configuration.

You can change the parent virtual machine without affecting the linked clones because they are linked to
the replica, not directly to the parent.

You then initiate the recomposition, selecting the snapshot to be used as the new base image for the
desktop pool. Horizon Composer creates a new replica, copies the reconfigured OS disk to the linked
clones, and anchors the linked clones to the new replica.

The recomposition also refreshes the linked clones, reducing the size of their OS disks.

Desktop recompositions do not affect Horizon Composer persistent disks.

Apply these guidelines to recompositions:

n You can recompose dedicated-assignment and floating-assignment desktop pools.

n You can recompose a desktop pool on demand or as a scheduled event.

You can schedule only one recomposition at a time for a given set of linked clones. Before you can
schedule a new recomposition, you must cancel any previously scheduled task or wait until the
previous operation is completed. Before you can start a new recomposition immediately, you must
cancel any previously scheduled task.

You can schedule multiple recompositions if they affect different linked clones.

n You can recompose selected linked clones or all linked clones in a desktop pool.

n When different linked clones in a desktop pool are derived from different snapshots of the base image
or from different base images, the desktop pool includes more than one replica.

n A recomposition can only occur when users are logged off of their linked-clone desktops.

n You cannot recompose linked clones that use one operating system to a new or updated parent
virtual machine that uses a different operating system.

n You cannot recompose linked clones to a lower hardware version than their current version. For
example, you cannot recompose hardware version 8 clones to a parent virtual machine that is
hardware version 7.

n You can set a minimum number of ready, provisioned desktops that remain available for users to
connect to during the recompose operation.

Note If you used a Sysprep customization specification to customize the linked clones when you created
the desktop pool, new SIDs might be generated for the recomposed virtual machines.

Correcting an Unsuccessful Recomposition

You can correct a recomposition that failed. You can also take action if you accidentally recompose linked
clones using a different base image than the one you intended to use.

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Problem

The virtual machines are in an erroneous or outdated state as a result of an unsuccessful recomposition.

Cause

A system failure or problem might have occurred on the vCenter Server host, in vCenter Server, or on a
datastore during the recomposition.

Alternatively, the recomposition might have used a virtual-machine snapshot with a different operating
system than the operating system of the original parent virtual machine. For example, you might have
used a Windows 8 snapshot to recompose Windows 7 linked clones.

Solution

1 Select the snapshot that was used in the last successful recomposition.

You can also select a new snapshot to update the linked clones to a new state.

The snapshot must use the same operating system as the original parent virtual machine's snapshot.

2 Recompose the desktop pool again.

Horizon Composer creates a base image from the snapshot and recreates the linked-clone OS disks.

Horizon Composer persistent disks that contain user data and settings are preserved during the
recomposition.

Depending on the conditions of the incorrect recomposition, you might refresh or rebalance the linked
clones instead of or in addition to recomposing them.

Note If you do not configure Horizon Composer persistent disks, all recompositions delete user-
generated changes in the linked-clone virtual machines.

Rebalance Linked-Clone Virtual Machines in Horizon

Console
A rebalance operation evenly redistributes linked-clone virtual machines among available datastores.

If possible, schedule rebalance operations during off-peak hours.

Prerequisites

n Familiarize yourself with the rebalance operation. See Rebalancing Linked Clones Among Logical
Drives.

n Decide when to schedule the rebalance operation. By default, Horizon Composer starts the operation
immediately.

You can schedule only one rebalance operation at a time for a given set of linked clones. You can
schedule multiple rebalance operations if they affect different linked clones.

n Decide whether to force all users to log off as soon as the operation begins or wait for each user to
log off before rebalancing that user's linked-clone desktop.

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If you force users to log off, Horizon 7 notifies users before they are disconnected and allows them to
close their applications and log off.

If you force users to log off, the maximum number of concurrent rebalance operations on remote
desktops that require logoffs is half the value of the Max concurrent Horizon Composer
maintenance operations setting. For example, if this setting is configured as 24 and you force users
to log off, the maximum number of concurrent rebalance operations on remote desktops that require
logoffs is 12.

n Verify that provisioning for the desktop pool is enabled. When pool provisioning is disabled, Horizon 7
stops the virtual machines from being customized after they are rebalanced.

n If your deployment includes replicated Connection Server instances, verify that all instances are the
same version.

Procedure

1 Choose whether to rebalance the whole desktop pool or a single machine.

Option Action

Rebalance all virtual machines in the a In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.
desktop pool b Select the desktop pool to rebalance by clicking the pool ID.
c On the Inventory tab, click Machines.
d Select all the machine IDs in the left column.
e Select Rebalance from the View Composer drop-down menu.

Rebalance selected virtual machines a In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Machines.
b Select the machine to rebalance by clicking the machine ID in the left column.
c On the Summary tab, select Rebalance from the Horizon Composer drop-
down menu.

2 Follow the wizard instructions.

Results

The linked-clone virtual machines are refreshed and rebalanced. The OS disks are reduced to their
original size.

In Horizon Console, you can monitor the operation by selecting Inventory > Desktops, double-clicking
the pool ID, and clicking the Tasks tab. Only administrators with privileges to schedule the task can
cancel, pause, or resume the suspended task.

Rebalancing Linked Clones Among Logical Drives

A rebalance operation evenly redistributes linked-clone virtual machines among available logical drives. It
saves storage space on overloaded drives and ensures that no drives are underused.

When you create large linked-clone desktop pools and use multiple Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs), the
space might not be used efficiently if the initial sizing was inaccurate. If you set an aggressive storage
overcommit level, the linked clones can grow quickly and consume all the free space on the datastore.

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When the virtual machines use 95% of the space on the datastore, Horizon 7 generates a warning log
entry.

The rebalance also refreshes the linked clones, reducing the size of their OS disks. It does not affect
Horizon Composer persistent disks.

Apply these guidelines to rebalances:

n You can rebalance dedicated-assignment and floating-assignment desktop pools.

n You can rebalance selected linked clones or all clones in a pool.

n You can rebalance a desktop pool on demand or as a scheduled event.

You can schedule only one rebalance operation at a time for a given set of linked clones. If you start a
rebalance operation immediately, the operation overwrites any previously scheduled task.

You can schedule multiple rebalance operations if they affect different linked clones.

Before you schedule a new rebalance operation, you must cancel any previously scheduled task.

n You can only rebalance virtual machines in the Available, Error, or Customizing state with no
schedules or pending cancellations.

n As a best practice, do not mix linked-clone virtual machines with other types of virtual machines on
the same datastore. This way Horizon Composer can rebalance all the virtual machines on the
datastore.

n If you edit a pool and change the host or cluster and the datastores on which linked clones are stored,
you can only rebalance the linked clones if the newly selected host or cluster has full access to both
the original and the new datastores. All hosts in the new cluster must have access to the original and
new datastores.

For example, you might create a linked-clone desktop pool on a standalone host and select a local
datastore to store the clones. If you edit the desktop pool and select a cluster and a shared datastore,
a rebalance operation will fail because the hosts in the cluster cannot access the original, local
datastore.

n You can set a minimum number of ready, provisioned virtual machines that remain available for users
to connect to during the rebalance operation.

Important If you use a vSAN datastore, you can use the rebalance operation only to migrate all the
virtual machines in a desktop pool from a vSAN datastore to some other type of datastore, or the reverse.
If a desktop pool uses a vSAN datastore, vSAN provides the load balancing functionality and optimizes
the use of resources across the ESXi cluster.

Filenames of Linked-Clone Disks After a Rebalance Operation

When you rebalance linked-clone virtual machines, vCenter Server changes the filenames of Horizon
Composer persistent disks and disposable-data disks in linked clones that are moved to a new datastore.

The original filenames identify the disk type. The renamed disks do not include the identifying labels.

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An original persistent disk has a filename with a user-disk label: desktop_name-vdm-user-disk-D-

ID.vmdk.

An original disposable-data disk has a filename with a disposable label: desktop_name-vdm-

disposable-ID.vmdk.

After a rebalance operation moves a linked clone to a new datastore, vCenter Server uses a common
filename syntax for both types of disks: desktop_name_n.vmdk.

Manage Horizon Composer Persistent Disks

You can detach a Horizon Composer persistent disk from a linked-clone virtual machine and attach it to
another linked clone. This feature lets you manage user information separately from linked-clone virtual
machines.

Horizon Composer Persistent Disks

With Horizon Composer, you can configure OS data and user information on separate disks in linked-
clone virtual machines. Horizon Composer preserves the user information on the persistent disk when the
OS data is updated, refreshed, or rebalanced.

A Horizon Composer persistent disk contains user settings and other user-generated data. You create
persistent disks when you create a linked-clone desktop pool.

You can detach a persistent disk from its linked-clone virtual machine and store the disk on its original
datastore or another datastore. After you detach the disk, the linked-clone virtual machine is deleted. A
detached persistent disk is no longer associated with any virtual machine.

You can use several methods to attach a detached persistent disk to another linked-clone virtual machine.
This flexibility has several uses:

n When a linked clone is deleted, you can preserve the user data.

n When an employee leaves the company, another employee can access the departing employee's
user data.

n A user who has multiple remote desktops can consolidate the user data on a single remote desktop.

n If a virtual machine becomes inaccessible in vCenter Server, but the persistent disk is intact, you can
import the persistent disk and create a new linked clone using the disk.

Note Persistent disks must be reconnected to the operating system that was used when they were
created. For example, you cannot detach a persistent disk from a Windows 7 linked clone and recreate or
attach the persistent disk to a Windows 8 linked clone.

Detach a Horizon Composer Persistent Disk in Horizon Console

When you detach a Horizon Composer persistent disk from a linked-clone virtual machine, the disk is
stored and the linked clone is deleted. By detaching a persistent disk, you can store and reuse user-
specific information with another virtual machine.

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Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Persistent Disks.

2 Select the persistent disk to detach and click Detach.

3 Choose where to store the persistent disk.

Option Description

Use current datastore Store the persistent disk on the datastore where it is currently located.

Use the following datastore Select a new datastore on which to store the persistent disk. Click Browse, click
the down arrow, and select a new datastore from the Choose a Datastore menu.
From the filtered results, you can select a compatible non-vSAN datastore to store
the detached persistent disk. Or, select Show all datastores (including local
datastores) to view all datastores including shared and vSAN datastores. You
cannot use a vSAN datastore.

Results

The Horizon Composer persistent disk is saved on the datastore. The linked-clone virtual machine is
deleted and does not appear in Horizon Console.

Attach a Horizon Composer Persistent Disk to Another Linked

Clone in Horizon Console
You can attach a detached persistent disk to another linked-clone virtual machine. Attaching a persistent
disk makes the user settings and information in the disk available to the user of the other virtual machine.

You attach a detached persistent disk as a secondary disk on the selected linked-clone virtual machine.
The new user of the linked clone has access to the secondary disk and to the existing user information
and settings.

You cannot attach a persistent disk that is stored on a non-vSAN datastore to a virtual machine that is
stored on a vSAN datastore. Similarly, you cannot attach a disk that is stored on vSAN to a virtual
machine that is stored on non-vSAN. Horizon Console prevents you from selecting virtual machines that
span vSAN and non-vSAN datastores.

If you attach a persistent disk to a linked-cloned desktop pool that does not have persistent disk
datastores, the persistent disk information appears under the Machines (View Composer Details) tab
and on the Persistent Disks tab for the desktop pool.

Prerequisites

n Verify that the selected virtual machine uses the same operating system as the linked clone in which
the persistent disk was created.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Persistent Disks.

2 On the Detached tab, select the persistent disk and click Attach.

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3 Select a linked-clone virtual machine to which to attach the persistent disk.

4 Select the machine that the persistent disk will be attached to.

5 Click OK.

What to do next

Verify that the user of the linked clone has sufficient privileges to use the attached disk. For example, if
the original user had certain access permissions on the persistent disk, and the persistent disk is attached
as drive D on the new linked clone, the new user of the linked clone must have the original user's access
permissions on drive D.

Log in to the linked clone's guest operating system as an administrator and assign appropriate privileges
to the new user.

Edit a Horizon Composer Persistent Disk's Pool or User in Horizon

Console
You can assign a detached Horizon Composer persistent disk to a new desktop pool or user if the original
desktop pool or user was deleted from Horizon 7.

A detached persistent disk is still associated with its original desktop pool and user. If the desktop pool or
user is deleted from Horizon 7, you cannot use the persistent disk to recreate a linked-clone virtual
machine.

By editing the desktop pool and user, you can use the detached persistent disk to recreate a virtual
machine in the new desktop pool. The virtual machine is assigned to the new user.

You can select a new desktop pool, a new user, or both.

Prerequisites

n Verify that the persistent disk's desktop pool or user was deleted from Horizon 7.

n Verify that the new desktop pool uses the same operating system as the desktop pool in which
persistent disk was created.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Persistent Disks.

2 Select the persistent disk for which the user or desktop pool has been deleted and click Edit.

3 (Optional) Select a linked-cloned desktop pool from the list.

4 (Optional) Select a user for the persistent disk.

You can browse your Active Directory for the domain and user name.

What to do next

Recreate a linked-clone virtual machine with the detached persistent disk.

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Recreate a Linked Clone With a Detached Persistent Disk in

Horizon Console
When you detach a Horizon Composer persistent disk, the linked clone is deleted. You can give the
original user access to the detached user settings and information by recreating the linked-clone virtual
machine from the detached disk.

Note If you recreate a linked-clone virtual machine in a desktop pool that has reached its maximum size,
the recreated virtual machine is still added to the desktop pool. The desktop pool size grows and then
reduces as unassigned machines are deleted.

If a persistent disk's original desktop pool or user was deleted from Horizon 7, you can assign a new one
to the persistent disk. See Edit a Horizon Composer Persistent Disk's Pool or User in Horizon Console.

Horizon 7 does not support recreating a virtual machine with a persistent disk that is stored on a non-
vSAN datastore if the new virtual machine is stored on a vSAN datastore. Similarly, if the persistent disk is
stored on vSAN, Horizon 7 does not support recreating a virtual machine on non-vSAN.

To move a detached persistent disk from non-vSAN to vSAN, you can recreate the disk on a virtual
machine that is stored on a non-vSAN datastore and rebalance the virtual machine's desktop pool to a
vSAN datastore.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Persistent Disks.

2 On the Detached tab, select the persistent disk and click Recreate Machine.

You can select multiple persistent disks to recreate a linked-clone virtual machine for each disk.

3 Click OK.

Results

Horizon 7 creates a linked-clone virtual machine for each persistent disk you select and adds the virtual
machine to the original desktop pool.

The persistent disks remain on the datastore where they were stored.

Restore a Linked Clone in Horizon Console by Importing a

Persistent Disk from vSphere
If a linked-clone virtual machine becomes inaccessible in Horizon 7, you can restore the virtual machine if
it was configured with a Horizon Composer persistent disk. You can import the persistent disk from a
vSphere datastore into Horizon 7.

You import the persistent disk file as a detached persistent disk in Horizon 7. You can either attach the
detached disk to an existing virtual machine or recreate the original linked clone in Horizon 7.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Persistent Disks.

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2 On the Detached tab, click Import from vCenter.

3 Select a vCenter Server instance.

4 Select the datacenter where the disk file is located.

5 Select a linked-clone desktop pool.

Note After you select a desktop pool, you can only browse and select a persistent disk that is based
on the datatstore of the desktop pool. For example, if you select a desktop pool that has a vSAN
datastore, you can only browse and select a persistent disk from vSAN datastores.

6 Select an access group.

7 In the Persistent Disk File text box, click Browse, click the down arrow, and select a datastore from
the Choose a Datastore menu.

8 To import a persistent disk from a local datastore, select Show all datastores (including local
datastores).

9 Click the datastore name to display its disk storage files and virtual-machine files.

10 Select the persistent-disk file you want to import and click OK.

11 In the User text box, click Browse, select a user to assign to the virtual machine, and click OK.

12 Click Submit.

Results

The disk file is imported into Horizon 7 as a detached persistent disk.

What to do next

To restore the linked-clone virtual machine, you can recreate the original virtual machine or attach the
detached persistent disk to another virtual machine.

For details, see Recreate a Linked Clone With a Detached Persistent Disk in Horizon Console and Attach
a Horizon Composer Persistent Disk to Another Linked Clone in Horizon Console.

Delete a Detached Horizon Composer Persistent Disk in Horizon

Console
When you delete a detached persistent disk, you can remove the disk from Horizon 7 and leave it on the
datastore or delete the disk from Horizon 7 and the datastore.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Persistent Disks.

2 On the Detached tab, select the persistent disk and click Delete.

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3 Choose whether to delete the disk from the datastore or let it remain on the datastore after it is
removed from Horizon Console.

Option Description

Delete from View Manager only After the deletion, the persistent disk is no longer accessible in Horizon 7 but
remains on the datastore.

Delete from disk After the deletion, the persistent disk no longer exists.

4 Click OK.

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 11
Preparing Unmanaged Machines

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
Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon Console guide.

For information about preparing Linux virtual machines for remote desktop deployment, see the Setting
Up Horizon 7 for Linux Desktops guide.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Prepare an Unmanaged Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment

n Install Horizon Agent on an Unmanaged Machine

n Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines

Prepare an Unmanaged Machine for Remote Desktop

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

Prerequisites

n Verify that you have administrative rights on the unmanaged machine.

n 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
Horizon 7 Installation document for more information.

Procedure

1 Power on the unmanaged machine and verify that it is accessible to the 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.

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What to do next

Install Horizon Agent on the unmanaged machine. See Install Horizon Agent on an Unmanaged Machine.

Install Horizon Agent on an Unmanaged Machine

You must install Horizon Agent on an all unmanaged machines. Horizon 7 cannot manage an unmanaged
machine unless Horizon Agent is installed.

To install Horizon Agent on multiple Windows physical computers without having to respond to wizard
prompts, you can install Horizon Agent silently. See Install Horizon Agent Silently.

Prerequisites

n Verify that you have prepared Active Directory. See the Horizon 7 Installation document.

n Verify that you have administrative rights on the unmanaged machine.

n To use an unmanaged Windows Server machine as a remote desktop rather than as an RDS host,
perform the steps described in Prepare Windows Server Operating Systems for Desktop Use.

n Familiarize yourself with the Horizon Agent custom setup options for unmanaged machines. See
Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines.

n Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the Horizon Agent installation program opens on the
firewall. See the Horizon 7 Architecture Planning document for more information.

n If the machine has the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package installed, verify that the version
of the package is 2005 SP1 or later. If the package version is 2005 or earlier, you can either upgrade
or uninstall the package.

n Download the Horizon Agent installer file from the VMware product page at http://
www.vmware.com/go/downloadview.

Procedure

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

The installer filename is VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-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 the Internet Protocol (IP) version, IPv4 or IPv6.

You must install all Horizon 7 components with the same IP version.

4 Select whether to enable or disable FIPS mode.

This option is available only if FIPS mode is enabled in Windows.

5 Select your custom setup options.

6 Accept or change the destination folder.

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

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

8 Select an authentication method to register the unmanaged machine with the Connection Server
instance.

Option Action

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

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

Provide the username in the following format: Domain\User.

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

9 Follow the prompts in the Horizon Agent installation program and finish the installation.

10 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.

