Support All Use Cases With 100% Personalization

Profile Management Is Only Partial Personalization

Because persistent personalization is a critical success factor for VDI, IT organizations often try to solve the problem using:

Roaming profiles - Standard Windows roaming profiles are often ruled out because they only capture rudimentary profile settings, have a negative impact on the speed of log on and log off, and sometimes result in profile corruption if the load and unload processes don't complete properly.

Profile management tools - These tools are effective at capturing and sustaining basic profile settings. However, they cannot capture user-installed applications and data saved in any desktop directory. They also do not provide image management or application delivery capabilities, so you still need to invest in more third party tools, and bear the burden of integration.

Folder redirection - Redirecting "My Documents" and other folders found under C: in Microsoft Windows environments can sustain user data between sessions, reboots, and image upgrades. But this only works for data, and does not capture user-installed applications or the SIDs and GUIDs that a variety of security programs use.

Unidesk blog: Gartner On How to Make Desktop Virtualization More Personal

Unidesk Is 100% Personalization

Unidesk provides the only complete solution for VDI persistent personalization - including support for User-Installed Applications (UIAs). Our patent-pending Composite Virtualization™ desktop layering technology is aware of every change your users make to their virtual desktops. We capture their changes in Personalization layers that are uniquely assigned to each user. Personalization layers are cleanly separated from the Operating System and Application layers that desktop administrators package and deliver.

Most importantly, all personalization changes - Windows Color and Appearance, Desktop Background, Sounds, Mouse Pointers, document saves and renames, system personalization settings such as SIDs and GUIDs, User-Installed Applications (UIAs), User-Installed Plug-Ins to IT-assigned applications, and more - are sustained through any Microsoft Windows upgrade or patch.

In addition, we take snapshots of the Personalization layer at various intervals, and further isolate User Data from User-Installed Applications. If a user installs an application that breaks the desktop, you can roll back just the user-installed applications to an earlier snapshot, leaving the data snapshot current. It will be as if the application never existed, but the data will still be there. Instant desktop repair, with no data loss - it doesn't get much better than that. You can also opt to roll back the whole Personalization layer, including applications and data, to an earlier snapshot. With Unidesk, your users enjoy maximum flexibility, while you retain maximum control.

VDI Success Triangle

You've learned about Personalization. See how Unidesk delivers the other two must-have requirements for VDI Success:

Personalization | Management | Storage