As with all things virtual, time is very important. When dealing with a virtual environment, your environment must be properly sync’d or you’ll start seeing a lot of weird issues plaguing you and your users.
During setup you will need to modify the registry to point to local time servers.
- HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type change value from NT5DS to NTP
- HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\AnnounceFlags change dword value from 10 to 5
- HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\NtpServer change value to a local timeserver
After a new update of the Citrix Management Agent (XenTools), it has it’s own built-in time server protocols that mess with the provisioned VM’s. Why they did this I don’t know. Even though the above settings will be correct, the VM’s time will keep reverting back in time 4-6 hours. This will result in the VM becoming unregistered and loss of contact.
To fix this modify the following registry keys.
HKLM\Software\Citrix\XenTools\HostTime=”UTC”
HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Citrix\XenTools\HostTime=”UTC”
Regardless if the key is blank, enter the value “Local” for both.