(Azure) Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool now available
Optimizing images has always been an important component of preparing images as part of a traditional Remote Desktop Services (RDS) infrastructure or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). Optimizing session hosts, in particular, can increase user density and eventually lower costs. With the Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool, you can optimize your Windows 10, version 2004 multi- and single-session deployments in Windows Virtual Desktop. Note: The information in this post is community-driven; nothing has yet been officially launched by the Windows Virtual Desktop product team. Credit goes to Robert M. Smith and Tim Muessig from Microsoft, previously known as the VDIGuys, for creating this tool and make it available for free for the community. Windows 10 multi-session image name change As noted in recent announcements, Office 365 ProPlus is now Microsoft 365 apps for Enterprise. With this name change, we have updated the Windows Virtual Desktop image names in Azure Marketplace. As a result, when you are looking for an image in the Azure Marketplace image gallery, you should begin by selecting Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session, version 2004 + Microsoft 365 Apps – Gen1 as your baseline image. How the Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool works The (Windows) Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool disables services in the operating system that you most likely won’t need for your Windows Virtual Desktop session host. To make sure that your line-of-business (LOB) applications continue running as they should, there are some preliminary steps that should first performed. Note: There are settings default disabled when you run the scrip out of the box such as AppX Packages for the Windows Calculator. We strongly suggest analyzing the tool via the JSON files that include the default settings. This also gives you the opportunity to enable them before running the tool so they remain untouched. I'll explain more about this later on in the article. The full list of enhancements for native Windows services will be available soon. Bookmark Run and tune your Remote Desktop Services environment for the latest updates. Expected performance gains Windows Virtual Desktop value-added services provider and Microsoft partner LoginVSI performed early tests with the Virtual Desktop Optimization Too and gained over 100 users in their internal benchmarking lab environment with a Windows 10, version 2004 single session. We, therefore, assume that this gain will also be possible with Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session. VSImax asserts a maximum number of users that are able to log on to the virtual desktop hosts pool as part of the underlying infrastructure. That number is the "sweet spot" as going over that number will decrease performance for all users. (Thanks to LoginVSI for sharing these results with us.) Note: We recommend you use simulation tools to test your deployment using both stress tests and real-life usage simulations to ensure that your system is responsive and resilient enough to meet user needs Remember to vary the load size to avoid surprises. Desktops in the Cloud on Performance Optimizations for Windows Virtual Desktop with Robert and Tim (aka VDI Guys) We recently had the creators of the Virtual Desktop Optimization tool as guests on our Desktops in the Cloud video-podcast. Robert and Tim explained everything you should know, as well as best practices and lessons learned. A must watch in extension to this article. Watch it below. How to use the Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool The Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool makes it possible to disable uncommon services for virtual desktop environments, such as Windows Virtual Desktop. Note: We recommend that you run the script after the Sysprep (System Preparation) process, most likely as startup script w with a large set of virtual machines. This is due to the AppX Packages that conflict and most likely the sysprep will fail. Download all scripts from the Virtual-Desktop-Optimization-Tool GitHub repository. Select Clone or download, followed by Download ZIP. Unzip the folder to your Windows Virtual Desktop session host(s) to a specified folder (e.g. C:\Optimize or C:\Temp). Note: You could also run the scripts as part of your image management procedure e.g. Azure image Builder (AIB) or Azure DevOps. Important information before running the tool There are settings default disabled when you run the scrip out of the box such as AppX Packages for the Windows Calculator. We strongly suggest analyzing the tool via the JSON files that include the default settings. This also gives you the opportunity to enable them before running the tool so they remain untouched. You can find the JSON file in the Windows built number folder, under ConfigurationFiles - e.g. C:\Optimize\2004\ConfigurationFiles. You've to put the settings to Enabled - that you want to keep as default. Below is the example file for AppX Packages, there are JSON files for Services and scheduled tasks as well. Another option is to remove the while entry out of the JSON file. AppxPackages.json - Example Windows Calculator App { "AppxPackage": "Microsoft.WindowsCalculator", "VDIState": "Enabled", "URL": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/windows-calculator/9wzdncrfhvn5", "Description": "Microsoft Calculator app" }, Services.json - example Windows Update Service { "Name": "UsoSvc", "VDIState": "Enabled", "Description": "Update Orchestrator service, manages Windows Updates. If stopped, your devices will not be able to download and install the latest updates." }, Prepare to launch Windows PowerShell and select Run as Administrator. In PowerShell, change the directory to the folder to which you downloaded the scripts, e.g. C:\Optimize or your own specific folder. Run the following command: Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass Run the Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool using the following command: .\Win10_VirtualDesktop_Optimize.ps1 -WindowsVersion 2004 -Verbose Note: When you use a different version of Windows 10, you must change the WindowsVersion parameter. Version 1803 and later are supported for Windows 10 Enterprise. Windows 10 multi-session support is only available with Windows 10, version 2004 and later. Select Yes when prompted to reboot the session hosts(s). Start your Windows Virtual Desktop session. As you can see in the Task Manager comparison below, the number of threads and handles has decreased noticeably after running the Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool. Do you have any problems with orphaned Start Menu shortcuts after running the tool? Have the user open Task Manager, then end the following two processes: ShellExperienceHost.exe StartMenuExperienceHost.exe Have them check the Start Menu and they should be gone. Happy optimizing! 🙂 Let us know your feedback on the tool in the comment section below. Prefer to watch and learn? There’s also a video on Azure Academy available later this week by Dean Cefola. You can find it here.2012 R2 License Server issuing Built-in OverUsed CALs for 2008 R2 Session Host Servers
First published on TECHNET on May 07, 2015 Hello AskPerf! My name is Prachi Singh and today I will be talking about a behavior that can occur when users attempt to pull licenses from a 2012 R2 License server via a 2008 R2 Session Host.
