An instant-clone desktop pool is an automated desktop pool created from a golden image using the vmFork technology (called instant clone API) in vCenter Server.

Instant clone technology replaces View Composer linked clone as the process for creating non-persistent desktops in Horizon. In addition to using the instant clone API from vCenter Server, Horizon also creates several types of internal VMs (Internal Template, Replica VM, and Parent VM) to manage these clones in a more scalable way.

Sometimes it happens that when an Instant-Clone desktop and image is removed the internal VMs are not removed completely. From Horizon 7.11 and newer VMware introduced a tool called IcCleanup.cmd which is located in the C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\tools\bin directory. This utility can be used to unprotect and delete some or all of the internal VMs created by instant clones. Below I will explain how to use the utility to delete some of the internal VMs left behind.

Instant-Clone Smart Provisioning

With latest major version of VMware Horizon, VMware introduced Instant-Clone Smart Provisioning. Horizon automatically chooses to provision instant clones directly from the replicaVM without creating any parentVM. This is a big advantage with the older Instant-Clone.

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