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Horizon View vs. Horizon Mirage

By Josh Townsend · Leave a Comment · (Updated: September 6, 2013)

I recently covered the launch of VMware’s Horizon Suite of End User Computing (EUC) products, including VMware Horizon View, VMware Horizon Mirage, and VMware Horizon Workspace.  The products present a set of tools that enable IT to exercise comprehensive end-point management while delivering a unified user experience across a variety of devices and access methods. Today, I want to focus a bit more on View and Mirage. Specifically, when would you choose one solution over the other? Let’s briefly review each product. VMware Horizon View provides a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Horizon Mirage, VMware Horizon View, VMware Images Tagged With: , , ,

Troubleshooting Slow Logon to VMware View Desktops

By Josh Townsend · 4 Comments · (Updated: June 30, 2013)

I did a bit of troubleshooting today for a customer who was experiencing very slow logon times to VMware View desktops running Windows XP.  I suspect the problem is a fairly common one so I thought I might share my troubleshooting methodology and the solution that got the login time back to normal.  Following a rigid methodology may be overkill for many troubleshooting situations.  If you strongly suspect a root cause to a problem, check the solution before digging in to analytic troubleshooting.  A little bit of Googling may eventually get you to an answer for a particular problem, but having … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General IT, Issues & Troubleshooting, VMware Horizon View, VMware How To, VMware Images Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Cleanup Archived Event Logs with PowerShell

By Josh Townsend · Leave a Comment · (Updated: June 30, 2013)

I ran into an environment today where a group policy object (GPO) was configured at the domain level that set security logs to be archived to the C: drive when full.  The need for the policy abated, then the policy was removed.  But, the setting to archive event logs on each server and workstation in the domain persisted.  Hard drives - physical and virtual - began to fill up, taking down critical services.  The fix was easy, but I thought I would share for others who might run into the same issue. First, I set a group policy to configure appropriately sized logs and retention policies on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General IT, Microsoft, VMware Images Tagged With: , , , ,

Windows Server 2008 R2 & Windows 7 Freeze When Using SVGA Drivers

By Josh Townsend · 14 Comments · (Updated: June 29, 2013)

I recently ran into an issue when installing my first Windows Server 2008 R2 virtual machine.  The VM would hang/freeze randomly when used through the VMware vCenter Client's console.  It turns out this is a known issue (see this VMware KB Article) with the SVGA driver that is installed as part of the default installation of VMware Tools.  While the article does not explain why you should disable the SVGA driver, it's advice is correct if you want to avoid problems in your guest VM.  To correct my problem, I removed the SVGA driver from the Windows Device Manager and rebooted.  If you are … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Issues & Troubleshooting, Microsoft, VMware How To, VMware Images Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Virtualization Bookmarks for August 28th

By Josh Townsend · Leave a Comment · (Updated: June 29, 2013)

Here are some bookmarks for resources that I have recently referenced: vCenter 4 and ESX 4 Now Use 10 Year Default SSL Certificate | VM /ETC - Rich Brambly has some guidance on installing a new SSL certificate on vCenter, with very useful links in his post to official VMware documentation and KB's on the subject. VMware vSphere Client on Microsoft Windows 7! | Virtual Lifestyle - Heiko Verlande has found a way to run the VMware vSphere Client on Windows 7. Virtu-Al » PowerCLI: Daily Report V2 - Version two of a handy PowerShell based VMware Environment Daily Report from VMware vExpert … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General IT, Uncategorized, VMware Images Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Virtual Infrastructure Client Opens Off Screen

By Josh Townsend · 1 Comment · (Updated: June 29, 2013)

A user reported an issue with one of the VM's in my environment this morning.  It seems that an automated process had spun up the CPU to 100% in the Windows guest and the system was deadlocked.  I was still at home when I received the message on my BlackBerry, so I fired up the VPN on my Windows 7 laptop, opened the VI3 client and....., um, where is it?  The VI3 client icon was in the taskbar, but the app was nowhere to be found - it had opened off-screen where my secondary monitor usually lives.  This is nothing new for the VI client - I have experienced it numerous times in the past.  But … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Issues & Troubleshooting, VMware Images Tagged With: , , , , ,