Creating and Preparing a Virtual Machine for Cloning

You can create a pool of desktop machines by cloning a vCenter Server virtual machine (VM). Before you create the desktop pool, you need to prepare and configure this VM, which is used to spawn cloned virtual desktops. For instant-clone desktop pools, the base image is called a golden image. For full-clone desktop pools, the base image is called a Template Virtual Machine.

You can automate the creation and configuration of the VM or perform the steps manually. For more information, see Manually Creating Optimized Windows Images for VMware Horizon VMs or Using Automation to Create Optimized Windows Images for VMware Horizon VMs.

This chapter is applicable if you are utilizing vSphere to create automated or manual desktop pools of virtual machines. For more information about preparing non-vSphere machines for use in manual desktop pools, see Creating and Managing Manual Desktop Pools.

For information on how to create optimized Windows images, see Manually Creating Optimized Windows Images for VMware Horizon VMs or Using Automation to Create Optimized Windows Images for VMware Horizon VMs in the VMware Digital Workspace Tech Zone.

For information about preparing machines that are used as Remote Desktop Services (RDS) hosts, see the Windows Desktops and Applications in Horizon 8 guide.

For information about preparing Linux VMs for remote desktop deployment, see the Linux Desktops and Applications in Horizon 8 guide.