Custom OS Template (Windows)

An admin within your company can set up a Customised OS Template for spinning up remote desktops. It's also a handy way to activate your own OS licence.

You must follow each step precisely to create a working image. Proceed with caution. 

Important:

About Disk Partition
1. The template accepts just a single disk partition, or two partitions: one EFI/Boot and the other for system and data.
2. LVM partitions are not supported, so avoid them.
3. Using the wrong partition layout will break the auto-resize disk and machine naming features.

 

Windows

1. Install "Red Hat VirtIO SCSI pass-through controller

At the prompt "Where do you want to install Windows?", click "Load drivers" and choose the appropriate driver. The storage drive will then appear.

2. Initial Setup

When you see "Let's connect you to a network", select I don't have internet.

For the "There's more to discover..." screen, click Continue with limited setup.

Choose any username and leave the password field empty.

3. Install Virtio-win drivers and guest agents

Once the machine boots and you're logged in, navigate to CD Drive E and run Virtio-win-guest-tools to install the virtio drivers along with spice vdagent and qemu guest agent. Then click Next and OK to complete the process.

4. Disable Hibernate 

Open the Command Prompt by right-clicking and choosing "Run as administrator", then type "powercfg.exe /hibernate off" and press Enter.

5. Enable Shutdown/Restart Windows 10 without Any Prompts

In the registry editor, go to the key HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop.

Add a new String Value named AutoEndTasks and set its value to 1.

      

 

6. Check if the required service exists and set to "Automatic Start"

• Spice-Vdagent : for support of qemu vnc clipboard
• BalloonSerivce:   for guest memory usage stats

    

        

7. Install and configure Tightvnc to allow proper VNC connection

Head to https://www.tightvnc.com/download.php and download the TightVNC installer for Windows.

Run the installer, and once it's finished, disable authentication.

Open the TightVNC service configuration tool and set it up.

 

8. Enable Shared-drive

    With Shared-drive, you can share files between cloud desktops within a training course or between a user's local machine and the cloud desktop. It relies on WebDAV file sharing. Before you can use it, you'll need to map the drive. Check the screenshot below for guidance.

 

 

9. Shutdown your Windows properly

Click the Windows icon in the bottom-left corner, then Power, and select Shutdown.

 

 

Please Note

To include additional optional capabilities, like

• DDWebdav to sync the trainer's content folders to each participant's machine,
• or DDUpload for easy file uploads within a DaDesktop machine;

get in touch with DaDesktop Tech Support.