Unidesk 4 Release Notes

In this article:

Welcome to Unidesk 4.0.8!

This release adds full support for Nutanix AHV, making Unidesk the only solution to support all leading hypervisors. You now have complete agility and flexibility in deciding where to host your Windows workspaces, today and into the future.

We have also made performance improvements and added support for Windows Server 2016.

You’ll also get your first look at the Unidesk 4 User Layer, now supported in Unidesk Labs. Those of you who have been waiting to test the ability to persist user settings, data, and applications in non-persistent VDI environments need wait no longer!

What’s new in this release?

• Full support for Nutanix AHV. Unidesk now fully supports Nutanix AHV, adding to our existing support for Hyper-V, vSphere/ESX, Citrix XenServer, and Azure. Like the other platforms, you can now use Nutanix AHV to host the Unidesk Enterprise Layer Manager (ELM) virtual appliance; package App Layers and Layer versions; create and publish Layered Images; and use Elastic Layering to deliver custom applications to both virtual desktops and XenApp/RDSH sessions at login. You can also deliver Layers and Layered Images to all supported platforms without costly re-packaging or re-imaging. Moving your users from one end user computing environment or hypervisor to another, and managing across multiple environments has never been easier.

• Unidesk Connector for Citrix MCS support for Nutanix AHV. You can now publish Unidesk Layered Images directly to Citrix Machine Creation Services (MCS) running on Nutanix AHV. You’ll be able to manage image content (OS and Apps) once with Unidesk and continue to use MCS to manage image delivery for both your XenApp and XenDesktop environments. Instead of having to update Windows and common applications once for every delivery group and MCS image, you’ll only have to apply updates once.

• Windows Server 2016 Support. You can now use Windows Server 2016 as a supported operating system (OS) layer for Citrix XenApp and RDSH published application and desktop deployments. Import your Windows Server 2016 OS and you can start building App Layers and Platform Layers on top of it!

• Improved performance when Creating App Layers on VMware vSphere. You can configure the VMware vSphere Connector to cache boot and packaging disks and reuse them. Once these disks have been cached as part of creating your first App Layer, the time it takes to create subsequent App Layers is cut in half.

• Layer Management updates. We made several enhancements to general layer management usability including improvements to the Virtual Appliance Configuration Tool, the ability to edit the Layer version description, and listing the OS type in the OS Layer detail information.

• Imprivata OneSign Single Sign-On. Unidesk is fully compatible with Imprivata OneSign for single sign-on efficiency. Imprivata can be packaged as a Unidesk application layer to make distribution to all virtual workspaces fast and easy.

• Unidesk Roles. Previously released in Labs, Unidesk Roles are now generally available and with a new capability to assign Roles to AD Groups in addition to directly assigning Roles to individual users.

• Elastic Fit. Also previously released in Labs, Elastic Fit is now Generally Available. This feature alerts you if an Application Layer can be delivered as an Elastic Layer at login. Unidesk gives you the option of delivering applications as Layered Images or as Elastic Layers, Elastic Fit will advise you on which of Unidesk's layer delivery options to use.

• User Layer (Unidesk Labs). You can now test the ability to persist user profile settings, data, and user-installed applications in non-persistent VDI environments with the new User Layer. Initially, the User Layer will support Windows 7 64-bit environments for Citrix XenDesktop, VMware Horizon View and View JIT. Additional operating systems and session environments will be supported going forward.

New in Unidesk Labs!

• User Layers (Unidesk Labs).

  You can now test the ability to persist user profile settings, data, and user-installed applications in non-persistent VDI environments with the new User Layer. Initially, the User Layer will support Windows 7 64-bit environments for Citrix XenDesktop and VMware Horizon View. Additional operating systems and session environments will be supported going forward.

For the steps to enable Unidesk Labs features, click here.

Supported Platforms

For information about Unidesk-supported platforms, see Supported Platforms.

Upgrade path

You can upgrade from 4.0.x to the current release.

Known issues and considerations

User Layer (Unidesk Labs)

• MS Office should be in the Layered Image. If using add-ins or Office 365, you must include Office in the Layered Image, not in the User Layer. If not, you will have activation issues. (UNI-53474)
• There are issues with Windows Search when using a User Layer. (UNI-53320), (UNI-54524), (UNI-54520)
• Red 'X' network adapter icon indicates there's an issue even when the network is functional. When using a User Layer, the network icon will appear as a red x, even when everything is functional. You can ignore the red 'X'. (UNI-53443)

Common across platforms

• Tasks created prior to this release do not have fully qualified owners and can only be canceled by an Administrator. (UNI-52741)
• App may appear to load slowly on a user's session. For applications that automatically update, like Chrome and Firefox, updates should be turned off. Windows will prompt the user to make changes with Admin rights even though the user does not have those rights. Instruct the user to click No when prompted, and the application will load successfully.
• Unidesk Agent requires .NET Framework 4.5, but the installer lists 4.0 as a prerequisite.The Unidesk Agent needs .NET Framework 4.5 but lists 4.0 as a prerequisite. This causes the installer to fail when it reaches "Starting services", and the Unidesk Agent logs show the service trying to start up repeatedly. Please install .NET Framework 4.5 as a prerequisite for the Unidesk Agent. (UNI-50769)
• User receives alert on first launch of an elastically assigned Skype Layer.When a Skype Layer is elastically assigned, the user receives this alert the first time the app is launched, "The Installer has insufficient privileges to modify this file: url." If the user clicks the Ignore button, Skype opens as expected. (UNI-52164)
• Use the same hypervisor when adding a Version to your OS Layer. When adding a Version to an OS Layer, you must package the Layer on the same hypervisor from which you imported the OS during Layer creation. (UNI-44372)
• After adding new disks to the ELM, be sure to reboot. When adding disks to expand storage, a reboot of the ELM is recommended after the disk expansion wizard has completed the operation. (UNI-53580)