Results

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

What to do next

Use the unmanaged machine to create a remote desktop. See Creating Manual Desktop Pools in Horizon
Console.

Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged

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

To change custom setup options after you install the latest Horizon Agent version, you must uninstall and
reinstall Horizon Agent. For patches and upgrades, you can run the new Horizon Agent installer and
select a new set of options without uninstalling the previous version.

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Table 11-1. Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines in an IPv4
Environment (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. In addition, redirection of
USB flash drives and hard disks is supported on RDS desktops
and applications.
This setup option is not selected by default. You must select the
option to install it.
For guidance on using USB redirection securely, see the
Horizon 7 Security guide. For example, you can use group
policy settings to disable USB redirection for specific users.

Client Drive Redirection Allows Horizon Client users to share local drives with their
remote desktops.
After this setup option is installed, no further configuration is
required on the remote desktop.
Client Drive Redirection is also supported on VDI desktops that
run on managed, single-user virtual machines and on RDS
desktops and applications.

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.

Smartcard Redirection Lets users authenticate with smart cards when they use the
PCoIP or Blast Extreme display protocol.
Smartcard Redirection is supported on remote desktops that are
deployed on single-user machines but is not supported on RDS
host-based remote desktops.

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

In an IPv6 environment, the only optional feature is Smartcard Redirection.

Table 11-2. Horizon Agent Features That Are Installed Automatically on Unmanaged Machines
in an IPv4 Environment (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.

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.

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In an IPv6 environment, the only automatically installed feature is PCoIP Agent.

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Managing Unmanaged and
Registered Machines in Horizon
Console

In Horizon Console, you can remove unmanaged machines and remove registered machines from
Horizon 7.

Unmanaged machines include physical computers, RDS hosts, and virtual machines that are not
managed by vCenter Server. These unmanaged machines must therefore be registered with the
Connection Server instance before they can be added to a desktop pool.

There are two types of registered machines in Horizon 7: RDS Hosts and Others. Unmanaged machines
are in the Others category. Use unmanaged machines to form desktop pools that do not contain vCenter
Server virtual machines.

When you reconfigure a setting that affects an unmanaged machine, it can take up to 10 minutes for the
new setting to take effect. For example, if you change the Automatically logoff after disconnect setting
for a pool, Horizon 7 might take up to 10 minutes to reconfigure the affected unmanaged machines.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Prepare an Unmanaged Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment

n Install Horizon Agent on an Unmanaged Machine

n Remove an Unmanaged Machine from a Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

n Remove Registered Machines in Horizon Console

Prepare an Unmanaged Machine for Remote Desktop

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

Prerequisites

n Verify that you have administrative rights on the unmanaged machine.

n 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
Horizon 7 Installation document for more information.

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Procedure

1 Power on the unmanaged machine and verify that it is accessible to the 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 Horizon Agent on the unmanaged machine. See Install Horizon Agent on an Unmanaged Machine.

Install Horizon Agent on an Unmanaged Machine

You must install Horizon Agent on an all unmanaged machines. Horizon 7 cannot manage an unmanaged
machine unless Horizon Agent is installed.

To install Horizon Agent on multiple Windows physical computers without having to respond to wizard
prompts, you can install Horizon Agent silently. See #unique_176.

Prerequisites

n Verify that you have prepared Active Directory. See the Horizon 7 Installation document.

n Verify that you have administrative rights on the unmanaged machine.

n To use an unmanaged Windows Server machine as a remote desktop rather than as an RDS host,
perform the steps described in #unique_175.

n Familiarize yourself with the Horizon Agent custom setup options for unmanaged machines. See
Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines.

n Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the Horizon Agent installation program opens on the
firewall. See the Horizon 7 Architecture Planning document for more information.

n If the machine has the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package installed, verify that the version
of the package is 2005 SP1 or later. If the package version is 2005 or earlier, you can either upgrade
or uninstall the package.

n Download the Horizon Agent installer file from the VMware product page at http://
www.vmware.com/go/downloadview.

Procedure

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

The installer filename is VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-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 the Internet Protocol (IP) version, IPv4 or IPv6.

You must install all Horizon 7 components with the same IP version.

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4 Select whether to enable or disable FIPS mode.

This option is available only if FIPS mode is enabled in Windows.

5 Select your custom setup options.

6 Accept or change the destination folder.

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

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

8 Select an authentication method to register the unmanaged machine with the Connection Server
instance.

Option Action

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

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

Provide the username in the following format: Domain\User.

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

9 Follow the prompts in the Horizon Agent installation program and finish the installation.

10 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.

Results

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

What to do next

Use the unmanaged machine to create a remote desktop. See #unique_177.

Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines

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

To change custom setup options after you install the latest Horizon Agent version, you must uninstall and
reinstall Horizon Agent. For patches and upgrades, you can run the new Horizon Agent installer and
select a new set of options without uninstalling the previous version.

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Table 12-1. Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines in an IPv4
Environment (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. In addition, redirection of
USB flash drives and hard disks is supported on RDS desktops
and applications.
This setup option is not selected by default. You must select the
option to install it.
For guidance on using USB redirection securely, see the
Horizon 7 Security guide. For example, you can use group
policy settings to disable USB redirection for specific users.

Client Drive Redirection Allows Horizon Client users to share local drives with their
remote desktops.
After this setup option is installed, no further configuration is
required on the remote desktop.
Client Drive Redirection is also supported on VDI desktops that
run on managed, single-user virtual machines and on RDS
desktops and applications.

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.

Smartcard Redirection Lets users authenticate with smart cards when they use the
PCoIP or Blast Extreme display protocol.
Smartcard Redirection is supported on remote desktops that are
deployed on single-user machines but is not supported on RDS
host-based remote desktops.

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

In an IPv6 environment, the only optional feature is Smartcard Redirection.

Table 12-2. Horizon Agent Features That Are Installed Automatically on Unmanaged
Machines in an IPv4 Environment (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.

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.

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In an IPv6 environment, the only automatically installed feature is PCoIP Agent.

Remove an Unmanaged Machine from a Desktop Pool in

Horizon Console
You can reduce the size of a desktop pool by removing unmanaged machines from the pool.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Machines.

2 Select the Others tab.

3 Select the unmanaged machines to remove.

4 Click Remove.

5 Click OK.

Results

The unmanaged machines are removed from the pool.

Remove Registered Machines in Horizon Console

If you do not plan to use a registered machine again, you can remove it from Horizon 7.

After you remove a registered machine, it becomes unavailable in Horizon 7. To make the machine
available again, you must reinstall Horizon Agent.

Prerequisites

Verify that the registered machines that you want to remove are not being used in any desktop pool.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Settings > Registered Machines.

2 Click the RDS Hosts tab.

3 Select one or more machines and click Remove.

You can select only machines that are not being used by a desktop pool.

4 Click OK to confirm.

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Entitling Users and Groups in
Horizon Console

You configure entitlements to control which remote desktops and applications your users can access. You
can configure the restricted entitlements feature to control desktop access based on the Horizon
Connection Server instance that users connect to when they select remote desktops. You can also restrict
access to a set of users outside the network from connecting to remote desktops and published
applications within the network.

For information about configuring global entitlements in a Cloud Pod Architecture environment, see the
Administering Cloud Pod Architecture in Horizon 7 document.

Note Adding, removing, or reviewing entitlements is not supported for manual or linked-clone desktop
pools.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Add Entitlements to a Desktop or Application Pool in Horizon Console

n Remove Entitlements from a Desktop or Application Pool in Horizon Console

n Review Desktop or Application Pool Entitlements

n Configuring Shortcuts for Entitled Pools

Add Entitlements to a Desktop or Application Pool in

Horizon Console
Before users can access remote desktops or applications, they must be entitled to use a desktop or
application pool.

Prerequisites

Create a desktop or application pool.

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Procedure

1 Select the desktop or application pool.

Option Action

Add an entitlement for a desktop pool In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops and click the name of the
desktop pool.

Add an entitlement for an application In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Applications and click the name of the
pool application pool.

2 Select Add entitlement from the Entitlements drop-down menu.

3 Click Add, select one or more search criteria, and click Find to find users or groups based on your
search criteria.

Note Unauthenticated access users are filtered out of search results. Domain local groups are
filtered out of search results for mixed-mode domains. You cannot entitle users in domain local
groups if your domain is configured in mixed mode.

4 Select the users or groups you want to entitle to the desktops or applications in the pool and click OK.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Remove Entitlements from a Desktop or Application Pool

in Horizon Console
You can remove entitlements from a desktop or application pool to prevent specific users or groups from
accessing a desktop or application.

Procedure

1 Select the desktop or application pool.

Option Action

Add an entitlement for a desktop pool In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops and click the name of the
desktop pool.

Add an entitlement for an application In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Applications and click the name of the
pool application pool.

2 Select Remove entitlement from the Entitlements drop-down menu.

3 Select the user or group whose entitlement you want to remove and click Remove.

4 Click OK to save your changes.

Review Desktop or Application Pool Entitlements

You can review the desktop or application pools to which a user or group is entitled.

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Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Users and Groups and click the name of the user or group.

2 Click the Entitlements tab and review the desktop or application pools to which the user or group is
entitled.

Option Action

List the desktop pools to which the Click Desktop Entitlements.

user or group is entitled

List the application pools to which Click Application Entitlements.

the user or group is entitled

Configuring Shortcuts for Entitled Pools

You can configure shortcuts for entitled pools. When an entitled user connects to a Connection Server
instance from a Windows client, Horizon Client for Windows places these shortcuts in the Start menu, on
the desktop, or both, on the user's client device. You can configure a shortcut when you create or modify
a pool.

You must select a category folder, or the root (/) folder, during shortcut configuration. You can add and
name your own category folders. You can configure up to four folder levels. For example, you might add a
category folder named Office and select that folder for all work-related apps, such as Microsoft Office and
Microsoft PowerPoint.

For Start menu shortcuts, on Windows 7 client devices, Horizon Client places category folders and
shortcuts in the VMware Applications folder in the Start menu. If you select the root (/) folder for a
shortcut, Horizon Client places the shortcut directly in the VMware Applications folder. On Windows 8 and
Windows 10 client devices, Horizon Client places category folders and shortcuts in the Apps list. If you
select the root (/) folder for a shortcut, Horizon Client places the shortcut directly in the Apps list.

After you create a shortcut, a check mark appears in the App Shortcut column for the pool in Horizon
Administrator and Horizon Console.

By default, Horizon Client for Windows prompts entitled users to install shortcuts the first time they
connect to a server. You can configure Horizon Client for Windows to install shortcuts automatically, or to
never install shortcuts, by modifying the Automatically install shortcuts when configured on the
Horizon server group policy setting. For more information, see the VMware Horizon Client for Windows
Installation and Setup Guide document.

By default, changes that you make to shortcuts are synchronized on a user's Windows client device each
time the user connects to the server. Windows users can disable the shortcut synchronization feature in
Horizon Client. For more information, see the VMware Horizon Client for Windows Installation and Setup
Guide document.

For Windows users, this feature requires Horizon Client 4.6 for Windows or later on the client system. For
Mac users, this feature requires Horizon Client 4.10 for Mac or later on the client system.

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You can also configure a shortcut when you create or modify a global entitlement. For information about
configuring global entitlements, see the Administering Cloud Pod Architecture in Horizon 7 document.

Create Shortcuts for a Desktop Pool in Horizon Console

You can create shortcuts for an entitled desktop pool in Horizon Console so that the desktop pool appears
in the Windows Start menu, on the Windows desktop, or both, on the user's Windows client device. You
can specify up to four category folder levels for shortcuts. You can create shortcuts when you create a
desktop pool. You can also create and modify shortcuts when you edit the desktop pool.

Prerequisites

Decide how to configure the pool settings based on the type of desktop pool that you want to create.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, click Inventory > Desktops and click Add.

2 In the Add Pool wizard, select the type of desktop pool you want to create, and click Next.

3 Follow the wizard prompts to the Desktop Pool Settings page.

4 Create shortcuts for the desktop pool.

a Click the Category Folder Browse button.

b Select the Select a category folder from the folder list option.

c Type a folder name in the Select a category folder or create a new folder to place a shortcut
to this pool in the client device text box.

A folder name can be up to 64 characters long. To specify a subfolder, enter a backslash (\)
character, for example, dir1\dir2\dir3\dir4. You can enter up to four folder levels. You
cannot begin or end a folder name with a backslash, and you cannot combine two or more
backslashes. For example, \dir1, dir1\dir2\, dir1\\dir2, and dir1\\\dir2 are invalid. You
cannot enter Windows reserved keywords.

d Select the shortcut creation method.

You can select one or both methods.

Option Description

Start Menu/Launcher Creates a Windows Start menu shortcut on the Windows client device.

Desktop Creates a shortcut on the desktop on the Windows client device.

e To save your changes, click Submit.

5 Follow the wizard prompts to the Ready to Complete page and select Entitle users after this
wizard finishes and click Submit.

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6 In the Add Entitlements wizard, click Add, select one or more search criteria, and click Find to find
users or groups based on your search criteria, select the users or groups you want to entitle to the
desktops in the pool and click OK.

A check mark appears in the App Shortcut column for the desktop pool on the Desktop Pools page.

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 14
Reducing and Managing Storage
Requirements

Deploying desktops on virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server provides all the storage
efficiencies that were previously available only for virtualized servers. Using instant clones or Composer
linked clones as desktop machines increases the storage savings because all virtual machines in a pool
share a virtual disk with a base image.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Managing Storage with vSphere

n Reducing Storage Requirements with Instant Clones

n Reducing Storage Requirements with Composer

n Storing Composer Linked Clones on Local Datastores

n Storing Replicas and Clones on Separate Datastores for Instant Clones and Composer Linked
Clones

n Storage Sizing for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Desktop Pools

n Storage Overcommit for Linked-Clone Virtual Machines

n Composer Linked-Clone Data Disks

n Configure View Storage Accelerator for Linked Clones

n Reclaim Disk Space on Linked Clones, Instant Clones, and Automated Farms that Use Non-vSAN
Datastores

n Reclaim Disk Space on vSAN Datastores

n Using VAAI Storage for Linked Clones

n Set Storage Accelerator and Space Reclamation Blackout Times

Managing Storage with vSphere

vSphere lets you virtualize disk volumes and file systems so that you can manage and configure storage
without having to consider where the data is physically stored.

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Fibre Channel SAN arrays, iSCSI SAN arrays, and NAS arrays are widely used storage technologies
supported by vSphere to meet different data center storage needs. The storage arrays are connected to
and shared between groups of servers through storage area networks. This arrangement allows
aggregation of the storage resources and provides more flexibility in provisioning them to virtual
machines.

Compatible vSphere 5.5 Update 2 or Later Features

With vSphere 5.5 Update 2 or a later release, you can use vSAN, which virtualizes the local physical
solid-state disks and hard disk drives available on ESXi hosts into a single datastore shared by all hosts
in a cluster. vSAN provides high-performance storage with policy-based management, so that you specify
only one datastore when creating a desktop pool, and the various components, such as virtual machine
files, replicas, user data, and operating system files, are placed on the appropriate solid-state drive (SSD)
disks or direct-attached hard disks (HDDs).

vSAN also lets you manage virtual machine storage and performance by using storage policy profiles. If
the policy becomes noncompliant because of a host, disk, or network failure, or workload changes, vSAN
reconfigures the data of the affected virtual machines and optimizes the use of resources across the
cluster. You can deploy a desktop pool on a cluster that contains up to 20 ESXi hosts.

Important The vSAN feature available with vSphere 6.0 and later releases contains many performance
improvements. With vSphere 6.0 this feature also has broader HCL (hardware compatibility) support. For
more information about vSAN in vSphere 6 or later, see the Administering VMware vSAN document.

Note vSAN is compatible with the View storage accelerator feature but not with the space-efficient disk
format feature, which reclaims disk space by wiping and shrinking disks.

With vSphere 5.5 update 2 or a later release, you can use the following features:

n With the View storage accelerator feature, you can configure ESXi hosts to cache virtual machine
disk data.

Using this content-based read cache (CBRC) can reduce IOPS and improve performance during boot
storms, when many machines start up and run anti-virus scans at the same time. Instead of reading
the entire OS from the storage system over and over, a host can read common data blocks from
cache.

n If remote desktops use the space-efficient disk format available with vSphere 5.1 and later, stale or
deleted data within a guest operating system is automatically reclaimed with a wipe and shrink
process.

n Replica disks must be stored on VMFS5 or later datastores or NFS datastores. If you store replicas
on a VMFS version earlier than VMFS5, a cluster can have at most eight hosts. OS disks and
persistent disks can be stored on NFS or VMFS datastores.

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Compatible vSphere 6.0 or Later Features

With vSphere 6.0 or a later release, you can use Virtual Volumes (VVols). This feature maps virtual disks
and their derivatives, clones, snapshots, and replicas, directly to objects, called virtual volumes, on a
storage system. This mapping allows vSphere to offload intensive storage operations such as
snapshoting, cloning, and replication to the storage system.

Virtual Volumes also lets you manage virtual machine storage and performance by using storage policy
profiles in vSphere. These storage policy profiles dictate storage services on a per-virtual-machine basis.
This type of granular provisioning increases capacity utilization. You can deploy a desktop pool on a
cluster that contains up to 32 ESXi hosts.

Note Virtual Volumes is compatible with the View storage accelerator feature but not with the space-
efficient disk format feature, which reclaims disk space by wiping and shrinking disks.

Note Instant clones do not support Virtual Volumes.

Using VMware vSAN for High-Performance Storage and Policy-

Based Management
VMware VMware vSAN is a software-defined storage tier, available with vSphere 5.5 Update 2 or a later
release, that virtualizes the local physical storage disks available on a cluster of vSphere hosts. You
specify only one datastore when creating an automated desktop pool or an automated farm, and the
various components, such as virtual machine files, replicas, user data, and operating system files, are
placed on the appropriate solid-state drive (SSD) disks or direct-attached hard disks (HDDs).

vSAN implements a policy-based approach to storage management. When you use vSAN, Horizon 7
defines virtual machine storage requirements, such as capacity, performance, and availability, in the form
of default storage policy profiles and automatically deploys them for virtual desktops onto vCenter Server.
The policies are automatically and individually applied per disk (vSAN objects) and maintained throughout
the life cycle of the virtual desktop. Storage is provisioned and automatically configured according to the
assigned policies. You can modify these policies in vCenter. Horizon creates vSAN policies for linked-
clone desktop pools, instant-clone desktop pools, full-clone desktop pools, or an automated farm per
Horizon cluster.

You can enable encryption for a vSAN cluster to encrypt all data-at-rest in the vSAN datastore. vSAN
encryption is available with vSAN version 6.6 or later. For more information about encrypting a vSAN
cluster, see the VMware vSAN documentation.

Each virtual machine maintains its policy regardless of its physical location in the cluster. If the policy
becomes noncompliant because of a host, disk, or network failure, or workload changes, vSAN
reconfigures the data of the affected virtual machines and load-balances to meet the policies of each
virtual machine.

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While supporting VMware features that require shared storage, such as HA, vMotion, and DRS, vSAN
eliminates the need for an external shared storage infrastructure and simplifies storage configuration and
virtual machine provisioning activities.

