Create a Base Virtual Machine Automatically from the Microsoft Azure Marketplace and Pair it with Horizon Cloud on a Per-Pod Basis

For a Horizon Cloud pod in Microsoft Azure, you can use the Import Virtual Machine – Marketplace wizard to create the virtual machine (VM) using an operating system image from the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. In the process, the VM is automatically configured with the elements and agent-related software required to conform to the Horizon Cloud environment's requirements. At the end of the creation process, the VM is listed on the Imported VMs page and you can take further actions on it, such as pairing the VM with the cloud plane, customizing the VM, installing additional drivers, and so on.

Tip: As of the July 2021 service release, when all of your Horizon Cloud pods are of manifest 2632 or later and your tenant is configured to use Universal Broker, the features of the Horizon Image Management Service and multi-pod image management are available to you. In that case, for single-session VDI operating systems, instead of importing a VM using the Imported VMs page as described here, you also have the ability to import a VM using the Multi-Pod Images page and use it within your image catalog. See Overview of the Multi-Pod Images Page.

When using the steps described in this topic to import a VM, the automated workflow results in a VM that is not yet paired with Horizon Cloud. After the VM is created and listed on the Imported VMs page, you use the Reset Agent Pairing action on it to pair it with the cloud plane.

Remember: Like all of the console, this wizard's user interface is dynamic. The wizard's displayed selections and options will automatically change as you go through the wizard selecting items in lists and enabling or deactivating toggles. The wizard's displayed items will also reflect what your Horizon Cloud tenant account is licensed to use. If you read something here and you do not see it as you go through the wizard in real time, try changing a selection that is set in the upper portion of the wizard to see how the wizard's options change. After trying that, if you still do not see what is described, then that item most probably does not apply to your account's configuration.

About some of the wizard's default settings

By default, the system enables Optimize Windows Image, regardless of operating system. For non-multi-session Windows 10 operating systems, the system also enables Remove Windows Store Apps by default. Keeping those options enabled is strongly recommended to help prevent you from encountering Microsoft Windows Sysprep issues that might occur when the VM is later published as an image.

Also by default, in the Advanced Options section, the wizard enables the various toggles to install those agent-related custom setup options that are both appropriate and relevant according to your other selections in the wizard, and which are supported for use in the Horizon Cloud environment with the selected operating system. If you want to change the default selections, expand the Advanced Options section in the Import Virtual Machine – Marketplace window and set the toggles according to your needs.

As an example, an agent option that provides 3D support only in operating systems that support RDS or multi-session use cases is enabled by default in the Advanced Options section only when you have selected one of those operating systems in the OS drop-down list. When you have selected a client operating system for VDI use cases, in which that agent option is not applicable, that agent option is not selected for installation.

About the NSG rules used by the wizard-created VMs

In June 2021, to align with Microsoft Azure best practices, use of Network Security Groups (NSGs) with the wizard-created base VMs debuted in the service. The first time you run this wizard after this feature debuted, the wizard creates an NSG in the same resource group as the VM and attaches the resulting VM's NIC to that NSG. For details, see The Network Security Groups (NSGs) Created by the Horizon Cloud Import Virtual Machine from Marketplace Wizard.

About the resulting VM joining a specified Active Directory domain

Starting with the December 2019 service release, the Import Virtual Machine wizard provides the option of either having the wizard-created VM joined to a specified Active Directory domain or not having the VM joined to the domain at the end of the creation process.

About the VM family types that this automated import wizard needs to use in your Azure subscription

By default, this automated import wizard uses specific VM models from the VM families in the Azure Marketplace. If your Azure subscription does not have enough available quota in the relevant VM families to create the VM, the automated import process will fail.

The VM family type that the automation uses is related to selections you make in the wizard.

Note: For Windows 11 OS support in Horizon Cloud, the pod must be running the v2204 release's manifest version or later. For additional information about Windows 11 OS support, see the page Support for Windows 11 Guest Operating System - Considerations, Known Limitations, and Known Issues.

