Windows 7 VDI Desktops


There are two very useful documents around making Windows 7 work in a VDI environment; I find myself searching for these with some frequency, in order to provide links for customers.  Given that frequency, I guess that it’s only appropriate that I make a quick post here about them.

The first one is the Windows 7 Optimization Guide.  This guide contains a lot of useful (really, vital) steps that make Windows 7 work well in a VDI environment.  It’s an excellent guide, with information as complex as how to make a customized Windows install or as simple as just running a batch file that makes the changes.  It also explains the changes in great detail, listing requirements vs. recommendations, so it is definitely worth a read.

The second one is a KB article.  When using multiple monitors, there will be “hitches” when a user drags a window from one monitor to the other.  To prevent this, you must change some VM advanced settings on that VM.  Beware, for making this change affects the way that the VMKernel allocates resources to the VMs and will increase their resource consumption.

UPDATE: I just came across a KB article around improving UDP performance in Virtual Machines.  People generally recommend making the suggested registry change in the VDI desktops; this can make a big difference for VDI, especially if you need full screen streaming video (such as YouTube).

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