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Auto-fill XenDesktop Director Domain Field

December 19, 2013by bcahill in Citrix, XenDesktop

Log on to the XenDesktop Director server
Open Notepad as an Adminstrator

Open C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\LogOn.aspx

Hit CTRL+F and search for <asp:TextBox ID=”Domain”
Once located, add this text after “Domain”
- Text=”yourDomainHere” readonly=”true”
The entire line of code should now look something similar to this
- <asp:TextBox ID=”Domain” Text=”yourDomainHere” readonly=”true” runat=”server” CssClass=”text-box” onfocus=”showIndicator(this);” onblur=”hideIndicator(this);”></asp:TextBox> <br/>
Save the file, exit Notepad, and refresh the browser to test the change
If you are load balancing the XenDesktop Director site, copy this file to the same location on the second server

Configure and deploy for XenDesktop 7.1

December 13, 2013by bcahill in Citrix, Provisioning Server, StarWind V2V Converter, VMware, XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer

This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series Convert PVS images from XenServer to VMware

Log into one of the Provisioning Server 7.1 hosts
Change the newly created vDisk from Private mode to Standard and select the preferred method for Cache type

Select the target device created earlier and modify the type to Maintenance and change to boot from vDisk

Right-click the target device and select Active Directory – Reset Machine Account Password…

Select the OU where the AD object exists and click Reset Account and Close

Add a vDisk version to the vDisk and add a property/description

Boot the VM
Log in and install XenDesktop 7.1 Delivery Agent
- Select the appropriate Virtual Delivery Agent installation based on the OS type (Desktop or Server)
- Select Enable Remote PC Access

Select the appropriate version of the VDA

Select the Citrix Receiver if you plan on delivering hosted apps to the VMs created from this image

Add the Delivery Controller(s)

Select Personal vDisk if you are allowing some users to install their own applications

NOTE: This option is only available for Windows Desktop OS VDAs

Accept remaining defaults and click Finish when complete and reboot

Once the VM has rebooted, shut it down (update the Personal vDisk inventory if prompted)

Create a VMware template from the VM used to create the image

NOTE: This step will ensure all target devices you create from this template will have identical virtual hardware. This should prevent BSOD and any potential performance issues

Right-click the VM and select Clone to Template…

Convert the newly created template back to a Virtual Machine

Make any necessary modifications to the VM to match your preferred target device configurations

NOTE: You can remove local disks if you are using local disk write cache. The XenDesktop Wizard in Provisioning Server 7.1 will perform this task as part of the target device creation.

Right-click the modified VM and convert back to a template to prepare for Provisioning Server 7.1 target device creation

Log into the Provisioning Server 7.1 console and perform the following:
- Promote the vDisk version to Production

Right-click on the site and select XenDesktop Setup Wizard…

NOTE: If it hasn’t been done already, configure the XenDesktop 7.1 farm to point to the vCenter server and specify a datastore for write cache and personal vDisks

Enter the XenDesktop Controller address and click Next

When prompted, enter the XenDesktop Host Resources username and password

Select the template created in step 9, click Next

Select the vDisk, click Next
Create a new catalog or use an existing catalog, click Next
Select the appropriate OS type, click Next
Select a random or static desktop, click Next
Modify the virtual machine preferences as necessary, click Next

NOTE: Since we created the PVS 7.1 target devices on the same subnet as the PVS 6.1 target devices, we used a BDM disk which provides the Provisioning Server host information to the target device at boot. It creates an 8 MB disk local to each VM and eliminates the PXE service requirement on the subnet. This also eliminates the need to mount a boot ISO to each VM.

Select Create new accounts, click Next
Specify the AD OU container and provide an account naming scheme, click Next
Click Finish

After the target devices were created, we checked XenDesktop and vCenter to confirm the devices came online, registered, and were configured correctly. We then repeated these steps for each of the images we needed to convert. If you have any questions about the process or run into issues while working through your project, please feel free to reach out to us via our Contact page.

