Xendesktop on Anything About IT

ReadTip: Resources for Windows and Office license activation with XenDesktop

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 10:59:42 +0000

Below just a few resources I have collected related to Windows and Office license activation with XenDesktop. Licensing is not an exciting topic but we have to deal with it anyway.

KMS Configuration using Citrix Provisioning Services

Citrix Managing Microsoft KMS Volume Licensing

Citrix Configuring Microsoft MAK Volume Licensing

Citrix XenDesktop 5 Support Statement for Microsoft KMS activation with Machine Creation Services (MCS)

Licensing Windows for VDI environments

What is Microsoft VDA Licensing?

BGInfo Template for XenDesktop 5

Sun, 22 May 2011 22:48:26 +0000

During the past weeks I have spend a bit of time with Citrix XenDesktop 5 and while I was busy creating Desktop Groups, updating Master images, I thought i t could be helpful to see some information directly on the desktop. Show things on the desktop?, okay that’s a no-brainer, BGInfo from Sysinternals is what we need.

So I created a template for BGInfo that just shows the information I need when using XenDesktop.

ToolTip: HDX Monitor for XenDesktop

Thu, 19 May 2011 23:00:07 +0000

If you experience poor performance using a XenDesktop session, video and audio is not playing nicely, the Windows Event log is showing messages as shown below, it’s time to take a closer look at what’s going on.

Network latency is above the level supported by HDX MediaStream for Flash. Server-side Flash rendering will be used if available.

Measured latency (milliseconds): 86

Citrix has a FREE tool available to validate the operation of HDX. The Tool is called HDX Monitor for XenDesktop and can be downloaded from here

ReadTip: XenDesktop 5 MCS or PVS

Mon, 16 May 2011 06:51:02 +0000

If you’re planning to implement a XenDesktop 5 solution, you will have to think about using MCS (Machine Creation Services) or PVS (Provisioning Services). The XenDesktop Planning Guide for Image Delivery provides some guidance on this subject. The paper can be found here