Windows 7 SP1 optimizations for Citrix Xendesktop 5 and 5.5 with PVS

Virtual desktops is all about return on investment, lower the total cost of ownership while reducing support and delivering a service as good if not better than available on a traditional thick client. A key component of reducing the cost is density; how many virtual machines can you fit on a single server and for what cost?

Recently I started working on an optimization package that I could apply to most of my vDisks to lower ram usage, lower disk IOPS usage and ensure a smooth end user experience. The below list of optimizations have been cobbled together by me from other peoples recommendations, best practices and some optimizations I thought might be useful.

These optimizations include dropping un-needed events from event logs, capping event log size, optimizing the TCP stack for PVS, disabling un-required services, disabling visual effects and optimizing the file system. Many of the same optimizations I use when building an efficient over clocking operating system work great with virtual desktops, so this was a fun project for me.

I am using these optimizations on my production machines and they are all working well, but you should still thoroughly test them in a development environment before going live in case they conflict with your current configurations.

Simply copy the below into a .cmd batch file, boot your vDisk in private mode and execute the file.



The Optimizations

REM ----------------SOF HERE----------------

@echo off

REM Xendesktop 5 optimizations by James Trevaskis
REM Published on 17/10/2011 - Use at your own risk

REM TCP optimizations
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\parameters" /v DisableDHCPMediaSense /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\parameters" /v KeepAliveTime /t REG_DWORD /d 60000 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\parameters" /v KeepAliveInterval /t REG_DWORD /d 100 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\parameters" /v TcpMaxDataRetransmissions /t REG_DWORD /d 10 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\parameters" /v DisableTaskOffload /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

REM server and workstation service optimizations
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters" /v MaxWorkItems /t REG_DWORD /d 512 /f
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters" /v MaxMpxCt /t REG_DWORD /d 2048 /f
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters" /v MaxFreeConnections /t REG_DWORD /d 100 /f
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters" /v MinFreeConnections /t REG_DWORD /d 32 /f
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters" /v MaxCmds /t REG_DWORD /d 2048 /f
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters" /v UtilizeNTCaching /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters" /v MaxThreads /t REG_DWORD /d 17 /f

REM memory management
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v LargeSystemCache /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v IoPageLockLimit /t REG_DWORD /d "65536" /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v DisablePagingExecutive /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager" /v RegistryLazyFlushInterval /t REG_DWORD /d "30" /f

REM netlogon wait
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v WaitForNetwork /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

REM dont display last logon name
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v DontDisplayLastUserName /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

REM disable services
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv" /v start /t REG_DWORD /d 4 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CiSvc" /v start /t REG_DWORD /d 4 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BNNS" /v start /t REG_DWORD /d 4 /f

REM increase services timeout
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control" /v start /t REG_DWORD /d "120000" /f

REM priority control optimize foreground tasks
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl" /v Win32PrioritySeparation /t REG_DWORD /d 38/f

REM disable dr watson
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AeDebug" /v Debugger /t REG_SZ /d "" /f

REM visual effects (you may or may not want to apply this)
reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects" /v VisualFXSetting /t REG_DWORD /d "2" /f

REM print optimizations
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Providers" /v EventLog /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Spooler" /v ErrorControl /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f

REM event log
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application" /v MaxSize /t REG_DWORD /d "2097152" /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application" /v Retention /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\System" /v MaxSize /t REG_DWORD /d "2097152" /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\System" /v Retention /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Application" /v Retention /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Security" /v MaxSize /t REG_DWORD /d "2097152" /f
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Security" /v Retention /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

REM disable terminal services client printer mapping
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp" /v fDisableCpm /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

REM file system
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem" /v NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

REM misc
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Windows" /v ErrorMode /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f

echo Xendesktop optimizations complete



REM ----------------EOF----------------