Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console OCT 2020 VMware Horizon 7 7.13 Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at: https://docs.vmware.com/ VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com © Copyright 2018-2020 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright and trademark information. VMware, Inc. 2 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 14 Pools for Kiosk Users 15 Creating Desktop Pools in Horizon Console 16 3 Creating and Preparing a Virtual Machine for Cloning 17 Creating a Virtual Machine for Cloning 18 Create a Virtual Machine in vSphere 19 Install a Guest Operating System 22 Prepare a Guest Operating System for Remote Desktop Deployment 22 Prepare Windows Server Operating Systems for Desktop Use 25 Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2 26 Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, or 2019 27 Configure the Windows Firewall Service to Restart After Failures 27 Install Horizon Agent on a Virtual Machine 28 Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options 30 Modify Installed Components with the Horizon Agent Installer 33 Install Horizon Agent Silently 34 Microsoft Windows Installer Command-Line Options 37 Silent Installation Properties for Horizon Agent 39 Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for Horizon Agent 44 Optimize Guest Operating System Performance 44 Optimizing Windows for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Virtual Machines 46 Benefits of Disabling Windows Services and Tasks 46 Windows Services and Tasks That Cause Disk Growth in Instant Clones and Linked Clones 46 Disable Microsoft Feeds Synchronization on Windows Virtual Machines 49 Preparing a Golden Image Virtual Machine 50 Configure a Golden Image Virtual Machine 50 Activating Windows on Instant Clones and Composer Linked Clones 53 Disable Windows Hibernation in the Golden Image Virtual Machine 53 Configure Local Storage for View Composer Linked Clones 54 VMware, Inc. 3 Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console Record the Paging File Size of a View Composer Golden Image Virtual Machine 54 Increase the Timeout Limit for ClonePrep and QuickPrep Customization Scripts 55 Creating Virtual Machine Templates 56 Creating Customization Specifications 56 4 Creating Instant-Clone Desktop Pools 58 Instant-Clone Desktop Pools 58 Image Publishing and Rebalancing an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool 61 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 71 ClonePrep Guest Customization 72 Change the Image of an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 73 Monitor a Push-Image Operation in Horizon Console 74 Reschedule or Cancel a Push-Image Operation in Horizon Console 74 Perform Maintenance on Instant-Clone Hosts 75 Instant-Clone Maintenance Utilities 76 Configure Instant Clones with vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption 80 5 Creating Automated Desktop Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines 81 Worksheet for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines in Horizon Console 81 Create an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines 86 Rebuild a Virtual Machine in a Full-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 87 Desktop Settings for Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines 88 Configure Full Clones with vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption 89 6 Creating Linked-Clone Desktop Pools in Horizon Console 91 Worksheet for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 91 Desktop Pool Settings for Linked-Clone Desktop Pools in Horizon Console 102 Create a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 103 View Composer Support for Linked-Clone SIDs and Third-Party Applications 105 Choosing QuickPrep or Sysprep to Customized Linked-Clone Machines 106 Keeping Linked-Clone Machines Provisioned for Use in Remote Desktop Sessions During View Composer Operations 110 7 Creating Manual Desktop Pools in Horizon Console 112 Worksheet for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 112 Create a Manual Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 115 Desktop Pool Settings for Manual Pools in Horizon Console 117 Running Virtual Machines on Hyper-V 118 VMware, Inc. 4 Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console 8 Configuring Desktop Pools 120 User Assignment in Desktop Pools in Horizon Console 120 Naming Machines Manually or Providing a Naming Pattern in Horizon Console 121 Manually Customizing Machines 129 Customize Existing Machines in Maintenance Mode in Horizon Console 129 Customize Individual Machines in Horizon Console 130 Desktop Pool Settings for All Desktop Pool Types in Horizon Console 130 Configure Desktop Session Timeouts in Horizon Console 135 