Configuring an ECS

Installing VirtIO Drivers

For a VM installed using a Windows image, the NIC driver becomes available only after the VirtIO driver is installed.

1. On the ECS, click > File Explorer. In the left pane, select the CD drive (X) and double-click to open it.
2. Double-click virtio-win-gt-x64 and install it as prompted.
3. After the installation is complete, start Device Manager and check whether the driver has been installed.
   1. Right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. In the displayed text box, enter devmgmt.msc and press Enter.
   2. On the Device Manager page, check whether the driver has been installed, as shown in Figure 1.
      Figure 1 Device Manager
      

Follow-up operations

Check whether the resolution can be changed. If it cannot, check the system boot mode.

1. Right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. In the displayed text box, enter msinfo32 and press Enter.
2. In the right pane of the System Information dialog box, locate BIOS Mode, as shown in Figure 2.
   Figure 2 System information
   

3. If the value of BIOS Mode is UEFI, address the resolution change failure by referring to What Do I Do If I Cannot Change the Resolution of a Windows OS Booted in UEFI Mode?

Disabling fast startup

1. On the menu bar of the ECS, right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. Enter control and press Enter.
2. On the Control Panel page, choose System and Security > Power Options. In the left pane, click Choose what the power button does, as shown in Figure 5.
   Figure 5 Power Options
   

3. Click Change settings that are currently unavailable, as shown in Figure 6.
   Figure 6 Change settings that are currently unavailable
   

4. Deselect Turn on fast start-up, as shown in Figure 7.
   Figure 7 Fast startup
   

5. Click Save changes.

Configuring NIC persistence using group policies

1. Create a startup file named DisableChecksum.ps1 in the C:/Windows/Setup/Scripts directory of the ECS.
   

   If the Scripts directory does not exist, create it manually.

2. Copy the following content to DisableChecksum.ps1:

   $adapters = Get-NetAdapter | Where-Object {$_.MediaConnectState -eq "Connected" -or $_.InterfaceDescription -like "*"}
   
   Write-Output $adapters
   
   foreach ($adapter in $adapters) {
       $name = $adapter.Name
       Write-Host "Disabling checksum offload for: $name"
       $properties = @(
           "IPv4 Checksum Offload",
           "IP Checksum Offload",
           "TCP Checksum Offload (IPv4)",
           "TCP Checksum Offload (IPv6)",
           "UDP Checksum Offload (IPv4)",
           "UDP Checksum Offload (IPv6)",
           "TCP Checksum Offload IPv4",
           "TCP Checksum Offload IPv6",
           "UDP Checksum Offload IPv4",
           "UDP Checksum Offload IPv6",
           "IPv4 Checksum Offload",
           "IPv6 Checksum Offload"
       )
   
       foreach ($prop in $properties) {
           try {
               $current = Get-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty -Name $name -DisplayName $prop -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
               Write-Output "Current: $current"
               Write-Output "Prop: $prop"
               if ($current) {
                   Set-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty -Name $name -DisplayName $prop -DisplayValue "Disabled" -ErrorAction Stop
                   Write-Host "   Disabled: $prop"
               }
           } catch {
           }
       }
   }

3. On the menu bar of the ECS, right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. Enter gpedit.msc and press Enter.
4. On the Local Group Policy Editor page, choose Windows Settings > Scripts (Startup/Shutdown), as shown in Figure 8.
   Figure 8 Scripts (Startup/Shutdown)
   

5. Double-click Startup, as shown in Figure 9.
   Figure 9 Startup
   

6. On the displayed Startup Properties page, click the PowerShell Scripts tab.
7. Click Add to go to the Add a Script window.
8. Click Browse, select the file created in 1, and click OK. The script parameters are empty by default.
9. Click OK and then click OK again.

Disabling Windows update

System update may cause desktop system exceptions (such as blue screen, black screen, and frame freezing). To ensure system stability, verify that the patch package works properly before pushing it.

1. On the menu bar of the ECS, right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. Enter gpedit.msc and press Enter.

2. In the Local Group Policy Editor window, choose Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage end user experience.
   • Configuring automatic updates
     1. Double-click Configure Automatic Updates on the right to go to the Configure Automatic Updates page.
     2. Select Disabled and click OK, as shown in Figure 10.
        Figure 10 Configuring automatic updates
        
   • Removing access to use all Windows Update features
     1. Double-click Remove access to use all Windows Update features to go to the Remove access to use all Windows Update features page.
     2. Select Disabled and click OK, as shown in Figure 11.
        Figure 11 Removing access to use all Windows Update features
        

Configuring a private DNS

You can configure a private DNS server address for OBS so that Windows ECSs on Huawei Cloud can directly access OBS through the private network.

