Lab 4 - Windows 10 Gold Image

Overview

In this exercise you will use the Prism to deploy a Windows 10 template image to be used as a Master (often referred to as “Gold”) image for XenDesktop. Once the image has been created, you will snapshot the VM in Prism.

Creating the VM

In Prism > VM, click + Create VM and fill out the following fields:

  • Name - W10-Gold
  • Description - Windows 10 x64 XenDesktop Gold Image
  • vCPU - 2
  • Number of Cores per vCPU - 1
  • Memory - 4
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Click + Add New Disk and fill out the following fields:

  • Type - DISK
  • Operation - Clone from Image Service
  • Bus Type - SCSI
  • Image - Select your Windows 10 Disk Image
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Click Add. Click Add New NIC.

Select VM VLAN from the VLAN Name drop down menu and click Add. Click Save.

In Prism > VM > Table, select the DC VM and click Power on.

Once the VM has started, click Launch Console.

Note

You may need to allow pop-ups in your browser for the VM console to appear.

Complete the Microsoft Out of Box Experience (OOBE) wizard:

  • Select Country, App language, and Keyboard layout, click Next.

  • Review the licensing agreement, click I Accept.

  • Click Customize.

  • Set all features to Off and click Next.

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  • Set all features to Off and click Next.

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  • Set all features to Off and click Next.

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  • Select Join a local Active Directory domain and click Next.

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  • Create a LocalUser accout and click Next.

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  • Contemplate why this workshop wasn’t built with a Windows 7 image and click Not Now to disable Cortana

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  • Click Next.

Log in to W10-Gold as LocalUser.

Enabling Nutanix Guest Tools

In Prism > VM > Table, select the W10-Gold VM and click Manage Guest Tools.

Select Enable Nutanix Guest Tools and Mount Nutanix Guest Tools, click Submit.

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Note

If the Nutanix Guest Tools have already been installed into the base image, the CD-ROM image will be automatically unmounted once the Nutanix Guest Agent service is able to communicate with the Nutanix CVM. A reboot of the VM or restart of the Nutanix Guest Tools Agent may be required. If the Nutanix Guest Tools have not yet been installed into the base image, see Installing Nutanix Guest Tools for complete instructions.

Installing Applications

In the W10-Gold VM console, install a few applications such as Google Chrome, text editors, etc.

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Disable Windows Updates for your gold image by opening Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

Right-click Windows Update > Properties.

Select Disabled from the Startup type down down menu.

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Click Stop.

Click OK.

Installing Virtual Delivery Agent

In Prism > VM > Table, select the W10-Gold VM and click Update.

Under Disks, eject any images currently attached to the CD-ROM device and select the Pencil icon to change the configuration.

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Fill out the following fields and click Update:

  • Operation - Clone from Image Service
  • Image - Select your XenDesktop installation .iso
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Click Save.

In the W10-Gold VM console, open the XenDesktop Installer and click the Start button to the right of XenDesktop.

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Click Virtual Delivery Agent for Windows Desktop OS.

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Select Create a Master Image and click Next.

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Select No, install VDA in standard mode and click Next.

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Select Citrix Receiver and click Next.

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Select all Additional Components and click Next.

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Select Let Machine Creation Services do it automatically from the drop down menu and click Next.

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Select Optimize performance (CTX125874) and click Next.

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Select Automatically to allow the installer to configure the Windows Firewall service to allow traffic for selected XenDesktop components.

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Review selections and click Install.

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Select I do not want to participate in Call Home and click Next.

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Click Finish and wait for the VM to restart.

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In Prism > VM > Table, select the W10-Gold VM and click Update.

Under Disks, eject the XenDesktop installation .iso currently attached to the CD-ROM device.

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Click Save.

Creating Gold Image Snapshot

In Prism > VM > Table, select the W10-Gold VM and click Power Off Actions.

Select Guest shutdown and click submit to gracefully shut down the VM.

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Once W10-Gold is powered off, select the VM and click Take Snapshot

Specify a Name for the snapshot (e.g. “W10-Gold vYYYYMMDD-X - Post-VDA 7.15 Install”) and click Submit.

Available snapshots and associated actions can be found by selecting the VM Snapshots tab under the VM table.

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Takeaways

  • The gold VM does not require Sysprep or being domain joined.
  • Using MCS helps simplify the gold image by not having to manually specify (or depend on Active Directory to specify) what XenDesktop Delivery Controller(s) with which the image should attempt to register. This allows more flexibility in having a single gold image support multiple environments without external dependencies.