Setting Power Policies for Desktop Pools 136 Power Policies for Desktop Pools 137 Configure Dedicated Machines To Be Suspended After Users Disconnect 139 How Power Policies Affect Automated Desktop Pools 140 Power Policy Examples for Automated Pools with Floating Assignments 140 Power Policy Example for Automated Pools with Dedicated Assignments 142 Preventing Horizon 7 Power Policy Conflicts 142 Configuring 3D Rendering for Desktops 143 3D Renderer Options 147 Best Practices for Configuring 3D Rendering 150 Preparing for vDGA Capabilities 152 Preparing for NVIDIA GRID vGPU Capabilities 153 Preparing to Use the Capabilities of AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA 155 Configuring AMD Multiuser GPU Using vDGA 155 Examining GPU Resources on an ESXi Host 157 Prevent Access to Horizon 7 Desktops Through RDP 157 Deploying Large Desktop Pools 158 Configuring Desktop Pools on Clusters With More Than Eight Hosts 159 Assigning Multiple Network Labels to a Desktop Pool 159 Creating Desktop Pools on a Single Host SDDC 159 9 Managing Desktop Pools and Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console 161 Managing Desktop Pools 161 Edit a Desktop Pool 161 Modifying Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool 162 Fixed Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool 164 Disable or Enable a Desktop Pool 165 Disable or Enable Provisioning in a Desktop Pool 165 Duplicate an Automated Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 166 Delete a Desktop Pool 167 Configure Horizon 7 to Disallow the Deletion of a Desktop Pool That Contains Desktop Machines 168 Managing Virtual Machine-Based Desktops 169 VMware, Inc. 5 Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console Assign a Machine to a user in Horizon Console 169 Unassign a User from a Dedicated Machine in Horizon Console 170 Customize Existing Machines in Maintenance Mode 170 Delete Virtual-Machine Desktops in Horizon Console 171 Export Horizon 7 Information to External Files in Horizon Console 172 10 Managing Horizon Composer Linked-Clone Desktop Virtual Machines 173 Reduce Linked-Clone Size with Machine Refresh in Horizon Console 173 Machine Refresh Operations 174 Updated Linked-Clone Desktops in Horizon Console 175 Prepare a Golden Image Virtual Machine to Recompose Linked Clones 175 Recompose Linked-Clone Virtual Machines in Horizon Console 176 Updating Linked Clones with Recomposition 178 Correcting an Unsuccessful Recomposition 179 Rebalance Linked-Clone Virtual Machines in Horizon Console 179 Rebalancing Linked Clones Among Logical Drives 181 Filenames of Linked-Clone Disks After a Rebalance Operation 182 Manage View Composer Persistent Disks 182 View Composer Persistent Disks 182 Detach a View Composer Persistent Disk in Horizon Console 183 Attach a View Composer Persistent Disk to Another Linked Clone in Horizon Console 184 Edit a View Composer Persistent Disk's Pool or User in Horizon Console 184 Recreate a Linked Clone With a Detached Persistent Disk in Horizon Console 185 Restore a Linked Clone in Horizon Console by Importing a Persistent Disk from vSphere 186 Delete a Detached View Composer Persistent Disk in Horizon Console 187 11 Preparing Unmanaged Machines 188 Prepare an Unmanaged Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment 188 Install Horizon Agent on an Unmanaged Machine 189 Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines 191 12 Managing Unmanaged and Registered Machines in Horizon Console 193 Prepare an Unmanaged Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment 193 Install Horizon Agent on an Unmanaged Machine 194 Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Machines 196 Remove an Unmanaged Machine from a Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 197 Remove Registered Machines in Horizon Console 197 13 Entitling Users and Groups in Horizon Console 199 Add Entitlements to a Desktop or Application Pool in Horizon Console 199 Remove Entitlements from a Desktop or Application Pool in Horizon Console 200 VMware, Inc. 6 Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon Console Review Desktop or Application Pool Entitlements 200 Configuring Shortcuts for Entitled Pools 201 Create Shortcuts for a Desktop Pool in Horizon Console 202 14 Reducing and Managing Storage Requirements 204 Managing Storage with vSphere 204 Using VMware vSAN for High-Performance Storage and Policy-Based Management 206 Default Storage Policy Profiles for vSAN Datastores 208 Using Virtual Volumes for Virtual-Machine-Centric Storage and Policy-Based Management 210 Reducing Storage Requirements with Instant Clones 211 Reducing Storage Requirements with Composer 213 Storing Composer Linked Clones on Local Datastores 215 Storing Replicas and Clones on Separate Datastores for Instant Clones and Composer