Step 2: Installing and Configuring Virtual Machines

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Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2

The virtual machines are configured in a virtual desktop pool. The virtual machines are dynamically assigned to user accounts as they connect to the pool. In this step, you will install and configure the virtual machines.

Use the following table as a reference when setting up the appropriate computer names, operating systems, and network settings that are required to complete the steps in this guide.

Computer name Operating system requirement IP settings DNS settings

VDP1-CLNT

Windows 7

IP address:

10.0.0.7

Subnet mask:

255.255.255.0

Default gateway:

10.0.0.1

Preferred:

10.0.0.1

VDP2-CLNT

Windows 7

IP address:

10.0.0.8

Subnet mask:

255.255.255.0

Default gateway:

10.0.0.1

Preferred:

10.0.0.1

Install the virtual desktop pool computers (VDP1-CLNT and VDP2-CLNT)

To configure the virtual machines that will be used in the virtual desktop pool, you must complete the following tasks:

  • Install Windows 7 on the virtual machines.

  • Configure TCP/IP properties.

  • Join the virtual machine to the contoso.com domain.

  • Import the SSL certificate of the Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access) server on the virtual machines.

  • Enable the virtual machine to support rollback.

To install Windows 7 on a virtual machine

  1. Log on to RDVH-SRV as CONTOSO\Administrator.

  2. Insert the Windows 7 product DVD into the DVD drive on the RDVH-SRV server.

  3. Open Hyper-V Manager. To open Hyper-V Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager.

  4. Right-click RDVH-SRV, point to New, and then click Virtual Machine.

  5. On the Before You Begin page, click Next.

  6. In the Name box, type vdp1-clnt.contoso.com and then click Next.

  7. On the Assign Memory page, click Next.

  8. On the Configure Networking page, in the Connection box, select the virtual network that contains the other machines in the contoso.com domain, and then click Next.

  9. On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, in the Name box, type vdp1-clnt.contoso.com; in the Size box, type 30 and then click Next.

  10. On the Installation Options page, click Install an operating system from a boot CD/DVD-ROM drive.

  11. In the Physical CD/DVD drive box, select the DVD drive that contains the Windows 7 product DVD, and then click Next.

  12. On the Completing the New Virtual Machine Wizard page, review the installation options, and then click Finish.

  13. In the Virtual Machines area, right-click vdp1-clnt.contoso.com, and then click Connect.

  14. Click Action, and then click Start.

  15. Repeat these steps for the VDP2-CLNT computer.

Next, configure TCP/IP properties so that VDP1-CLNT has a static IP address of 10.0.0.7. In addition, configure the DNS server of CONTOSO-DC (10.0.0.1).

To configure TCP/IP properties

  1. Log on to VDP1-CLNT as a member of the local Administrators group.

  2. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet, and then click Network and Sharing Center.

  3. Click Change adapter settings, right-click Local Area Connection, and then click Properties.

  4. On the Networking tab, click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), and then click Properties.

  5. Click Use the following IP address. In the IP address box, type 10.0.0.7. In the Subnet mask box, type 255.255.255.0. In the Default gateway box, type 10.0.0.1.

  6. Click Use the following DNS server addresses. In the Preferred DNS server box, type 10.0.0.1.

  7. Click OK, and then close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box.

  8. Repeat these steps for the VDP2-CLNT computer.

Finally, join VDP1-CLNT to the contoso.com domain.

To join VDP1-CLNT to the contoso.com domain

  1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.

  2. Under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings, click Change settings.

  3. On the Computer Name tab, click Change.

  4. In the Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box, under Member of, click Domain, and then type contoso.com.

  5. Click More, and in the Primary DNS suffix of this computer box, type contoso.com.

  6. Click OK, and then click OK again.

  7. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears prompting you for administrative credentials, provide the CONTOSO\Administrator credentials, and then click OK.

  8. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears welcoming you to the contoso.com domain, click OK.

  9. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears telling you that the computer must be restarted, click OK, and then click Close.

  10. Click Restart Now.

  11. Repeat these steps for VDP2-CLNT.

Next, import the SSL certificate for the RD Web Access server on the VDP1-CLNT and VDP2-CLNT computers.

To import the SSL certificate for the RD Web Access server on the virtual machines

  1. Log on to VDP1-CLNT as CONTOSO\Administrator.

  2. Click Start, in the Start Search box, type mmc and then click OK.

  3. On the File menu, click Add/Remove Snap-in.

  4. In the Add or Remove Snap-ins dialog box, in the Available snap-ins list, click Certificates, and then click Add.

  5. In the Certificates snap-in dialog box, click Computer account, and then click Next.

  6. In the Select Computer dialog box, click Local computer: (the computer this console is running on), and then click Finish.

  7. In the Add or Remove snap-ins dialog box, click OK.

  8. In the Certificates snap-in console, in the console tree, expand Certificates (Local Computer), and then click Trusted Root Certification Authorities.

  9. Right-click the Trusted Root Certification Authorities folder, point to All Tasks, and then click Import.

  10. On the Welcome to the Certificate Import Wizard page, click Next.

  11. On the File to Import page, in the File name box, click Browse, and then browse to the location where you copied the SSL certificate for the RDWA-SRV computer. Click Open, and then click Next.

  12. On the Certificate Store page, accept the default option (Place all certificates in the following store – Trusted Root Certification Authorities), and then click Next.

  13. On the Completing the Certificate Import Wizard page, click Finish.

  14. After the certificate import has successfully completed, a message appears confirming that the import was successful. Click OK.

  15. Log off from the VDP1-CLNT computer.

  16. Repeat these steps for the VDP2-CLNT computer.

Finally, rollback is a feature in Remote Desktop Services that reverts all changes made by a user to a virtual machine when the user logs off from the virtual machine.

To enable rollback on a virtual machine

  1. Log on to RDVH-SRV as the CONTOSO\Administrator user account.

  2. Open Hyper-V Manager. To open Hyper-V Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager.

  3. Under Virtual Machines, right-click vdp1-clnt.contoso.com, and then click Snapshot.

  4. Under Snapshots, right-click vdp1-clnt.contoso.com, and then click Rename.

  5. Type RDV_Rollback and then press ENTER.

  6. Close Hyper-V Manager.

  7. Repeat these steps for the VDP2-CLNT virtual machine.

Configure the virtual machine for Remote Desktop Services

You can configure the virtual machine by using Windows PowerShell. If you prefer to configure the virtual machine manually, see Appendix A: Configuring the Virtual Machine Manually in this document.

The Windows PowerShell script does the following on the virtual machine:

  • Enables Remote Desktop

  • Enables Remote Procedure Call (RPC)

  • Adds selected users to the Remote Desktop Users group

  • Adds the proper RDP-TCP listener permissions for the RD Virtualization Host server

  • Adds a Windows Firewall exception for Remote Desktop Services

  • Adds a Windows Firewall exception for Remote Services Management

  • Restarts the Remote Desktop Services service

You can find the script in the Microsoft TechNet Script Center (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=184804).

To configure the virtual machine, type the following commands at the Windows PowerShell prompt:

  1. Set-ExecutionPolicy remotesigned –force, and then press ENTER.

  2. Configure-VirtualMachine.ps1 –RDVHost contoso\rdvh-srv –RDUsers contoso\mskinner, and then press ENTER.

You have installed and configured the virtual machines. Now you can proceed to Step 3: Configuring the Virtual Desktop Pool.