1. On the menu bar of the ECS, right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. Enter cmd and press Enter.
2. Run the ipconfig /all command to check whether the DNS server is at the private DNS address in the region where the ECS resides.
   

   Huawei Cloud provides different private DNS server addresses for different regions. For details, see What Are Huawei Cloud Private DNS Server Addresses?

3. Change the DNS server address of the VPC subnet.
4. Locate the VPC where the ECS resides and change the DNS server address of the VPC subnet to the private DNS address. In this manner, ECSs in the VPC can use the private DNS for resolution and thereby you can access OBS on Huawei Cloud intranet. For details, see Modifying a Subnet.
   

   The private DNS server address must be selected based on the region where the ECS is. For details, see What Are Huawei Cloud Private DNS Server Addresses?

Enabling hibernation

1. On the menu bar of the ECS, click , enter cmd, right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator from the shortcut menu.
2. Run the powercfg -h on command to enable hibernation.

   

Deleting a system recovery partition

1. Right-click Start and choose Disk Management from the shortcut menu. Check whether the system disk (generally drive C) has a recovery partition. Go to the next step only when there is a recovery partition.
2. On the menu bar of the ECS, right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. Enter cmd and press Enter.
3. Open the CLI and enter diskpart. Then, press diskpart to go to the diskpart window.
4. Run the following commands in sequence to delete the system recovery partition:
   1. Print the disk list and select the system disk.

      list disk 
      # The number 0 indicates that the selected disk 0 is the system disk. Select a disk as required.
      select disk 0

   2. Print the disk partition list and select the recovery partition to be deleted.

      list partition 
      # In this example, 4 indicates the number of the recovery partition. Select a value as required, as shown in Figure 12.
      select partition 4

      Figure 12 Recovery partitions
      
   3. Delete the recovery partition.

      delete partition override

Changing the power plan to high performance

1. On the ECS, click , enter Control Panel, and open it.
2. On the Control Panel page, choose Hardware and Sound > Power Options.
3. Click Show additional plans and select High performance, as shown in Figure 13.
   Figure 13 Power settings
   

4. Click Change plan settings next to High performance. Select Never for Turn off the display.
5. Click Save changes.

Disabling hybrid sleep

1. On the menu bar of the ECS, right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. Enter gpedit.msc and press Enter.

2. In the Local Group Policy Editor window, choose Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Power Management > Sleep Settings.
3. Perform the following sleep settings in sequence:
   • Specifying the system sleep timeout (plugged in)
     1. Double-click Specify the system sleep timeout (plugged in) to go to the Specify the system sleep timeout (plugged in) page.
     2. Select Enabled and set System Sleep Timeout (seconds) to 0, as shown in Figure 14.
     3. Click OK.
        Figure 14 Specifying the system sleep timeout (plugged in)
        
   • Turning off hybrid sleep (plugged in)
     1. Double-click Turn off hybrid sleep (plugged in) to go to the Turn off hybrid sleep (plugged in) page.
     2. Select Enabled, as shown in Figure 15.
     3. Click OK.
        Figure 15 Turning off hybrid sleep (plugged in)
        
   • Specifying the system sleep timeout (on battery)
     1. Double-click Specify the system sleep timeout (on battery) to go to the Specify the system sleep timeout (on battery) page.
     2. Select Enabled and set System Sleep Timeout (seconds) to 0, as shown in Figure 16.
     3. Click OK.
        Figure 16 Specifying the system sleep timeout (on battery)
        
   • Turning off hybrid sleep (on battery)
     1. Double-click Turn off hybrid sleep (on battery) to go to the Turn off hybrid sleep (on battery) page. Select Enabled, as shown in Figure 17.
     2. Click OK.
        Figure 17 Turning off hybrid sleep (on battery)
        
   • Specifying the unattended sleep timeout (plugged in)
     1. Double-click Specify the unattended sleep timeout (plugged in) to go to the Specify the unattended sleep timeout (plugged in) page.
     2. Select Enabled and set Unattended Sleep Timeout (seconds) to 0, as shown in Figure 18.
     3. Click OK.
        Figure 18 Specifying the unattended sleep timeout (plugged in)
        
   • Specifying the unattended sleep timeout (on battery)
     1. Double-click Specify the unattended sleep timeout (on battery) to go to the Specify the unattended sleep timeout (on battery) page.
     2. Select Enabled and set Unattended Sleep Timeout (seconds) to 0, as shown in Figure 19.
     3. Click OK.
        Figure 19 Specifying the unattended sleep timeout (on battery)
        

Installing the 7-Zip

1. Go to the C:\software directory where the software package is stored, double-click 7z1900-x64.exe, and install the software as prompted.
2. After the installation is complete, check whether the environment variables contain 7-Zip.
   1. On the menu bar of the ECS, right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. Enter sysdm.cpl and press Enter.