Important The vSAN feature available with vSphere 6.0 and later releases contains many performance
improvements over the feature that was available with vSphere 5.5 Update 2. With vSphere 6.0 this
feature also has broader HCL (hardware compatibility) support. Also, VMware vSAN 6.0 supports an all-
flash architecture that uses flash-based devices for both caching and persistent storage.

vSAN Workflow in Horizon 7

1 Use vCenter Server 5.5 Update 2 or a later release to enable vSAN. For more information about
vSAN in vSphere 5.5 Update 2, see the vSphere Storage document. For more information about
vSAN in vSphere 6 or later, see the Administering VMware vSAN document.

2 When creating an automated desktop pool or an automated farm in Horizon Console, under Storage
Policy Management, select Use VMware vSAN, and select the vSAN datastore to use.

After you select Use VMware vSAN, only vSAN datastores are displayed.

Default storage policy profiles are created according to the options you choose. For example, if you
create a linked-clone, floating desktop pool, a replica disk profile and an operating system disk profile
are automatically created. If you create a linked-clone, persistent desktop pool, a replica disk profile
and a persistent disk profile are created. For an automated farm, a replica disk profile is created. For
both types of desktop pools and automated farms, a profile is created for virtual machine files.

3 To move existing Composer linked-clone desktop pools from another type of datastore to a vSAN
datastore, in Horizon Console, edit the pool to deselect the old datastore and select the vSAN
datastore instead, and use the Rebalance command. This operation is not possible for automated
farms because you cannot rebalance an automated farm.

4 (Optional) Use vCenter Server to modify the parameters of the storage policy profiles, which include
things like the number of failures to tolerate and the amount of SSD read cache to reserve. For
specific default policies and values, see Default Storage Policy Profiles for vSAN Datastores.

5 Use vCenter Server to monitor the vSAN cluster and the disks that participate in the datastore. For
more information, see the vSphere Storage document and the vSphere Monitoring and Performance
documentation. For vSphere 6 or later, see the Administering VMware vSAN document.

6 (Optional) For Composer linked-clone desktop pools, use the Refresh and Recompose commands as
you normally would. For automated farms, only the Recompose command is supported, regardless of
the type of datastore.

Requirements and Limitations

The vSAN feature has the following limitations when used in a Horizon 7 deployment:

n This release does not support using the Horizon 7 space-efficient disk format feature, which reclaims
disk space by wiping and shrinking disks.

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n vSAN does not support the View Composer Array Integration (VCAI) feature because vSAN does not
use NAS devices.

Note vSAN is compatible with the View Storage Accelerator feature. vSAN provides a caching layer on
SSD disks, and the View Storage Accelerator feature provides a content-based cache that reduces IOPS
and improves performance during boot storms.

The vSAN feature has the following requirements:

n vSphere 5.5 Update 2 or a later release.

n Appropriate hardware. For example, VMware recommends a 10GB NIC and at least one SSD and
one HDD for each capacity-contributing node. For specifics, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.

n A cluster of at least three ESXi hosts. You need enough ESXi hosts to accommodate your setup even
if you use two ESXi hosts with a vSAN stretched cluster. For more information, see the vSphere
Configuration Maximums document.

n SSD capacity that is at least 10 percent of HDD capacity.

n Enough HDDs to accommodate your setup. Do not exceed more than 75% utilization on a magnetic
disk.

For more information about vSAN requirements, see "Working with vSAN" in the vSphere 5.5 Update 2
Storage document. For vSphere 6 or later, see the Administering VMware vSAN document. For guidance
on sizing and designing the key components of Horizon 7 virtual desktop infrastructures for VMware
vSAN, see the white paper at http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vsan/VMW-TMD-Virt-SAN-Dsn-
Szing-Guid-Horizon-View.pdf.

Default Storage Policy Profiles for vSAN Datastores

When you use vSAN, Horizon 7 defines virtual machine storage requirements, such as capacity,
performance, and availability, in the form of default storage policy profiles, which you can modify. Storage
is provisioned and automatically configured according to the assigned policies. The default policies that
are created during desktop pool creation depend on the type of pool you create.

vSAN offers a storage policy framework so that you can control the behavior of various virtual machine
objects that reside on the vSAN datastore. An example of an object in vSAN is a virtual disk (VMDK) file,
and there are four characteristics of each object that are controlled through policy:

n Stripes: Number of disk stripes per object. The number of disk stripes affects how many magnetic
disks you have (HDDs).

n Resiliency: Number of failures to tolerate. The number of host failures to tolerate depends, of course,
on the number of hosts you have.

n Storage Reservation: Object space reservation. Controls how much storage is set aside.

n Cache Reservation: Flash read-cache reservation.

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The stripes and cache reservation settings are used to control performance. The resiliency setting
controls availability. The storage provisioning setting control capacity. These settings, taken together,
affect how many vSphere hosts and magnetic disks are required.

For example, if you set the number of disk stripes per object to 2, vSAN will stripe the object across at
least 2 HDDs. In conjunction with this setting, if you set the number of host failures to tolerate to 1, vSAN
will create an additional copy for resiliency and therefore require 4 HDDs. Additionally, setting the number
of host failures to tolerate to 1 requires a minimum of 3 ESXi hosts, 2 for resiliency and the third to break
the tie in case of partitioning.

Note If you are deploying Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS and require guidance on how to set the
FTT value as the cluster size grows to 6 hosts and beyond, see the VMware Knowledge Base article
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/76366.

Table 14-1. Horizon Default Policies and Settings

Number of Number of Flash read-
Policy (as it appears in disk stripes failures to cache Object space
vCenter Server) Description per object tolerate reservation reservation

FULL_CLONE_DISK_<guid> Dedicated full-clone virtual 1 1 0 0

disk

FULL_CLONE_DISK_FLOATING_ Floating full-clone virtual disk 1 0 0 0

<guid>

OS_DISK_<guid> Dedicated linked-clone OS 1 1 0 0

and disposable disks

OS_DISK_FLOATING_<guid> Floating linked-clone OS and 1 1 0 0

disposable disks, floating
instant-clone OS and
disposable disks

PERSISTENT_DISK_<guid> Linked-clone persistent disk 1 1 0 0

REPLICA_DISK_<guid> Linked-clone replica disk, 1 1 0 0

instant-clone replica disk

VM_HOME_<guid> VM home directory 1 1 0 0

Note <guid> indicates the UUID of the Horizon 7 cluster.

Once these policies are created for the virtual machines, they will never be changed by Horizon 7. An
administrator can edit the policies created by Horizon 7 by going into vCenter through the vSphere Web
client or the vSphere Command-Line Interface (esxcli), with the option to make the changes effective
across all existing VMs or to any new VMs. Any new default policies enacted by Horizon 7 will not impact

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existing desktops pools. Each virtual machine maintains its policy regardless of its physical location in the
cluster. If the policy becomes non-compliant because of a host, disk, network failure, or workload
changes, vSAN reconfigures the data of the affected virtual machines and load-balances to meet the
policies of each virtual machine.

Note If you inadvertently attempt to use settings that contradict each other, when you attempt to apply
the settings, the operation will fail, and an error message might inform you that you do not have enough
hosts.

Using Virtual Volumes for Virtual-Machine-Centric Storage and

Policy-Based Management
With Virtual Volumes (VVols), available with vSphere 6.0 or a later release, an individual virtual machine,
not the datastore, becomes a unit of storage management. The storage hardware gains control over
virtual disk content, layout, and management.

With Virtual Volumes, abstract storage containers replace traditional storage volumes based on LUNs or
NFS shares. Virtual Volumes maps virtual disks and their derivatives, clones, snapshots, and replicas,
directly to objects, called virtual volumes, on a storage system. With this mapping, vSphere can offload
intensive storage operations such as snapshoting, cloning, and replication to the storage system. The
result, for example, is that a cloning operation that previously took an hour might now take a few minutes
using Virtual Volumes.

Important One of the key benefits of Virtual Volumes is the ability to use Software Policy-Based
Management (SPBM). However, for this release, Horizon 7 does not create the default granular storage
policies that vSAN creates. Instead, you can set a global default storage policy in vCenter Server that
applies to all Virtual Volume datastores.

Virtual Volumes has the following benefits:

n Virtual Volumes supports offloading a number of operations to storage hardware. These operations
include snapshotting, cloning, and Storage DRS.

n With Virtual Volumes, you can use advanced storage services that include replication, encryption,
deduplication, and compression on individual virtual disks.

n Virtual Volumes supports such vSphere features as vMotion, Storage vMotion, snapshots, linked
clones, Flash Read Cache, and DRS.

n You can use Virtual Volumes with storage arrays that support vSphere APIs for Array Integration
(VAAI).

Requirements and Limitations

The Virtual Volumes feature has the following limitations when used in a Horizon 7 deployment:

n This release does not support using the Horizon 7 space-efficient disk format feature, which reclaims
disk space by wiping and shrinking disks.

n Virtual Volumes does not support using View Composer Array Integration (VCAI).

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n Virtual Volumes datastores are not supported for instant clone desktop pools.

Note Virtual Volumes is compatible with the View Storage Accelerator feature. vSAN provides a caching
layer on SSD disks, and the View Storage Accelerator feature provides a content-based cache that
reduces IOPS and improves performance during boot storms.

The Virtual Volumes feature has the following requirements:

n vSphere 6.0 or a later release.

n Appropriate hardware. Certain storage vendors are responsible for supplying storage providers that
can integrate with vSphere and provide support for Virtual Volumes. Every storage provider must be
certified by VMware and properly deployed.

n All virtual disks that you provision on a virtual datastore must be an even multiple of 1 MB.

Virtual Volumes is a vSphere 6.0 feature. For more information about the requirements, functionality,
background, and setup requirements, see the topics about Virtual Volumes in the vSphere Storage
document.

Reducing Storage Requirements with Instant Clones

The instant clones feature leverages vSphere vmFork technology (available with vSphere 6.0 U1 and
later) to quiesce a running base image, or parent virtual machine, and rapidly create and customize a
pool of virtual desktops.

Not only do instant clones share the virtual disks with the parent virtual machine at the time of creation,
instant clones also share the memory of the parent. Each instant clone acts like an independent desktop,
with a unique host name and IP address, yet the instant clone requires significantly less storage. Instant
clones reduce the required storage capacity by 50 to 90 percent. The overall memory requirement is also
reduced at clone creation time. For more information on storage requirements and sizing limits, see the
VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2150348.

Starting with Horizon 7 version 7.8, instant clones support the vSphere TRIM and UNMAP features for
vSAN datastores.

Replica and Instant Clones on the Same Datastore

When you create an instant clone desktop pool, a full clone is first made from the master virtual machine.
The full clone, or replica, and the clones linked to it can be placed on the same data store, or LUN (logical
unit number).

Replica and Instant Clones on Different Datastores

Alternatively, you can place instant clone replicas and instant clones on separate datastores with different
performance characteristics. For example, you can store the replica virtual machines on a solid-state
drive (SSD). Solid-state drives have low storage capacity and high read performance, typically supporting
tens of thousands of I/Os per second (IOPS).

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You can store instant clones on traditional, spinning media-backed datastores. These disks provide lower
performance, but are less expensive and provide higher storage capacity, which makes them suited for
storing the many instant clones in a large pool. Tiered storage configurations can be used to cost-
effectively handle intensive I/O scenarios such as simultaneous running scheduled antivirus scans.

If you use vSAN datastores, you cannot manually select different datastores for replicas and instant
clones. Because vSAN automatically places objects on the appropriate type of disk and caches all I/O
operations, there is no need to use replica tiering for vSAN data stores. Instant clone pools are supported
on vSAN data stores.

Storing Instant Clones on Local Datastores

Instant clone virtual machines can be stored on local datastores, which are internal spare disks on ESXi
hosts. Local storage offers advantages such as inexpensive hardware, fast virtual-machine provisioning,
high-performance power operations, and simple management. However, using local storage limits the
vSphere infrastructure configuration options that are available to you. Using local storage is beneficial in
certain Horizon 7 environments but not appropriate in others.

Note The limitations described in this topic do not apply to vSAN datastores, which also use local
storage disks but require specific hardware.

Using local datastores is most likely to work well if the Horizon 7 desktops in your environment are
stateless. For example, you might use local datastores if you deploy stateless kiosks or classroom and
training stations.

Consider using local datastores if your virtual machines have floating assignments, are not dedicated to
individual end users, and can be deleted or refreshed at regular intervals such as on user logoff. This
approach lets you control the disk usage on each local datastore without having to move or load-balance
the virtual machines across datastores.

However, you must consider the restrictions that using local datastores imposes on your Horizon 7
desktop or farm deployment:

n You cannot use VMotion to manage Virtual Volumes.

n You cannot use VMware High Availability.

n You cannot use the vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS).

If you are deploying instant clones on a single ESXi host with a local datastore, you must configure a
cluster containing that single ESXi host. If you have a cluster of two or more ESXi hosts with local
datastores, select the local datastore from each of the hosts in the cluster. Otherwise, instant clone
creation fails. This behavior differs from the behavior of local datastores with Composer linked clones.

n You cannot store a replica and instant clones on separate datastores.

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n If you select local spinning-disk drives, performance might not match that of a commercially available
storage array. Local spinning-disk drives and a storage array might have similar capacity, but local
spinning-disk drives do not have the same throughput as a storage array. Throughput increases as
the number of spindles grows. If you select direct attached solid-state disks (SSDs), performance is
likely to exceed that of many storage arrays.

n If you intend to take advantage of the benefits of local storage, you must carefully consider the
consequences of not having VMotion, High Availability, DRS, and other features available. If you
manage local disk usage by controlling the number and disk growth of the virtual machines, if you use
floating assignments and perform regular refresh and delete operations, you can successfully deploy
instant clones to local datastores.

n Local datastore support for instant clones is available for both virtual desktops and published
desktops.

Differences between Instant Clones and Composer Linked Clones

Since instant clones can be created significantly faster than linked clones, the following features of linked
clones are no longer needed when you provision a pool of instant clones:

n Instant-clone pools do not support configuration of a separate, disposable virtual disk for storing the
guest operating system's paging and temp files. Each time a user logs out of an instant clone
desktop, Horizon 7 automatically deletes the clone and provisions and powers on another instant
clone based on the latest OS image available for the pool. Any guest operating systems paging and
temp files are automatically deleted during the logoff operation.

n Instant-clone pools do not support the creation of a separate persistent virtual disk for each virtual
desktop. Instead, you can store the end user's Windows profile and application data on App Volumes'
user writable disks. An end user's user writable disk is attached to an instant clone desktop when the
end user logs in. In addition, user writable disks can be used to persist user-installed applications.

n Due to short-lived nature of instant-clone desktops, instant clones do not support the space-efficient
disk format (SE sparse), with its wipe and shrink process.

n Instant-clone desktop pools are compatible with Storage vMotion. Composer linked-clone desktop
pools are not compatible with Storage vMotion.

Reducing Storage Requirements with Composer

Because Composer creates desktop images that share virtual disks with a base image, you can reduce
the required storage capacity by 50 to 90 percent.

Composer uses a base image, or parent virtual machine, and creates a pool of up to 2,000 linked-clone
virtual machines. Each linked clone acts like an independent desktop, with a unique host name and IP
address, yet the linked clone requires significantly less storage.

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Replica and Linked Clones on the Same Datastore

When you create a linked-clone desktop pool or farm of Microsoft RDS hosts, a full clone is first made
from the parent virtual machine. The full clone, or replica, and the clones linked to it can be placed on the
same data store, or LUN (logical unit number). If necessary, you can use the rebalance feature to move
the replica and linked-clone desktop pools from one LUN to another or to move linked-clone desktop
pools to a vSAN datastore or from a vSAN datastore to a LUN.

Replica and Linked Clones on Different Datastores

Alternatively, you can place Composer replicas and linked clones on separate datastores with different
performance characteristics. For example, you can store the replica virtual machines on a solid-state
drive (SSD). Solid-state drives have low storage capacity and high read performance, typically supporting
tens of thousands of I/Os per second (IOPS). You can store linked clones on traditional, spinning media-
backed datastores. These disks provide lower performance, but are less expensive and provide higher
storage capacity, which makes them suited for storing the many linked clones in a large pool. Tiered
storage configurations can be used to cost-effectively handle intensive I/O scenarios such as
simultaneous rebooting of many virtual machines or running scheduled antivirus scans.

For more information, see the best-practices guide called Storage Considerations for VMware View.

If you use vSAN datastores or Virtual Volumes datastores, you cannot manually select different
datastores for replicas and linked clones. Because the vSAN and Virtual Volumes features automatically
place objects on the appropriate type of disk and cache of all I/O operations, there is no need to use
replica tiering for vSAN and Virtual Volumes datastores.

Disposable Disks for Paging and Temp Files

When you create a linked-clone pool or farm, you can also optionally configure a separate, disposable
virtual disk to store the guest operating system's paging and temp files that are generated during user
sessions. When the virtual machine is powered off, the disposable disk is deleted. Using disposable disks
can save storage space by slowing the growth of linked clones and reducing the space used by powered
off virtual machines.

Persistent Disks for Dedicated Desktops

When you create dedicated-assignment desktop pools, Composer can also optionally create a separate
persistent virtual disk for each virtual desktop. The end user's Windows profile and application data are
saved on the persistent disk. When a linked clone is refreshed, recomposed, or rebalanced, the contents
of the persistent virtual disk are preserved. VMware recommends that you keep Composer persistent
disks on a separate datastore. You can then back up the whole LUN that holds persistent disks.

Storing Composer Linked Clones on Local Datastores

Linked-clone virtual machines can be stored on local datastores, which are internal spare disks on ESXi
hosts. Local storage offers advantages such as inexpensive hardware, fast virtual-machine provisioning,
high performance power operations, and simple management. However, using local storage limits the

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vSphere infrastructure configuration options that are available to you. Using local storage is beneficial in
certain Horizon 7 environments but not appropriate in others.

Note The limitations described in this topic do not apply to vSAN datastores, which also use local
storage disks but require specific hardware.

Using local datastores is most likely to work well if the Horizon 7 desktops in your environment are
stateless. For example, you might use local datastores if you deploy stateless kiosks or classroom and
training stations.

Consider using local datastores if your virtual machines have floating assignments, are not dedicated to
individual end users, do not require persistent disks for user data, and can be deleted or refreshed at
regular intervals such as on user logoff. This approach lets you control the disk usage on each local
datastore without having to move or load-balance the virtual machines across datastores.

However, you must consider the restrictions that using local datastores imposes on your Horizon 7
desktop or farm deployment:

n You cannot use VMotion to manage volumes.

n You cannot load-balance virtual machines across a resource pool. For example, you cannot use the
Composer rebalance operation with linked-clones that are stored on local datastores.

n You cannot use VMware High Availability.

n You cannot use the vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS).

n You cannot store a Composer replica and linked clones on separate datastores if the replica is on a
local datastore.

When you store linked clones on local datastores, VMware strongly recommends that you store the
replica on the same volume as the linked clones. Although it is possible to store linked clones on local
datastores and the replica on a shared datastore if all ESXi hosts in the cluster can access the
replica, VMware does not recommend this configuration.

n If you select local spinning-disk drives, performance might not match that of a commercially available
storage array. Local spinning-disk drives and a storage array might have similar capacity, but local
spinning-disk drives do not have the same throughput as a storage array. Throughput increases as
the number of spindles grows.

