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Citrix Xen. Desktop 7. Provisioning Services 7. Xen. Desktop Setup Wizard with Personal v. Disk Drives. The original articles I wrote about this process have proven very popular and viewed well in excess of 1. The previous articles: This article will show the same process as the originals but use Xen. Desktop 7. 1. 2, Provisioning Services (PVS) 7. Windows 1. 0 and show what differences they bring to the process.

Introduction. This article will be different than the previous five in that no separate write cache drive will be used. As with most things involving Xen. Desktop and or PVS, there is NO one way or one right way to do anything. This article will give you detailed information on the process I worked out and documented and now updated for Xen.

Desktop 7. 1. 2 and PVS 7. Assumptions: PVS 7.

Xen. Desktop 7. 1. Site created and configured. Hosting resources are configured in Studio. PXE, TFTP and DHCP are configured as needed. This article is not about the pros and cons of Pv. D. It is simply about what process can be used to create virtual desktops that require the use of Pv.

D. I will not be discussing the overhead of Pv. D or the delay it brings to the startup, shutdown and restart processes or the I/O overhead, the storage impact or the storage I/O requirements or what is needed for High Availability or Disaster Recovery needs for Pv. D. Update 1. 5- Dec- 2.

Before getting started, if you are unfamiliar with how PVS works, here are a few links for you: Lab Setup. All servers in my lab are running Microsoft Windows Server 2.

This document describes how to deploy Acrobat products on a Citrix server for streaming to Windows machines. It provides details about product setup on the Citrix. If internal only, then StoreFront has native support for ADFS and FAS. Note: you must create accounts in Domain B for each of your users. The passwords don’t.

The lab consists of: 1 PVS 7. Server 2. 01. 6)1 Xen. Desktop 7. 1. 2 Controller running Studio (Server 2. SQL 2. 01. 4 Server (Server 2. R2)1 Windows 1. 0 Enterprise Build 1.

VMI am using v. Sphere 6. There are separate Storage Repositories for the Virtual Machines (VM) and Pv. D as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The Hosting Resources are configured in Studio as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. To start off, in my lab I created my Organization Unit (OU) structure in Active Directory (AD) for my domain, Lab. ADDomain. com, as shown in Figure 3. Note: The Xen. App/Xen. Desktop V2. 0 documentation script is in development which is why there are so many OUs in Figure 3.

Figure 3. One of the reasons to use Pv. D is to allow users to install applications. In order to do this, I created an AD security group, shown in Figure 4, that will contain the AD user accounts and that AD security group will be made a member of the local Administrators security group. Figure 4. Three AD user accounts were created, shown in Figure 5, for the three different Pv. D users for this article. Figure 5. Those three test user accounts were placed in the Local. Admins AD security group as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6. These are the settings in the group policies used for this lab. Computer Configuration\Preferences\Control Panel Settings\Local Users and Groups – Action: Update, Group name: Administrators (built- in), Members: ADD, \User Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar\Remove Notifications and Action Center – Enabled. User Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar\Turn off all balloon notifications – Enabled. These settings will: Keep the user from getting popups from the Action Center.

Add the domain security group that contains user accounts who should be local admins to the desktop’s local Administrators group. Create the Virtual Machine.

Next up is to create a Windows 1. VM to be used as the Master or Golden image.

Do just basic configuration of the VM at this time. Do not install any applications at this time. Once the basic VM is built there are some things that need done before joining the VM to the domain. Updated 1. 5- Dec- 2. Configure the pagefile so the Minimum and Maximum size are the same number.

I use 1. 02. 4KB. Verify the network connection is not Public, and then from an elevated command prompt, run Win. RM Quick. Config. Disable Task Offload by creating the following registry key. HKLM\System\Current. Control. Set\Services\TCPIP\Parameters\Key: “Disable.

Task. Offload” (dword)Value: 1. Disable all Network Interface Power Management settings as shown in Figure 7. Disable all Network Interface Offload settings that end in Offload as shown in Figure 8 and 9.#1 is done to keep disk I/O down and improve performance since the page file will not constantly grow and shrink.#2 is done because without it, neither Director nor Scout will work with the desktops created from the VM.#3 is a recommendation from Best Practices for Configuring Provisioning Services Server on a Network.#4 will keep desktop from going to sleep or becoming unresponsive when the network card is powered off to save power.#5 I have always been told to disable all the Offload settings for virtual NICs. In trying to find something to back me up I found conflicting information. Half the articles said to leave them Enabled and the other half said to Disable them. Then fellow CTP Carl Stalhood pointed me this MSDN article that says: “HKEY.

