Clonepost from my blog.

There are some good guides out there (such as Carl Stalhood’s) that cover the details of setting up Citrix App Layering, but currently don’t have a birds eye overview of what an App Layering implementation requires.

After going through many of these hurdles myself, I considered that a “light on the details” overview might be useful for the masses that are new to the tech.

This guide is written from the perspective of a VMware admin, so if you’re using a cloud implementation, the details may differ in places.

1. Download the “Citrix App Layering” package from Citrix.
2. Import the “Enterprise Layer Manager” or ELM (this is the UniDesk VM appliance) into your Hypervisor (VMware, XenServer, or cloud whatever.)
3. Configure the ELM network from the hypervisor console.
4. Login to the ELM via Internet Explorer (requires SilverLight) using administrator:Unidesk1
5. Configure the ELM
   1. Change default password
   2. Configure HTTPS Certificate
   3. Setup a connector to a network share (also setup the share, see the link to Carl’s guide above)
   4. Setup Active Directory
   5. Setup Provisioning Services connector (if used) (requires an agent on the PVS server, and a reboot of the ELM after completing configuration)
6. Create your OS Layer
   1. Create a new VM and install the desired OS
   2. Run Patches
   3. Install VM Toolstack/drivers
   4. Install/configure App Layering Package
   5. Shutdown, then Import into the ELM, creating your ELM Hypervisor connector in the process
7. Create your Platform Layer
   1. Create platform layer from OS Layer (This creates a new VM on your hypervisor, you make the changes in that new VM)
   2. Install your VDA (Note details in Carl’s guide about user accounts and groups that need recreation)
   3. If using PVS, join the domain
   4. Run ngen updates
   5. Finalize from the administrator desktop shortcut
   6. After the VM finishes shutting down, finalize the platform layer from within the ELM.(This deletes the newly created VM, and captures the changes)
8. Create your App Layers
   1. This is largely the same as the platform layer, create, install, finalize. There are suggestions and “recipies” that can make these easier/more functional on Carl’s guide.
9. Create an “Image” from your collection of Layers
10. Publish your “Image” to the configured connector.
11. Throw something because you have to go back and fix a detail in a layer that you missed =)