If you select direct attached solid-state disks (SSDs), performance is likely to exceed that of many storage
arrays.

You can store linked clones on a local datastore without constraints if you configure the desktop pool or
farm on a single ESXi host or a cluster that contains a single ESXi host. However, using a single ESXi
host limits the size of the desktop pool or farm that you can configure.

To configure a large desktop pool or farm, you must select a cluster that contains multiple ESXi hosts with
the collective capacity to support a large number of virtual machines.

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If you intend to take advantage of the benefits of local storage, you must carefully consider the
consequences of not having VMotion, HA, DRS, and other features available. If you manage local disk
usage by controlling the number and disk growth of the virtual machines, if you use floating assignments
and perform regular refresh and delete operations, you can successfully deploy linked clones to local
datastores.

Storing Replicas and Clones on Separate Datastores for

Instant Clones and Composer Linked Clones
You can place replicas and clones on separate datastores with different performance characteristics. This
configuration can speed up disk-intensive operations such as provisioning or running antivirus scans,
especially for Composer linked clones.

For example, you can store the replica VMs on a solid-state disk-backed datastore. Solid-state disks have
low storage capacity and high read performance, typically supporting 20,000 I/Os per second (IOPS). A
typical environment has only a small number of replica VMs, so replicas do not require much storage.

You can store clones on traditional, spinning media-backed datastores. These disks provide lower
performance, typically supporting 200 IOPS. They are cheap and provide high storage capacity, which
makes them suited for storing the a large number of clones.

Configuring replicas and clones in this way can reduce the impact of I/O storms that occur when many
clones are created at once, especially for Composer linked clones. For example, if you deploy a floating-
assignment pool with a delete-machine-on-logoff policy, and your users start work at the same time,
Horizon 7 must concurrently provision new machines for them.

Important This feature is designed for specific storage configurations provided by vendors who offer
high-performance disk solutions. Do not store replicas on a separate datastore if your storage hardware
does not support high-read performance.

You must follow certain requirements when you store the replica and clones in a pool on separate
datastores:

n You can specify only one separate replica datastore for a pool.

n The replica datastore must be accessible from all ESXi hosts in the cluster.

n For Composer linked clones, if the clones are on local datastores, VMware strongly recommends that
you store the replica on the same volume as the linked clones. Although it is possible to store linked
clones on local datastores and the replica on a shared datastore if all ESXi hosts in the cluster can
access the replica, VMware does not recommend this configuration.

n This feature is not available you use vSAN datastores or Virtual Volumes datastores. These types of
datastores use Software Policy-Based Management, so that storage profiles define which
components go on which types of disks.

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Availability Considerations for Storing Replicas on a Separate

Datastore
You can store replica VMs on a separate datastore or on the same datastores as the clones. These
configurations affect the availability of the pool in different ways.

When you store replicas on the same datastores as the clones, to enhance availability, a separate replica
is created on each datastore. If a datastore becomes unavailable, only the clones on that datastore are
affected. Clones on other datastores continue to run.

When you store replicas on a separate datastore, all clones in the pool are anchored to the replicas on
that datastore. If the datastore becomes unavailable, the entire pool is unavailable.

To enhance the availability of the desktop pool, you can configure a high-availability solution for the
datastore on which you store the replicas.

Storage Sizing for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone

Desktop Pools
Horizon 7 provides high-level guidelines that can help you determine how much storage an instant-clone
or linked-clone desktop pool requires.

The storage-sizing table also displays the free space on the datastores that you select for storing OS
disks, Composer persistent disks (for linked clones only), and replicas. You can decide which datastores
to use by comparing the actual free space with the estimated requirements for the desktop pool.

The formulas that Horizon 7 uses can only provide a general estimate of storage use. The clones' actual
storage growth depends on many factors:

n Amount of memory assigned to the parent virtual machine

n Frequency of refresh operations (for Composer linked clones only)

n Size of the guest operating system's paging file

n Whether you redirect paging and temp files to a separate disk (for Composer linked clones only)

n Whether you configure separate Composer persistent disks (for Composer linked clones only)

n Workload on the desktop machines, determined primarily by the types of applications that users run
in the guest operating system

Note In a deployment that includes hundreds or thousands of clones, configure your desktop pool so
that particular sets of datastores are dedicated to particular ESXi clusters. Do not configure pools
randomly across all the datastores so that most or all ESXi hosts must access most or all LUNs.

When too many ESXi hosts attempt to write to the OS disks on a particular LUN, contention problems can
occur, degrading performance and interfering with scalability. For more information about datastore
planning in large deployments, see the Horizon 7 Architecture Planning document.

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Sizing Guidelines for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Pools

When you create or edit an instant-clone or linked-clone desktop pool, the Select Instant Clone
Datastores page or the Select Linked Clone Datastores displays a table that provides storage-sizing
guidelines. The table can help you to decide which datastores to select for the linked-clone disks. The
guidelines calculate space needed for new linked clones.

Sizing Table for OS Disks and Persistent Disks

Example Sizing Table for OS and Persistent Disks shows an example of storage-sizing recommendations
that might be displayed for a pool of 10 virtual machines if the parent virtual machine has 1GB of memory
and a 10GB replica. In this example, different datastores are selected for OS disks and Composer
persistent disks.

Note The persistent disk information is for Composer linked clones only. Instant clones do not support
persistent disks.

Table 14-2. Example Sizing Table for OS and Persistent Disks

Selected Free Space Min Recommended Max Recommended
Data Type (GB) (GB) 50% Utilization (GB) (GB)

OS disks 184.23 40.00 80.00 130.00

Persistent disks 28.56 4.00 10.00 20.00

The Selected Free Space column shows the total available space on all of the datastores that you
selected for a disk type such as OS disks.

The Min Recommended column shows the minimum amount of recommended storage for a pool.

The 50% Utilization column shows the recommended storage when the disks grow to 50% of the parent
virtual machine.

The Max Recommended column shows the recommended storage when the disks approach the full size
of the parent virtual machine.

If you store OS disks and persistent disks on the same datastore, Horizon 7 calculates the storage
requirements of both disk types. The Data Type is shown as Linked clones or Instant clones instead of
a particular disk type.

If you store Composer replicas on a separate datastore, the table also shows storage recommendations
for the replicas and adjusts the recommendations for OS disks.

Sizing Guidelines for Composer Linked Clones

The table provides general guidelines. Your storage calculations must account for additional factors that
can affect actual storage growth in the clones.

For OS disks, your sizing estimates depend on how frequently you refresh and recompose the pool.

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If you refresh your linked-clone pool between once a day and once a week, make sure that the Selected
Free Space can accommodate storage use between the Min Recommended and 50% Utilization
estimates.

If you rarely refresh or recompose the pool, the linked-clone disks continue to grow. Make sure that the
Selected Free Space can accommodate storage use between the 50 % Utilization and Max
Recommended estimates.

For persistent disks, your sizing estimates depend on the amount of Windows profile data that users
generate on their desktops. Refresh and recompose operations do not affect persistent disks.

Sizing Guidelines When You Edit an Existing Desktop Pool

Horizon 7 estimates the storage space that is needed for new clones. When you create a desktop pool,
the sizing guidelines encompass the entire pool. When you edit an existing desktop pool, the guidelines
encompass only the new clones that you add to the pool.

For example, if you add 100 clones to a desktop pool and select a new datastore, Horizon 7 estimates
space requirements for the 100 new clones.

If you select a new datastore but keep the desktop pool the same size, or reduce the number of clones,
the sizing guidelines show as 0. The values of 0 reflect that no new clones must be created on the
selected datastore. Space requirements for the existing clones are already accounted for.

How Horizon 7 Calculates the Minimum Sizing Recommendations

To arrive at a minimum recommendation for OS disks, Horizon 7 estimates that each clone consumes
twice its memory size when it is first created and started up. If no memory is reserved for a clone, an ESXi
swap file is created for a clone as soon as it is powered on. The size of the guest operating system's
paging file also affects the growth of a clone's OS disk.

In the minimum recommendation for OS disks, Horizon 7 also includes space for two replicas on each
datastore. Composer creates one replica when a pool is created. When the pool is recomposed for the
first time, Composer creates a second replica on the datastore, anchors the clones to the new replica,
and deletes the first replica if no other clones are using original snapshot. The datastore must have the
capacity to store two replicas during the recompose operation.

By default, replicas use vSphere thin provisioning, but to keep the guidelines simple, Horizon 7 accounts
for two replicas that use the same space as the parent virtual machine.

To arrive at a minimum recommendation for persistent disks, Horizon 7 calculates 20% of the disk size
that you specify on the View Composer Disks page of the Add Desktop Pool wizard.

Note The calculations for persistent disks are based on static threshold values, in gigabytes. For
example, if you specify a persistent disk size of any value between 1024MB and 2047MB, Horizon 7
calculates the persistent disk size as 1GB. If you specify a disk size of 2048MB, Horizon 7 calculates the
disk size as 2GB.

To arrive at a recommendation for storing replicas on a separate datastore, Horizon 7 allows space for
two replicas on the datastore. The same value is calculated for minimum and maximum usage.

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For details, see Sizing Formulas for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Pools.

Sizing Guidelines and Storage Overcommit for Composer Linked Clones

Note Instant clones do not support storage overcommit.

After you estimate storage requirements, select datastores, and deploy the pool, Horizon 7 provisions
linked-clone virtual machines on different datastores based on the free space and the existing clones on
each datastore.

Based on the storage-overcommit option that you select on the Select Linked Clone Datastores page in
the Add Pool wizard, Horizon 7 stops provisioning new clones and reserves free space for the existing
clones. This behavior ensures that a growth buffer exists for each machine in the datastore.

If you select an aggressive storage-overcommit level, the estimated storage requirements might exceed
the capacity shown in the Selected Free Space column. The storage-overcommit level affects how many
virtual machines that Horizon 7 actually creates on a datastore.

For details, see Set the Set the Storage Overcommit Level for Linked-Clone Virtual Machines.

Sizing Formulas for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Pools

Storage-sizing formulas can help you estimate how much disk space is required on the datastores that
you select for OS disks, Composer persistent disks, and replicas.

Note The persistent disk information is for Composer linked clones only. Instant clones do not support
persistent disks.

Storage Sizing Formulas

Storage Sizing Formulas for Clone Disks on Selected Datastores shows the formulas that calculate the
estimated sizes of the disks when you create a pool and as the clones grow over time. These formulas
include the space for replica disks that are stored with the clones on the datastore.

If you edit an existing pool or store replicas on a separate datastore, Horizon 7 uses a different sizing
formula. See Sizing Formulas for Creating Clones When You Edit a Pool or Store Replicas on a Separate
Datastore.

Table 14-3. Storage Sizing Formulas for Clone Disks on Selected Datastores
Selected Free Space Min Recommended Max Recommended
Data Type (GB) (GB) 50% Utilization (GB) (GB)

OS disks Free space on the Number of VMs * (2 * Number of VMs * (50% Number of VMs * (100%
selected datastores memory of VM) + (2 * of replica disk + of replica disk + memory
replica disk) memory of VM) + (2 * of VM) + (2 * replica
replica disk) disk)

Persistent disks Free space on the Number of VMs * 20% Number of VMs * 50% Number of VMs * 100%
selected datastores of persistent disk of persistent disk of persistent disk

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Example of a Storage Sizing Estimate

In this example, the parent virtual machine is configured with 1GB of memory. The parent virtual
machine's disk size is 10GB. A pool is created with 10 machines. Persistent disks are configured as
2048MB in size.

The OS disks are configured on a datastore that currently has 184.23GB of available space. The
persistent disks are configured on a different datastore with 28.56GB of available space.

Example of a Sizing Estimate for Clone Disks Deployed on Selected Datastores shows how the sizing
formulas calculate estimated storage requirements for the sample desktop pool.

Table 14-4. Example of a Sizing Estimate for Clone Disks Deployed on Selected Datastores
Selected Free Space Min Recommended Max Recommended
Data Type (GB) (GB) 50% Utilization (GB) (GB)

OS disks 184.23 10 * (2*1GB) + 10 * (50% of 10GB + 10 * (100% of 10GB +

(2*10GB) = 1GB) + (2*10GB) = 1GB) + (2*10GB) =
40.00 80.00 130.00

Persistent disks 28.56 10 * (20% of 2GB) = 10 * (50% of 2GB) = 10 * (100% of 2GB) =

4.00 10.00 20.00

Sizing Formulas for Creating Clones When You Edit a Pool or

Store Replicas on a Separate Datastore
Horizon 7 calculates different sizing formulas when you edit an existing desktop pool, or store replicas on
a separate datastore, than when you first create a pool.

If you edit an existing pool and select datastores for the pool, Composer creates new clones on the
selected datastores. The new clones are anchored to the existing snapshot and use the existing replica
disk. No new replicas are created.

Horizon 7 estimates the sizing requirements of new clones that are added to the desktop pool. Horizon 7
does not include the existing clones in the calculation.

If you store replicas on a separate datastore, the other selected datastores are dedicated to the OS disks.

Storage Sizing Formulas for Clone Disks When You Edit a Pool or Store Replicas on a Separate
Datastore shows the formulas that calculate the estimated sizes of clone disks when you edit a pool or
store replicas on a separate datastore.

Table 14-5. Storage Sizing Formulas for Clone Disks When You Edit a Pool or Store Replicas
on a Separate Datastore
Selected Free Space Min Recommended Max Recommended
Data Type (GB) (GB) 50% Utilization (GB) (GB)

OS disks Free space on the Number of new VMs * Number of new VMs * Number of new VMs *
selected datastores (2 * memory of VM) (50% of replica disk + (100% of replica disk +
memory of VM) memory of VM)

Persistent disks Free space on the Number of new VMs * Number of new VMs * Number of new VMs *
selected datastores 20% of persistent disk 50% of persistent disk 100% of persistent disk

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Example of a Storage Sizing Estimate When You Edit a Pool or Store Replicas
on a Separate Datastore
In this example, the parent virtual machine is configured with 1GB of memory. The parent virtual
machine's disk size is 10GB. A pool is created with 10 machines. Persistent disks are configured as
2048MB in size.

The OS disks are configured on a datastore that currently has 184.23GB of available space. The
persistent disks are configured on a different datastore with 28.56GB of available space.

Example of a Sizing Estimate for Clone Disks When You Edit a Pool or Store Replicas on a Separate
Datastore shows how the sizing formulas calculate estimated storage requirements for the sample pool.

Table 14-6. Example of a Sizing Estimate for Clone Disks When You Edit a Pool or Store
Replicas on a Separate Datastore
Selected Free Space Min Recommended Max Recommended
Data Type (GB) (GB) 50% Utilization (GB) (GB)

OS disks 184.23 10 * (2*1GB) = 10 * (50% of 10GB + 10 * (100% of 10GB +

20.00 1GB) = 1GB) =
60.00 110.00

Persistent disks 28.56 10 * (20% of 2GB) = 10 * (50% of 2GB) = 10 * (100% of 2GB) =

4.00 10.00 20.00

Storage Overcommit for Linked-Clone Virtual Machines

With the storage overcommit feature, you can reduce storage costs by placing more linked-clone virtual
machines on a datastore than is possible with full virtual machines. The linked clones can use a logical
storage space several times greater than the physical capacity of the datastore.

Note Instant clones do not support storage overcommit.

This feature helps you choose a storage level that lets you overcommit the datastore's capacity and sets
a limit on the number of linked clones that Horizon 7 creates. You can avoid either wasting storage by
provisioning too conservatively or risking that the linked clones will run out of disk space and cause the
operating system or applications to fail.

For example, you can create at most ten full virtual machines on a 100GB datastore, if each virtual
machine is 10GB. When you create linked clones from a 10GB parent virtual machine, each clone is a
fraction of that size.

If you set a conservative overcommit level, Horizon 7 allows the clones to use four times the physical size
of the datastore, measuring each clone as if it were the size of the parent virtual machine. On a 100GB
datastore, with a 10GB parent, Horizon 7 provisions approximately 40 linked clones. Horizon 7 does not
provision more clones, even if the datastore has free space. This limit keeps a growth buffer for the
existing clones.

Storage Overcommit Levels shows the storage overcommit levels you can set.

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Table 14-7. Storage Overcommit Levels

Option Storage Overcommit Level

None Storage is not overcommitted.

Conservative 4 times the size of the datastore. This is the default level.

Moderate 7 times the size of the datastore.

Aggressive 15 times the size of the datastore.

Storage overcommit levels provide a high-level guide for determining storage capacity. To determine the
best level, monitor the growth of linked clones in your environment.

Set an aggressive level if your OS disks will never grow to their maximum possible size. An aggressive
overcommit level demands attention. To make sure that the linked clones do not run out of disk space,
you can periodically refresh or rebalance the desktop pool and reduce the linked clones' OS data to its
original size. Automated farms do not support refresh or rebalance. If the linked clones in an automated
farm are in danger of running out of disk space, change the overcommit level.

For example, it would make sense to set an aggressive overcommit level for a floating-assignment
desktop pool in which the virtual machines are set to delete or refresh after logoff.

You can vary storage overcommit levels among different types of datastores to address the different
levels of throughput in each datastore. For example, a NAS datastore can have a different setting than a
SAN datastore.

Set the Storage Overcommit Level for Linked-Clone Virtual

Machines
You can control how aggressively Horizon 7 creates linked-clone virtual machines on a datastore by using
the storage overcommit feature. This feature lets you create linked clones that have a total logical size
larger than the physical storage limit of the datastore.

This feature works only with linked-clone pools and automated farms.

The storage overcommit level calculates the amount of storage greater than the physical size of the
datastore that the clones would use if each clone were a full virtual machine. For details, see Storage
Overcommit for Linked-Clone Virtual Machines. The following procedure applies to linked-clone desktop
pools. The steps are similar for automated farms.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.

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2 When you create a new desktop pool or edit an existing pool, navigate to the vCenter Settings page.

Option Action

New desktop pool a Click Add Desktop.

b Proceed through the Add Pool wizard until the vCenter Settings page
appears.

Existing desktop pool a Select the linked-clone pool and click Edit.
b Click the vCenter Settings tab.

3 On the vCenter Settings page, click Browse next to Datastores.

4 Select the datastore on the Select Linked Clone Datastores page.

A drop-down menu appears in the Storage Overcommit column for the selected datastore.

5 Select the storage overcommit level from the drop-down menu.

Option Description

None Storage is not overcommitted.

Conservative 4 times the size of the datastore. This is the default level.

Moderate 7 times the size of the datastore.

Aggressive 15 times the size of the datastore.

Unbounded Horizon 7 does not limit the number of linked-clone machines that it creates based
on the physical capacity of the datastore. Select this level only if you are certain
that the datastore has enough storage capacity to accommodate all of the
machines and their future growth.

6 Click OK.

Composer Linked-Clone Data Disks

Composer creates more than one data disk to store the components of a linked-clone virtual machine.

OS Disk
Composer creates an OS disk for each linked clone. This disk stores the system data that the clone
needs to remain linked to the base image and to function as a unique virtual machine.

