You analyze the current state of the Windows operating system by comparing it to the selected template. You can then select the optimization parameters to be applied to the golden image.

Before you optimize the guest operating system, your IT department should evaluate the recommended optimizations to ensure that they do not interfere with the other software being used at your organization.

Prerequisites

  • Prepare a base VM that matches the configuration that you plan to deploy for virtual desktops or RDS hosts. Run the Windows OS Optimization Tool for VMware Horizon on this VM.
  • Take a snapshot of the VM so that you can revert to the previous state if required.
  • Disable all unnecessary operating system components on the VM and perform user-acceptance testing to see if there are any problems. Re-enable any components that cause a problem.

Procedure

  1. On the OS Optimization Tool UI, click the Optimize tab.
    The System Information section displays the VM OS details.
  2. From the Template dropdown, select the template to be used for optimization.
    You must use a template that matches the OS of the target VM. This is important because each OS has different optimizations. If an element in the template is marked with a red X, it is not available in the target image that you are optimizing and the OS Optimization Tool cannot perform this optimization.
  3. Click Analyze.
    After the analysis is completed, the Analysis Summary section in the upper right part of the window displays the optimization state of the target VM. Detailed optimization recommendations are displayed in the lower part of the window. Check boxes next to items that are included in the optimization are selected. Items with un-selected check boxes are not included in the optimization as they can cause undesirable results.
    If the target image has already been optimized with the OS Optimization Tool, previous selections are imported and used instead of default selections. To revert to default selections, delete the %ProgramData%\VMware\VMware Horizon OS Optimization Tool\ OptimizedTemplateData.json file, relaunch the tool, and click Analyze again.
  4. Expand the appropriate groups by clicking the arrow next to them and review the sub-tasks and individual optimization settings. If the values in the Expected Value column and Actual Value column are different, that parameter has not been optimized.
    Recommendations are grouped into settings and actions. Settings include an icon to indicate the importance of optimizing a parameter, while actions are performed when the optimization is run.
    Icon Description
    osot Mandatory – you must apply the optimization to the target VM to resolve detected by the OS Optimization Tool.
    rec Recommended – the OS Optimization Tool recommends optimizing this item, but you must determine if the recommended setting is applicable to your organization.

    If a setting with this icon has been deselected by the OS Optimization Tool, selecting it for optimization can cause instability. Test the optimization of this item before putting it into a production environment.
    opt Optional – the OS Optimization Tool has no recommendation about optimizing this item. Determine if the setting is applicable to your organization.
    ok OK – the item has the proper value or setting and does not require any optimization.
  5. Adjust the optimizations as appropriate by selecting additional settings or de-selecting settings that were previously selected.
  6. Click Common Options next to the Template drop-down to set preferences for common functions. These options control multiple individual settings. Changes made to common functions overwrite the template setting values for the current optimization run.
  7. To export selected optimizations, click Export Selections. Specify a filename and directory.
    The selected optimizations are saved as a JSON file. You can import these to optimize other golden images.
  8. To save the analysis results, click Export Analysis Result and specify a filename and directory.
    The results are saved in an HTML file. You may want to keep this file for your records or to compare it with post optimization results.
  9. Click Optimize.
    The progress bar shows the progress of the optimization run.
  10. After the optimization is completed, click Results to see the optimization results.
  11. Click Export to save the results in an HTML file.