Setting this value to zero enables all of the task offloads.”In light of this information, item 5 in the list above is now redundant. Figure 7. Figure 8. Figure 9. The VM is ready to join the domain. After joining the domain, follow the guidance in the Citrix Windows 1.

Optimization Guide to optimize the master image. Install PVS Target Device Software. At this time, any software and updates needed can be installed. After all software and updates are installed, mount the PVS 7. ISO to the VM, open My Computer and double- click the CD.

When the PVS installer starts, click Target Device Installation on both screens as shown in Figures 1. Figure 1. 0Figure 1.

Follow the Installation Wizard to install the PVS Target Device Software. Running the Imaging Wizard. On the last page of the Installation Wizard, leave Launch Imaging Wizard selected and click Finish as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. 2You can exit the PVS Installer screen and unmount/disconnect the PVS 7. ISO from the VM’s CD drive. Click Next on the Imaging Wizard as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. 3Enter the name or IP address of a PVS Server, select the option for Credentials and click Next as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. 4To Create a v. Disk, click Next as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. 5Enter a Target device name, select the MAC address, select the target device Collection name and click Next as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. 6Enter a v. Disk name, Store name, v. Disk type, VHDX or VHD and click Next as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. 7Click Next as shown in Figure 1.

Note: There is no need to select KMS or MAK at this time. The licensing type will be selected when the v. Disk is placed into Standard Image mode. Figure 1. 8Select Image entire boot disk and click Next shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. 9Select Optimize the hard disk for Provisioning Services before imaging as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. 0Select Edit Optimization Settings. If any settings are not correct, click Back and correct the settings.

If all the settings are correct, click Create as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. 4Depending on the . Net Framework versions installed in the VM, the optimization process could take from less than a second to over an hour. Click Continue as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. 5A Reboot popup appears as shown in Figure 2. DO NOT reboot at this time.

Depending on your hypervisor, you may need to shutdown to make the next change. The VM needs to be configured to boot from the network first and the hard drive second. If this change can be made while the VM is running, make the change and click Yes. If not, click No, and click Yes on the next popup as shown in Figure 2. VM, make the change and power the VM on to continue. Figure 2. 6Figure 2.

Before we continue, what did the Imaging Wizard do inside of PVS? First, a v. Disk was created as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. 8Second, a Target Device was created, as shown in Figure 2.

MAC address of the VM, linked to the v. Disk just created and the Target Device is configured to boot from its hard disk because the v.

Citrix Xen. Desktop 7. Provisioning Services 7. Xen. Desktop Setup Wizard with Write Cache and Personal v. Disk Drives. The original articles I wrote for Xen. Desktop 7. 1 and PVS 7. Xen. Desktop 7. 5 and PVS 7.

This article will show the same process as the original articles but use Xen. Desktop 7. 6 and PVS 7. Xen. Desktop 7. 6 and PVS 7.

Introduction. A while back, I worked on a project where the customer required the use of a Write Cache drive and a Personal v. Disk (Pv. D) drive with Xen. Desktop 7. 1 using Provisioning Services (PVS) 7. Getting information on the process to follow was not easy and, as usual, the Citrix documentation was sorely lacking in details.

As with most things involving Xen. Desktop and or PVS, there is NO one way or one right way to do anything.

This article will give you detailed information on the process I worked out and documented and now updated for Xen. Desktop 7. 6 and PVS 7. Assumptions: PVS 7. Xen. Desktop 7. 6 is installed and a Site created and configured. Hosting resources are configured in Studio. PXE, TFTP and DHCP are configured as needed.

This article is not about the pros and cons of Pv. D. It is simply about what process can be used to create virtual desktops that require the use of a Write Cache drive and Pv. D. I will not be discussing the overhead of Pv. D or the delay it brings to the startup, shutdown and restart processes or the I/O overhead, the storage impact or the storage I/O requirements or what is needed for High Availability or Disaster Recovery needs for Pv. D. Lab Setup. All servers in my lab are running Microsoft Windows Server 2. R2 fully patched.

The lab consists of: 1 PVS 7. Xen. Desktop 7. 6 Controller running Studio. SQL 2. 01. 2 SP1 Server. Windows 7 SP1 VMI am using Xen. Server 6. 2 fully patched for my hosting environment. There are separate Storage Repositories for the Virtual Machines (VM), Pv.

D and Write Cache as shown in Figure 1. Update: This has been tested with Xen.

Server 6. 5 with no changes or issues. Figure 1. The Hosting Resources are configured in Studio as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. To start off, in my lab I created my Organization Unit (OU) structure in Active Directory (AD) for my domain, Websters. Lab. com, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. One of the reasons to use Pv. D is to allow users to install applications. In order to do this I created an AD security group, shown in Figure 4, that will contain the AD user accounts and that AD security group will be made a member of the local Administrators security group. Figure 4. Three AD user accounts were created, shown in Figure 5, for the three different Pv.

