Citrix Provisioning

Troubleshooting vDisks

vDisk not booting after promotion

PVS vDisk promotion is an explicit action you can perform as an IT administrator if you need to add updates or patches. This process starts in Maintenance mode. You can move (or promote) this new version to a Test or Production environment. In Production, all targets have access to this new PVS vDisk version for use during the next PVS vDisk boot.

There are three ways to promote PVS vDisks:

  • Maintenance (read/write mode) to Test (read-only mode)
  • Maintenance (read/write mode) to Production (read-only mode)
  • Test to Production (read/write modes not applicable)

VHD-formatted PVS vDisks can become unbootable after promotion.

The content below provides troubleshooting steps you must perform if the PVS vDisk does not boot after promotion.

  1. Create a problem report using the PVS console. You can save the report as a local .zip file.
  2. Review the problem report with Support. Examining log messages is a critical step, enabling you to analyze and debug all events leading up to the boot failure.
  3. Ensure you understand the PVS vDisk promotion process. If Clean Cache Secrets or KMS Licensing is enabled, the Provisioning server mounts the PVS vDisk locally to perform certain actions.

If the PVS vDisk uses a VHD format and does not boot after promotion, disable cache secret cleanup and KMS licensing support as follows:

  1. Open the vDisk Properties window and, from the General tab, select the Cached secrets cleanup disabled checkbox. Alternatively, clearing the Cached secrets cleanup disabled checkbox enables the cleaning of cached secrets.
  2. Select the Microsoft Volume Licensing tab and set KMS to None. You can select KMS licensing during PVS vDisk creation. You also can modify KMS licensing for an existing PVS vDisk version. The General and Microsoft Volume Licensing tabs allow you to make settings changes that can lead to PVS vDisk boot issues. For example, setting KMS to None can prevent the PVS server from modifying the PVS vDisk.

    Collectively, the General and Microsoft Volume Licensing tabs allow you to modify settings that – contingent upon your selections – can trigger the inability of VHD-formatted PVS vDisks to boot after promotion.

    Image of the vDisk Properties General tab

    Image of the vDisk Properties Microsoft Volume Licensing tab

  3. Create a new version of the PVS vDisk and promote to Test or Production. Next, you must determine if the targets now use this PVS vDisk boot appropriately. To clarify, if you make these changes and the resulting PVS vDisk DOES boot, you have confirmed that you are encountering the bug associated with VHD-formatted PVS vDisks.
  4. To resolve boot failure after PVS vDisk promotion, convert your VHD-based PVS vDisk to a .vhdx PVS vDisk format. For more information, see the Support Knowledge Center.
Troubleshooting vDisks