Skype for Business not Launching (SOLVED)
Dear All, After a migration from Lync,Exchange to Office365 we have 1 user that is unable to connect not even launch Skype for Business. The environment is Server2008R2,Citrix Xenapp 6.5,appsense based using thin clients , Office365 uses OKTA as authenticator, the user profile is mandatory (spoofed + folder redirection) and is removed after logoff (so a clean user profile at each logon) The user can use Outlook locally and connect to OWA + use the Skype online , Office2016 is connected to the account. The problem is when the client is launched , the splash screen appears .. and that is it , in the event log the following is seen. --- Faulting application name: lync.exe, version: 16.0.8201.2193, time stamp: 0x59b28539 Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.24308, time stamp: 0x5be85cc7 Exception code: 0xc0000005 Fault offset: 0x0004ebab Faulting process id: 0x6f24 Faulting application start time: 0x01d4cf4f310f4f80 Faulting application path: C:,Program Files (x86),Microsoft Office,root,Office16,lync.exe Faulting module path: C:,windows,SysWOW64,ntdll.dll --- Some things that can be ruled out are local problems with the installation , the user is having this issue on all 25 servers and 250+ other users do not have any issue , to make it even more challenging we had her try to use Skype on a laptop , same issue! We compared the AD account+attributes with some of her colleagues and we do not see any difference (exept she has a SIDhistory object) , also we cleared the appsense profile and all redirected + cached folder making this a fresh logged on user. Anyone has some ideas what can cause this problem?
Login failure from tssdis.exe on RDS server
Remote desktop server in AD environment [Windows Server 2019 standard, running RDweb, RDG, and session host, etc] periodically has service tssdis.exe (remote desktop session broker) failing to login, Event IDs 4648 and then 4625 about half a dozen times before stopping. This doesn't appear to affect any users, but I can't find anything online addressing it or if it's something that needs to be fixed. Some other people have reported the problem but not the solution, such as here: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/26e48e81-1400-4f8c-aef2-df03143fa211/login-through-tssdisexe Below are two exports of the event IDs (sanitized) This is the 4648 A logon was attempted using explicit credentials. Subject: Security ID: NETWORK SERVICE Account Name: SERVERNAME$ Account Domain: DOMAIN Logon ID: 0x3E4 Logon GUID: {10b9db0d-f9e0-e3ab-8c95-7dcb4ec5b3c7} Account Whose Credentials Were Used: Account Name: SERVERNAME Account Domain: DOMAIN Logon GUID: {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} Target Server: Target Server Name: SERVERNAME.DOMAIN.local Additional Information: SERVERNAME.DOMAIN.local Process Information: Process ID: 0x17c8 Process Name: C:\Windows\System32\tssdis.exe Network Information: Network Address: fe80::xxxx:f30a:xxxx:xxxx Port: 49667 This event is generated when a process attempts to log on an account by explicitly specifying that account’s credentials. This most commonly occurs in batch-type configurations such as scheduled tasks, or when using the RUNAS command. This is the 4625: An account failed to log on. Subject: Security ID: NULL SID Account Name: - Account Domain: - Logon ID: 0x0 Logon Type: 3 Account For Which Logon Failed: Security ID: NULL SID Account Name: SERVERNAME Account Domain: DOMAIN Failure Information: Failure Reason: Unknown user name or bad password. Status: 0xC000006D Sub Status: 0xC0000064 Process Information: Caller Process ID: 0x0 Caller Process Name: - Network Information: Workstation Name: SERVERNAME Source Network Address: fe80::xxxx:f30a:xxxx:xxxx Source Port: 50798 Detailed Authentication Information: Logon Process: NtLmSsp Authentication Package: NTLM Transited Services: - Package Name (NTLM only): - Key Length: 0 This event is generated when a logon request fails. It is generated on the computer where access was attempted. The Subject fields indicate the account on the local system which requested the logon. This is most commonly a service such as the Server service, or a local process such as Winlogon.exe or Services.exe. The Logon Type field indicates the kind of logon that was requested. The most common types are 2 (interactive) and 3 (network). The Process Information fields indicate which account and process on the system requested the logon. The Network Information fields indicate where a remote logon request originated. Workstation name is not always available and may be left blank in some cases. The authentication information fields provide detailed information about this specific logon request. - Transited services indicate which intermediate services have participated in this logon request. - Package name indicates which sub-protocol was used among the NTLM protocols. - Key length indicates the length of the generated session key. This will be 0 if no session key was requested.
Remote Desktop Services Deployment fails with exceptions
I'm trying to deploy Remote Desktop Services on a single server on Windows Server 2019 Standard. I've tried both Standard Deployment and Quick Start with a Session-based desktop development but I'm getting the following error during the installation: Unable to add server REMOTEAPP.AD.DOMAIN.COM to the list of servers on the RD Connection Broker server REMOTEAPP.AD.DOMAIN.COM..Exception of type 'System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException' was thrown. I searched for some hint about this problem but I had not find anything useful. I cannot even find any useful log into the events log, and I tried one more time after reinstalling the server from scratch. Could you help me please? Thank you very much!
