Citrix PVS 7.6 Install – Part 10: Creating new PVS Target Devices

Posted on by Luca Sturlese

This is part 10 in the Citrix Provisioning Services 7.6 installation and configuration guide. In this article we learn how to create new target devices by cloning or templating an existing PVS target device VM.

Quick Links

Here are the links to each of the articles that make up this series:

Step-by-Step Guide

At this stage we have one PVS Target Device (WP-CTXAPP-V02). However at some point we will want to deploy more. This article explains how to do this. As mentioned previously, we could have converted WP-CTXAPP-V02 into a vSphere Template and then just deployed all of our PVS Target Devices from there. This is an awesome idea in a production environment, however in my test lab where I have limited resources, I am just going to take a clone of WP-CTXAPP-V02 to create a new PVS Target Device. Either way works well, even though the vSphere Template path is a more elegant solution.

Here are the steps required to create a new PVS Target Device from an existing PVS Target Device:

1. Ensure the PVS Target Device you are cloning from is in a powered off state

2. From the vSphere Client, right-click the PVS Target Device and select Clone

3. From the Clone Virtual Machine window, enter the name of the new VM and select an Inventory Location. Click Next

4. Select a Cluster and Click Next

5. Select a Resource Pool (if you have any) and click Next

6. Select Storage Options and click Next

7. Ensure the "Do not customise" option is selected. Click Next

8. Click Finish

9. Edit Settings on the newly cloned VM

10. Record the MAC address of the VM. This will be used when creating the PVS Target Device within the PVS Console

11. Log into the Citrix PVS 7.6 server and launch the Provisioning Services Console

12. Create a new PVS Target Device by completing the following:

  1. Navigate to Device Collections (Sites >> TestLab >> Device Collections
  2. Right-click on the Collection and select Create Device

13. From the window that appears, enter the following information:

  1. Name of the PVS Target Device (i.e. WP-CTXAPP-V03)
  2. Ensure the Boot From option is set to vDisk
  3. The MAC Address of the cloned VM
  4. Click OK to create the PVS target device

14. Click on the vDisks tab and then click the Add button

15. From the Assign vDisks window, select the PVS Image to use for this new PVS Target Device. Click OK to use that Image

16. With at least one PVS Image added, click OK to create the new PVS Target Device object

17. In my test lab environment, I now have two PVS targets (WP-CTXAPP-V02 and WP-CTXAPP-V03)

18. Right-click on the newly create PVS target (i.e. WP-CTXAPP-V03) and select Active Directory >> Create Machine Account

19. From the window that appears, select the Organizational Unit to use (i.e. PVS Servers OU) and then click Create Account

20. Checking Active Directory Users and Computers, we can see that the new Computer Object has been created

21. We are now ready to test the new PVS Target Device

22. Power on the VM and it should automatically commence the PXE boot process

23. The VM has successfully connected to Provisioning Services 7.6 and is now streaming the PVS Image

24. Once complete, you will be able to log into Windows and ensure everything is working correctly

25. Checking the Provisioning Services Console we can see that the new PVS Target Device is now running (see the green tick)

Next article…

The next article coming up in the series is: Citrix PVS 7.6 Install & Configuration Guide – Part 11: Creating a PVS-Enabled Machine Catalog.

Categories Citrix, Test Lab
Tags , , , , ,

Comments

    1. I think that has to do with the Computer Account password change not being handled by Citrix PVS. To do this, you need to first configure Provisioning Services to handle AD computer account changes and then you will need to add a registry key to your master image to prevent Windows from handling the password change.

      I do this via Group Policy and is documented in Part 5 of the PVS Install Guide. You can check it out here >>> (Citrix PVS 7.6 Install – Part 5: Group Policy for PVS Target Devices)[https://9to5it.com/citrix-pvs-7-6-install-part-5-group-policy-for-pvs-target-devices/].

      Hope this helps

      Luca

      Reply

  2. When I boot up the second target device, it says it connects to the PVS server, it finds the virtual disk and the “Starting Windows” screen starts in Windows 7 but then it just reboots. It is a continuous loop of the same thing. I did create the GPO in Part 5. Any ideas?

    Reply

    1. I have a little more information. I recorded the boot up and I see a message pop up quickly after the “Starting Windows” screen and the boot up begins. The message states “Error: BNISTack failed, network stack could not be initialized”. I’m not sure what I am doing wrong. I googled the error and the one thing I came across was making sure you delete any ghost network devices in Device Manager. I didn’t see any. Any clue what to do next?

      Reply

      1. Hi rapidcitygator,

        Glad that the Citrix PVS 7.6 install guide has been helpful. Ghost network adapters are actually hidden, and you need to show them in order to be able to see them and remove them. A while back I created a step-by-step guide on how to do this. You can find it here >> Removing Ghost Network Adapters.

        Hope this fixes the issue.

        Luca

        Reply

  3. Hi
    I flowed the tutorial and successfully started a target machine on VMware.
    But as i started to boot a real physical laptop from Citrix it hanged up.
    I added my laptop to collection and it can boot from PVS. but after windows loader starting the blue screen appear and says your computer ran into problem and needs to restart.
    there is detail on this screen but as it restart very fast i can not capture it.
    how i can solve this problem?

    Reply

    1. Hi Farid,

      Good to hear everything is working in VMware. The reason why you are having this issue is because your laptop has different hardware from the VMware virtual machine and therefore there are no drivers for your laptop.

      Hope that helps
      Luca

      Reply

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