Update VM for Provisioning Server 7.1

December 9, 2013by bcahill in Citrix, Provisioning Server, StarWind V2V Converter, VMware, XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer

This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Convert PVS images from XenServer to VMware

Right-click on the newly created VM and select Power On

For XenApp 6.x VMs, log in, and perform the following:
- Uninstall Citrix Tools for Virtual Machines
- Uninstall Provisioning Server target device software
- Uninstall XenApp via the command line

Uninstall any remaining XenApp 6.5 specific features.
Move the XenApp AD computer object to an OU that does not contain XenApp 6.5 specific policy settings
Reboot when complete.

NOTE: If you have difficulty logging in via RDP after the uninstall of XenApp 6.5, try deleting and recreating the RDP-Tcp connection in Remote Desktop Host Configuration

For XenDesktop 5.x VMs, log in, and perform the following:
- Uninstall Citrix Tools for Virtual Machines
- Uninstall Provisioning Server target device software
- Uninstall Citrix Virtual Desktop Agent
- Uninstall Citrix Virtual Desktop Agent Core Services
- Uninstall Personal vDisk
- Uninstall Citrix Profile Management and any remaining XenDesktop 5.6 specific features
- Reboot when complete

NOTE: After the uninstall is complete, check the services to ensure all Citrix related services are uninstalled from the system. You may need to manually remove using the sc delete command.

After the VM has been rebooted, log in, and install VMware Tools. Select defaults and reboot when the install is completed.

After the reboot, log in to the VM and perform the following:
- Disable IPv6 if enabled on the ethernet adapter
- For Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7 SP1, install KB2550978, reboot when complete
- For Windows 2008 and Windows 7, install KB2344941, reboot when complete
- Install Provisioning Server Target Device software 7.1, uncheck Launch Imaging Wizard, click Finish and reboot when complete
After the reboot, log in to the VM and perform the following to create the new VHD for Provisioning Server 7.1:
- Run the Imaging Wizard

Enter a Provisioning Server 7.1 IP or Hostname, click Next

Select Create new vDisk, click Next

Enter the info requested, click Next

If you plan on using KMS or MAK activation, select that here and click Next

Review/modify image volumes, click Next

Enter the info requested, click Next

Select Optimize for Provisioning Services, click Finish

If you receive this message, click No

NOTE: For our project, the Provisioning Server 7.1 environment was on the same subnet as the existing Provisioning Server 6.1 environment so we decided to use Boot Device Manager to create a Provisioning Server 7.1 boot ISO and boot this VM from CD. This allowed us to continue to use the same subnet but avoid causing disruptions to the Provisioning Server 6.1 environment. We also stopped and disabled the PXE service on the Provisioning Server 7.1 hosts.

If you decided to create a Boot ISO, perform the following:
- Shutdown the VM
- Mount the boot ISO to the VM in vCenter
- Boot to the VMware BIOS
- Update the VM BIOs boot order to boot from CD-ROM
- Start the VM
- At login, the Provisioning Server Imaging Wizard should begin creating the VHD file from the existing VMDK

If you are using a separate subnet for Provisioning Server 7.1, perform the following:
- Ensure your VM is on the same subnet as the Provisioning Server 7.1 host(s)
- Ensure the PXE services are started on the Provisioning Server 7.1 host(s)
- Shutdown the VM
- Boot the VM to the VMware BIOs
- Update the BIOs to boot from Network
- Reboot the VM
- At login, the Provisioning Server Imaging Wizard should begin creating the VHD file from the existing VMDK

Once the image is created, shutdown the VM

Error “Cannot connect to the vCenter server due to a certificate error” Appears During Host Connection

December 8, 2013by bcahill in VMware, XenDesktop

When configuring XenDesktop 7 to connect to vCenter, you may receive the error displayed in the screenshot below.

There are a few different methods to resolve or workaround the issue. Ideally, you should replace the vCenter certificate with a trusted certificate. We’ll discuss that method in a future blog post. You can also visit Derek Seaman’s blog for some excellent documentation.

As a workaround, you can perform the following on each of your XenDesktop 7 controllers.