Selections	VM Model Used Automatically	Azure Family of vCPUs
Non-GPU, non-Windows 11 OSes	Standard_DS2_v2	DSv2 family
Non-GPU Windows 11 OS, Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session OS	Standard_D4s_v3	Dsv3 family (The s in Dsv3 is lowercase, per Azure documentation Dsv3-series.)
GPU-capable	Standard_NV12s_v3	NVv3 family
Windows 7 OS, no GPU	Standard_DS2_v2. GPU is unsupported on Windows 7 by default.	DSv2 family

Support matrix for Gen 1/Gen 2 and Windows 10/Windows 11

This matrix is also provided in the page Support for Windows 11 Guest Operating System - Considerations, Known Limitations, and Known Issues.

Azure VM Model	Windows 10	Windows 11
Gen 1 VM	Supported	Unsupported
Gen 2 VM	Unsupported	Supported

If you want to import a GPU-capable VM using the automated wizard and Microsoft Azure will not give you NV family quota

If you cannot create a Standard_NV12s_v3 VM in your subscription, then using the console's automated Import VM from Marketplace wizard to import a GPU-capable VM is not supported. The automated import will fail.

In that situation, an alternative to using this wizard to import a GPU-capable VM for a Windows 10 OS or Windows Server OS type is to use our manual import steps and import a Standard_NV4as_v4 VM from the Azure Marketplace. Starting with the v2204 service release, Horizon Cloud supports the manual import of an NVv4 type of VM from the Azure Marketplace for a GPU-enabled golden image. The pod must be running the v2204 release's manifest version to obtain this support. For the steps to manually import such a VM from the Azure Marketplace to use in your Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure deployment, follow the sequence of pages starting with Create the Virtual Machine Manually in Your Pod in Microsoft Azure and follow all of the What to do next sections. This Azure NVv4 family uses the AMD Radeon Instinct graphics driver.

Procedure

1. On the Imported VMs page, click Import.
2. In the Import wizard, choose the pod in which to create the VM by first selecting the pod's associated location and then selecting the pod from the list of pods at that location.
   After you select a location, the choices in the Pod list are filtered to show the pods available in the selected location.

   Important: If you are planning to use this image for GPU-enabled desktops or remote applications, ensure that the selected pod resides in a Microsoft Azure region that supports GPU-enabled virtual machines (VMs). GPU-enabled VMs are only available in some Microsoft Azure regions. See Microsoft Azure Products by region for details.
3. Select the details for the base VM.

