parent vm and quickprep - join domain before snapshot, or no?

[TedH256]

I have been told by someone who has a view system to manage, that I should join the parent vm to the domain, before I create the snapshot and then create the composer pool..

However, reading the win7 customization guide, it seems (not clear) to be saying to remove it from the domain, before doing the snapshot/creating the pool.

So  - I guess my question is: which one is correct? And - if we are supposed to remove it from the domain, then where do we/how do we configure the domain info that would be used to join the clones to the domain?

Just wanting to check my reading ....

[blakebevard]

There is no reason or neccessity to join the base machine to the domain before taking a snapshot.  In fact, last time I remember reading that it was suggested not to do it.

[mittim12]

It will work either way you do it but personally I only join the domain if I have to install software that requires the clone to be on the domain.    Quickprep or Sysprep depending on which one you choose on pool creation handles the joining of clones to the domain. 

[TedH256]

ok so thank you both very much - but I really hate not knowing how something works - in the case of using sysprep with a cusomization spec file, I get it: we tell it what domain, give creds, supply a volume key, etc ...

How does it work with quickprep? Is more detailed info available somewhere that I am not finding? I have been unable to find a knowledge base article that says the parent should not be joined to the domain - I'll search again.

In either case, I believe what you are saying, just have more questions I guess. Like, for example, what software have you encountered that seems to require domain membership? Does the recent versions of MS office, for example? Any other common software that you know of?

[mittim12]

What kind of detail information are you looking for.  Quickprep uses whatever account you specify in the configuration and will place it into whatever OU you specify for the pool.   Its also best practice to utilize a KMS server so there is no need to specify any type of license key for the machines. 

As far as the domain membership for software I would think it's really up to the company.  In our case some of our installs via mapped drives and sometimes it's just easier to join the domain and let the login script run instead of manually mapping thing.    If you search the View forum there should be a lot of post on this very subject.