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Omnissa Horizon locked.properties Settings
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The Omnissa Horizon locked.properties file feels like the best worst-kept secret.

The Horizon locked.properties file allows you to change many settings that aren’t accessible from the main Horizon admin interface.

In this post, I will show you step-by-step how to create and configure the locked.properties file, along with all the settings I’ve found that can be configured.

Create locked.properties

By default, the locked.properties file does not exist.

  • Connect to your Horizon connection server.
  • Browse to C:\Program Files\Omnissa\Horizon\Server\sslgateway\conf\

If you are still using a VMware branded version of Horizon, the path will be C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\sslgateway\conf.

  • Copy the settings.properties file and rename it to locked.properties

This is done to make sure the file is ASCII, as the part of Horizon that reads the locked.properties file requires it to be in ASCII.

  • Open the locked.properties in Notepad and delete all its contents.
  • Save the empty locked.properties file.
  • Edit your locked.properties file as needed.

Once completed, go to the section Apply locked.properties Changes.

locked.properties Settings

The locked.properties file works by having one line per setting. On each line, the first item is the setting you want to change, followed by the = symbol (you can add spaces around the = symbol if you want). After the = symbol, you enter what you want the setting changed to.

An example would be if I wanted to change a setting named superFun and I wanted it to be set to Always. I would enter that as superFun=Always or superFun = Always.

Many of the settings that can be changed support multiple values. When the setting supports various values, it is represented as a numbered list starting at 1.

An example would be if the setting superFun supported a list, and I wanted to define multiple values, it would be entered as follows.

superFun.1=Friday
superFun.2=Saturday

There is no single source for all the settings in the locked.properties file. Each of the settings are scattered throughout Omnissa’s documentation.

Please use caution when changing the locked.properties settings, as some changes can make your Horizon setup less secure.

Below are all the locked.properties settings I’ve found.

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Deploy Omnissa UAG on VMware vCenter
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Deploying the Omnissa UAG (Unified Access Gateway) on VMware vCenter can be a daunting task if you’ve never done it before.

In this post, I will show you step-by-step how to deploy the Omnissa Horizon UAG on VMware vCenter.

The Process

  • Download the UAG OVA from Omnissa.
  • Right-click in VMware vCenter on the cluster or host you want to deploy the UAG to, and click on Deploy OVF Template.
  • Select Local file, click Upload Files, select the UAG OVA you downloaded, then click Next.
  • Give the VM name that will be displayed in vCenter, select where you want the UAG VM deployed in your vCenter, and click Next.

In my example, I will name it DXT-HO-UAG01 and select the location named Datacenter.

  • Select the cluster or host where you want to run the UAG VM, then click Next.

In my example, I will select my G10 cluster.

  • Review the details and click Next.

You may get a certificate not trusted warning message. You can click ignore, or resolve this warning message by following the steps in my blog post, VMware vCenter OVA Certificate Trust.

  • Select the deployment configuration for your environment and click Next.

The most common deployment option is Single NIC.

In my example, I will use a Single NIC deployment.

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VMware vCenter OVA Certificate Trust
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Typically, importing an OVA or OVF file is straightforward. However, after VMware vCenter version 7.0 Update 2, a new message began appearing when importing an OVA or OVF file. The message would say that the certificate is not trusted.

Technically speaking, you could click ignore and keep going. However, I didn’t want to do that.

In this post, I will show you step-by-step how to resolve the certificate is not trusted warning without clicking ignore.

The Process

Make sure you only follow this process on an OVA file you’ve received from a trusted source and that you’ve verified its authenticity.

  • Open the OVA file with a program like 7-Zip.

An OVA is technically a tar archive, which is why we can view its contents with most zip programs.

  • Extract the .cert file from the OVA file.
  • Rename the .cert file to .cer.
  • Click Yes to confirm the file name extension rename.
  • Open the .cer file.
  • Click on the Certification Path tab.
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Install VMware ESX
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The first time you install VMware ESXi might feel a bit daunting. Once you’ve done it at least once, the process is very straightforward.

In this post, I will show you step-by-step how to install VMware ESX.

Prerequisites

  • ESX install ISO.
  • ESX host time zone set to UTC.
  • A password for the root user.

The Process

  • Boot off the ESX install ISO.
  • Press Enter to confirm you want to move ahead with the ESXi Installer.
  • Press F11 to accept the EULA and move ahead with the ESX installation.
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VMware Home Lab Licensing
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One of many advantages of passing the VCP-VCF (VMware Certified Professional – VMware Cloud Foundation) exam is that you can get access to home lab licensing. The license is valid for 365 days and can be used in non-production environments. An extra bonus is that if you also happen to have a VMUG Advantage subscription, you can renew the licensing for another 2 years.

In this post, I will show you step-by-step how to get your VMware home lab licensing after passing a VMware qualifying exam.

The Process

  • To start, you need to pass the VCP-VCF exam. If you haven’t passed it yet, I’ve created the blog post, Passing VCP-VCF Admin Exam, which covers what I did to pass my VCP-VCF Admin exam.
  • Once you pass the exam, you will receive an email letting you know that you are eligible for home lab licenses.
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Minisforum MS-A2 Disable TPM
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The Minisforum MS-A2 is an awesome system to use in a home lab. It does have one downside, and that is that even though it has a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0 chip, it is a TPM 2.0 CRB (Command-Response buffer) chip, which is likely useful for a lot of use cases. However, it is not compatible with VMware ESXi. VMware ESXi requires a TPM 2.0 FIFO (First-In-First-Out) chip. Fortunately, you can disable the TPM.