QuickPrep Configuration-Data Disk

Composer creates a second disk with the OS disk. The second disk stores QuickPrep configuration data
and other OS-related data that must be preserved during refresh and recompose operations. This disk is
small, typically about 20MB. This disk is created whether you use QuickPrep or Sysprep to customize the
virtual machine.

If you configure separate Composer persistent disks to store user profiles, three disks are associated with
each linked clone: the OS disk, the second virtual machine disk, and the Composer persistent disk.

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The second virtual machine disk is stored on the same datastore as the OS disk. You cannot configure
this disk.

Composer Persistent Disk

In a dedicated-assignment pool, you can configure separate Composer persistent disks to store Windows
user-profile data. This disk is optional.

Separate persistent disks let you preserve user data and settings. Composer refresh, recompose, and
rebalance operations do not affect persistent disks. You can detach a persistent disk from a linked clone
and attach it to another linked clone.

If you do not configure separate persistent disks, the Windows profile is stored in the OS disk. User data
and settings are removed during refresh, recompose, and rebalance operations.

You can store persistent disks on the same datastore as the OS disk or on a different datastore.

Disposable-Data Disk
When you create a linked-clone pool, you can configure a separate, nonpersistent disk to store the guest
OS's paging and temp files that are generated during user sessions. You must specify the disk size in
megabytes.

This disk is optional.

When the linked clone is powered off, Horizon 7 replaces the disposable-data disk with a copy of the
original disk that Composer created with the linked-clone pool. Linked clones can increase in size as
users interact with their desktops. Using disposable-data disks can save storage space by slowing the
growth of linked clones.

The disposable-data disk is stored on the same datastore as the OS disk.

Configure View Storage Accelerator for Linked Clones

You can configure Composer linked-clone desktop pools to enable ESXi hosts to cache virtual machine
disk data. This feature, called View Storage Accelerator, uses the Content Based Read Cache (CBRC)
feature in ESXi hosts. View Storage Accelerator can reduce IOPS and improve performance during boot
storms, when many machines start up or run anti-virus scans at once. The feature is also beneficial when
administrators or users load applications or data frequently. To use this feature, you must make sure that
View Storage Accelerator is enabled for individual desktop pools.

Note If you enable View Storage Accelerator on an existing linked-clone desktop pool, and the replica
was not previously enabled for View Storage Accelerator, this feature might not take effect right away.
View Storage Accelerator cannot be enabled while the replica is in use. You can force View Storage
Accelerator to be enabled by recomposing the desktop pool to a new parent virtual machine. For instant
clones, this feature is automatically enabled and is not configurable.

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When a virtual machine is created, Horizon 7 indexes the contents of each virtual disk file. The indexes
are stored in a virtual machine digest file. At runtime, the ESXi host reads the digest files and caches
common blocks of data in memory. To keep the ESXi host cache up to date, Horizon 7 regenerates the
digest files at specified intervals and when the virtual machine is recomposed. You can modify the
regeneration interval.

You can enable View Storage Accelerator on pools that contain linked clones and pools that contain full
virtual machines.

Native NFS snapshot technology (VAAI) is not supported in pools that are enabled for View Storage
Accelerator.

View Storage Accelerator is enabled for a pool by default. The feature can be disabled or enabled when
you create or edit a pool. The best approach is to enable this feature when you first create a desktop
pool. If you enable the feature by editing an existing pool, you must ensure that a new replica and its
digest disks are created before linked clones are provisioned. You can create a replica by recomposing
the pool to a new snapshot or rebalancing the pool to a new datastore. Digest files can only be configured
for the virtual machines in a desktop pool when they are powered off.

View Storage Accelerator is now qualified to work in configurations that use Horizon 7 replica tiering, in
which replicas are stored on a separate datastore than linked clones. Although the performance benefits
of using View Storage Accelerator with Horizon 7 replica tiering are not materially significant, certain
capacity-related benefits might be realized by storing the replicas on a separate datastore. As a result,
this combination is tested and supported.

Important If you plan to use this feature and you are using multiple Horizon 7 pods that share some
ESXi hosts, you must enable the Horizon Storage Accelerator feature for all pools that are on the shared
ESXi hosts. Having inconsistent settings in multiple pods can cause instability of the virtual machines on
the shared ESXi hosts.

Prerequisites

n Verify that your vCenter Server and ESXi hosts are version 5.0 or later.

In an ESXi cluster, verify that all the hosts are version 5.0 or later.

n Verify that the vCenter Server user was assigned the Host > Configuration > Advanced settings
privilege in vCenter Server. See the topics in the Horizon 7 Installation documentation that describe
Horizon 7 and Composer privileges required for the vCenter Server user.

n Verify that View Storage Accelerator is enabled in vCenter Server. See the VMware Horizon Console
Administration document.

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Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, display the Advanced Storage Options page.

Option Description

New desktop pool (recommended) Start the Add Pool wizard to begin creating an automated desktop pool. Follow the
wizard configuration prompts until you reach the Advanced Storage Options
page.

Existing desktop pool Select the existing pool, click Edit, and click the Advanced Storage Options tab.
If you modify View Storage Accelerator settings for an existing desktop pool, the
changes do not take effect until the virtual machines in the desktop pool are
powered off.

2 To enable View Storage Accelerator for the pool, make sure that the Use View Storage Accelerator
check box is selected.

This setting is selected by default. To disable the setting, uncheck the Use View Storage
Accelerator box.

3 (Optional) Specify which disk types to cache by selecting OS disks only or OS and persistent disks
from the Disk Types menu.

OS disks is selected by default.

If you configure View Storage Accelerator for full virtual machines, you cannot select a disk type. View
Storage Accelerator is performed on the whole virtual machine.

4 (Optional) In the Regenerate storage accelerator after text box, specify the interval, in days, after
which the regeneration for View Storage Accelerator digest files take place.

The default regeneration interval is seven days.

What to do next

You can configure blackout days and times during which disk space reclamation and View Storage
Accelerator regeneration do not take place. See #unique_200.

If you enable View Storage Accelerator by editing an existing pool, recompose the desktop pool to a new
snapshot or rebalance the pool to a new datastore before linked clones are provisioned.

Reclaim Disk Space on Linked Clones, Instant Clones, and

Automated Farms that Use Non-vSAN Datastores
In vSphere 5.1 and later, you can configure the disk space reclamation feature for Composer linked-clone
desktop pools, instant-clone desktop pools, and automated farms. Starting in vSphere 5.1, Horizon 7

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creates these virtual machines in an efficient disk format that allows ESXi hosts to reclaim unused disk
space, reducing the total storage space required.

Note For instant clones, this feature is only needed for dedicated instant clones where refresh OS disk
after logoff is set to At, Every, or Never. For floating instant clone pools and for dedicated instant clone
pools where the OS disk is set to refresh every time a user logs out, space reclaimation is not needed
because the clones are always deleted and recreated when users log off.

As users interact with the virtual machines, the linked clones' OS disks grow and can eventually use
almost as much disk space as full-clone virtual machines. Disk space reclamation reduces the size of the
OS disks without requiring you to refresh or recompose the linked clones. Space can be reclaimed while
the virtual machines are powered on and users are interacting with the machines.

In Horizon Administrator, you cannot directly initiate disk space reclamation for a pool. You determine
when Horizon 7 initiates disk space reclamation by specifying the minimum amount of unused disk space
that must accumulate on a linked-clone OS disk to trigger the operation. When the unused disk space
exceeds the specified threshold, Horizon 7 directs the ESXi host to reclaim space on that OS disk.
Horizon 7 applies the threshold to each virtual machine in the pool.

You can use the vdmadmin -M option to initiate disk space reclamation on a particular virtual machine for
demonstration or troubleshooting purposes. See the Horizon 7 Administration document.

From vSphere version 6.7 and later, VMFS-6 supports the Automatic UNMAP feature, which reclaims
dead blocks automatically and asynchronously (if it is not disabled by the vSphere or vCenter Server
administrator). Therefore, periodic space reclaim operations by Horizon 7 do not reclaim significant
space. In Horizon Console, the option Space reclaimed in the latest run over the last 7 days typically
shows a value of 0.00 GB. You do not need to manually invoke Composer APIs using the vdmadmin.exe
-markForSpaceReclamation command for space reclamation. The Automatic UNMAP feature is not
supported for Windows 7 therefore, this behavior does not apply to Windows 7 virtual machines.

You can configure disk space reclamation on linked clones when you create a new pool or edit an existing
pool. For an existing pool, see "Tasks for Upgrading Pools to Use Space Reclamation" in the Horizon 7
Upgrades document.

Note This feature is not available for virtual machines stored on a vSAN datastore or a Virtual Volumes
datastore. To reclaim disk space on a vSAN datastore, see Reclaim Disk Space on vSAN Datastores.

If a Composer is refreshing, recomposing, or rebalancing linked clones, disk space reclamation does not
take place on those linked clones.

Disk space reclamation operates only on OS disks in linked clones. The feature does not affect Composer
persistent disks and does not operate on full-clone virtual machines.

Native NFS snapshot technology (VAAI) is not supported in pools that contain virtual machines with
space-efficient disks.

The following procedure applies to linked-clone desktop pools. The steps are similar for automated farms.

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Prerequisites

n Verify that your vCenter Server and ESXi hosts, including all ESXi hosts in a cluster, are version 5.1
with ESXi 5.1 download patch ESXi510-201212001 or later.

n Verify that VMware Tools that are provided with vSphere version 5.1 or later are installed on all the
linked-clone virtual machines in the pool.

n Verify that all the linked-clone virtual machines in the pool are virtual hardware version 9 or later.

n Verify that the virtual machines use SCSI controllers. Disk space reclamation is not supported on
virtual machines with IDE controllers.

n For Windows 10 virtual machines, verify that the machines are running in vSphere 5.5 U3 or later.

n For Windows 8 or 8.1 virtual machines, verify that the machines are running in vSphere 5.5 or later.
Disk space reclamation is supported on Windows 8 or 8.1 virtual machines in vSphere 5.5 or later.

n For Windows 7 virtual machines, verify that the machines are running in vSphere 5.1 or later.

n Verify that disk space reclamation is enabled in vCenter Server. This option ensures that the virtual
machines in the pool are created in the efficient disk format that is required to reclaim disk space. See
the Horizon 7 Administration document.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, display the Advanced Storage page.

Option Description

New desktop pool Start the Add Pool wizard to begin creating an automated desktop pool. Follow the
wizard configuration prompts until you reach the Advanced Storage Options
page.

Existing desktop pool Select the existing pool, click Edit, and click the Advanced Storage Options tab.
To upgrade a pool to support space reclamation, see "Upgrade Desktop Pools for
Space Reclamation" in the Horizon 7 Upgrades document.

2 Select the Reclaim VM disk space check box.

3 In the Initiate reclamation when unused space on VM exceeds text box, type the minimum
amount of unused disk space, in gigabytes, that must accumulate on a linked-clone OS disk before
ESXi starts reclaiming space on that disk.

For example: 2 GB.

The default value is 1 GB.

What to do next

You can configure blackout days and times during which disk space reclamation and regeneration for
View Storage Accelerator do not take place. See Set Storage Accelerator and Space Reclamation
Blackout Times.

In Horizon Console, you can select Inventory > Desktops and select a machine to display the last time
space reclamation occurred and the last amount of space reclaimed on the machine.

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Reclaim Disk Space on vSAN Datastores

You can configure the disk space reclamation feature for linked-clone desktop pools, instant-clone
desktop pools, and automated farms that use vSAN datastores.

Procedure

1 Check that the UNMAP feature is enabled in the ESXi host.

Run the following commands from the command line:

esxcfg-advcfg -g /VSAN/GuestUnmap

The value of the "GuestUnmap" option is 0.

esxcfg-advcfg -g /VSAN/Unmap

The value of the "Unmap" option is 1.

2 Enable guest UNMAP in all ESXi hosts.

Run the following command:

esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /VSAN/GuestUnmap

Then, check the UNMAP feature for the guest operating system. Run the following command:

esxcfg-advcfg -g /VSAN/GuestUnmap

The value of the GuestUnmap option is 1.

3 Enable the UNMAP feature in vCenter Server.

Run the following RVC command:

vsan.unmap_support <cluster> -e

Using VAAI Storage for Linked Clones

If your deployment includes NAS devices that support the vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI), you
can enable the View Composer Array Integration (VCAI) feature on linked-clone desktop pools. This
feature uses native NFS snapshot technology to clone virtual machines.

Note In Horizon 7.0, instant clones do not support VAAI.

With this technology, the NFS disk array clones the virtual machine files without having the ESXi host
read and write the data. This operation might reduce the time and network load when virtual machines
are cloned.

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Apply these guidelines for using native NFS snapshot technology:

n You can use this feature only if you configure desktop pools or automated farms on datastores that
reside on NAS devices that support native cloning operations through VAAI.

n You can use Composer features to manage linked clones that are created by native NFS snapshot
technology. For example, you can refresh, recompose, rebalance, create persistent disks, and run
QuickPrep customization scripts on these clones.

n You cannot use this feature if you store replicas and OS disks on separate datastores.

n This feature is supported on vSphere 5.0 and later.

n If you edit a pool and select or deselect the native NFS cloning feature, existing virtual machines are
not affected.

To change existing virtual machines from native NFS clones to traditional redo log clones, you must
deselect the native NFS cloning feature and recompose the pool to a new base image. To change the
cloning method for all virtual machines in a pool and use a different datastore, you must select the
new datastore, deselect the native NFS cloning feature, rebalance the pool to the new datastore, and
recompose the pool to a new base image.

Similarly, to change virtual machines from traditional redo log clones to native NFS clones, you must
select a NAS datastore that supports VAAI, select the native NFS cloning feature, rebalance the pool
to the NAS datastore, and recompose the pool. For more information, see http://kb.vmware.com/kb/
2088995.

n On an ESXi cluster, to configure native cloning on a selected NFS datastore, you might have to install
vendor-specific NAS plug-ins that support native cloning operations on VAAI on all ESXi hosts in the
cluster. See your storage vendor documentation for guidance on configuration requirements.

n Native NFS snapshot technology (VAAI) is not supported on virtual machines with space-efficient
disks.

n This feature is not available if you use a vSAN datastore or a Virtual Volumes datastore.

n See VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article 2061611 for answers to frequently asked questions about
VCAI support in Horizon 7.

Important NAS storage vendors might provide additional settings that can affect the performance and
operation of VAAI. You should follow the vendor's recommendations and configure the appropriate
settings on both the NAS storage array and ESXi. See your storage vendor documentation for guidance
on configuring vendor-recommended settings.

Set Storage Accelerator and Space Reclamation Blackout

Times
For Horizon Composer linked clones and instant clones, regenerating digest files for View Storage
Accelerator and reclaiming virtual machine disk space can use ESXi resources. To ensure that ESXi

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resources are dedicated to foreground tasks when necessary, you can prevent the ESXi hosts from
performing these operations during specified periods of time on specified days.

For example, you can specify a blackout period during weekday morning hours when users start work,
and boot storms and anti-virus scanning I/O storms take place. You can specify different blackout times
on different days.

Disk space reclamation and View Storage Accelerator digest file regeneration do not occur during
blackout times that you set. You cannot set separate blackout times for each operation.

Horizon 7 allows View Storage Accelerator digest files to be created for new machines during the
provisioning stage, even when a blackout time is in effect.

The following procedure applies to linked-clone desktop pools. The steps are similar for automated farms.

Prerequisites

n Verify that Enable View Storage Accelerator, Enable space reclamation, or both features are
selected for vCenter Server.

n Verify that Use View Storage Accelerator, Reclaim VM disk space, or both features are selected
for the desktop pool.

Procedure

1 On the Advanced Storage Options page in the Add Pool wizard, go to Blackout Times and click
Add.

If you are editing an existing pool, click the Advanced Storage Options tab.

2 Check the blackout days and specify the starting and ending times.

The time selector uses a 24-hour clock. For example, 10:00 is 10:00 a.m., and 22:00 is 10:00 p.m.

3 Click OK.

4 To add another blackout period, click Add and specify another period.

5 To modify or remove a blackout period, select the period from the Blackout times list and click Edit or
Remove.

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 15
Configuring User Profiles with
Horizon Persona Management

With Horizon Persona Management, you can configure user profiles that are dynamically synchronized
with a remote profile repository. This feature gives users access to a personalized desktop experience
whenever they log in to a desktop. Horizon Persona Management expands the functionality and improves
the performance of Windows roaming profiles, but does not require Windows roaming profiles to operate.

You configure group policy settings to enable Horizon Persona Management and control various aspects
of your Horizon Persona Management deployment.

To enable and use Horizon Persona Management, you must have the appropriate VMware Horizon
license. See the VMware End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) at http://www.vmware.com/download/
eula.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Providing User Personas in Horizon 7

n Using Horizon Persona Management with Standalone Systems

n Migrating User Profiles with Horizon Persona Management

n Horizon Persona Management and Windows Roaming Profiles

n Configuring a Horizon Persona Management Deployment

n Best Practices for Configuring a Horizon Persona Management Deployment

n Horizon Persona Management Group Policy Settings

Providing User Personas in Horizon 7

With the Horizon Persona Management feature, a user's remote profile is dynamically downloaded when
the user logs in to a Horizon 7 desktop. You can configure Horizon 7 to store user profiles in a secure,
centralized repository. Horizon 7 downloads persona information as the user needs it.

Horizon Persona Management is an alternative to Windows roaming profiles. Horizon Persona

Management expands functionality and improves performance compared to Windows roaming profiles.

You can configure and manage personas entirely within Horizon 7. You do not have to configure Windows
roaming profiles. If you have a Windows roaming profiles configuration, you can use your existing
repository configuration with Horizon 7.

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A user profile is independent of the Horizon 7 desktop. When a user logs in to any desktop, the same
profile appears.

For example, a user might log in to a floating-assignment, linked-clone desktop pool and change the
desktop background and Microsoft Word settings. When the user starts the next session, the virtual
machine is different, but the user sees the same settings.

A user profile comprises a variety of user-generated information:

n User-specific data and desktop settings

n Application data and settings

n Windows registry entries configured by user applications

Also, if you provision desktops with ThinApp applications, the ThinApp sandbox data can be stored in the
user profile and roamed with the user.

Horizon Persona Management minimizes the time it takes to log in to and log off of desktops. Login and
logoff time can be a problem with Windows roaming profiles.

n During login, Horizon 7 downloads only the files that Windows requires, such as user registry files.
Other files are copied to the local desktop when the user or an application opens them from the local
profile folder.

n Horizon 7 copies recent changes in the local profile to the remote repository, typically once every few
minutes. The default is every 10 minutes. You can specify how often to upload the local profile.

n During logoff, only files that were updated since the last replication are copied to the remote
repository.

Using Horizon Persona Management with Standalone

Systems
You can install a standalone version of Horizon Persona Management on physical computers and virtual
machines that are not managed by Horizon 7. With this software, you can manage user profiles across
Horizon desktops and standalone systems.

The standalone Horizon Persona Management software operates on several Windows operating
systems. See Knowledge Base article 2150295 for supported Windows versions.

You can use the standalone Horizon Persona Management software to accomplish these goals:

n Share user profiles across standalone systems and Horizon desktops.

