windows 7

Blank QuickLaunch Icons on View Desktop

January 24, 2013 by Josh Townsend 1 Comment

I’ve been doing a several VMware View installs for customers this month. During one of the engagements I ran into a strange issue where the Quick Launch icons on the Windows Taskbar of provisioned Linked Clones were blank. Here’s what it looked like:

Clicking on the icons resulted in a warning: “Can’t open this item. It might have been moved, renamed, or deleted. Do you want to remove this item?” No, Windows; I don’t want you to remove it, I just want you to fix it, thank you very much.

I did a bit of digging and found another user on the VMware Communities forum had the same issue but no resolution. A little more looking pointed me at this post by Chris Kliewer. Chris identified the problem and provides a solution. Here’s what’s going on:

I used Sysprep to copy the user profile that I customized / optimized by specifying the CopyProfile paramater. When the customized profile is copied to the Default profile a couple folders go missing . To fix the problem edit your template after Syspreping by adding the following folders – “User Pinned” and “Taskbar” as follows:

C:UsersDefaultAppDataRoamingMicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser Pinned
C:UsersDefaultAppDataRoamingMicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick LaunchUser PinnedTaskbar

Shut down. Snapshot. Recompose. Done.

It looks like this problem can affect local profiles, as well as profiles managed by View Persona Managment and Liquidware Labs ProfileUnity.

If you want to automate or customize the pinned icons in the Quick Launch taskbar, see the script provided here: https://theitbros.com/copy-taskbar-icons-windows-7-sysprep-v2/.

Conflicting Guidance on No GUI Boot and Base Video settings for VMware View Desktops

December 17, 2012 by Josh Townsend Leave a Comment

I’ve been working on writing up a complete guide for optimizing VMware View desktops. In my research I’ve come across some conflicting information on using the ‘No GUI Boot’ and ‘Base Video’ boot optimizations found in the Microsoft System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe).

Why You Might Use ‘No GUI Boot’ and ‘Base Video’ Tweaks

No GUI Boot

The ‘No GUI Boot’ option disables visual elements in the Windows boot sequence (the Starting Windows screen with the swirling colored dots that turn into the Windows logo). The idea with this optimization is that CPU cycles are needed to render, on the console, the animated logo. Saving CPU cycles by using No GUI Boot will have a cumulative effect when multiple VDI desktops are booted, thus reducing the boot storm effect on the VMware View infrastructure.

Hardcore Windows tweakers will also tell you that enabling the No GUI Boot option will make Windows boot faster, and faster boot times will get non-persistent desktops back online faster in a very dynamic floating pool View implementation. The actual boot speed performance impact is marginal at best as can be seen here:

Base Video

The ‘Base Video’ option forces Windows to run the console session with a standard VGA graphics driver instead of the VMware SVGA driver that is installed with VMware Tools. This works with View because the PCoIP Server that runs as part of the View Agent install loads a specific version of the VMware SVGA 3D driver to support PCoIP sessions at user connection while the base video VGA driver or the VMware Tools/View Agent driver run on the vSphere console session.

Using KMS for VMware View Windows Activation

February 20, 2012 by Josh Townsend Leave a Comment

When deploying or recomposing a pool of Windows 7 (or Windows Vista) virtual desktops on VMware View, you may receive an error message stating: “composer agent initialization error (16): Failed to activate software license (waited 0 seconds).” This error occurs when you use a Multiple Activation Key (MAK) to activate the parent VM. View Composer QuickPrep, by default, uses Microsoft Key Management Services (KMS). VMware KB Article 1026556 provides workarounds for activating MAK clients, or bypassing activation by QuickPrep so you can use a trial key. The workarounds are appropriate for test/pilot cases, but will eventually cause problems such as MAK key exhaustion. The proper way to license and activate a deployment of Windows 7 on VMware View is to use a KMS.

A KMS can be installed on any Windows Server version 2003 or newer, and on Windows 7. If using Windows Server 2003 to activate Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2, you’ll need to install KMS Server first (download it here, then apply KB968915). Windows 2008 and above includes the necessary bits for hosting a KMS. Using a Windows Server 2008 R2 host as your KMS is highly recommended, as it can activate previous versions and lower editions of Windows – server and workstation editions alike.

