Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool
VDOT, June 2024 Release
The Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool (VDOT) is a set of mostly text-based tools that apply settings to a Windows operating system, intended to improve performance. The performance gains are in overall startup time, first logon time, subsequent logon time, and usability during a user-session.
The VDOT tool came about from years of performance tuning of on-premises Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). Some of those VDI implementations were not Internet-connected, or limited Internet-connected, rendering some features and/or functionality of Windows non-functional. Instead of having non-functional components running, those items that could be disabled or removed in a supported manner, were done so. The result was faster startup, login, and smoother user throughout user sessions.
Later when Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) came about, the VDOT tool was meticulously gone over, and made to support AVD, in a manner that would not degrade the user interface, reduce functionality, or in any way impair the AVD session hosts. Input was received and implemented from the Microsoft Windows and Azure Virtual Desktop product groups.
As the VDOT tool exists now, it is compatible with a wide-range of systems. It works on VDI, AVD, stand-alone Windows, Windows Server (with some caveats), and some optimizations are even applied to the Windows 365 offering.
The optimization settings in this tool are the potential settings that reduce compute activity, and thus increase user density per host. It is important to test the optimization settings in each respective environment, and adjust settings as needed.
The VDOT configuration files that determine what to disable, remove, or set as policy, are in text-based .JSON files, in the respective OS version folder (ex. '2009'). The JSON parameter that this tool uses to determine whether or not to apply a setting is 'VDIState'. If the 'VDIState' parameter in the respective .JSON file is set to Disabled, the optimization setting will be applied. If 'VDIState' is set to anything else, the setting will not be applied.
Note
This script takes a few minutes to complete. The total runtime will be presented at the end, in the status output messages. A prompt to reboot will appear when the script has completely finished running. Wait for this prompt to confirm the script has successfully completed. A reboot is necessary because several items cannot be stopped in the current session.
The "-verbose" parameter in PowerShell directs the script to provide descriptive output as the script is running.
Up until now, you could run this command:.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -Verbose -AcceptEula
and a core set of optimizations would run. Now if you run the above command you receive a message back:
That equivalent functionality going forward is:.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -Optimizations All -Verbose -AcceptEula.
This change came about when more categories of optimizations were added, some of which may not be desirable to everyone, so the new optimizations were added to a new parameter set called AdvancedOptimizations. The new parameter set contains Edge Chromium optimizations, the ability to remove Internet Explorer 11 payload, and remove the built-in OneDrive app. With the AdvancedOptimizations parameter set, you can run one or all of the optimizations just mentioned.
Windows 11 in some respects, reports the same as Windows 10, to various configuration management tools. Currently (as of 7/29/22) has 'ReleaseID' value of '2009'. Until the 'ReleaseID' number changes, all new optimizations are going to be included in the 'Configuration Files' folder underneath the '2009' folder. Therefore, the 2009 folder configuration files apply to Windows 10, as well as Windows 11.
The current version of VDOT, as of 06/14/2024, has been tested with Windows 11 23H2, and with current Insider builds of Windows 11. There are slight variances on what "convenience" apps are included in Windows based on ring, milestone, SKU, etc. Therefore, it is possible that a setting is included in the VDOT tool that applies to one or another specific ring or SKU of Windows. In that case if an attempt is made to remove an app that does not exist, an error will be displayed and the script will move on. Activities are logged in the Windows event log for later reference.
The current version of Edge in Windows 10, as of 07/29/2022, is Microsoft Edge (Chromium based). There are a set of policy template files specific to the new Edge. All of the policy settings that VDOT used are documented in Group Policy Settings Reference Spreadsheet for Windows 11 2023 Update (23H2)
The VDOT tool now has the following optimization options for Microsoft Edge:
The AppxPackages.json manifest, regardless of version of Windows, now has the "VDIState" set to "Unchanged". The reason is that there is not a Microsoft "recommended" list of apps to remove for all environments. In each case, if you want to remove a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) application, change the "VDIState" value from Unchanged to "Disabled".
Note
The VDOT tool not only removes UWP apps for "AllUsers", it removes the app payload. Once a UWP app payload is removed, it cannot be re-provisioned to that system. The only way to re-provision a removed app payload is reset the device, reinstall, or re-image.