   Option	Description
   OS	Select the Microsoft Windows operating system to use for the image's underlying VM. Note: This drop-down menu takes a few moments to populate the entries. If you are going to use this image for VDI desktops, select one of the non-server, non-multi-session operating systems that are listed in the drop-down list. To create a VDI desktop image, do not select one of those server or multi-session types of operating systems. If you are going to use this image for provisioning items that support shared usage, such as multi-session desktops or RDS-based remote applications, select one of the listed server or multi-session operating systems.
   Include GPU	Enable this toggle to specify a GPU-enabled VM for this base VM. Ensure that the NVv3 series is available for you to import in your subscription. If your subscription does not support you to import a Standard_NV12s_v3 VM from that series, the UI will prevent selecting this toggle. This option is not supported for the Windows 7 operating system. Therefore, you will not see this wizard option due to the dynamic nature of the wizard if you selected a Windows 7 operating system. Important: Using this toggle results in the system importing a VM from the Azure Marketplace with the Standard_NV12s_v3 VM type. To get the GPU capabilities in that imported VM, after the import process is completed, you must log into the VM's operating system and install the supported NVIDIA graphics drivers. You usually install the drivers after using the Reset Agent Pairing action on the VM as described in Step 9 below.
   Domain Join	Enable this toggle to specify that the resulting VM will be joined to one of Active Directory domains that are registered with your Horizon Cloud tenant as part of the automated process. When enabled, select the Active Directory domain from the drop-down list. The resulting VM will be joined to the selected domain. Domain administrator accounts in that domain will be able to log in to the resulting VM. When this toggle is switched off, the resulting VM is not joined to an Active Directory domain. Only the account credentials that you specify in this wizard can be used to log in to the resulting VM.
   Enable Public IP Address	Enable this toggle to configure a public IP address for this base VM. When enabled, the VM gets both a private IP address and a public one. When this toggle is switched off, the VM is configured with only a private IP address in your Microsoft Azure environment. When you enable this toggle, the workflow creates the public IP as a Standard SKU public IP with the static allocation method. A Standard SKU public IP provides for zone resiliency in Microsoft Azure. Because the Standard SKU IP addresses use static allocation, a Microsoft Azure subscription cost is incurred for the IP address even when its associated VM is in the stopped-deallocated state. Also, when this toggle is enabled, the workflow attaches the VM's NIC to the NSG located in the same resource group as the VM that has an inbound rule to allow RDP inbound connections to the VM. This rule provides the ability for you to log in to the imported VM over the Internet using RDP after it is created. For more information, see The Network Security Groups (NSGs) Created by the Horizon Cloud Import Virtual Machine from Marketplace Wizard.
   Optimize Windows Image	By default, this toggle is enabled to create a base VM that meets VMware recommendations and best practices for optimizing a VM's Microsoft Windows operating system. This optimization includes adjusting default operating system services features to meet the best practices, such as: Deactivating physical desktop features that are irrelevant in a virtual environment, to provide more efficient VM performance. Deactivating certain Windows system services, such as Windows Update, so that control of that service is isolated to administrators instead of the end users. For more details, see Deciding to Optimize the Windows Image When Using the Import Virtual Machine from Marketplace Wizard. Important: Keeping the default setting is strongly recommended to help prevent you from encountering Microsoft Windows Sysprep issues that might occur when the VM is later published as an image.
   Remove Windows Store Apps	This toggle is visible only when OS is set to a non-multi-session Windows 10 operating system. By default, this toggle is enabled to create a base VM that: Deactivates the Windows Store Installer Service. Removes most of the Windows Store applications that come in those base Windows 10 operating systems by default. These Windows 10 default applications are ones provided by AppX packages in the operating system. Important: Even when the toggle is enabled, the system retains some AppX packages by default, based on a system-defined allowed list. These allowed AppX packages remain installed in the VM at the end of the import VM process. For the list, visit the topic link below. Keeping the default setting is strongly recommended to help prevent you from encountering Microsoft Windows Sysprep issues that might occur when the VM is later published as an image. For more details, see Using the Remove Windows Store Apps Option When Using the Import Desktop Wizard.

4. Provide administration details.
   Note: The user name and password you enter must meet the Microsoft requirements for acceptable user names and passwords for creating a VM in Microsoft Azure. For the list of requirements, see username requirements and password requirements in the Microsoft documentation.

   Option	Description
   Username	Type the admin name that you want for the VM's local administrator account. This local administrator account is created in the VM during the process. This name will be used for the local admin account to access the VM's operating system, and also used during the convert to image process. This name can be a maximum of 15 characters in length, must not end in a period ("."), and must not be one of the admin names that are not allowed when creating a VM in Microsoft Azure. Important: Ensure you can remember this local administrator account information (this name and the password that you specify in the Password text box), or that you write it down so you can retrieve the information later. You will need these credentials when you want to add any third-party applications to this base image and when performing the New Image workflow to publish this image to the system.
   Password	Type the password that you want for that administrator account. The password must adhere to the Microsoft Azure password rules: Must not be one of the admin account passwords that are not allowed when creating a VM in Microsoft Azure Must be from 12 through 123 characters in length and meet three out of the following four complexity requirements: Contain a lowercase character Contain an uppercase character Contain a digit Contain a special character, such as (!@#$%/^&*)
   Verify Password	Re-type the password.
   Windows license question	As you go through making selections in the wizard's user interface, the wizard might display this question in the form of a toggle and check box combination. Follow the on-screen guidance. As described in Licensing section of VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure Requirements Checklist For New Pod Deployments, Horizon Cloud does not provide any guest operating system licensing required for use of Microsoft Windows operating systems that you use in the course of using the Horizon Cloud workflows. You, the customer, have the responsibility to have valid and eligible Microsoft licenses that entitle you to create the Windows-based VDI desktop VMs and multi-session VMs that you choose to use in your Horizon Cloud tenant environment.