      The System Properties window is displayed.

   2. On the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables.
   3. Double-click Path in System variables.
   4. Check whether the 7-Zip installation directory exists.
      • If yes, the installation is complete.
      • If no, perform 2.e to manually add environment variables.
   5. Click New and enter the 7-Zip installation directory, for example, C:\Program Files\7-Zip\. Then click OK.

Installing the Visual Studio 2017 runtime library

1. Go to C:\software to find the vc_redist.x64.exe and vc_redist.x86.exe packages, and double-click to install the Visual Studio 2017 runtime library.
2. Restart the ECS.
   

   If a message indicating that SmartScreen cannot be accessed is displayed during the installation, ignore it and proceed with the installation.

(Optional) Deleting the Microsoft language package

1. Search for Windows PowerShell in the Start menu and click Run as administrator. The Windows PowerShell running page is displayed.
2. Delete the Microsoft language package:

   Get-Appxpackage -allusers *Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePackzh-CN* | remove-appxpackage

(Optional) Installing the OS patch

1. Go to C:\software where the package is stored and install the OS patch.
   

   OS patches are updated by Microsoft on an irregular basis. Pay attention to Microsoft announcements and update the OS in a timely manner.

(Optional) Installing applications

1. Go to C:\software where the package is stored and install the application.
   

   Some security software (antivirus software, safeguards, and firewalls) may conflict with the Microsoft encapsulation tool. As a result, desktop creation may fail, and the blue screen of death (BSOD) or black screen may occur on the created desktop. Therefore, install security software only after desktops are provisioned.

(Optional) Installing peripheral drivers

1. Go to C:\software where the package is stored and install the peripheral driver.

Installing the Cloudbase-Init software

2. Go to C:\software where the package is stored, open the Cloudbase-Init installation package, and install Cloudbase-Init as prompted.
3. On the Configuration options page, configure parameters by referring to Figure 20.
   Figure 20 Configuration options
   
   

   The version number in the figure is for reference only. Use the actual version number.

4. After the configuration is complete, deselect the options shown in Figure 21.
   Figure 21 Finish
   

5. Click Finish.
   

   • After Cloudbase-Init is installed, it will randomize the password of the Administrator account if application software that takes effect only after a restart is installed. To prevent login failure after randomization, create a temporary account and reset the password of Administrator.
   • If your login using the default password of Administrator fails after the restart, log in as the admin user and reset the password of Administrator. Then log in as the Administrator user again.

Configuring Cloudbase-Init

1. Edit the configuration file C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\conf\cloudbase-init.conf in the Cloudbase-Init installation path.
   1. Add the netbios_host_name_compatibility=false configuration item to the last line of the configuration file so that the host name of the Windows OS can contain a maximum of 63 characters.
      

      NetBIOS supports up to 15 characters due to the constraint of Windows OS.

   2. Add the configuration item metadata_services=cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.httpservice.HttpService to enable the agent to access the OpenStack data source.
   3. Add the following configuration item to disable Cloudbase-Init restart:

      plugins=cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.extendvolumes.ExtendVolumesPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.createuser.CreateUserPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.sshpublickeys.SetUserSSHPublicKeysPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.setuserpassword.SetUserPasswordPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.localscripts.LocalScriptsPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.userdata.UserDataPlugin

2. In C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\conf\cloudbase-init-unattend.conf, check whether cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.sethostname.SetHostNamePlugin, exists.
   • If yes, delete it and perform subsequent operations.
   • If no, perform subsequent operations.
   • Add cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.userdata.UserDataPlugin at the end of plugins=. Add a comma (,) in front of the added configuration item.

Configuring the SAN policy of the ECS

1. If you use a Windows ECS to create an image, change the SAN policy of the ECS to OnlineAll. Otherwise, when you use the image to create an ECS, the disks may be offline.
2. Windows has three types of SAN policies: OnlineAll, OfflineShared, and OfflineInternal, as shown in Table 1.

   Table 1 SAN policy types of Windows

   Type	Description
   OnlineAll	All newly discovered disks are automatically set to online.
   OfflineShared	All disks on sharable buses, such as iSCSI and FC, are left offline by default, while disks on non-sharable buses are online.
   OfflineInternal	All newly discovered disks are offline.

