Currently there is no VMware provided View Windows 7 Deployment Guide, so here is one I have created.

There are a few specific things that are required to allow Windows 7 to work with VMware View (especially with View Composer).

These are the steps I follow, it is based on Windows 7 Enterprise x86, the same should apply to Business/Ultimate.

For an overview of the components of VMware View see VMware View 4 - Intro and Components.

 

 

The Virtual Machine:
1. Create a Virtual Machine with the following specification:
Typical - Windows 7 32Bit
1 vCPU
1024mb RAM
One Virtual Disk (At least 8GB, more as required for applications)

2. Remove the E1000 vNIC
3. Add the VMXNET3 vNIC

4. Change the video memory to "Auto-detect video settings".

5. Change the SCSI controller type from LSI Logic SAS to LSI Logic Parallel.

6. Remove the floppy drive.

7. Remove the CD/DVD rom drive.

 


OS Installation:
8. Install Without 100mb "System Partition"
Before choosing language etc press SHIFT+F10 to open a command prompt.
Create a partion to install Windows 7 on. This will create one partition on the disk so the installer does not create two (one being the 100mb system partition). If there is two partitions VMware View

Automated Desktops Pools will fail as only one disk/partition is allowed.

 

diskpart
list disk
select disk 0 (Note: Disk 0 should be the only disk this VM has)
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
format fs=ntfs quick
assign
exit
exit

 


Initial OS Configuration:
9. Install VMware Tools (Typical install)
10. Activate Windows
11. Configure networking with DHCP (Note: Ensure DNS is correctly setup in DHCP for your domain. This causes deployments to fail at the guest OS customisation stage and the ExtraConfig warning in View Manager)

 

Performance Tweaks:
12. In "Programs and Features", Go to "Turn off Features", Uninstall "Tablet PC Components".
13. In "Advanced System Settings", Under "Performance" set "Visual Effects" to "Adjust for Best Performance"
14. In "Advanced System Settings", Turn off System Protection
15. Disable the "Defrag" scheduled task.
16. Turn off "Windows Defender" if using 3rd Party AntiVirus program.
17. In a command prompt (run as administrator) run "fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1" (NTFS performance tweak - disables updated of file last access time)


Software Installation:
18. Install all required software (e.g. Office, Flash, AntiVirus etc)
19. Install all Windows Updates


Final Important Steps:
20. Install VMware View Agent.
21. Join the computer to the Active Directory Domain
22. Turn off Windows Firewall


Connectivity Tests:
23. Ensure from this client you can ping the Connection Server.
24. Ensure from the connection server you can ping this client.


Prepare Your Perfect Image For VMware View:
25. Shutdown
26. Take a snapshot (This snapshot will be used by VMware View when deploying this Windows 7 desktop)

 

 

 

You can now use this Virtual Machine and its snapshot to deploy virtual desktops (Including linked clones with Composer) in VMware View.

 

 

How To Series: VMware View Installation, Configuration and Management

Part 1 - Installing VMware View Composer 2

Part 2 - Installing VMware View Connection Server 4

Part 3 - Configuring VMware View Connection Server 4 with View Manager

Part 4 - Creating a Master Image for VMware View Desktop Deployment

Part 5 - Provisioning an Individual Desktop with View Manager

Part 6 - VMware View 4 - Windows 7 Deployment Guide

Part 7 - Creating an Automated Desktop Pool

 

 

 

 

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Disclaimer

All advice, installation/configuration how to guides, troubleshooting and other information on this website are provided as-is with no warranty or guarantee. Whilst the information provided is correct to the best of my knowledge, I am not reponsible for any issues that may arise using this information, and you do so at your own risk. As always before performing anything; check, double check, test and always ensure you have a backup.

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