AVD Session Host Optimization

Question

AVD Session Host Optimization

Gareth Coleman 31

Hi Everyone,

After a bit of advise if at all possible. I have deployed AVD for a customer a few moths ago and when doing a feedback session I am getting complaints about it taking to long to sign in. When I log in myself it takes on average between 50 seconds to a minute from clicking the icon on the Remote Desktop App to having AVD fully loaded, which I didn't think to bad.

User profiles are handled via FSLogix with containers hosted in Azure File Share and the DC authorised to use SMB and NTFS to Az Files

At login there are a few GPO's pulled from a DC to map drives (these point to Azure File Shares and depending on the user ), Map a printer and the define Remote Session Environment (Session Time Out and Auto Log-Off). These take about 20 Seconds to go through.

You then get the 'Preparing Windows' screen which hangs around for 10 seconds or so and then the screen goes completely black for between 20 - 30 seconds before the desktop shows up.

I have checked the metrics to see if there is a bottle neck anywhere and everything seems fine.

I have looked at using the Windows 10 for AVD Optimization tool (from the VDI Team on GitHUB) however a couple of the test machines I have tried it on, no matter what I set the AppX config json to, it always just removes everything (including apps clients need) so I have to go and reinstall it all again.

My first question is what is correct config set I should be using for Windows 10 Multi Session 21H2 (as 21H2 folder is meant for Windows 11).

My second question is if anyone has experienced the same issue and whether this is to be expected or whether there is a fix for it.

The clients previous system was an Azure hosted RDS Server with everything hosted from the one machine (profiles, data etc)

Many thanks in advance
Gareth

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Answer 1

Alan Kinane 16,951 MVP Volunteer Moderator

There's a lot to consider here but I suspect it might be down to your GPOs. You mentioned 20 seconds but if you disable these is it really just 20 seconds faster?

Where is the DC hosted, in Azure? Same region? These mapped printers, where are they located?

DNS servers, where are they located?

Might be obvious but what spec are the session host VMs and are you using Premium SSD disks for the OS? Are you using Premium tier for Azure files?

Anti-Virus configured correctly? Exclusions in place for FSLogix?

This is worth a read through: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/example-scenario/wvd/windows-virtual-desktop-fslogix

I would install AVD Insights also as this can give you metrics on profile load times etc. Best approach is to eliminate the possible causes systematically, for example try using local profiles for a user and see if it makes much difference?

Gareth Coleman 31 Reputation points

2021-12-15T08:30:32.833+00:00

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the reply. In answer to your questions, the DC is hosted in Azure and both the DC and the Session Hosts are both running in the same region. The printer is physically installed in the clients office with the VPN service to Azure and the DC running printer services directly to the VM's (the client has a lot of remote workers who need to be able to print into the office so the standard RDP Passthrough was not sufficient.

DNS is handled by the DC in Azure - its not a massive company so separate DNS servers was overkill. All of the VM's have the DC's server set as primary DNS. All VM's are on Static IP's

Exceptions have all been put in place as per the AV Vendors documentation for FSLogix. They are using BitDefender

In terms of VM Size, the session hosts are Standard D4as-V4 with Premium P10 SSD's as the OS Drives. I have looked at the Metrics and they are all well within their limits.

For Azure Files all active File Shares (including FSLogix) are under the Transaction Optimised tier.

It seems as if the issue occurs after the GPO's have been loaded and I suspect the issue is the time for the FSLogix profile to load correctly. You just get a black screen for about 30 secs. I will try AVD Insights and also swap the FSLogix share tier from Transaction Optimised to Premium to see if that makes a difference.

As I said in my original post I was looking to use The VDI Teams AVD Optimizer but everytime I have tested it the config files don't seem to work and it just removes everything.

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AVD Session Host Optimization

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