Open Internet Explorer: Right-click and Run as Administrator

Enter the https://URL for your vCenter server an select Continue to this website

Click the Certificate Error message and select View Certificates

Select the Details tab and select Copy to File…

Click Next

Select Base-64 encoded X.509 and click Next

Save the certificate to a file server you can get to from each XenDesktop 7 controller, click Next

Click Finish

On each XenDesktop 7 controller, open the MMC snap-in for Certificates (Local Computer)
Right-click Trusted People, select All Tasks and Import…

Browse to the certificate created in Step 7 and click Next

Click Finish. Return to XenDesktop Studio and connect to vCenter

Create a ready to deploy Windows 2008 R2 Template

December 5, 2013by bcahill in Citrix, Hyper-V, VMware, Windows Server 2008 R2, XenServer

Here is a quick way to get a generalized VM up and running on your favorite hypervisor:

Install your OS
Install virtualization tools (VMware Tools, XenTools, etc.)
Install patches and make necessary OS/System changes
Run C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe
- Select Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE)
- Select Shutdown
- Click OK

After the VM has been shutdown, convert it to a template
To test, create a new VM from the template
At boot up, Windows setup will begin
When prompted, complete the setup wizard and begin using your VM

Create a new VMware VM with the converted VMDK

November 28, 2013by bcahill in Citrix, Provisioning Server, StarWind V2V Converter, VMware, Windows Server 2008 R2, XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer

This entry is part 4 of 6 in the series Convert PVS images from XenServer to VMware

Right-click an ESXi host that has access to the VMDK-NFS NFS Datastore created earlier and select New Virtual Machines…

Select Custom, click Next

Enter Name and Location, click Next

Select the VMDK-NFS NFS Datastore create earlier, click Next

Modify the Virtual Machine Version, Guest Operating System, CPUs, and Memory as necessary. Proceed to the Network step.
Select the appropriate Network and select the VMXNET3 adapter, click Next

Select LSI Logic SAS, click Next

Select Use an existing virtual disk, click Next

Browse to the converted VMDK file within the VMDK-NFS NFS Datastore, click OK

Select remaining defaults, click Finish

Convert VHD to VMDK

November 28, 2013by bcahill in Citrix, Provisioning Server, StarWind V2V Converter, VMware, Windows Server 2008 R2

This entry is part 3 of 6 in the series Convert PVS images from XenServer to VMware

Download and install StarWind V2V Converter on the PVS host
Run StarWind V2V Image Converter

Click Next

Select the newly merged VHD file from the PVS Store, click Next

Select the appropriate VMware image format, click Next
NOTE: In this case, the VHD file was a dynamic disk so we chose VMware growable image. Choosing the wrong image type may result in BSOD. This step might require trial and error if you are unsure of what to choose.

Select IDE for virtual disk type, click Next

Browse to the VMDK NFS share created earlier and provide a file name for the new VMDK, click Next

The conversion process will begin

Click Finish when complete

Create a Windows Server 2008 R2 NFS share for vSphere 5.1

November 28, 2013by bcahill in Citrix, Provisioning Server, StarWind V2V Converter, VMware, Windows Server 2008 R2, XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer

This entry is part 2 of 6 in the series Convert PVS images from XenServer to VMware

Install Network File Services on one of the PVS hosts

Select Add Roles from Server Manager

Select File Services, click Next

Select Services for Network File System, click Next

Select Install

Once installed, create an NFS Share on the PVS host

Create a folder on a drive that has adequate disk space and name it VMDKs
Open the properties of the new folder, select the NFS Sharing tab, and select Manage NFS Sharing…

Configure the settings as displayed, and click Apply

Add NFS Storage to a VMware ESXi host

Open vCenter and select one of the ESXi hosts
Select the Configuration tab and select Storage under the Hardware section
Select Add Storage…

Select Network File System, click Next

Enter the PVS hostname and NFS share name created earlier, click Next

Select Finish

Once the NFS share has mounted check the Datastores to confirm its available to the host

Merge PVS image to base

November 28, 2013by bcahill in Citrix, Provisioning Server, StarWind V2V Converter, VMware, Windows Server 2008 R2

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series Convert PVS images from XenServer to VMware

On a recent project, a customer had Citrix Provisioning Server 6.1 delivering XenApp and XenDesktop images to XenServer 6.0.2. They required a conversion of the XenApp and XenDesktop images to VMware vSphere 5.1 to simplify their DR plan. They also requested an upgrade to Provisioning Server 7.1 as part of the project.

Rather than rebuild each image, we decided to convert the images from VHD to VMDK and convert back to VHD for PVS 7.1 streaming to vSphere 5.1. Here are the steps we took to complete this task.