Your users can continue to use standalone systems as well as Horizon desktops with Horizon
Persona Management. If you use the same Horizon Persona Management group policy settings to
control Horizon desktops and physical systems, users can receive their up-to-date profiles each time
they log in, whether they use their legacy computers or Horizon desktops.

Note Horizon Persona Management does not support concurrent active sessions. A user must log
out of one session before logging in to another.

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n Migrate user profiles from physical systems to Horizon desktops

If you intend to re-purpose legacy physical computers for use in a Horizon deployment, you can install
standalone Horizon Persona Management on the legacy systems before you roll out Horizon
desktops to your users. When users log in to their legacy systems, their profiles are stored on the
Horizon remote profile repository. When users log in to their Horizon desktops for the first time, their
existing profiles are downloaded to their Horizon desktops.

n Perform a staged migration from physical systems to Horizon desktops

If you migrate your deployment in stages, users who do not yet have access to Horizon desktops can
use standalone Horizon Persona Management. As each set of Horizon desktops is deployed, users
can access their profiles on their Horizon desktops, and the legacy systems can be phased out. This
scenario is a hybrid of the previous scenarios.

n Support up-to-date profiles when users go offline.

Users of standalone laptops can disconnect from the network. When a user reconnects, Horizon
Persona Management uploads the latest changes in the user's local profile to the remote profile
repository.

Note Before a user can go offline, the user profile must be completely downloaded to the local
system.

Migrating User Profiles with Horizon Persona

Management
With Horizon Persona Management, you can migrate existing user profiles in a variety of settings to
Horizon desktops. When users log in to their Horizon desktops after a profile migration is complete, they
are presented with the personal settings and data that they used on their legacy systems.

By migrating user profiles, you can accomplish the following desktop migration goals:

n You can upgrade Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 R2
Horizon desktops to Windows 10 Horizon desktops.

n You can upgrade your users' systems from legacy Windows XP to Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows
Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 R2 and migrate your users from physical computers to
Horizon for the first time.

n You can upgrade legacy Windows XP Horizon desktops to Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server
2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 R2 Horizon desktops.

n You can migrate from physical computers to Horizon desktops without upgrading the operating
systems.

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To support these scenarios, Horizon Persona Management provides a profile migration utility and a
standalone Horizon Persona Management installer for physical or virtual machines that do not have View
Agent 5.x installed.

Important View Agent 6.1 and later releases do not support Windows XP and Windows Vista desktops.
View Agent 6.0.2 is the last release that supports these guest operating systems. Customers who have
an extended support agreement with Microsoft for Windows XP and Vista, and an extended support
agreement with VMware for these guest operating systems, can deploy the View Agent 6.0.2 version of
their Windows XP and Vista desktops with Connection Server 6.1.

With the user profile migration utility, you can perform an important task in a migration from a legacy
Windows XP desktop deployment to a desktop deployment that will continue to be supported in future
releases.

Table 15-1. User Profile Migration Scenarios shows various migration scenarios and outlines the tasks
you should perform in each scenario.

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Table 15-1. User Profile Migration Scenarios

If This Is Your Original And This Is Your Destination
Deployment... Deployment... Perform These Tasks:

Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Windows 10 Horizon desktops 1 Configure the Windows 10 Horizon desktops with
Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server Horizon Persona Management for your users.
2012 R2 Horizon desktops See Configuring a Horizon Persona Management
Deployment.

Note Do not roll out the Windows 10 Horizon

desktops to your users until you complete step 2.
2 Run the View V2 to V5/V6 profile migration utility.
n For the source profiles, specify the remote
profile repository for existing Windows 7,
Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, or
Windows Server 2012 R2 Horizon desktops.
n For the destination profiles, specify the
remote profile repository that you configured
for the Windows 10 Horizon desktops.

For details, see the Horizon 7 User Profile

Migration document.
3 Allow your users to log in to their Windows 10
Horizon desktops.

Windows XP physical computers Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 1 Configure Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows
Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 R2
2012 R2 Horizon desktops Horizon desktops with Horizon Persona
Management for your users. See Configuring a
Horizon Persona Management Deployment.

Note Do not roll out the Windows 7, Windows 8,

Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server
2012 R2 Horizon desktops to your users until you
complete step 2.
2 Run the View V1 to V2 profile migration utility.
n For the source profiles, specify the local
profiles on the Windows XP physical
computers.
n For the destination profiles, specify the
remote profile repository that you configured
for the Horizon deployment.

For details, see the Horizon 7 User Profile

Migration document.
3 Allow your users to log in to their Windows 7,
Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, or
Windows Server 2012 R2 Horizon desktops.

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Table 15-1. User Profile Migration Scenarios (continued)

If This Is Your Original And This Is Your Destination
Deployment... Deployment... Perform These Tasks:

Windows XP physical computers or Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 1 Configure Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows
virtual machines that use a roaming Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 R2
user profile solution. For example, 2012 R2 Horizon desktops Horizon desktops with Horizon Persona
your deployment might use one of Management for your users. See Configuring a
these solutions: Horizon Persona Management Deployment.
n Horizon Persona Management
Note Do not roll out the Windows 7, Windows 8,
n RTO Virtual Profiles Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server
n Windows roaming profiles 2012 R2 Horizon desktops to your users until you
In this scenario, the original user complete step 2.
profiles must be maintained in a 2 Run the View V1 to V2 profile migration utility.
remote profile repository. n For the source profiles, specify the remote
profile repository for the Windows XP
systems.
n For the destination profiles, specify the
remote profile repository that you configured
for the Horizon deployment.

For details, see the Horizon 7 User Profile

Migration document.
3 Allow your users to log in to their Windows 7,
Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, or
Windows Server 2012 R2 Horizon desktops.

Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 1 Configure Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows
Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 R2
2012 R2 physical computers or 2012 R2 Horizon desktops Horizon desktops with Horizon Persona
virtual machines. Management for your users. See Configuring a
The legacy systems cannot have Horizon Persona Management Deployment.
View Agent 5.x installed. 2 Install the standalone Horizon Persona
Management software on the Windows 7,
Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, or
Windows Server 2012 R2 systems. See Install
Standalone Horizon Persona Management .
3 Configure the legacy Windows 7, Windows 8,
Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server
2012 R2 systems to use the same remote profile
repository as the Horizon desktops. See
Configure a User Profile Repository.

The easiest approach is to use the same Horizon

Persona Management group policy settings in
Active Directory to control both the legacy
systems and the Horizon desktops. See Add the
Horizon Persona Management ADMX Template
File.
4 Roll out your Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows
Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 R2
Horizon desktops to your users.

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Horizon Persona Management and Windows Roaming

Profiles
When Horizon Persona Management is enabled, you cannot manage Horizon users' personas by using
the Windows roaming profiles functions.

For example, if you log in to a desktop's guest operating system, navigate to the Advanced tab in the
System Properties dialog box, and change the User Profiles settings from Roaming profile to Local
profile, Horizon Persona Management continues to synchronize the user's persona between the local
desktop and the remote persona repository.

However, you can specify files and folders within users' personas that are managed by Windows roaming
profiles functionality instead of Horizon Persona Management. You use the Windows Roaming Profiles
Synchronization policy to specify these files and folders.

Configuring a Horizon Persona Management Deployment

To configure Horizon Persona Management, you set up a remote repository that stores user profiles,
install Horizon Agent with the VMware Horizon 7 Persona Management setup option on virtual
machines that deliver remote desktop sessions, add and configure Horizon Persona Management group
policy settings, and deploy desktop pools.

You can also configure Horizon Persona Management for a non-Horizon deployment. You install the
standalone version of Horizon Persona Management on your users' non-Horizon laptops, desktops, or
virtual machines. You must also set up a remote repository and configure Horizon Persona Management
group policy settings.

Overview of Setting Up a Horizon Persona Management

Deployment
To set up a Horizon desktop deployment or standalone computers with Horizon Persona Management,
you must perform several high-level tasks.

This sequence is recommended, although you can perform these tasks in a different sequence. For
example, you can configure or reconfigure group policy settings in Active Directory after you deploy
desktop pools.

1 Configure a remote repository to store user profiles.

You can configure a network share or use an existing Active Directory user profile path that you
configured for Windows roaming profiles.

2 Install Horizon Agent with the VMware Horizon 7 Persona Management setup option on the virtual
machines that you use to create desktop pools.

To configure Horizon Persona Management for non-Horizon laptops, desktops, or virtual machines,
install the standalone Horizon Persona Management software on each computer in your targeted
deployment.

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3 Add the Horizon Persona Management ADMX Template file to your Active Directory server or the
Local Computer Policy configuration on the parent virtual machine.

To configure Horizon Persona Management for your whole Horizon or non-Horizon deployment, add
the ADMX Template file to Active Directory.

To configure Horizon Persona Management for one desktop pool, you can take these approaches:

n Add the ADMX Template file to the virtual machine that you use to create the pool.

n Add the ADMX Template file to Active Directory and apply the group policy settings to the OU that
contains the machines in the pool.

4 Enable Horizon Persona Management by enabling the Manage user persona group policy setting.

5 If you configured a network share for the remote profile repository, enable the Persona repository
location group policy setting and specify the network share path.

6 (Optional) Configure other group policy settings in Active Directory or the Local Computer Policy
configuration.

7 Create desktop pools from the virtual machines on which you installed Horizon Agent with the
VMware Horizon 7 Persona Management setup option.

Configure a User Profile Repository

You can configure a remote repository to store the user data and settings, application-specific data, and
other user-generated information in user profiles. If Windows roaming profiles are configured in your
deployment, you can use an existing Active Directory user profile path instead.

Note You can configure Horizon Persona Management without having to configure Windows roaming
profiles.

Prerequisites

n Familiarize yourself with the minimum access permissions that are required to configure a shared
folder. See Setting Access Permissions on Shared Folders for Horizon Persona Management.

n Familiarize yourself with the guidelines for creating a user profile repository. See Creating a Network
Share for Horizon Persona Management

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Procedure

1 Determine whether to use an existing Active Directory user profile path or configure a user profile
repository on a network share.

Option Action

Use an existing Active Directory user If you have an existing Windows roaming profiles configuration, you can use the
profile path user profile path in Active Directory that supports roaming profiles. You can skip the
remaining steps in this procedure.

Configure a network share to store If you do not have an existing Windows roaming profiles configuration, you must
the user profile repository configure a network share for the user profile repository. Follow the remaining
steps in this procedure.

2 Create a shared folder on a computer that your users can access from the guest operating systems
on their desktops.

If %username% is not part of the folder path that you configure, Horizon Persona Management
appends %username%.%userdomain% to the path.
For example: \\server.domain.com\VPRepository\%username%.%userdomain%

3 Set access permissions for the shared folders that contain user profiles.

Caution Make sure that access permissions are configured correctly. The incorrect configuration of
access permissions on the shared folder is the most common cause of problems with Horizon
Persona Management.

Setting Access Permissions on Shared Folders for Horizon Persona

Management
Horizon Persona Management and Windows roaming profiles require a specific minimum level of
permissions on the user profile repository. Horizon Persona Management also requires that the security
group of the users who put data on the shared folder must have read attributes on the share.

Set the required access permissions on your user profile repository and redirected folder share.

Table 15-2. Minimum NTFS Permissions Required for the User Profile Repository and
Redirected Folder Share
User Account Minimum Permissions Required

Creator Owner Full Control, Subfolders and Files Only

Administrator None. Instead, enable the Windows group policy setting, Add the Administrators security
group to the roaming user profiles. In the Group Policy Object Editor, this policy setting is
located in Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\User Profiles\.

Security group of users needing List Folder/Read Data, Create Folders/Append Data, Read Attributes - This Folder Only
to put data on share

Everyone No permissions

Local System Full Control, This Folder, Subfolders and Files

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Table 15-3. Share Level (SMB) Permissions Required for User Profile Repository and
Redirected Folder Share
User Account Default Permissions Minimum Permissions Required

Everyone Read only No permissions

Security group of users needing to put data on N/A Full Control

share

For information about roaming user profiles security, see the Microsoft TechNet topic, Security
Recommendations for Roaming User Profiles Shared Folders. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
cc757013(WS.10).aspx

Creating a Network Share for Horizon Persona Management

You must follow certain guidelines when you create a shared folder to use as a profile repository.

n If you use Windows 8 desktops and your network share uses a OneFS file system on an EMC Isilon
NAS device, the OneFS file system must be version 6.5.5.11 or later.

n You can create the shared folder on a server, a network-attached storage (NAS) device, or a network
server.

n The shared folder does not have to be in the same domain as Horizon Connection Server.

n The shared folder must be in the same Active Directory forest as the users who store profiles in the
shared folder.

n You must use a shared drive that is large enough to store the user profile information for your users.
To support a large Horizon deployment, you can configure separate repositories for different desktop
pools.

If users are entitled to more than one pool, the pools that share users must be configured with the
same profile repository. If you entitle a user to two pools with two different profile repositories, the
user cannot access the same version of the profile from desktops in each pool.

n You must create the full profile path under which the user profile folders will be created. If part of the
path does not exist, Windows creates the missing folders when the first user logs in and assigns the
user's security restrictions to those folders. Windows assigns the same security restrictions to every
folder it creates under that path.

For example, for user1 you might configure the Horizon Persona Management path \\server
\VPRepository\profiles\user1. If you create the network share \\server\VPRepository, and
the profiles folder does not exist, Windows creates the path \profiles\user1 when user1 logs
in. Windows restricts access to the \profiles\user1 folders to the user1 account. If another user
logs in with a profile path in \\server\VPRepository\profiles, the second user cannot access the
repository and the user's profile fails to be replicated.

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Install Horizon Agent with the Horizon Persona Management

Option
To use Horizon Persona Management with Horizon desktops, you must install Horizon Agent with the
VMware Horizon 7 Persona Management setup option on the virtual machines that you use to create
desktop pools.

For an automated pool, you install Horizon Agent with the VMware Horizon 7 Persona Management
setup option on the virtual machine that you use as a parent or template. When you create a desktop pool
from the virtual machine, the Horizon Persona Management software is deployed on your Horizon
desktops.

For a manual pool, you must install Horizon Agent with the VMware Horizon 7 Persona Management
setup option on each virtual machine that is used as a desktop in the pool. Use Active Directory to
configure Horizon Persona Management group policies for a manual pool. The alternative is to add the
ADMX template file and configure group policies on each individual machine.

Prerequisites

n Verify that you are performing the installation on a Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows
Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 R2 virtual machine. Horizon Persona Management does
not operate on Microsoft RDS hosts.

Installing Horizon Agent with the VMware Horizon 7 Persona Management setup option does not
work on physical computers. You can install the standalone Horizon Persona Management software
on physical computers. See Install Standalone Horizon Persona Management .

n Verify that you can log in as an administrator on the virtual machine.

n Verify that a native RTO Virtual Profiles 2.0 is not installed on the virtual machine. If a native RTO
Virtual Profile 2.0 is present, uninstall it before you install Horizon Agent with the VMware Horizon 7
Persona Management setup option.

n Familiarize yourself with installing Horizon Agent. See Install Horizon Agent on a Virtual Machine or
Install Horizon Agent on an Unmanaged Machine.

Procedure

u When you install Horizon Agent on a virtual machine, select the VMware Horizon 7 Persona
Management setup option.

What to do next

Add the Horizon Persona Management ADMX template file to your Active Directory server or the Local
Computer Policy configuration on the virtual machine itself.

Install Standalone Horizon Persona Management

To use Horizon Persona Management with non-Horizon physical computers or virtual machines, install
the standalone version of Horizon Persona Management. You can run an interactive installation or a silent
installation at the command line.

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Install the standalone Horizon Persona Management software on each individual computer or virtual
machine in your targeted deployment.

Prerequisites

n Verify that you are performing the installation on a Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows
Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 R2 physical computer or virtual machine. Horizon Persona
Management does not operate on Windows Servers or Microsoft RDS hosts. Verify that the system
satisfies the requirements described in "Supported Operating Systems for Standalone Horizon
Persona Management" in the Horizon 7 Installation document.

n Verify that you can log in as an administrator on the system.

n Verify that View Agent 5.x or later is not installed on the computer.

n Verify that a native RTO Virtual Profiles 2.0 is not installed on the virtual machine.

n If you intend to perform a silent installation, familiarize yourself with the MSI installer command-line
options. See Microsoft Windows Installer Command-Line Options.

Procedure

1 Download the standalone Horizon Persona Management installer file from the VMware product page
at http://www.vmware.com/products/.

The installer filename is VMware-personamanagement-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe or VMware-

personamanagement-x86_64-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe, where y.y.y is the version number and xxxxxx is
the build number.

2 Run the installation program interactively or perform a silent installation.

Option Description

Interactive installation a To start the installation program, double-click the installer file.
b Accept the VMware license terms.
c Click Install.

By default, Horizon Persona Management is installed in the C:\Program

Files\VMware\VMware View Persona Management directory.
d Click Finish.

Silent installation Open a Windows command prompt on the machine and type the installation
command on one line.
For example: VMware-personamanagement-y.y.y-
xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn /l*v ""c:\persona.log"" ALLUSERS=1"

Important You must include the ALLUSERS=1 property in the command line.

3 Restart your system to allow the installation changes to take effect.

What to do next

Add the Horizon Persona Management ADMX template file to your Active Directory or local group policy
configuration.

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Add the Horizon Persona Management ADMX Template File

The Horizon Persona Management ADMX template file contains group policy settings that allow you to
configure Horizon Persona Management. Before you can configure the policies, you must add the ADMX
template file to the local system or Active Directory server.

To configure Horizon Persona Management on a single system, you can add the group policy settings to
the Local Computer Policy configuration on that local system.

To configure Horizon Persona Management for a desktop pool, you can add the group policy settings to
the Local Computer Policy configuration on the virtual machine that you use as a parent or template for
deploying the desktop pool.

To configure Horizon Persona Management at the domain-wide level and apply the configuration to many
Horizon 7 machines or your whole deployment, you can add the group policy settings to Group Policy
Objects (GPOs) on your Active Directory server. In Active Directory, you can create an OU for the Horizon
7 machines that use Horizon Persona Management, create one or more GPOs, and link the GPOs to the
OU. To configure separate Horizon Persona Management policies for different types of users, you can
create OUs for particular sets of Horizon 7 machines and apply different GPOs to the OUs.

For example, you might create one OU for Horizon 7 machines with Horizon Persona Management and
another OU for physical computers on which the standalone Horizon Persona Management software is
installed.

For an example of implementing Active Directory group policies in Horizon, see "Active Directory Group
Policy Example" in the Configuring Remote Desktop Features in Horizon 7 document.

Add the Horizon Persona Management ADMX Template File to Active

Directory or a Single System
You can add the Horizon Persona Management ADMX template file to your Active Directory server or to a
single system.

Prerequisites

n Verify that Horizon Agent is installed with the Horizon Persona Management setup option. See Install
Horizon Agent with the Horizon Persona Management Option.

n Verify that gpedit.msc or the appropriate group policy editor is available.

Procedure

1 Download the Horizon 7 GPO Bundle .zip file from the VMware download site at https://
my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.

Under Desktop & End-User Computing, select the VMware Horizon 7 download, which includes the
GPO Bundle.

The file is named VMware-Horizon-Extras-Bundle-x.x.x-yyyyyyy.zip, where x.x.x is the

version and yyyyyyy is the build number. All ADMX files that provide group policy settings for Horizon
7 are available in this file.

