5.0

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 desktops will join or be a member of the local WORKGROUP.
IMPORTANT To use features that are supported in View Manager 4.5 or later, such as redirecting disposable
data to a separate disk and customizing linked-clone desktops with Sysprep, you must deploy the desktops
from a parent virtual machine on which View Agent 4.5 or later is installed.
You cannot use View Composer to deploy desktops that run Windows Vista Ultimate Edition or Windows
XP Professional SP1.
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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.
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If the parent virtual machine runs Windows XP, and your Active Directory runs on Windows Server 2008,
apply an update patch on the Windows XP virtual machine. See the Microsoft Support Article 944043 at
the following location: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944043/en-us.
If you do not install the Windows Server 2008 read-only domain controller (RODC) compatibility pack
for Windows XP, linked clones that are deployed from this parent virtual machine fail to join the domain.
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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 49.
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.
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To deploy desktops that run Windows 7 or Windows Vista, configure a volume license key and activate
the parent virtual machine's operating system with volume activation. See “Activating Windows 7 and
Windows Vista on Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 66.
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If the parent virtual machine runs Windows 7, verify that you followed the best practices for optimizing
the operating system. See “Optimizing Windows 7 for Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 57.
Procedure
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Remove the DHCP lease on the parent virtual machine to avoid copying a leased IP address to the linked
clones in the pool.
a On the parent virtual machine, open a command prompt.
b Type the ipconfig /release command.
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Verify that the system disk contains a single volume.
You cannot deploy linked clones from a parent virtual machine that contains more than one volume. The
View Composer service does not support multiple disk partitions. Multiple virtual disks are supported.
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Disable the hibernation option to reduce the size of linked-clone OS disks that are created from the parent
virtual machine.
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In vSphere Client, disable the vApp Options setting on the parent virtual machine.
You can deploy a linked-clone pool from the parent virtual machine.
Chapter 4 Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines
VMware, Inc. 65