Users can still reinstall a VDOT removed app through the Store app, if Internet connected. If not Internet connected, the apps cannot be reinstalled. This is why VDOT does not remove the Store app, nor do we recommend that the Store app be removed. Here is an article on the Store app.
| ✏ NOTE| There is a service that should not be disabled, except perhaps in "air-gapped" environments, or other environments that block access to the Microsoft Content Delivery Network (CDN). This service is called the "Microsoft Store Install Service". If this service is disabled, the Store components in Windows cannot update UWP apps and dependencies, which can lead to vulnerabilities. The exception could be made if the organization proactively updates the UWP apps and their dependencies. Manually updating UWP requires obtaining each components application installation package, and the packages of application dependency components. These can be bundled and offered through components such as Endpoint Manager, or perhaps Intune.
The VDOT tool has several parameters passed to the main PowerShell file "Windows_VDOT.ps1" that provides installation granularity. The two parameters used to control exactly what optimizations are applied are:
-Optimizations
-AdvancedOptimizations
The result is that you could run as many, as few, or even one sub-parameter contained from the list above. Here are two examples of running the VDOT tool for specific optimization categories.
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -Optimizations AppxPackages -AcceptEula -Verbose
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -AdvancedOptimizations Edge, AppxPackages -AcceptEula -Verbose
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -Optimizations All -AdvancedOptimizations All -AcceptEULA -Verbose
We have added the ability to remove the built-in OneDrive app. Removal of the OneDrive app is applicable for example, to air-gapped clouds. There is an associated OneDrive app sync that can be removed in the AppxPackages optimization category. The OneDrive app can be added back. The sub-parameter to remove the OneDrive app is in the parameter "-AdvancedOptimizations". Removal of the OneDrive app is not a default setting and can only be initiated by selecting one of the two following options:
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -AdvancedOptimizations RemoveOneDrive
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -AdvancedOptimizations All
Since Internet Explorer 11 has been officially retired, we added the option to remove the IE11 payload from the system. The sub-parameter is RemoveLegacyIE and is contained in the -AdvancedOptimizations parameter. Since it is not a default setting to remove the IE11 payload you can specify it's removal in one of two ways:
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -AdvancedOptimizations RemoveLegacyIE
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -AdvancedOptimizations All
VDOT runs fine on Server 20xx, though if every parameter is specified, there will be a lot of non-error error messages generated. There are no UWP apps prior to Server 2025. To run VDOT on Windows Server 2019 and/or Windows Server 2022, use this parameter:
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -WindowsVersion 2009
PowerShell: Running Executables
Remove-Item
LGPO
Set-Service
Remove-Item
2.2.1.7.2 GlobalFolderOptionsVista element
Windows 10 Release Information
Windows 11 Release Information
Note
We have fully deprecated the use of LGPO.exe.
NOTE: This script should take just a few minutes to complete. The total runtime will be presented at the end, in the status output messages.
A prompt to reboot will appear when the script has completely finished running. Wait for this prompt to confirm the script has successfully completed.
Also, the "-verbose" parameter in PowerShell directs the script to provide descriptive output as the script is running.
On the device that will be receiving the optimizations:
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope Process
This allows for PowerShell script execution, but for only as long as the app running now is open.
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -Optimizations All -Verbose
This will run all standard optimizations with verbose output, though the EULA will have to be manually accepted.
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -Optimizations All -Verbose -AcceptEula
This will run all standard optimizations with verbose output, and automatically accept Eula (for scripted running)
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -Optimizations All -AdvancedOptimizations Edge -Verbose -AcceptEULA
This will run all standard optimizations, the Edge browser advanced optimizations, verbose output, and automatically accept Eula.
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -Optimizations AppxPackages -AcceptEULA
This will run AppxPackages only and auto accept the EULA
.Windows_VDOT.ps1 -Optimizations All -AdvancedOptimizations All -Verbose -AcceptEULA -Restart
This will run every VDOT optimization, verbose output, automatically accept Eula, and restart the device when VDOT concludes.
Note
The VDOT tool determines OS version at run-time. You can specify a different set of configuration files by using the "-WindowsVersion" parameter.
When complete, you should see a prompt to restart. You do not have to restart right away, though it is recommended to do so.
