![]() ![]() With version 4.7, the engineering team includes a script in the App Layering Gold Image Tools called “RemoveStoreApps.ps1”. In the work our engineering team did to test version 1703, it was determined this would be a requirement. If you are using Citrix App Layering with Windows 10, then you must remove all Windows Universal Apps. However, if you do not need store apps logons will be faster if you do not have any. NOTE: as of version 4.10 of Citrix App Layering this is no longer a requirement. Let’s take a look at the type of optimizations that are typically recommended and what layer it can be changed in. For example, if you are disabling a Windows service, that can be done in any layer, as it will modify the HKLM registry and that change will be merged into the image. Part of understanding what layer you want to make optimization changes in, is first to think about how the changes are made and how the changes are handled in Citrix App Layering. We need to understand what each optimization does and how it is impacted by placement within different types of layers. I wish I could just say, “always run the optimizations in the OS layer or the platform layer,” as that would be the easiest solution, everyone would do it the same way, and a standardized approach is easier to troubleshoot. When using Citrix App Layering, the first decision that needs to be made is where to implement the optimizations. It’s about how you should optimize Windows when also using Citrix App Layering. ![]() That said, this post is not about whether or not you should optimize you should. If you’re interested in analysis check out the Project VRC “ Windows 10 VDI First Analysis and Performance Best Practices.” It is quite detailed. All the analyses point to the optimizations enhancing session density between say 8% and as high as a 20% with a markedly better user experience. ![]() The benefit of optimizing will depend on the OS and services that are required for your use case. For me, the worst offense is that often, tasks and processes are kicked off when no users are logged on or active these spike CPU for tens of minutes or even hours, which can seriously impact user experience in the shared environment. Leaving this service enabled would cause significant memory bloat if allowed to be used on a host with 80 desktops. Similarly, take a service like SuperFetch, which is designed to set up a local cache with all available unused memory. In VDI and SBC, we have many, many users and computers sharing the same physical host, so having things like extraneous services that each use an extra 1% CPU at the VM level make a large impact when magnified 100-fold on the underlying physical hardware. Normally, Microsoft and other application vendors are assuming users are working on pretty powerful single user desktops with plenty of CPU and RAM to spare. But, if you think about it a little, you will come to see why it needs to be done. I guess it’s not obvious to everyone as to why there would be a need for this. When working with customers new to VDI, I am often asked whether it is important to tune the OS at all. Mark Plettenberg, who was also part of that team, has posted a review of the new Citrix Optimizer, as has Chris Twiest. They have moved on for now, but the work is still worth reviewing. Luckily for everyone likely to be reading this blog post, there are many talented folks also working on this same goal.įor many years the guys at Project VRC, headed by Jeroen van de Kamp and Ruben Spruijt, have been doing great work on this. I have spent a significant portion of this time concentrating on how to best configure the Windows OS to get the best user experience with the highest user density per physical host. Over the last 8 years with Unidesk and now Citrix Consulting, it has been intense, working with many customers on a weekly basis. I have been working with individuals and teams implementing both VDI and SBC infrastructures for going on 20 years now.
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