5. In the Name field, provide a name for the VM and an optional description.
   Important: Do not enter a name that was previously used for an imported VM that has been converted into an assignable image in your Horizon Cloud environment. For example, if an imported VM was converted into an assignable image so that it is listed on the Images page, do not enter the same name here. Due to a known issue, the VM creation process fails silently if you reuse a name that is already listed on the Images page. The system will not create the VM in Microsoft Azure, however, an error message does not appear in the administrative console.

   The name must adhere to the following rules:

   • It cannot contain an underscore character (_).
   • It can have only alphanumeric characters and the hyphen.
   • The name must start with an alphabetic character (not a number).
   • The name cannot end with a hyphen (-).
6. Use the toggles in the Advanced Options section to customize the Horizon agent features that will be installed in the VM.
   When the option's toggle is enabled, the corresponding feature will be installed in the VM. In addition to the options you see selected in this wizard, the workflow process always installs the following key features by default.

   • Horizon agent - HTML5 Multimedia Redirection. Redirects HTML5 multimedia content in a Chrome or Edge browser to the user's local system to optimize performance.
   • Horizon agent - Horizon Performance Tracker. Monitors the performance of the display protocol and system resource usage.
   • Horizon agent - Horizon Monitoring Service Agent. Collects activity-related data from user sessions in the VDI desktop instances or farm multi-session VMs based on this image, and sends that data to the cloud monitoring service for historical data collection and reporting.
   • VMware Dynamic Environment Manager client components. The FlexEngine client component is installed using its typical mode. This feature enables use of VMware Dynamic Environment Manager features with the VDI desktop VMs and multi-session VMs that are provisioned based on this image.

   Attention: For the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system, the only optional agent features that can be installed using the toggles are the USB Redirection and Help Desk options. Also, even though the system will install the preceding four agent features into a Windows 7 Enterprise VM by default, the HTML5 Multimedia Redirection option and Horizon Performance Tracker are not supported for use in Windows 7 Enterprise.

