Windows OS optimizations

A default installation of Microsoft Windows contains a number of configuration settings, components, and scheduled tasks that may not be required or are not desirable in a Horizon environment. This section will detail these settings, and provide instructions on how to make the recommended changes.

Tip

A team of VMware engineers have created a tool that can be used to automatically apply (or remove) a number of different Windows desktop and server OS optimizations. The VMware OS Optimization Tool (https://labs.vmware.com/flings/vmware-os-optimization-tool). This tool may be used to perform many of the optimizations detailed throughout the rest of this chapter, as well as additional ones not listed.

Many of these optimizations are implemented using Windows Group Policies, which can be applied to the Master Horizon desktop image prior to deployment, or by using domain-enforced Active Directory Group Policies. It is recommended to apply the majority of the policies directly...