D users for this article. Figure 5. Those three test user accounts were placed in the Local. Admins AD security group as shown in Figure 6. Figure 6. Most organizations that use Xen. Desktop to serve virtual desktops or servers require that Event Logs persist between reboots or the security team sits in the corner crying. Other items that may need to persist between desktop/VM reboots are antivirus definition files and engine updates. To accomplish these a Group Policy with Preferences is used.

Why not manually change the file system and registry? Because the Xen. Desktop setup wizard completely ignores all the careful work done by creating folders on the Write Cache drive. When the Write Cache and Pv.

D drives are created, they are empty and will NOT carry over ANY of the manual work done before hand. So just forget about doing any of the items usually done by pre creating a Write Cache drive. The Write Cache drive is always created as Drive D and the Pv. D is created with the drive letter assigned during the Wizard. My Group Policy with Preferences is linked at the OU that will contain the computer accounts created by the Xen. Desktop Setup Wizard.

These are the settings in the policy used for this lab. Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Event Log Service\Application\Control the location of the log file – Enabled with a value of D: \Event. Logs\Application. Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Event Log Service\Security\Control the location of the log file – Enabled with a value of D: \Event. Logs\Security. evtx. Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Event Log Service\System\Control the location of the log file – Enabled with a value of D: \Event.

Logs\System. evtx. Computer Configuration\Preferences\Folder – Action: Update, Path: D: \Event. Logs. Computer Configuration\Preferences\Control Panel Settings\Local Users and Groups – Action: Update, Group name: Administrators (built- in), Members: ADD, < Domain. Name> \< Security Group Name> User Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Start Menu and Taskbar\Remove the Action Center icon – Enabled. These settings will: Keep the user from getting popups from the Action Center.

Create the Event. Logs folder on drive D (the Write Cache drive)Redirect the Application, Security and System event logs to the new D: \Event.

Logs folder. Add the domain security group that contains use accounts who should be local admins to the desktop’s local Administrators group. Create the Virtual Machine. Next up is to create a Windows 7 VM to be used as the Master or Golden image. Do just basic configuration of the VM at this time. Do not install any applications at this time. Citrix provides a PDF explaining how to optimize a Windows 7 image. I know it is not a critical error but I am OCD and simply must have error free event logs.

Fix. It (this one actually works) from http: //support. Install the hotfix for using a VMXNet.

ESXi. Request and install the hotfix from http: //support. From an elevated command prompt, run Win. RM Quick. Config. This allows the desktops to work with Citrix Director. Disable Task Offload by creating the following registry key. HKLM\System\Current. Control. Set\Services\TCPIP\Parameters\Key: “Disable.

Task. Offload” (dword)Value: 1. The Write Cache drive will become drive D when it is created so before installing any software change the CD drive letter from D to another letter. I use Z. The VM is ready to join the domain. After joining the domain, shutdown the VM. Now two hard drives need to be added to the VM. One for the Write Cache drive and the other for the Pv. D drive. NOTHING will be done to these drives, they are just stub holders so Windows knows there should be two additional drives.

The Write Cache and Pv. D drive must be different sizes or strange things can happen. If they are the same size, it is possible the write cache file and page file can be placed on the Pv.

D drive and not the Write Cache drive. To make your life easier, keep the drives different sizes with the Pv. D drive being larger. For this article, I will use a 1. GB Write Cache drive and a 2. GB Pv. D drive. Make sure the new drives are created in the proper storage locations as shown in Figures 7 through 9. Figure 7. Figure 8.

Figure 9. Power on the VM, login with a domain account, start Computer Management and click on Disk Management as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. 0Click OK to initialize the two new drives as shown in Figure 1. Free Downloadable Adobe Reader 8 more. Figure 1. 1The two new drives appear in Disk Management as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. 2Leave the drives unformatted and exit Computer Management. Install PVS Target Device Software. At this time, any software and updates needed can be installed. After all software and updates are installed, mount the PVS 7.

ISO to the VM, open My Computer and double- click the CD. When the PVS installer starts, click Target Device Installation on both screens as shown in Figures 1. Figure 1. 3Figure 1. Follow the Installation Wizard to install the PVS Target Device Software.

On the last page of the Installation Wizard, leave Launch Imaging Wizard selected and click Finish as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. 5You can exit the PVS Installer screen and unmount/disconnect the PVS 7. ISO from the VM’s CD drive. Click Next on the Imaging Wizard as shown in Figure 1.