SYSPREP (The Windows System Preparation Tool) (08/27/2022)
Should you run VDOT before or after Sysprep? The answer is either, maybe both. The "both" answer is because you can re-run VDOT at any time and nothing changes unless settings have reverted, apps have been reinstalled, etc. A case has been observed, where OneDrive is removed when VDOT is run before SYSPREP. After that image is deployed there is a OneDrive link on the Start Menu. This should not occur if you can run VDOT AFTER SYSPREP.
Windows cannot check certificate information (01/17/2020)
IMPORTANT: Windows cannot check certificate information (CRL) with the following setting disabled
Local Computer Policy Computer Configuration Administrative Templates System Internet Communication Management Internet Communication settings
The following setting has been removed from VDOT:
Turn off Automatic Root Certificates Update
Disabling 'CDPSvc' can cause SystemSettings.exe to crash (01/27/2020)
A new issue was discovered recently regarding the 'CDPSvc'. If that service is disabled, and a new user logs on to the computer then opens 'System Settings' to view display settings, 'SystemSettings.exe' will crash and log an error to the event log with code "fatal app exit".
The setting for the 'CDPSvc' is now unchanged in 'Win10_1909_ServicesDisable.txt'.
O365 cannot contact licensing server (04/20/2020)
Previously the VDOT script had a local policy setting at this location set to disabled:
Local Computer Policy Computer Configuration Administrative Templates System Internet Communication Management Internet Communication settings
Turn off Windows Network Connectivity Status Indicator active tests
With the active tests disabled, Office 365 is not able to contact it's licensing service, and therefore would not run any of the Office apps. This setting has been changed back to "Not configured" in the included LGPO configuration.
Some apps have no visible border in cloud environments (04/22/2020)
In some virtual environments, such as Azure Windows Virtual Desktop, some of the application windows will have no border. An example is Windows File Explorer. You can replicate this by opening Wordpad and File Explorer, then move then around and note that you may not see a border where one app starts and the other ends.
One of the optimizations recently added changes the Visual Effects settings (found in System Properties) to reduce animations and effects, while still maintaining a good user experience.
- "smoothing screen fonts"
- "show shadows under mouse pointer"
- "Show shadows under windows"
These user settings will enable a shadow effect around the windows like File Explorer, so that the border of the app is now visible.
These settings are written to the default user profile registry hive, so would apply only to users whose profile is created after these optimizations run, and on this device.
Apps run, even though the app has not been run (04/29/2020)
Several of the built-in UWP apps, such as Skype, Phone, and Photos, will start processes and run in the background, even though the user has not started the app(s). On a single machine this is near-zero impact, but on multi-session Windows, it can be a slightly larger impact issue. There is a setting in the 'Settings' app, under 'Background apps' that allows you to control this behavior on a per-user basis. However, there is currently no way to change this behavior as a global setting, other than to completely uninstall the app.
If you would like to keep one or more of these apps in your image, and still control the background behavior, you can edit the default user registry hive and set the following settings:
"HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionBackgroundAccessApplicationsMicrosoft.Windows.Photos_8wekyb3d8bbwe /v Disabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f "HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionBackgroundAccessApplicationsMicrosoft.Windows.Photos_8wekyb3d8bbwe /v DisabledByUser /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f "HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionBackgroundAccessApplicationsMicrosoft.SkypeApp_kzf8qxf38zg5c /v Disabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f "HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionBackgroundAccessApplicationsMicrosoft.SkypeApp_kzf8qxf38zg5c /v DisabledByUser /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f "HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionBackgroundAccessApplicationsMicrosoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe /v Disabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f "HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionBackgroundAccessApplicationsMicrosoft.YourPhone_8wekyb3d8bbwe /v DisabledByUser /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
You could also set these settings with Group Policy Preferences, and should take effect after a log off and log back on, or a Gpupdate refresh.
Windows Update not working (05/11/2020)
With the settings included in the local policy configuration, which is restored to the target during the processing of these scripts, if you attempt to run Windows Update manually, Windows may report an error.
The reason these settings are in place in these scripts, is in case you deploy these to a target that is Internet connected, Windows Update may try to install updates while session hosts are actively being utilized. Virtual Desktop environments often control Windows Update to only be allowed during maintenance windows, or not run at all, but instead deploy new hosts.