On the Windows 2008 R2 server you have chosen to run your KMS, install your KMS key (you can get this from the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center) by typing slmgr.vbs /ipk <KmsKey> at an elevated command prompt. Note that a KMS host key for Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard/Enterprise or higher can activate Windows 7/Windows Vista too, so you only have to enter a single key here. Next, activate your KMS Server online by using the command slmgr.vbs /ato from an elevated command prompt. The KMS server will make an outbound connection to Microsoft’s activation servers on TCP 80. If Internet connectivity is not available for your KMS server, run slui.exe 4 from the command prompt to activate by telephone. Once activated, restart the ‘Software Protection Service’ on the KMS server.

Next, create a Windows Firewall rule (or equivalent endpoint security software’s firewall) to allow inbound Key Management Service traffic (TCP 1688 by default – note that Windows has a pre-configured rule for this) from your View desktops. Also, configure automatic publishing of KMS resource records to DNS by running slmgr /sdns from an elevated command prompt (note: a standard KMS implementation does this by default). Verify that your KMS Resource Records (RR’s) are created in DNS under the _VLMCS._TCP record on your AD zone (see https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793405.aspx for help in determining the correct DNS records for your KMS).

You are now ready to create your parent VM in View. When you create the parent VM, use a Microsoft KMS key when prompted for the product key information. Microsoft KMS Client Setup Keys are published here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793406.aspx – these are different than the KMS Host Keys you get in the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center. Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 use KMS by default to activate, so as long as you use the correct KMS Client Setup Key and having a running KMS server with correct DNS, your Windows 7 View VM should be activated automatically. If you’ve already built a parent VM using a MAK or retail key, you may be able to convert it to a KMS key by using the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) MMC from Microsoft.

You may also want to use a KMS server to activate your Microsoft Office 2010 suites and applications, including Visio and Project. Your KMS Host will need the Microsoft Office 2010 KMS Host License Pack. Using a KMS Host for Office on View desktops (including on VMware ThinApp packages of Office 2010) can save you an activation headache.

Now, when you deploy or recompose your View virtual desktop infrastructure pools using QuickPrep, your internal KMS server will activate your View desktops, without any pesky activation warning messages!

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

December 21, 2009 by Josh Townsend 14 Comments

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 having problems removing the SVGA driver before the VM hangs, use Remote Desktop to access the guest machine to perform the driver uninstall. I have not observed hanging/freezing in the VM since removing the SVGA driver from my Windows 2008 R2 guest. Note that this same issue is present in Windows 7.

Virtual Infrastructure Client Opens Off Screen

July 16, 2009 by Josh Townsend 1 Comment

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 this was my first time with the problem on Windows 7.

Pre-Windows 7, I would have right-clicked the Windows taskbar for the app, selected ‘Move’, and then used the keyboard arrow keys to guide the phantom window home. Windows 7 does not have the same Windows positioning options on a right-click to the taskbar so I had to find another way. Enter Windows shortcut keys. Here’s how I brought the VI3 Client window back into view:

Make sure that the VI3 Client window is in the foreground by selecting it in the taskbar. You’ll know that it is in the foreground when the taskbar icon gets a white glow as pictured here:
Press the hotkey combination: “ALT+Space, M” for Move.
Use the keyboard arrow keys to move the window to your active monitor, pressing “Enter” once the window is visible to commit the move.
If the arrow keys fail to move the window and/or you hear the Windows error sound, your VI3 Client windows is probably maximized. The move option is not available when a window is maximized. To work around this condition use the hotkey combination: “ALT+Space, R” for Restore. You should now be able to move the window using steps #2 & #3 above.

If you are still really struggling, break out the trusty old registry editor and follow along:

Close any open VMware Infrastructure Client windows
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareVMwareVMware Infrastructure ClientPreferencesUI
Locate the ApplicationLocation key. This key provides the X-Y coordinate for the VI Client window at startup.
Modify the string value to 0-0. This value will cause the VI3 client to open in the center of your primary display.
If you run different sized/resolution displays, you may also want to change the ApplicationMaximized or ApplicationSize keys to fit your needs.
Launch the VMware Infrastructure Client and get back to work.