Procedure: Prepare a master image
Introduction
A master image contains the operating system, non-virtualised applications, VDA and any other software. VMs are created from a master image.
A few important notes:
- Cloud deployments use templates rather than master images
- Remote PC Access machine catalogs do not use master images, instead an OU (Organisational Unit) is used
- Do not run Sysprep on the master image
- Create the master images on the hypervisor host where the machines will be created
Procedure
- Using your hypervisor management tool (In my case Hyper-V) create a virtual machine, install all the updates and service packs. Ensure you have selected an appropriate virtual hard disk size. Make sure the hard disk is at device location 0
The below screenshot shows the virtual hard disk configuration, which is crucial for this step. - Install and configure the following in the base image:
- Integration tools for the Hypervisor (To do this using VMM, shutdown the VM and select Install Virtual Guest Services)
- The VDA
- Third-party tools (e.g. AV or software distribution)
- Anti-virus exclusions: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX127030
https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2013/09/22/citrix-consolidated-list-of-antivirus-exclusions/ - Install any non-virtualised applications, you might choose to install Microsoft Office or Acrobat Reader for example, if they are used by a majority of the users who will be utilising the master image. Minimise the number of non-virtualised applications
- App-V if required
- Any localisation (language packs and locales)
- Join the master image to the domain
- Create a snapshot for your master image and name it appropriately
- Create a machine catalog from the snapshot