   Option	Description
   App Volumes Agent	Enable this toggle to install the App Volumes Agent in the base VM. This agent provides for use of App Volumes features with desktop images that are subsequently built from this base VM. See also App Volumes Applications for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure - Overview and Prerequisites.
   Enable Flash MMR	Provides the ability to redirect Flash multimedia content that is streamed to the virtual desktop to stream directly to the client computer and decoded on the client system, to optimize performance. The client system plays the media content, offloading the demand on the virtual desktop. This agent option is not supported for use with Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session or with Windows 7 Enterprise.
   3D support in RDSH 3D support in Windows 10 Multi-Session	Applicable when the OS choice is set to a Windows Server or Windows 10 multi-session operating system. Provides 3D graphics support to applications that run on a GPU-enabled multi-session VM.
   MMR for Terminal Services	Provides the ability to redirect multimedia content that is streamed to the virtual desktop to stream directly to the client computer and decoded on the client system, to optimize performance. The client system plays the media content, offloading the demand on the virtual desktop.
   Client Drive Redirection	Allows Horizon Client users to share local drives with their virtual desktops and RDS-based applications.
   Skype for Business	Note: As of the Horizon Cloud Service 2303 release, this feature is unavailable for pods of manifest version 4136 or later. This feature is not supported for use with pods of manifest version 4136 or later. For pods of manifests prior to manifest 4136, this option provides the ability to use the virtual desktops to make optimized audio and video calls with Skype for Business.
   Webcam Support (Real-Time Audio Video RTAV)	Redirects webcam and audio devices that are connected to the users' client systems so that those devices can be used on the virtual desktop.
   Smart Card	Not installed by default. Lets users authenticate with smart cards when they use the PCoIP or Blast Extreme display protocol.
   VMware Print	Installs and configures the Horizon Agent's VMware Integrated Printing feature in the imported VM. This feature allows users to use any printer available on their client computers, without installing additional drivers.
   Scanner Redirection	Not installed by default. Redirects scanning and imaging devices that are connected to the users' client systems so that they can be used on the virtual desktop or RDS-based application.
   USB Redirection	Not installed by default. Gives users access to locally connected USB flash drives and hard disks in the virtual desktops and RDS-based applications. Note: Your organization might have specific policies around connectivity of end users' locally connected USB devices to their virtual desktops and RDS-based applications. For example, you can use group policy settings to deactivate USB redirection for specific users. For the related information, refer to the USB-related information in the VMware Horizon 8 Horizon Remote Desktop Features and GPOs guide located at VMware Horizon Documentation.
   URL Redirection	Not installed by default. Allows Horizon Client to determine which URLs should be handled using the virtual desktop or application instead of using the users' client system, and open those URLs using the virtual desktop or RDS-based application.
   Serial Port Redirection	Not installed by default. Redirects devices that are connected to the serial ports on the users' client systems so that they can be used on the virtual desktop or RDS-based application.
   Geolocation Redirection	Not installed by default. Allows for sharing the client system's geolocation information with Internet Explorer 11 on the virtual desktop. This option results in the Horizon Geolocation Redirection option installed when the agent is installed in the VM. Additional requirements are needed after the imported VM is ready. For details, refer to the content about geolocation redirection in the VMware Horizon 8Horizon Remote Desktop Features and GPOs guide located at VMware Horizon Documentation.
   Help Desk	Provides the ability to collect real-time performance-related, detailed desktop and session metrics from live desktop sessions. Live sessions are sessions that are active, idle, or disconnected. Logged-off sessions are not in this set of live sessions. Those metrics can help you troubleshoot the health of the virtual desktops. Those metrics are used in the console's user card, which is part of the system's help-desk-related features. Note: If you turn off this toggle, performance-related metrics from live user sessions in the desktop instances or farm multi-session instances based on this image are not collected. As a result, real-time live user-session data will not be send to the cloud monitoring service. As a result, such live user-session data cannot be reported in the user card for such sessions or within reports in your Workspace ONE Intelligence console. For details, see First-Gen Tenants - About the User Card Feature, Also Known as the Help Desk in Horizon Cloud and First-Gen Tenants - Reports Page in the First-Gen Horizon Universal Console. To collect historical session data, in addition to the Horizon Monitoring Service Agent that the Import Virtual Machine wizard installs by default, your Horizon Cloud environment must also have the monitoring sessions feature enabled in the General Settings page. If the monitoring sessions feature is deactivated, historical session data will not be available in the Workspace ONE Intelligence console for your Horizon Cloud reports. To verify the monitoring sessions feature's setting, in the first-gen Horizon Universal Console, navigate to the settings in Settings > General Settings > Monitoring.
   UNC Path Redirection	Not installed by default. Provides the ability for end users to redirect and open the UNC Path access from the virtual desktop to the client. Note: This feature is available for pods running manifest version 4136 or later.

   For extended details about the preceding agent-related options used for VDI desktops and RDS hosts, as well as about all of the Horizon agent features that are always installed by default, see Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options (for those options applicable to a VDI desktop) and Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for an RDS Host in the VMware Horizon product documentation.
7. Click Import.
   The system begins creating and configuring the VM. It can take approximately 45 minutes for the overall process to finish at its final point where the VM is listed on the Imported VMs page with powered-on status (green dot) and with an agent status of Not Paired.