Elastic Layering

• Elastic Layers require .NET Framework 4.5.If you are using Unidesk Elastic Layers, .NET Framework 4.5 must be installed on any Layered Image where Elastic Layers are enabled.
• Empty directories visible to Windows Explorer users when Unidesk drivers are running. When an image has been enabled with Elastic Layering, a user using Windows Explorer to view files and directories may be able to see empty directories associated with other sessions using Elastic Layering if they also use Windows Explorer to browse files. Directories explored in the other session may create folders visible to all sessions that have the rights to browse that directory. The directories and the contents of them will not be visible to users who do not have access to the volume.
• If using Elastic Layer Assignments with Windows Server 2008 or Windows 7, your fileshare must be created with a sector size of 512.
  For details about this issue and related OS updates, see the Microsoft articles about Microsoft support policy for 4K sector hard drives in Windows, and Update that improves the compatibility of Win 7 and Win Server 2008 R2 with Advanced Format Disks. (UNI-48984)
• When using Elastic Layer Assignments, Persona Management in Horizon View is not supported. Although Unidesk supports Horizon View 6.1 and later, Elastic Layer Assignments do not work with these versions of View Persona Management. (UNI-53639)

Elastic Layering MS Office

• Shortcuts to elastically assigned Office apps may be visible on the Start menu for users who are not assigned the apps. Although these shortcuts are visible, they only work for users who are assigned the apps. (UNI-49687)
• When MS Office is assigned elastically, use built-in license activation scripting. For best results when using office elastically, consider using built-in license activation scripting and adding c:\windows\setup\scripts\officeactivate.cmd to the script path when finalizing the Office App Layer or editing its properties. (UNI-50467)
• When elastically layering MS Office, do not install One Note. Instead, include OneNote in the Layered Image. The One Note printer driver allows other Office apps to print to One Note. For further details, refer to the Microsoft Office Recipe. (UNI-50449)

Windows 10

• Windows 10 upgrades require a 60 GB disk for the OS Layer Version. When adding a Version for upgrading your Windows 10 OS Layer, be sure to change the Max Layer Size from the default of 30 GB to the required 60 GB. (UNI-52422)
• Additional step required when upgrading a major Win 10. During a major upgrade, for example when upgrading from 1511 to 1607, Windows 10 sometimes creates a Recovery Volume as a new partition on the same disk as the OS Layer Version. This volume should always be removed before you finalize the OS Layer Version. Otherwise, the recovery volume can cause desktops to fail to boot correctly. For the steps to safely remove a recovery volume, click here.

Citrix PVS

• When creating an Image Template, the template's target device hardware settings must match the Windows OS and Platform Layer settings. Make sure the target device hardware settings match the OS and Platform layer hardware settings, especially the number of CPUs. If they don't match, you can get a reboot required message when the published image is booted. (UNI-50799, UNI-46333, UNI-51599)
• When using PVS, you must disable IPv6 in the OS Layer. If this is configured in the Platform Layer instead of in the OS Layer, when the resulting PVS machines boot, they will lose their network connection and hang. (UNI-53600)
• If permissions are wrong when publishing an image, you may get an error message that states that the operation has timed out. (UNI-54516)
• Although the UMC allows image names that contain a period ("."), those names fail in the PVS environment. Do not include a period in the name. UNI-54263)

XenServer

• When preparing your OS image for use in XenServer, you must open port 5900. (UNI-50846)
• Creating a Unidesk Connector Configuration that points to a slave node in a XenServer pool produces an unexpected error message.To avoid this issue, only use the master node when creating Connector Configurations. (UNI-52454)

VMware Horizon View

Elastic layers are only supported with floating desktop pools. (UNI-53442)

Microsoft Azure

• The Azure File Share feature is not supported. However, you must create an NFS or SMB file share in Azure to use with Unidesk. (UNI-42272)
• Publishing Layered Images simultaneously to the same Azure resource group fails. Either deploy one at a time, or deploy the Layered Images to different resource groups.(UNI-43376)
• Using a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) in Azure can fail if not entered in the format Azure expects. When deploying in Azure, the Azure template requires the FQDN in a specific format, or it will fail. Click here for details. (UNI-51587)

Microsoft Hyper-V

• When using Elastic Layering in Hyper-V, you must use unmanaged RDS pools.(UNI-53545)

Imprivata

• Imprivata App Layers must be created with the appropriate broker Platform Layer as a prerequisite. This is critical for Citrix PVS/MCS and Horizon View environments

How can I contact Unidesk?

We welcome your feedback about this release.

• Use our online Forum to talk directly with Unidesk employees and other organizations deploying Unidesk.

• For product issues and questions, open a Support Case.

We look forward to hearing what you think about Unidesk 4!