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2 Unzip the VMware-Horizon-Extras-Bundle-x.x.x-yyyyyyy.zip file and copy the Horizon

Persona Management ADMX files to your Active Directory server or to the individual Persona host
(single system).

a Copy the ViewPM.admx file to the C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\ directory.

b Copy the language resource files ViewPM.adml to the appropriate subfolder in C:\Windows
\PolicyDefinitions\ on your Active Directory server or the individual Persona host.

For example, copy the ViewPM.adml file to the C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\en-US\

directory for the EN locale.

3 On your Active Directory host, open the Group Policy Management Editor or, on an individual
Persona host, open the Local Group Policy Editor with the gpedit.msc utility.

The Horizon Persona Management group policy settings are installed in Computer Configuration >
Policies > Administrative Templates > Persona Management.

What to do next

(Optional) Configure the Horizon Persona Management group policy settings. See Configure Horizon
Persona Management Policies.

Configure Horizon Persona Management Policies

To use Horizon Persona Management, you must enable the Manage user persona group policy setting,
which activates the Horizon Persona Management software. To set up a user profile repository without
using an Active Directory user profile path, you must configure the Persona repository location group
policy setting.

You can configure the optional group policy settings to configure other aspects of your Horizon Persona
Management deployment.

If Windows roaming profiles are already configured in your deployment, you can use an existing Active
Directory user profile path. You can leave the Persona repository location setting disabled or not
configured.

Prerequisites

n Familiarize yourself with the Manage user persona and Persona repository location group policy
settings. See Roaming and Synchronization Group Policy Settings.

n If you are setting group policies on a local system, familiarize yourself with opening the Group Policy
window.

n If you are setting group policies on your Active Directory server, familiarize yourself with starting the
Group Policy Object Editor.

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Procedure

1 Open the Group Policy window.

Option Description

Local system Open the Local Computer Policy window.

Active Directory server Open the Group Policy Object Editor window.

2 Expand the Computer Configuration folder and navigate to the Persona Management folder.

Option Description

Windows 7 and later or Windows Expand the following folders: Administrative Templates, VMware View Agent
Server 2008 and later Configuration, Persona Management

Windows Server 2003 Expand the following folders: Administrative Templates, VMware View Agent
Configuration, Persona Management

3 Open the Roaming & Synchronization folder.

4 Double-click Manage user persona and click Enabled.

This setting activates Horizon Persona Management. When this setting is disabled or not configured,
Horizon Persona Management does not function.

5 Type the profile upload interval, in minutes, and click OK.

The profile upload interval determines how often Horizon Persona Management copies user profile
changes to the remote repository. The default upload interval is 10 minutes.

6 Double-click Persona repository location and click Enabled.

If you have an existing Windows roaming profiles deployment, you can use an Active Directory user
profile path for the remote profile repository. You do not have to configure a Persona repository
location.

7 Type the UNC path to a network file server share that stores the user profiles.

For example: \\server.domain.com\UserProfilesRepository\%username%

The network share must be accessible to the virtual machines in your deployment.

If you intend to use an Active Directory user profile path, you do not have to specify a UNC path.

8 If an Active Directory user profile path is configured in your deployment, determine whether to use or
override this path.

Option Action

Use the network share. Check the Override Active Directory user profile path if it is configured check
box.

Use an Active Directory user profile Do not check the Override Active Directory user profile path if it is configured
path, if one exists. check box.

9 Click OK.

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10 (Optional) Configure other Horizon Persona Management group policy settings.

Create Desktop Pools That Use Horizon Persona Management

To use Horizon Persona Management with Horizon 7 desktops, you must create desktop pools with a
Horizon Persona Management agent installed on each machine.

You cannot use Horizon Persona Management on RDS desktop pools, which run on Remote Desktop
Services (RDS) hosts.

Prerequisites

n Verify that Horizon Agent with the VMware Horizon 7 Persona Management setup option is installed
on the virtual machine that you use to create the desktop pool. See Install Horizon Agent with the
Horizon Persona Management Option.

n If you intend to configure Horizon Persona Management policies for this desktop pool only, verify that
you added the Horizon Persona Management ADMX template file to the virtual machine and
configured group policy settings in the Local Computer Policy configuration.

Procedure

u Generate a snapshot or template from the virtual machine and create an automated desktop pool.

You can configure Horizon Persona Management with pools that contain full virtual machines or
linked clones. The pools can use dedicated or floating assignments.

u (Optional) To use Horizon Persona Management with manual desktop pools, select machines on
which Horizon Agent with the VMware Horizon 7 Persona Management option is installed.

Results

Note After you deploy Horizon Persona Management on your Horizon desktop pools, if you remove the
VMware Horizon 7 Persona Management setup option on the Horizon machines, or uninstall Horizon
Agent altogether, the local user profiles are removed from the machines of users who are not currently
logged in. For users who are currently logged in, the user profiles are downloaded from the remote profile
repository during the uninstall process.

Best Practices for Configuring a Horizon Persona

Management Deployment
You should follow best practices for configuring Horizon Persona Management to enhance your users'
desktop experience, improve desktop performance, and ensure that Horizon Persona Management
operates efficiently with other Horizon 7 features.

Determining Whether to Remove Local User Profiles at Logoff

In some cases, you might want to enable the Remove local persona at log off policy to speed up the
login time in case the profile size is greater than 1GB or the number of files and folders is greater than
10,000. You can also redirect some folders if the size is large.

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Handling Deployments That Include Horizon Persona Management

and Windows Roaming Profiles
In deployments in which Windows roaming profiles are configured, and users access Horizon desktops
with Horizon Persona Management and standard desktops with Windows roaming profiles, the best
practice is to use different profiles for the two desktop environments. If a Horizon desktop and the client
computer from which the desktop is launched are in the same domain, and you use an Active Directory
GPO to configure both Windows roaming profiles and Horizon Persona Management, enable the
Persona repository location policy and select Override Active Directory user profile path if it is
configured.

This approach prevents Windows roaming profiles from overwriting a Horizon Persona Management
profile when the user logs off from the client computer.

If users intend to share data between existing Windows roaming profiles and Horizon Persona
Management profiles, you can configure Windows folder redirection.

Configuring Paths for Redirected Folders

When you use the Folder Redirection group policy setting, configure the folder path to include
%username%, but make sure that the last subfolder in the path uses the name of the redirected folder,
such as My Videos. The last folder in the path is displayed as the folder name on the user's desktop.

For example, if you configure a path such as \\myserver\videos\%username%\My Videos, the folder
name that appears on the user's desktop is My Videos.

If %username% is the last subfolder in the path, the user's name appears as the folder name. For example,
instead of seeing a My Videos folder on the desktop, the user JDoe sees a folder named JDoe and
cannot easily identify the folder.

Using the Windows Event Log to Monitor the Horizon Persona

Management Deployment
To help you manage your deployment, Horizon Persona Management provides improved log messages
and profile size and file and folder count tracking. Horizon Persona Management uses the file and folder
counts to suggest folders for redirection in the Windows event log and provides statistics for these folders.
For example, when a user logs in, the Windows event log might display the following suggestions to
redirect folders:

Profile path: \\server.domain.com\persona\user1V2

...
Folders to redirect:
\\server.domain.com\persona\user1V2 Reason: Folder size larger than 1GB
\\server.domain.com\persona\user1V2\Documents Reason: More than 10000 files and folders

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Additional Best Practices

You can also follow these recommendations:

n By default, many antivirus products do not scan offline files. For example, when a user logs in to a
desktop, these anti-virus products do not scan user profile files that are not specified in the Files and
folders to preload or Windows roaming profiles synchronization group policy setting. For many
deployments, the default behavior is the best practice because it reduces the I/O required to
download files during on-demand scans.

If you do want to retrieve files from the remote repository and enable scanning of offline files, see the
documentation for your antivirus product.

n It is highly recommended that you use standard practices to back up network shares on which
Horizon Persona Management stores the profile repository.

Note Do not use backup software such as MozyPro or Windows Volume backup services with
Horizon Persona Management to back up user profiles on Horizon desktops.

Horizon Persona Management ensures that user profiles are backed up to the remote profile
repository, eliminating the need for additional tools to back up user data on the desktops. In certain
cases, tools such as MozyPro or Windows Volume backup services can interfere with Horizon
Persona Management and cause data loss or corruption.

n You can set Horizon Persona Management policies to enhance performance when users start
ThinApp applications. See Configuring User Profiles to Include ThinApp Sandbox Folders.

n If your users generate substantial persona data, and you plan to use refresh and recompose to
manage dedicated-assignment, linked-clone desktops, configure your desktop pool to use separate
View Composer persistent disks. Persistent disks can enhance the performance of Horizon Persona
Management. See Configuring View Composer Persistent Disks with Horizon Persona Management.

n If you configure Horizon Persona Management for standalone laptops, make sure that the profiles are
kept synchronized when users go offline. See Manage User Profiles on Standalone Laptops.

n Do not use Windows Client-Side Caching with Horizon Persona Management. The Windows Client-
Side Caching system is a mechanism that supports the Windows Offline Files feature. If this system is
in effect on the local system, Horizon Persona Management features such as folder redirection, offline
file population during logon, background download, and replication of local profile files to the remote
profile repository do not work properly.

As a best practice, disable the Windows Offline Files feature before you begin using Horizon Persona
Management. If you encounter issues with Horizon Persona Management because Windows Client-
Side Caching is in effect on your desktops, you can resolve these issues by synchronizing the profile
data that currently resides in the local Client-Side Caching database and disabling the Windows
Offline Files feature. For instructions, see KB 2016416: View Persona Management features do not
function when Windows Client-Side Caching is in effect.

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Configuring User Profiles to Include ThinApp Sandbox Folders

Horizon Persona Management maintains user settings that are associated with ThinApp applications by
including ThinApp sandbox folders in user profiles. You can set Horizon Persona Management policies to
enhance performance when users start ThinApp applications.

Horizon Persona Management preloads ThinApp sandbox folders and files in the local user profile when
a user logs in. The ThinApp sandbox folders are created before a user can complete the log on. To
enhance performance, Horizon Persona Management does not download the ThinApp sandbox data
during the login, although files are created on the local desktop with the same basic attributes and sizes
as the ThinApp sandbox files in the user's remote profile.

As a best practice, download the actual ThinApp sandbox data in the background. Enable the Folders to
background download group policy setting and add the ThinApp sandbox folders. See Roaming and
Synchronization Group Policy Settings.

The actual ThinApp sandbox files can be large. With the Folders to background download setting,
users do not have to wait for large files to download when they start an application. Also, users do not
have to wait for the files to preload when they log in, as they might if you use the Files and folders to
preload setting with large files.

Configuring View Composer Persistent Disks with Horizon

Persona Management
Horizon Persona Management maintains each user profile on a remote repository that is configured on a
network share. After a user logs into a desktop, the persona files are dynamically downloaded as the user
needs them.

If you configure persistent disks with Horizon Persona Management, you can refresh and recompose the
linked-clone OS disks and keep a local copy of the each user profile on the persistent disks.

If you configure persistent disks, do not enable the Remove local persona at log off policy. Enabling this
policy deletes the user data from the persistent disks when users log off. However, disabling the Remove
local persona at log off policy may slow down the next login speed.

Manage User Profiles on Standalone Laptops

If you install Horizon Persona Management on standalone (non-Horizon) laptops, make sure that the user
profiles are kept synchronized when users take their standalone laptops offline.

To ensure that a standalone laptop user has an up-to-date local profile, you can configure the Horizon
Persona Management group policy setting, Enable background download for laptops. This setting
downloads the entire user profile to the standalone laptop in the background.

As a best practice, notify your users to make sure that their user profiles are completely downloaded
before they disconnect from the network. Tell users to wait for the Background download complete
notice to appear on their laptop screens before they disconnect.

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To allow the Background download complete notice to be displayed on user laptops, configure the
Horizon Persona Management group policy setting, Show critical errors to users via tray
icon alerts.

If a user disconnects from the network before the profile download is complete, the local profile and
remote profile might become unsynchronized. While the user is offline, the user might update a local file
that was not fully downloaded. When the user reconnects to the network, the local profile is uploaded,
overwriting the remote profile. Data that was in the original remote profile might be lost.

The following steps provide an example you might follow.

Prerequisites

Verify that Horizon Persona Management is configured for your users' standalone laptops. See
Configuring a Horizon Persona Management Deployment.

Procedure

1 In the Active Directory OU that controls your standalone laptops, enable the Enable background
download for laptops setting.

In the Group Policy Object Editor, expand the following folders: Computer Configuration,
Administrative Templates (ADMX), VMware View Agent Configuration, Persona Management,
Roaming & Synchronization.

2 For standalone laptops, you must use a non-Horizon method to notify users when they log in.

For example, you might distribute this message:

Your personal data is dynamically downloaded to your laptop after you log in.
Make sure your personal data has finished downloading before you disconnect your
laptop from the network. A "Background download complete" notice pops up when
your personal data finishes downloading.

Horizon Persona Management Group Policy Settings

The Horizon Persona Management ADMX template file contains group policy settings that you add to the
Group Policy configuration on individual systems or on an Active Directory server. You must configure the
group policy settings to set up and control various aspects of Horizon Persona Management.

The ADMX template file is named ViewPM.admx.

The ADMX files are available in VMware-Horizon-Extras-Bundle-x.x.x-yyyyyyy.zip, which you can

download from the VMware Downloads site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads. Under
Desktop & End-User Computing, select the VMware Horizon 7 download, which includes the ZIP file.

After you add the ViewPM.admx file to your Group Policy configuration, the policy settings are located in
the Persona Management folder in the Group Policy window.

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Table 15-4. Location of Horizon Persona Management Settings in the Group Policy Window
Operating System Location

Windows 7 and later or Windows Server 2008 Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Classic
and later Administrative Templates > VMware View Agent Configuration > Persona
Management

Windows Server 2003 Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > VMware View Agent
Configuration > Persona Management

The group policy settings are contained in these folders:

n Roaming & Synchronization

n Folder Redirection

n Desktop UI

n Logging

n Troubleshooting

Roaming and Synchronization Group Policy Settings

The roaming and synchronization group policy settings turn Horizon Persona Management on and off, set
the location of the remote profile repository, determine which folders and files belong to the user profile,
and control how to synchronize folders and files.

All these settings are in the Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates >
VMware View Agent Configuration > Persona Management > Roaming & Synchronization folder in
the Group Policy Management Editor.

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Group Policy
Setting Description

Manage user Determines whether to manage user profiles dynamically with Horizon Persona Management or with
persona Windows roaming profiles. This setting turns Horizon Persona Management on and off.
When this setting is enabled, Horizon Persona Management manages user profiles.
When the setting is enabled, you can specify a profile upload interval in minutes. This value determines how
often changes in the user profile are copied to the remote repository. The default value is 10 minutes.
When this setting is disabled or not configured, user profiles are managed by Windows.

Persona repository Specifies the location of the user profile repository. This setting also determines whether to use a network
location share that is specified in Horizon Persona Management or a path that is configured in Active Directory to
support Windows roaming profiles.
When this setting is enabled, you can use the Share path to determine the location of the user profile
repository.
In the Share path text box, you specify a UNC path to a network share that is accessible to Horizon Persona
Management desktops. This setting lets Horizon Persona Management control the location of the user
profile repository.
For example: \\server.domain.com\VPRepository
If %username% is not part of the folder path that you configure, Horizon Persona Management appends
%username%.%userdomain% to the path.
For example: \\server.domain.com\VPRepository\%username%.%userdomain%
If you specify a location in the Share path, you do not have to set up roaming profiles in Windows or
configure a user profile path in Active Directory to support Windows roaming profiles.
For details about configuring a UNC network share for Horizon Persona Management, see Configure a User
Profile Repository.
By default, the Active Directory user profile path is used.
Specifically, when the Share path is left blank, the Active Directory user profile path is used. The Share path
is blank and inactive when this setting is disabled or not configured. You can also leave the path blank when
this setting is enabled.
When this setting is enabled, you can select the Override Active Directory user profile path if it is
configured check box to make sure that Horizon Persona Management uses the path specified in the Share
path. By default, this check box is unchecked, and Horizon Persona Management uses the Active Directory
user profile path when both locations are configured.

Remove local Deletes each user's locally stored profile from the Horizon machine when the user logs off.
persona at log off You can also check a box to delete each user's local settings folders when the user profile is removed.
Checking this box removes the AppData\Local folder.
For guidelines for using this setting, see Best Practices for Configuring a Horizon Persona Management
Deployment.
When this setting is disabled or not configured, the locally stored user profiles, including local settings
folders, are not deleted when users log off.

Roam local settings Roams the local settings folders with the rest of each user profile.
folders This policy affects the AppData\Local folder.
By default, local settings are not roamed.
You must enable this setting if you use Microsoft OneDrive.

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Group Policy
Setting Description

Files and folders to Specifies a list of files and folders that are downloaded to the local user profile when the user logs in.
preload Changes in the files are copied to the remote repository as they occur.
In some situations, you might want to preload specific files and folders into the locally stored user profile.
Use this setting to specify these files and folders.
Specify paths that are relative to the root of the local profile. Do not specify a drive in a pathname.
For example: Application Data\Microsoft\Certificates
After the specified files and folders are preloaded, Horizon Persona Management manages the files and
folders in the same way that it manages other profile data. When a user updates preloaded files or folders,
Horizon Persona Management copies the updated data to the remote profile repository during the session,
at the next profile upload interval.

Files and folders to Prevents the specified files and folders from being preloaded.
preload (exceptions) The selected folder paths must reside within the folders that you specify in the Files and folders to preload
setting.
Specify paths that are relative to the root of the local profile. Do not specify a drive in a pathname.

Windows roaming Specifies a list of files and folders that are managed by standard Windows roaming profiles. The files and
profiles folders are retrieved from the remote repository when the user logs in. The files are not copied to the remote
synchronization repository until the user logs off.
For the specified files and folders, Horizon Persona Management ignores the profile replication interval that
is configured by the Profile upload interval in the Manage user persona setting.
Specify paths that are relative to the root of the local profile. Do not specify a drive in a pathname.

Windows roaming The selected files and folders are exceptions to the paths that are specified in the Windows roaming
profiles profiles synchronization setting.
synchronization The selected folder paths must reside within the folders that you specify in the Windows roaming profiles
(exceptions) synchronization setting.
Specify paths that are relative to the root of the local profile. Do not specify a drive in a pathname.

Files and folders Specifies a list of files and folders that are not roamed with the rest of the user profile. The specified files and
excluded from folders exist only on the local system.
roaming Some situations require specific files and folders to reside only in the locally stored user profile. For example,
you can exclude temporary and cached files from roaming. These files do not need to be replicated to the
remote repository.
Specify paths that are relative to the root of the local profile. Do not specify a drive in a pathname.
By default, the user profile's temp folder, ThinApp cache folder, and cache folders for Internet Explorer,
Firefox, Chrome, and Opera are excluded from roaming.

Files and folders The selected files and folders are exceptions to the paths that are specified in the Files and folders
excluded from excluded from roaming setting.
roaming The selected folder paths must reside within the folders that you specify in the Files and folders excluded
(exceptions) from roaming setting.
Specify paths that are relative to the root of the local profile. Do not specify a drive in a pathname.

