6.2

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Activating Windows on Linked-Clone Virtual Machines on page 48
To make sure that View Composer properly activates Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10, and
Windows Server operating systems on linked-clone machines, you must use Microsoft volume
activation on the parent virtual machine. The volume-activation technology requires a volume license
key.
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Disable Windows Hibernation in the Parent Virtual Machine on page 48
The Windows hibernation option creates a large system file that can increase the size of the linked-
clone OS disks that are created from the parent virtual machine. Disabling the hibernation option
reduces the size of linked-clones.
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Configure a Parent Virtual Machine to Use Local Storage on page 49
When you prepare a parent virtual machine for View Composer, you can configure the parent virtual
machine and linked clones to store virtual-machine swap files on the local datastore. This optional
strategy lets you take advantage of local storage.
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Keep a Record of the Parent Virtual Machine's Paging-File Size on page 50
When you create a linked-clone pool, you can redirect the linked clones' guest OS paging and temp
files to a separate disk. You must configure this disk to be larger than the paging file in the guest OS.
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Increase the Timeout Limit of QuickPrep Customization Scripts on page 50
View Composer terminates a QuickPrep post-synchronization or power-off script that takes longer
than 20 seconds. You can increase the timeout limit for these scripts by changing the
ExecScriptTimeout Windows registry value on the parent virtual machine.
Prepare a Parent Virtual Machine
The View Composer service requires a parent virtual machine from which you generate a base image for
creating and managing a linked-clone desktop pool.
Prerequisites
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Verify that you prepared a virtual machine to use for deploying remote desktops. See “Creating Virtual
Machines for Remote Desktop Deployment,” on page 19.
A parent virtual machine that you use for View Composer must either belong to the same Active
Directory domain as the domain that the linked-clone machines will join or be a member of the local
WORKGROUP.
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Verify that the virtual machine was not converted from a View Composer linked clone. A virtual
machine that is converted from a linked clone has the clone's internal disk and state information. A
parent virtual machine cannot have state information.
IMPORTANT Linked clones and virtual machines that were converted from linked clones are not
supported as parent virtual machines.
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When you install View Agent on the parent virtual machine, select the View Composer Agent option.
See “Install View Agent on a Virtual Machine,” on page 27.
To update View Agent in a large environment, you can use standard Windows update mechanisms
such as Altiris, SMS, LanDesk, BMC, or other systems management software. You can also use the
recompose operation to update View Agent.
NOTE Do not change the log on account for the VMware View Composer Guest Agent Server service in
a parent virtual machine. By default, this is the Local System account. If you change this account, the
linked clones created from the parent do not start.
Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View
46 VMware, Inc.