Earlier this year I wrote a blogpost about "Installing Citrix XenDesktop VDA and PVS Agent during deployment". Unfortunately enough it in't working, because there are to less folders during installation. I followed the guide found on Day to Day tech issues and tips. This is a really great guide to install Citrix VDA, but there is mentioned: Create a folder (x86 and/or x64) and copy the following folders from the Citrix installation media. The XenDesktop installation will look for additional information in the other folders, so they are needed as well. Based on the installation parameters even more folders could be necessary. (and they are for sure!)
Case is, this isn't enough for sure! Just copy the whole Citrix media to get it working, with the following folders and files in it. Otherwise the following errors will be mentioned in "%AppData%\Local\Temp\1\Citrix\XenDesktop Installer\XenDesktop Installation.txt"
-XenDesktopSetup:Unable to read product version details from file ProductVersion.txt Could not find file 'C:\Citrix XenDesktop\ProductVersion.txt'.
-XenDesktopSetup:InstallComponent: Failed to install component 'Machine Identity Service'. Could not find file 'C:\Citrix XenDesktop\ProductVersion.txt'.
-XenDesktopSetup:Recording installation failure. Could not find file 'C:\Citrix XenDesktop\ProductVersion.txt'.
Let's have a look at folders and files missing:
 |
| Root |
 |
| x64 folder |
After that Citrix XenDesktop VDA will be installed succesfully! Just have a look at the logfile again:
XenDesktopSetup:Installation complete, reboot needed
XenDesktopSetup:Installation Manager returned SuccessRebootNeeded
When installation is still failing because it's using x86 on a x64 system (seen that once), just use CD "x64\XenDesktop Setup" instead of "%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%" variable.
Happy that Citrix installation is working now!
More blogposts on this topic:
How to install Citrix XenDesktop VDA and PVS Agent during deployment
Implementing ConfigMgr in a XenDesktop VDI environment
When building a master image for a XenDesktop VDI environment, you have the choice to start a ConfigMgr prep. Within ConfigMgr 2007 this was needed all the time, within ConfigMgr 2012 this is not for sure. When looking at a recent Microsoft TechNet post however, it seems this is still needed. Let's have a look at a part of this blogpost:
Once install completes you will need to make the following changes to the master image prior to snapshot.
1. Stop the SMS Host Service – to do this run the command net stop ccmexec as an administrator
2. Delete the SMSCFG.ini file from the Windows folder – to do this run the command del %WINDIR%\smscfg.ini
3. Delete the SMS certificates – to do this run the following line in PowerShell – Remove-Item -Path HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\SMS\Certificates\* -Force or from DOS using powershell -command "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\SMS\Certificates\* -Force"
4. Remove the Inventory Action ID 1 in WMI – to do this run the command wmic /namespace:\\root\ccm\invagt path inventoryActionStatus where InventoryActionID=”{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}” DELETE /NOINTERACTIVE
Do not follow the advice from the Citrix Team Blog which is to install the client and forget about it. This approach will generate bad mifs in your environment. See my post on the subject here.
Just have a look at my other blogpost about "Prepare ConfigMgr client for Sysprep or Master Image" for more information on this.
I'm still convinced to prepare the ConfigMgr client for sure!
