How Do I Update a Desktop Image and Hosts?
Nerdio Manager allows you to update a desktop image and then re-image all the hosts in all the host pools that use that desktop image.
To update a desktop image and re-image hosts:
In Nerdio Manager, at the Account level, navigate to Desktop Images.
Locate the desktop image you wish to work with and power it on.
Locate the IP address for the desktop image VM.
RDP to the desktop image VM in one of the following ways:
Download the RDP file:
From the action menu next to your desktop image, select Generate RDP file.
In the new dialog box, in the Duration field, define the period for the RDP file to stay active. Keep in mind that you will not be able to connect to that RDP file after the selected period expires, and will have to generate a new file if new connection is needed. Select Download.
Double-click the downloaded file to launch the remote desktop connection, and then in the new dialog box, select Connect.
Use an active Windows Server in your network:
Go to the Servers blade, and then locate the IP address of the server that you want to use for a remote connection to your desktop image VM.
RDP to your server using the mstsc command.
From the server, RDP to the desktop image VM using the mstsc command.
In the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box, enter the IP address of your desktop image VM, and then select Connect.
Notes:
You can often use a session host or other Azure VM that is connected to the same VNet to do this.
Ensure there are no pending OS update installations, and all apps are updated as desired. Pending installations are a common cause for unhealthy images.
Depending on whether your image is domain-joined, sign in to your desktop image VM as the domain or local admin:
In the Enter your credentials dialog box, select More choices > Use a different account.
In the User name field, specify the domain admin or local admin user name with which you want to sign in. Provide the corresponding password, and then select OK.
Note: If signing in as a local admin:
Ensure the user name you enter is the host name of the desktop image VM you want to connect to, plus your local admin user name.
Provide the custom password that you created when adding the desktop image you are connecting to. If you don't remember the password, you can reset it in the Azure portal.
Make the required changes on your image VM.
Sign off the VM and leave it powered on if you plan to set the image immediately.
In Nerdio Manager, at the Account level, navigate to Desktop Images.
Locate the desktop image you wish to work with and, if it is powered on, select Power off and set as image. If it is powered off, from the action menu, select Set as image.
Enter the following information:
Azure Compute Gallery: From the drop-down list, select the Azure Compute Gallery where to store the image.
Azure Regions: From the drop-down list, select the Azure Regions where the image should be replicated.
Storage Account Type: From the drop-down list, select the storage account type for the managed disk.
Stage new image as inactive Select this option to create the new image version without setting it as active.
Note: Any existing configurations continue to use the current version of the image. See How Do I Update a Desktop Image and Hosts? for details about activating a staged image.
Run the following scripted actions: Toggle this option On to specify the scripts that run during creation.
Target VM: Select whether the scripted actions run on the Clone VM or the Source VM.
Note: Applying scripted actions to the Source VM retains the changes during future image maintenance or staging.
Applications Management: Toggle this option On and select the applications to manage during creation.
- Error Handling: Toggle this option On and configure the retry thresholds and cleanup options should the process fail.
Retry Threshold: Type the number of of attempts to retry the set as image task before failing.
Cleanup after failure: Select this option to shutdown and remove the resources created during the set as image process after the Retry Threshold has been met. In addition, type the number of hours to wait before the cleanup process begins.
Retain current image object: This option is automatically selected when you select Set new image as inactive.
Note: This option creates a copy of the current image and retains it for a specified duration. This provides an option to restore the image and revert any changes, in case of any issues.
Versions to keep: Type the number of image versions to retain.
Install certificates: Select this option to install all stored certificates on the desktop image, if any.
Validate image: Select this option to apply the image to the virtual machine, gather boot diagnostics, and verify the virtual machine successfully boots before creating a Managed Image or publishing to Azure Compute Gallery.
Use Boot Diagnostics Insights: Select the this option to perform boot diagnostics. See Overview of Boot Diagnostic Insights for details.
Change log: Optionally, type the list of changes made to the desktop image.
Schedule: Toggle this option On and create the schedule when this task is run. Otherwise, the task is run immediately.
Once you have entered all the desired information, select OK.
The re-image task starts. You can follow the task's progress in the Desktop Images Tasks section.
When the desktop image re-image task completes, you need to re-image the host pool(s).
In Nerdio Manager, at the Account level, navigate to AVD > Host Pools.
Locate the host pool that uses the changed desktop image.
From the action menu, select Hosts > Resize/Re-image, and then select the latest image version.
Optional. Enable the Schedule option, and then define the schedule details. Scheduling the Resize/Re-image task helps you prevent disruptions to any active user sessions during the business hours.
Note: If the host pool has an existing resize/re-image task currently scheduled, you have the option to remove the current schedule or run this task once now and leave the schedule unchanged.
Enter all the desired information and select OK. See Create a Host Pool for details.
Note: For several of the required parameters, you may filter the available choices by using the Resource Selection Rules. For example, you may filter the VM Size or OS Disk choices for Intel RAM-optimized VMs only. See Resource Selection Rules Management for details.
The re-image task starts. You can follow the task's progress in the Host Pools Tasks section.
Repeat all of these steps for each host pool that uses the changed desktop image.
Note: Once individual VMs are re-imaged, the changes made to the desktop image are deployed to all users.
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