Hi everyone! Some time ago, Microsoft released Windows 11 image with some special requirements to be stricter followed. For more information, see the following link Windows 11 Specifications
Basically you’ll need:
- TPM (Trusted Platform Module), version 2.0
- Disk Encryption
So how can we create a VDI image for our Horizon solution? Let’s see the steps below.
Download Windows ADK / PE add-on
You will need to download the following softwares to create your image:
- Windows ADK
- Windows PE add-on for the Windows ADK
Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install
Create Windows Virtual Machine to Build WinPE Image (Windows Server is recommended)
You need to create a Virtual Machine to be used as Assessment and Deployment Kit for creating your Windows 11 WinPE image
Suggested VM creation:
- Windows Server 2019 / 2022
- 2vCPU
- 4 GB RAM
- 40 GB Disk
Note: You can use a Windows 10 / 11 to install Windows ADK as well. I recommend using a Windows Server in order to have it working to future configuration we may have, like this documented in here: https://techzone.vmware.com/using-automation-create-optimized-windows-images-vmware-horizon-vms
Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) – Install
After installing virtual machine, install Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) following the pictures below:
Install the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit
Windows Preinstallation Environment (PE) ADK Add-on – Install
Now install Windows Preinstallation Environment (PE) ADK Add-on on the same virtual machine, following the pictures below:
Run ADKWinPeSetup as Administrator
Select install the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit Windows Preinstallation Environment Add-ons
Configuring Virtual Machine
You’ll need to create 3 directories as it follows: C:\test\mount\ – used as the mount directory of WinPE image
C:\test\drivers\ – (optional) contains the drivers files
C:\test\scripts\ – contains the scripts
Open Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment running as administrator:
Once open, type the following command to create C:\test\winpe as working directory of WinPE
copype amd64 c:\test\winpe
Execute this command to mount WinPE image in directory C:\test\mount\:
dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\test\winpe\media\sources\boot.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\test\mount\
Download Script files from https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/88320
Folder structure created on your Windows Server
Execute the following commands:
cd c:\test\scripts
copy startnet.cmd C:\test\mount\Windows\System32\
copy deploy.cmd C:\test\mount\
copy CreatePartitions-UEFI.txt C:\test\mount\
Create PVSCSI driver files
- Download latest VMware Tools from: https://packages.vmware.com/tools/releases/latest/windows
- Mount ISO into your Virtual Machine
- Execute the following command (check whether you have your VMware Tools ISO into E: drive, which is my case in here):
copy “E:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\pvscsi\Win10\amd64\” C:\test\drivers\
Files structure on Windows Server
- Add VMware PVSCSI driver or other drivers to WinPE image by executing this command:
dism /image:C:\test\mount\ /add-driver /driver:C:\test\drivers\ /Recurse
- Commit the changes and unmount the image, then create the WinPE ISO fille:
dism /Unmount-Image /Mountdir:C:\test\mount\ /commit
MakeWinPEMedia /ISO C:\test\winpe C:\test\WinPE_amd64.iso
Save WinPE_amd64.iso file to be used into your Windows 11 VM.
Create a Virtual Machine on your VMware Workstation / VMware Fusion / VMware ESXi
Let’s create now a virtual machine to be our Windows 11 Image and use this VM into your VMware Horizon environment.
Note: If you didn’t, download Windows 11 image file from Microsoft Software Download:
Here is an example of configuring a VM in VMware ESXi:
- Add WinPE Image on CD/DVD 1 (the one you created before)
- Add Windows 11 image on CD/DVD 2
After that, start up your virtual machine and, if everything works, you’ll see information to Press any key to boot from CD or DVD
You can select the best Windows 11 image for your desire. For now, let’s move on using Windows 11 Pro (Index 6)
After pressing 6 on your keyboard, Windows 11 will start install using DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Your virtual machine will reboot and start installing Windows 11 for you
From this point on, you just need to configure your virtual machine using the username / password, country / region, etc.
Closing Notes
I hope it has been useful. Thanks to Thiago Valcesia for the collaboration! For more information see this KB on https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/88320. See you next!