Using UserLock in a VDI environment

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) allows administrators to provide users with virtual workstations generated from a single master image (template).
When a user logs in, a new instance of this template is created and used as their session.

To protect and monitor these sessions with UserLock, the UserLock Desktop Agent must be installed and configured on the VDI template before it is deployed.

Start your VDI template and verify that it meets the following prerequisites:

• ✅️ Remote Registry service is enabled and started.

• ✅️ ICMP (Ping) is authorized in both directions between the UserLock server and the VDI machine.

• ✅️ Microsoft File and Printer Sharing (SMB TCP 445) is authorized in both directions between the UserLock server and the VDI machine.

1. Log on to the UserLock server.

2. Open the UserLock console.

3. Deploy the Desktop Agent on the VDI template.

   • This will install the agent and configure it to connect to the Primary (and optional Backup) UserLock servers.

4. If the VDI template is not listed in the Environment ▸ Machines pages, it may not be in the protected network zone. In that case, install the Desktop Agent manually.

5. If it is in the protected zone, wait up to 5 minutes for the list of protected computers to refresh.

1. In the console, create a temporary Alerts & notifications access policy for a test user (e.g., UserLockTestUser).

   • Enable the Welcome message.

2. Log on to the VDI template using this test user.

   • Confirm that the welcome message appears.

   • If not, restart the entire process from the beginning.
     
     

     Note

     If you skip this restart, the agent will keep trying to report the failed logon event to the UserLock service, and this data will persist in future template clones.

3. In the console, verify that the session appears under Activity ▸ Active sessions.

4. Log off the template and confirm that the session disappears from the console.

   • If not, restart the process from the beginning to avoid data persistence issues.

Once the tests are successful, finalize the template.

This image is now UserLock Ready and can be deployed as a standard VDI image.

By default, UserLock treats VDI sessions as workstation sessions.

If you prefer to categorize them as terminal sessions, you can change this behavior:

1. Open the UserLock console.

2. Go to ⚙️ Server settings ▸ Advanced Settings ▸ General section.

3. Set the property VDI Mode to true

4. Click Save.