The most recent resolution for this issue is to set the 'UsoSvc' back to the default start value of "manual". Alternatively, edit 'Services.json' and change the 'VDIState' of 'UsoSvc' to "unchanged". Also, local policy settings have been updated to leave Windows Update settings unchanged from default settings.
Starting with the 2004 version of these scripts, use of the Disk Cleanup Wizard (Cleanmgr.exe) has been deprecated. DCW is near end-of-life, but also sometimes "hangs" during running of the scripts. Instead some basic disk cleanup has been incorporated into the 'Windows_VDOT.ps1' script. There are logs, traces, and event log files deleted. If you wish to maintain log files, you can edit the .PS1 script and remove those entries.
There have been several reports of problems with the Start Menu after applying the optimization settings, and possibly other actions. Recently we were able to reproduce a problem with the Start Menu by performing a Feature Update from 1909 to 2004, where the 1909 session host had the optimization settings in place. The problem could arise as the result of having "optimized" user profiles, either locally or in a profile solution such as FSLogix. Then the Feature Update process does some work with Appx packages during that process, leading to orphaned items in the user's Start Menu.
- Create a script to repair the Start Menu, by copying the following to a text file, saving that as a .CMD or .BAT file, then providing that to the affected user either interactively or a logon script (normally does not require elevation).
start /wait taskkill /IM StartMenuExperienceHost.exe /F rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%AppdataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewyAC" rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%AppdataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewyAppData" rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%AppdataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewyLocalCache" rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%AppdataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewyLocalState" rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%AppdataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewyRoamingState" rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%AppdataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewySettings" rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%AppdataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewySystemAppData" rd /S /Q "%UserProfile%AppdataLocalPackagesMicrosoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewyTempState" Start C:WindowsSystemAppsMicrosoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewyStartMenuExperienceHost.exe
- Re-run VDOT with the appropriate '-WindowsVersion' parameter (e.g. 2004).
[NOTE] Not only will this repair the Start Menu in some cases, there are a few settings that are specific to the specific build that may not have been previously applied.
OneDrive local policy setting prevents automatic OneDrive sign-in (01/27/2021)
There is a default setting for OneDrive set in this tool, with these details:
Computer ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesWindows ComponentsOneDrive"Prevent OneDrive from generating network traffic until the user signs in to OneDrive"Default state: Not Configured
Optimization tool state: EnabledThere was another issue related to this setting also reported recently. Some of the Office apps would "hang" for several or more seconds, until OneDrive sync was complete. This could be related to this setting. Therefore, revert this setting to the default state of
"not configured".This particular policy setting is actually a preference. You can confirm this by noting the "down arrow" overlay on the setting icon. A good way to revert the setting would be to change the setting back to default with group policy. If you had to do this for each user, the process could be more involved.
Hang at logoff from "Task Window" (April 16, 2021)
We have had reports of a task window hanging at logoff, when the host is configured with multiple languages. Initial testing has shown that this is likely the result of one or more user-mode services being disabled by the script. The services in question are:
-CDPSvc
-CDPUserSvcThe 'VDIState' setting of these two "per-user" services has been changed from 'Disabled' to 'Unchanged'.
Snip & Sketch not working after optimizations (May 25, 2021)
After running the VDOT optimizations, the 'Snip & Sketch' UWP app can be started, but clicking to perform a new capture does not work (nothing happens). Also, clicking Snip & Sketch, an error is recorded in the Application event log, similar to the following:
Faulting application name: ScreenClippingHost.exe, version: 2001.22012.0.2020, time stamp: 0x5ff501a5Faulting module name: ScreenClipping.dll, version: 2001.22012.0.2020, time stamp: 0x5ff4fde8Exception code: 0x80000003Fault offset: 0x000000000001b92d
This has been resolved in recent builds.
Note on reinstalling Appx Packages
If you find that you have removed a UWP package and now need it back, the easiest way is to either open up the Microsoft Store app and search for the application, or click or copy and paste to a web browser, the URL for that app included in the 'AppxPackages.json' configuration file.
To prevent a particular UWP app from being removed in the first place, edit the 'AppxPackages.json' configuration file, search for the application, and change the 'VDIState' of that application entry from 'Disabled' to anything else, such as 'Unchanged'.
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