   When the VM is initially instantiated in the Microsoft Azure cloud, its name appears on the Imported VMs page. Use the refresh icon to see the latest status of the VM on the page.

   If the VM creation process fails, the system generates a notification about the failure and displays a Failed link in the Agent Version column. Clicking that link opens the Notification page where you can read the reason for the failure.

   Important: When creating an image in Microsoft Azure China cloud, the process can take up to two (2) hours to complete. The process is subject to geographic network issues that can cause slow download speeds as needed binaries are downloaded from the cloud control plane.
8. After the automated process is finished and you refresh the page to see the resulting VM with its green powered-on dot and an agent status of Not Paired, use the Reset Agent Pairing action on the VM to pair it with Horizon Cloud.
   After the automated process is finished, the resulting VM is not yet paired with Horizon Cloud. The VM's Agent Status column will display Not Paired (Import Successful), as illustrated in the following screenshot.
   

   

   
   

   Select the VM and then click More > Reset Agent Pairing. The system pairs the VM with the cloud plane. This process can take several minutes to complete. During the pairing process, the VM is restarted and its agent status changes from Not Paired (Import Successful) to Unknown to Active. Use the circular arrow icon to refresh the Imported VMs page to see the VM's current status.

Results

The VM pairing process is completed when the Agent Status column displays Active and an agent version, such as 19.3.0. The following screenshot illustrates a VM after the pairing process is completed.

What to do next

• Customize the image's Windows operating system, including configuring things like wallpapers and installing the applications you want the VM to provide to your end users. If you enabled a public IP address for the VM, you can connect to the created VM by using the IP address displayed on the Imported VMs page in an RDP client like Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection. For details, see Customize the Imported VM's Windows Operating System.
• If your pod is configured to use a proxy, you are responsible for providing a way for the VDI desktop VMs and farm multi-session VMs to be configured with the proxy.
• If you selected one of the Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session operating systems that includes Office 365, you might need to enable shared computer activation for Office 365 ProPlus so that your end users will be able to use Office 365 applications that are provisioned from the RDS farms based on this VM. For detailed information, see the Microsoft documentation topic Overview of shared computer activation for Office 365 ProPlus.
• If you selected Yes for Include GPU, you must log into the VM's operating system and install the supported NVIDIA graphics drivers to get the GPU capabilities of the Microsoft Azure GPU-enabled VM. You install the drivers after the VM is created and the Imported VMs page shows that the agent-related status is active. See Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure - Install the Appropriate GPU Driver in Your Imported GPU-Capable VM.
• If you want to use the features of NSX Cloud and its NSX-T Data Center components with the farm multi-session instances or VDI assignment desktop instances based on this VM, you must log into the VM's operating system and install the NSX agent before publishing the image. See the topics VMware NSX Cloud and Horizon Cloud Pods in Microsoft Azure and Install the NSX Tools in the Horizon Cloud Imported Image VM.
• If the licensing associated with your Horizon Cloud environment entitles you to use Workspace ONE Assist for Horizon, and you want to use its remote-support features with the end-user virtual sessions that will be based on this VM, install the Workspace ONE Assist for Horizon agent into this VM. For information about using Workspace ONE Assist for Horizon, see its documentation in Workspace ONE Assist for Horizon
• The import process installs the VMware Dynamic Environment Manager client components by default. The FlexEngine client component is installed using its typical mode. The installation path in the resulting VM is C:\Program Files\VMware\Horizon Agents\User Environment Manager. If you want to use VMware Dynamic Environment Manager with the VDI desktop VMs and farm multi-session VMs based on this image, configure a separate file server in your Microsoft Azure subscription that has at least SMB 2 enabled. Then configure VMware Dynamic Environment Manager using that file server. Also configure the GPO settings that are required when the FlexEngine is installed in its typical mode. For details, see the VMware Dynamic Environment Manager documentation topics in the Dynamic Environment Manager product documentation.