   1. Right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. In the displayed text box, enter cmd and press Enter.
   2. Run the following command to query the SAN policy of the ECS using DiskPart:

      diskpart

   3. Run the following command to view the SAN policy of the ECS:
      san

      • If the SAN policy is OnlineAll, run exit to exit DiskPart and close the CLI window.
      • If no, go to 2.d.
   4. Run the following command to change the SAN policy to OnlineAll:

      san policy=onlineall

   5. Run the following command to exit DiskPart and close the CLI window:

      exit

Installing SysAgent and Sysprep

1. Open the C:\software directory on the ECS, double-click HW.SysAgent.Installer_64.msi and HW.SysPrep.Installer_64.msi, and install them as prompted.

Installing AppCenterAgent and AppCenter

1. Open the C:\software directory on the ECS, double-click WKSAppCenterAgent.msi and WKSAppCenter.msi, and install them as prompted.

Checking whether netdom exists in the OS

If a VM created using this image needs to rejoin a domain, netdom is required.

1. Right-click on the ECS and choose Run from the shortcut menu. In the displayed text box, enter cmd and press Enter.
2. Run the following command to check whether netdom exists:

   netdom

   If the following information is displayed, netdom exists. The check is complete. Otherwise, install the RSAT service as follows.

   

   Install the RSAT service.

   For details about how to download the software package and install the RSAT service, see Installing the RSAT Service.

Encapsulating an Image

You can determine whether to encapsulate images.

You must encapsulate images as the Administrator user.

Creating an image not encapsulated (Recommended)

Images that are not encapsulated can be provisioned faster and are recommended.

1. Before running the command for encapsulation, you need to modify the permission on the en-US folder in C:\Windows\System32 to allow the administrator to write data to the en-US folder.
   1. Go to the C:\Windows\System32 directory.
   2. Right-click the en-US file and choose Properties > Security > Advanced from the shortcut menu. The Advanced Security Settings page is displayed.
   3. On the displayed page, click Change and enter Administrator in the text box. Click Check Names and click OK.
   4. Select Replace owner on subcontainers and objects and click OK.
   5. Right-click the en-US file and choose Properties > Security.
   6. On the en-US property page, click Edit. On the en-US permission page displayed, click Administrator and select OK on the right of Full control.
   7. Click OK and then click Yes.

2. On the ECS, find the Windows image creation tool in C:\software and decompress it to obtain the Workspace_HDP_WindowsDesktop_XXX folder.
3. On the menu bar of the ECS, right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. Enter cmd and press Enter.
4. Switch to the directory containing the template tool:

   cd C:\software\Workspace_HDP_WindowsDesktop_Installer_x.x.x

5. In the displayed CLI, run the following command to create an image not encapsulated:

   run_silent.bat --passive --environment_type 2 --nocheck --noshutdown --nosysprep

   

   • During image creation, the ECS automatically restarts. Do not exit or stop the ECS. After the ECS is restarted, enter the ECS password to proceed with image encapsulation.
   • If the installation is successful, the encapsulation is complete. Close the dialog box and click OK.

Creating an encapsulated image

If the AD server is interconnected with and an application requirement is raised, you can encapsulate an image.

1. Before running the command for encapsulation, you need to modify the permission on the en-US folder in C:\Windows\System32 to allow the administrator to write data to the en-US folder.
   1. Go to the C:\Windows\System32 directory.
   2. Right-click the en-US file and choose Properties > Security > Advanced from the shortcut menu. The Advanced Security Settings page is displayed.
   3. On the displayed page, click Change and enter Administrator in the text box. Click Check Names and click OK.
   4. Select Replace owner on subcontainers and objects and click OK.
   5. Right-click the en-US file and choose Properties > Security.
   6. On the en-US property page, click Edit. On the en-US permission page displayed, click Administrator and select OK on the right of Full control.
   7. Click OK.

2. On the ECS, find the Windows image creation tool in C:\software and decompress it to obtain the Workspace_HDP_WindowsDesktop_XXX folder.
3. On the menu bar of the ECS, right-click and choose Run from the shortcut menu. Enter cmd and press Enter.
4. Switch to the directory containing the template tool:

   cd C:\software\Workspace_HDP_WindowsDesktop_Installer_x.x.x

5. In the displayed CLI, run the following command to create an encapsulated image:

   run_silent.bat --passive --environment_type 2 --nocheck --noshutdown

   

   • During image creation, the ECS automatically restarts. Do not exit or stop the ECS. After the ECS is restarted, enter the ECS password to proceed with image encapsulation.
   • If the installation is successful, the encapsulation is complete. Close the dialog box and click OK.

Stopping the ECS

6. On the ECS list page of the console, locate the row of the ECS created in Creating an ECS, and choose More > Stop to stop the ECS.