Creating a Custom OS Template (Windows)

An admin in your organisation can craft a custom OS template for spinning up remote desktops. It's also a great way to activate your own license on the operating system.

These steps are crucial for building a successful image. Proceed with caution.

Important:

About Disk Partition
1. Your template should have only one disk partition, or two: an EFI/Boot partition and a combined system and data partition.
2. LVM partitions aren't supported—avoid using them.
3. An incorrect partition layout will cause the auto-resize and machine naming features to malfunction.

Windows

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

â When you see "Where do you want to install Windows?", click "Load drivers" and select the correct driver. After that, the storage drive will show up.

2. Initial Setup

â â Choose I don't have internet when you see the "Let's connect you to a network" prompt.

â â Select Continue with limited setup at the "There's more to discover..." screen.

â â Set any username without a password.

3. Install Virtio-win drivers and guest agents

â After the machine boots up and you log 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 installation.

4. Disable Hibernate

â Launch Command Prompt by right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator", then type "powercfg.exe /hibernate off" and press Enter.

5. Enable Shutdown/Restart Windows 10 without Any Prompts

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

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

â â

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

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

â

â â â

7. Install and configure Tightvnc to allow proper VNC connection

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

â Run the installer and, when it finishes, disable authentication.

â Open "TightVNC service configuration" and set it up.

8. Enable Shared-drive

â Shared-drive lets you share files across cloud desktops during a training course, or between your local PC and the cloud desktop. It relies on WebDAV technology. Before you can use it, you’ll need to map the network drive. Check the screenshot below for guidance.

9. Shutdown your Windows properly

â Click the Windows icon in the bottom-left corner, then go to Power > Shutdown.

Please Note

To add extra optional features such as

• DDWebdav for syncing the trainer's content folders to all participants' machines,
• or DDUpload - to easily upload files to a DaDesktop machine;

Please contact DaDesktop Tech Support.