VMWare View 4.5 Information - Setup Windows 7 Base Images

More useful info on setting up Windows 7 Desktops in a View environment:

Bypassing KMS license activation performed by View Composer on Windows 7 and Windows Vista operating systems.

Details

By default, the View Composer QuickPrep process uses Microsoft Key Management Service (KMS) to activate Windows 7 and Windows Vista guest operating systems. To make sure that View Composer properly activates the operating systems on linked-clone desktops, you must use KMS license activation on the parent virtual machine.

QuickPrep does not use other volume activation methods such as Multiple Activation Key (MAK) licensing.

CAUTION: View Composer does not support MAK license activation. Use MAK license activation at your own risk. For example, each recompose operation can increase the MAK license count, which can result in the unexpected depletion of MAK licenses.

Solution

You can activate licenses for MAK clients or bypass license activation altogether by setting registry values on the parent virtual machine. You might want to bypass license activation if you intend to install a trial license on a parent virtual machine.

To enable QuickPrep to activate licenses for MAK clients:

1. In the guest operating system on the parent virtual machine, start the Windows Registry Editor and navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vmware-viewcomposer-ga
2. Navigate to the AllowActivateMAKLicense registry value. The default value is 0.

3. Set the value to 1.

To bypass license activation altogether:

1. In the guest operating system on the parent virtual machine, start the Windows Registry Editor and navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vmware-viewcomposer-ga

2. Navigate to the SkipLicenseActivation registry value. The default value is 0.

3. Set the value to 1.