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Group Policy
Setting Description

Enable background Downloads all files in the user profile when a user logs in to a laptop on which the Horizon Persona
download for Management software is installed. Files are downloaded in the background.
laptops When the operation is complete, a pop-up notification appears on the user's screen: Background download
complete. To allow this notification to appear on the user's laptop, you must enable the Show critical
errors to users via tray icon alerts setting.

Note If you enable this setting, as a best practice, notify your users to make sure that the profile is
completely downloaded before the users disconnect from the network.

If a user takes a standalone laptop offline before the profile download is complete, the user might not have
access to local profile files. While the user is offline, the user will be unable to open a local file that was not
fully downloaded.

See Manage User Profiles on Standalone Laptops.

Folders to The selected folders are downloaded in the background after a user logs in to the desktop.
background In certain cases, you can optimize Horizon Persona Management by downloading the contents of specific
download folders in the background. With this setting, users do not have to wait for large files to download when they
start an application. Also, users do not have to wait for the files to preload when they log in, as they might if
you use the Files and folders to preload setting with very large files.
For example, you can include VMware ThinApp sandbox folders in the Folders to background download
setting. The background download does not affect performance when a user logs in or uses other
applications on the desktop. When the user starts the ThinApp application, the required ThinApp sandbox
files are likely to be downloaded from the remote repository, improving the application startup time.
Specify paths that are relative to the root of the local profile. Do not specify a drive in a pathname.

Folders to The selected folders are exceptions to the paths that are specified in the Folders to background download
background setting.
download The selected folder paths must reside within the folders that you specify in the Folders to background
(exceptions) download setting.
Specify paths that are relative to the root of the local profile. Do not specify a drive in a pathname.

Excluded processes The I/O of the specified processes are ignored by Horizon Persona Management.
You might have to add certain anti-virus applications to the Excluded processes list to prevent performance
problems. If an anti-virus application does not have a feature to disable offline file retrieval during its on-
demand scans, the Excluded processes setting prevents the application from retrieving files unnecessarily.
However, Horizon Persona Management does replicate changes to files and settings in the users' profiles
that are made by excluded processes.
To add processes to the Excluded processes list, enable this setting, click Show, type the process name,
and click OK. For example: process.exe.

Cleanup CLFS files Deletes the files that are generated by Common Log File System (CLFS) for ntuser.dat and
usrclass.dat from the roaming profile on logon.
Enable this setting only if you have to repair user profiles that are experiencing a problem with these files.
Otherwise, leave the setting disabled or not configured.

Folder Redirection Group Policy Settings

With folder redirection group policy settings, you can redirect user profile folders to a network share.
When a folder is redirected, all data is stored directly on the network share during the user session.

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All these settings are in the Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates >
VMware View Agent Configuration > Persona Management > Folder Redirection folder in the Group
Policy Management Editor.

You can use these settings to redirect folders that must be highly available. Horizon Persona
Management copies updates from the local user profile to the remote profile as often as once a minute,
depending on the value you set for the profile upload interval. However, if a network outage or failure on
the local system occurs, a user's updates since the last replication might not be saved in the remote
profile. In situations where users cannot afford a temporary loss of a few minutes of recent work, you can
redirect those folders that store this critical data.

The following rules and guidelines apply to folder redirection:

n When you enable this setting for a folder, you must type the UNC path of the network share to which
the folder is redirected.

n If %username% is not part of the folder path that you configure, Horizon Persona Management
appends %username% to the UNC path.

n As a best practice, configure the folder path to include %username%, but make sure that the last
subfolder in the path uses the name of the redirected folder, such as My Videos. The last folder in
the path is displayed as the folder name on the user's desktop. For details, see Configuring Paths for
Redirected Folders.

n You configure a separate setting for each folder. You can select particular folders for redirection and
leave others on the local Horizon desktop. You can also redirect different folders to different UNC
paths.

n If a folder redirection setting is disabled or not configured, the folder is stored on the local Horizon
desktop and managed according to the Horizon Persona Management group policy settings.

n If Horizon Persona Management and Windows roaming profiles are configured to redirect the same
folder, Horizon Persona Management's folder redirection takes precedence over Windows roaming
profiles.

n Folder redirection applies only to applications that use the Windows shell APIs to redirect common
folder paths. For example, if an application writes a file to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming, the
file is written to the local profile and not redirected to the network location.

n By default, Windows folder redirection gives users exclusive rights to redirected folders. To grant
domain administrators access to newly redirected folders, you can use a Horizon Persona
Management group policy setting.

Windows folder redirection has a check box called Grant user exclusive rights to folder-name,
which gives the specified user exclusive rights to the redirected folder. As a security measure, this
check box is selected by default. When this check box is selected, administrators do not have access
to the redirected folder. If an administrator attempts to force change the access rights for a user's
redirected folder, Horizon Persona Management no longer works for that user.

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You can make newly redirected folders accessible to domain administrators by using the Add the
administrators group to redirected folders group policy setting. This setting lets you grant the
domain administrators group full control over each redirected folder. See Table 15-5. Group Policy
Settings That Control Folder Redirection.

For existing redirected folders, see Granting Domain Administrators Access to Existing Redirected
Folders.

You can specify folder paths that are excluded from folder redirection. See Table 15-5. Group Policy
Settings That Control Folder Redirection.

Caution Horizon 7 does not support enabling folder redirection to a folder that is already in a profile
managed by Horizon Persona Management. This configuration can cause failures in Horizon Persona
Management and loss of user data.

For example, if the root folder in the remote profile repository is \\Server\%username%\, and you
redirect folders to \\Server\%username%\Desktop, these settings would cause a failure of folder
redirection in Horizon Persona Management and the loss of any contents that were previously in the \
\Server\%username%\Desktop folder.

You can redirect the following folders to a network share:

n Application Data (roaming)

n Contacts

n Cookies

n Desktop

n Downloads

n Favorites

n History

n Links

n My Documents

n My Music

n My Pictures

n My Videos

n Network Neighborhood

n Printer Neighborhood

n Recent Items

n Save Games

n Send To

n Searches

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n Start Menu

n Startup Items

n Templates

n Temporary Internet Files

Table 15-5. Group Policy Settings That Control Folder Redirection

Group Policy Setting Description

Add the administrators Determines whether to add the administrators group to each redirected folder. Users have exclusive
group to redirected folders rights to redirected folders by default. When you enable this setting, administrators can also access
redirected folders.
By default, this setting is not configured.

Files and Folders excluded The selected file and folder paths are not redirected to a network share.
from Folder Redirection In some scenarios, specific files and folders must remain in the local user profile.
To add a folder path to the Files and Folders excluded from Folder Redirection list, enable this
setting, click Show, type the path name, and click OK.
Specify folder paths that are relative to the root of the user's local profile. For example:
Desktop\New Folder.

Files and folders excluded The selected file and folder paths are exceptions to the paths that are specified in the Files and
from Folder Redirection Folders excluded from Folder Redirection setting.
(exceptions) To add a folder path to the Files and folders excluded from Folder Redirection (exceptions) list,
enable this setting, click Show, type the path name, and click OK.
Specify folder paths that reside within a folder that is specified in the Folders excluded from Folder
Redirection setting and are relative to the root of the user's local profile. For example:
Desktop\New Folder\Unique Folder.

Granting Domain Administrators Access to Existing Redirected Folders

By default, Windows folder redirection gives users exclusive rights to redirected folders. To grant domain
administrators access to existing redirected folders, you must use the icacls utility.

If you are setting up new redirected folders for use with View Persona Management, you can make the
newly redirected folders accessible to domain administrators by using the Add the administrators group
to redirected folders group policy setting. See Table 15-5. Group Policy Settings That Control Folder
Redirection.

Procedure

1 Set ownership for the administrator on the files and folders.

icacls "\\file-server\persona-share\*" /setowner "domain\admin" /T /C /L /Q

For example: icacls "\\myserver-123abc\folders\*" /setowner "mycompanydomain
\vcadmin" /T /C /L /Q

2 Modify the ACLs for the files and folders.

icacls "\\file-server\persona-share\*" /grant "admin-group":F /T /C /L /Q

For example: icacls "\\myserver-123abc\folders\*" /grant "Domain-
Admins":F /T /C /L /Q

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3 For each user folder, revert ownership from the administrator to the corresponding user.

icacls "\\file-server\persona-share\*" /setowner "domain\folder-

owner" /T /C /L /Q
For example: icacls "\\myserver-123abc\folders\*" /setowner "mycompanydomain
\user1" /T /C /L /Q

Desktop UI Group Policy Settings

The desktop UI group policy settings control Horizon Persona Management settings that users see on
their desktops.

All these settings are in the Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates >
VMware View Agent Configuration > Persona Management > Desktop UI folder in the Group Policy
Management Editor.

Group Policy Setting Description

Hide local offline file Determines whether to hide the offline icon when a user views locally stored files that belong to the user
icon profile. Enabling this setting hides the offline icon in Windows Explorer and most Windows dialog boxes.
By default, the offline icon is hidden.

Show progress when Determines whether to display a progress window on a user's desktop when the client retrieves large
downloading large files files from the remote repository.
When this setting is enabled, you can specify the minimum file size, in megabytes, to begin displaying
the progress window. The window is displayed when Horizon Persona Management determines that the
specified amount of data will be retrieved from the remote repository. This value is an aggregate of all
files that are retrieved at one time.
For example, if the setting value is 50MB and a 40MB file is retrieved, the window is not displayed. If a
30MB file is retrieved while the first file is still being downloaded, the aggregate download exceeds the
value and the progress window is displayed. The window appears when a file starts downloading.
By default, this value is 50MB.
By default, this progress window is not displayed.

Show critical errors to Displays critical error icon alerts in the desktop tray when replication or network connectivity failures
users via tray icon occur.
alerts By default, these icon alerts are hidden.

Logging Group Policy Settings

The logging group policy settings determine the name, location, and behavior of the Horizon Persona
Management log files.

The following table describes each logging group policy setting.

All these settings are in the Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates >
VMware View Agent Configuration > Persona Management > Logging folder in the Group Policy
Management Editor.

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Group Policy Setting Description

Logging filename Specifies the full pathname of the local Horizon Persona Management log file.
The default path is ProgramData\VMware\VDM\logs\filename.
The default logging filename is VMWVvp.txt.

Logging Determines whether to write all log messages to the log file, the debug port, or both destinations.
destination By default, logging messages are sent to the log file.

Logging flags Specifies the type of log messages that are generated.
n Log information messages.
n Log debug messages.
When this setting is disabled or not configured, and by default when the setting is configured, log
messages are set to information level.

Log history depth Determines the number of historical log files that Horizon Persona Management maintains.
You can set a minimum of one and a maximum of 10 historical log files to be maintained.
By default, one historical log file is maintained.

Upload log to Uploads the Horizon Persona Management log file to the specified network share when the user logs off.
network When this setting is enabled, specify the network share path. The network share path must be a UNC
path. Horizon Persona Management does not create the network share.
By default, the log file is not uploaded to the network share.

Log File Size When enabled Persona maintains the size of log filles.
Default is 100MB, minimum is 10MB, and maximum is 1024MB.
If disabled or not configured, 100MB is used as default.

Debug flags Specifies the type of debug messages that are generated.
Debug messages are handled the same as log messages.
By default, debug messages are turned off.

Logging flags Specifies the type of log messages that are generated.
By default, log messages are set to information level.

Troubleshooting Group Policy Settings

The troubleshooting group policy settings diagnose problems with Horizon Persona Management log
files.

The following table describes each troubleshooting group policy setting.

All these settings are in the Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates >
VMware View Agent Configuration > Persona Management > Troubleshooting folder in the Group
Policy Management Editor.

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Table 15-6. Troubleshooting Group Policy Settings

Group Policy Setting Description

Create retry delay Indicates the delay (in milliseconds) between a file creation
failure and retrying to create the file again. .
By default, the delay is 500 milliseconds.

Disable create file retry When enabled, a retry attempt is not made after a file creation
failure.
By default, a retry attempt is made.

Disable desktop refresh When enabled, the user's desktop icons are not refreshed after
retrieving corresponding .exe files. Enabling this flag may cause
icons on desktop shortcuts to not appear if the shortcut points to
an executable within the profile, but will prevent extraneous
desktop refreshes.
By default, the desktop icons are refreshed.

Disable user environment errors at logon When enabled, system user environment error messages are
disabled during logon.
By default, user environment errors are disabled.

Repository file download timeout Specifies the time (in milliseconds) before downloading a file
from the remote repository times out.
By default, the timeout is 1,800 seconds.

Driver Disable Flags Disable certain functionality in Persona Management.

File creation delay Indicates the delay (in milliseconds) between logon and the
creation of the offline files in the user's profile.
By default, the delay is 10,000 milliseconds.

Profile reconcile delay Indicates the delay (in seconds) between logon and starting to
reconcile the user's profile.
By default, the delay is 10 seconds.

Remove temporary files at logoff When enabled, files with a .tmp extension will be removed from
the user's profile at logoff. Persona Management uses .tmp files
for various file synchronization between the local and remote
profile.
By default, temporary files are removed.

Repository Connection Monitor When enabled, Persona Management will detect when the
connection to the persona repository has been lost or become
too slow. Once a fast connection is re-established all local
changes are uploaded and synchronized with the user's remote
persona. The frequency at which the network connection is
tested and the maximum network latency can be tuned for
optimum performance.
By default, the test interval is 120 seconds and the maximum
network latency is 40 ms.

Synchronize profile at logon When enabled, files in the user's local profile are synchronized
with the roaming profile at logon.
By default, the user's profile is synchronized at logon.

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 16
Troubleshooting Machines and
Desktop Pools

You can use a variety of procedures to diagnose and fix problems that you encounter when you create
and use machines and desktop pools.

Users might experience difficulty when they use Horizon Client to access desktops and applications. You
can use troubleshooting procedures to investigate the causes of such problems and attempt to correct
them yourself, or you can obtain assistance from VMware Technical Support.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n Display Problem Machines in Horizon Console

n Verify User Assignment for Desktop Pools

n Restart Desktops and Reset Virtual Machines in Horizon Console

n Send Messages to Desktop Users in Horizon Console

n Manage Machines and Policies for Unentitled Users in Horizon Console

Display Problem Machines in Horizon Console

You can display a list of the machines whose operation Horizon 7 has detected as being suspect.

Horizon Console displays machines that exhibit the following problems:

n Are powered on, but which are not responding.

n Remain in the provisioning state for a long time.

n Are ready, but which report that they are not accepting connections.

n Appear to be missing from a vCenter Server.

n Have active logins on the console, logins by users who are not entitled, or logins not made from a
Connection Server instance.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Machines.

2 On the vCenter tab, click Problem Machines from the Machines drop-down menu.

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What to do next

The action that you should take depends on the problem that Horizon Console reports for a machine.

n If a machine is powered on, but does not respond, restart its virtual machine. If the machine still does
not respond, verify that the version of the Horizon Agent is supported for the machine operating
system. You can use the vdmadmin command with the -A option to display the Horizon Agent version.
For more information, see the View Administration document.

n If a machine remains in the provisioning state for a long time, delete its virtual machine, and clone it
again. Verify that there is sufficient disk space to provision the machine.

n If a machine reports that it is ready, but does not accept connections, check the firewall configuration
to make sure that the display protocol is not blocked.

n If a machine appears to be missing from a vCenter Server, verify whether its virtual machine is
configured on the expected vCenter Server, or if it has been moved to another vCenter Server.

n If a machine has an active login, but this is not on the console, the session must be remote. If you
cannot contact the logged-in users, you might need to restart the virtual machine to forcibly log out
the users.

Verify User Assignment for Desktop Pools

For dedicated user assignments, you can verify if the user that is assigned to the virtual machine is the
user that connects to the virtual desktop or not.

Prerequisites

n Verify that the virtual machine belongs to a dedicated-assignment pool. In Horizon Console, the
desktop pool assignment appears in the User Assignment column on the Desktop Pools page.

n Verify that you have entitled users to the desktop pool.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Machines.

2 On the vCenter tab, choose to view the assigned user or connected user.

Option Description

Assigned User The Assigned User column displays the user who is assigned to the desktop pool.

Note The Assigned User column does not display any user for a floating desktop
pool.

Connected User The Connected User column displays the user who is connected to the virtual
machine. Most of the time, the Connected User is the same as the Assigned
User when the assigned user is connected to the desktop. At other times, when an
administrator is connected to the virtual machine, the Connected User column
displays the administrator.

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Restart Desktops and Reset Virtual Machines in Horizon

Console
You can perform a restart operation on a virtual desktop, which performs a graceful operating system
restart of the virtual machine. You can perform a reset operation on a virtual machine without the graceful
operating system restart, which performs a hard power-off and power-on of the virtual machine.

Table 16-1. Reset and Restart Functionality

Reset Functionality Restart Functionality
(Pools, Machines, Sessions, and (Pools, Machines, Sessions, and
Pool Type Horizon Clients) Horizon Clients)

Full-clone pool (dedicated pool and Reset the VM (Power Off and Power On Restart the VM (Graceful OS restart)
floating pool without delete on logOff VM)
option enabled)

Instant-clone pool (floating pool) Power Off VM > Delete VM > Create Graceful OS shut down > Delete VM >
new VM > Power On Create new VM > Power On

Published desktop pools NA (Not Supported) NA (Not Supported)

Note The restart functionality is available for Horizon Clients 4.4 and later.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Machines.

2 On the vCenter tab, choose to restart a virtual desktop or reset a virtual machine.

Option Description

Restart Desktop Restarts the virtual machine with a graceful operating system restart. This action
applies only to an automated pool or a manual pool that contains vCenter Server
virtual machines.

Reset Virtual Machine Resets the virtual machine without a graceful operating system restart. This action
applies only to an automated pool or a manual pool that contains vCenter Server
virtual machines.

3 Click OK.

Send Messages to Desktop Users in Horizon Console

You might sometimes need to send messages to users who are currently logged into desktops. For
example, if you need to perform maintenance on machine, you can ask the users to log out temporarily, or
warn them of a future interruption of service. You can send a message to multiple users.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, click Inventory > Desktops.

2 Click a pool ID and click the Sessions tab.

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3 Select one or more machines and click Send Message.

4 Type the message, select the message type, and click OK.

A message type can be Info, Warning, or Error.

Results

The message is sent to all selected machines in active sessions.

Manage Machines and Policies for Unentitled Users in

Horizon Console
You can display the machines that are allocated to users whose entitlement has been removed, and you
can also display the policies that have been applied to unentitled users.

A user who is unentitled might have left the organization permanently, or you might have suspended their
account for an extended period of time. These users are assigned a machine but they are no longer
entitled to use the machine pool.

You can also use the vdmadmin command with the -O or -P option to display unentitled machines and
policies. For more information, see the Horizon 7 Administration document.

Procedure

1 In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Machines.

2 Select More Commands > View Unentitled Machines.

3 Remove the machine assignments for unentitled users.

4 Select More Commands > View Unentitled Machines or More Commands > View Unentitled
Policies as appropriate.

5 Change or remove the policies that are applied to unentitled users.

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