In this post, I will show you step-by-step how to disable the TPM on a Minisforum MS-A2.

The Process

  • Get into BIOS by pressing the Del key.
  • Select Setup.
  • Select the Advanced menu.
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I Went to EUC World Amplify 2025
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This year I went to EUC World Amplify, which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, from August 4th to August 7th.

EUC World Amplify is the second time World of EUC has put on a conference. The first one was in 2024 and was called EUC World Independence. Which I also attended. You can read about my experience in my blog post I Went to EUC World Independence.

If you have never heard of World of EUC, they are an independent non-profit organization built to bridge the gap across all the EUC (End User Computing) vendors and to create a place where everyone can communicate regardless of which EUC product they are using.

In this post, I will detail my experience at EUC World Amplify 2025.

Travel and Registration Day

The first day of my adventure to Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA was a travel day, which started with a flight from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, directly to Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Once I made it to the hotel, I checked in. The hotel I was staying at was the Graduate by Hilton, which is themed to match the city it is in, which was a cool experience, as I have never been to a hotel that had a theme. Even the hotel keycards were themed.

Graduate by Hilton Access Cards

After some time, it was time for the Registration and Opening Reception, which took place at the hotel.

I got all registered and picked up my badge.

My EUC World Amplify 2025 badge

Day 1

The first full day of EUC World Amplify took place at the McNamara Alumni Center, which is directly connected to the hotel via a tunnel.

The McNamara Alumni Center

The day started with a short and sweet welcome note from the board of directors of World of EUC.

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Intune Win32 Packaging
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A feature of Microsoft Intune is the ability to package and distribute applications to users. Before you can distribute applications to users, you need to package them.

In this post, I will show you step-by-step how to package an application as a Win32 application that can be used with Intune.

The Process

Before we can start with packaging an application, we need the Microsoft Win32 content prep tool, which can be obtained from the official Microsoft GitHub repository. https://github.com/Microsoft/Microsoft-Win32-Content-Prep-Tool

  • Download the Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool.
  • Extract the Win32 Content Prep Tool.

When you run the Win32 Content Prep Tool, you will need to provide a directory that contains your install file and/or install script. The Win32 Content Prep Tool will effectively zip up everything in the folder that you provide it with and will create an .intunewin file that can be used with Intune.

Due to the way the Win32 Content Prep Tool functions, I create an input directory and a separate folder for each application to keep things organized.

  • Create a folder for your installation files.

In my example, I will be creating a Win32 package for GlobalProtect. I have created a folder named DXT-GlobalProtect-Install-v1.0.0, and I placed my installation script in it.

  • Create a folder for the Win32 package output.

I will create a folder named output.

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Minisforum MS-A2 BIOS Options
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Recently, I acquired a Minisforum MS-A2 system and have been experimenting with it in my home lab. Something that’s been bothering me is the lack of documentation about all the different BIOS menus. I’ve also found myself forgetting which BIOS menu I saw which option. To address my issue, I decided to document all the BIOS options.

The BIOS that the Minisforum MS-A2 runs is AMI (American Megatrends International). My MS-A2 is the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX version. The BIOS version I am running is 1.02.

You can download BIOS updates from Minisforum here.

In this post, I will share my documentation of each BIOS option I found on the Minisforum MS-A2.

Booting

When the Minisforum boots, you see the Minisforum splash screen.

Minisforum boot splash screen.

When the Minisforum is booting, you can press F7 to access the boot menu or press Del to enter the BIOS.

F7 Boot Menu Screen

Delete Menu Screen

When you press Delete, you are presented with an initial menu that allows you to select several options, including Setup, Boot, UEFI Shell, Boot Options, and BBS Menu.

  • Setup will take you into the BIOS.
  • Boot will boot the system normally
  • UEFI Shell tries to load shell.efi from any of the attached devices.
  • Boot Options will bring up a menu to select a boot device.
  • BBS Menu (BIOS Boot Spec) will also display a menu to select a boot device.

BIOS Setup

The BIOS Setup has the following menus.

Main

  • For System Date, you can enter the date.
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HPE MSA 2040 iSCSI Configuration
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I recently deployed an HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise) MSA (Modular Smart Array) 2040 SAN (Storage Area Network) Storage unit in my home lab.

In this post, I will show you step-by-step how to set up the HPE MSA 2040 SAN Storage with iSCSI.

The Process

  • Login to the HPE SMU (Storage Management Utility).

The default username is manage, and the default password is !manage.

Network Setup

The first part we should do is configure the iSCSI network.

  • Click on System.
  • Click on Action > Set Up Host Ports.
  • Configure your ports as needed.

In my setup, ports A1, B1, A3, and B3 are iSCSI path A and ports A2, B2, A4, and B4 are iSCSI path B.

Pool Setup

Next, we should set up our disk pools.

  • Click on Pools.
  • Click on Action > Add Disk Group.
  • Select the Type.

I will select Virtual.

  • Select the RAID Level.

I will Select RAID-10.

  • Select the Pool.

The pool selection is for which controller will be the primary controller for the pool. It’s a good idea to make a disk group per controller to maximize the performance of the MSA.

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