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mskov1
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Injecting identity information into golden image clone

Hello,

we are currently evaluating possible ways of how to use our software with the Horizon 7 desktop pools. The problem we have is that every clone of the golden image needs to have an identity key and this identity key needs to stay persistent after the clone of the golden image is recreated (identity is bound to the host name more or less). Are the some "best practices" of how one can achieve that? Is it somehow possible to inject such information into the "identity diff/image" that Horizon 7 should be using for restoring the identity of Windows after a clone of the golden image is created?

We are thinking about writing some script that would restore such information from a file share on a first start of the golden image clone (based on the host name of the clone). But this does require an external file share and doesn't sound like a good solution for us. So if someone had to solve similar issues - please share your experience.

Thanks!

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jonathanjabez
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Hi,

During VDI Pool creation, cloned machines get their unique host names as per the naming pattern mentioned in the pool settings. This is where the OS customization comes into picture as it customizes the cloned machine for the OOBE experience and create new host name and AD computer objects for each VDI instance. This is the expected behavior of OS customization (sysprep). You cannot retain the same host name on multiple VDIs cloned from the golden image as it would lead to DNS name conflict.

/Jon

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jonathanjabez
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Hello,

do you use quickprep or sysprep for OS customization?

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mskov1
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We are using sysprep. We can switch to another tool if it makes a difference.

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jonathanjabez
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Hi,

I am still reading you question again and again to understand it better. However, I am assuming the application you are referring may have some identity relationship with SID of the computer. Since sysprep generates a new SID during OS customization and QuickPrep retains the same SID, you can give it a try by creating a new pool with QuickPrep and check the result.

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mskov1
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Hi,

Thank you for trying to understand the problem.

The identity we are talking about is bound to the host name of the VM. And the host names are preserved when Horizon 7 is creating the clones of the golden image. The ideal option for us would be to somehow provide a mapping from host names to identity keys (i.e, from host names to some files or to some registry entries) and then let Horizon 7 software inject this information to the VM when a clone of the golden image is created.

It's the first time we have to deal with such software in general, so it could be that we are missing something in the way how image preparation and VM creation is supposed to work in such a case though.

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jonathanjabez
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Hi,

During VDI Pool creation, cloned machines get their unique host names as per the naming pattern mentioned in the pool settings. This is where the OS customization comes into picture as it customizes the cloned machine for the OOBE experience and create new host name and AD computer objects for each VDI instance. This is the expected behavior of OS customization (sysprep). You cannot retain the same host name on multiple VDIs cloned from the golden image as it would lead to DNS name conflict.

/Jon

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mskov1
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Thank you. I think we didn't fully understand how the "customization" of the golden image clone is done. Just one more question to understand it all better. In the setup where the clones of the golden image are deleted and re-created regularly (e.g., every day), the new clones get the host names that were previously assigned to the old clones. When the new clones get registered to the domain, they will get new objectGUIDs and will be treated as new workstation objects by the Active Directory, right? Or does there exist some mechanism which makes sure that the new clones get the same objectGUIDs as the old clones with the same hostnames had before?

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jonathanjabez
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This is certainly possible. You can go to Guest Customization page or tab, select the Allow reuse of pre-existing computer accounts option when you create or edit a desktop pool. This settings make sure that, the existing computer objects OU are reused when machines get deleted and recreated with the same host name. You can edit the VDI Pool settings to enable this option.

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jonathanjabez
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Screenshot for reference:

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mskov1
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Thnx!

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