What happens to the differencing disk of a Random/Non-Persistent desktop machine following a restart in a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Site running on CitrixHypervisor?

What happens to the differencing disk of a Random/Non-Persistent desktop machine following a restart in a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Site running on CitrixHypervisor?

• A. It will be updated from the base image.
• B. It will be synchronized with the attached Personal vDisk.
• C. It will be disconnected and recreated.
• D. It will be merged with the base image.

Answer: (C)

In non-persistent desktops, the goal is to avoid keeping any user changes after a restart. The VM runs from a base image and uses a differencing (overlay) disk to capture the changes made during a session. When you restart, those session changes are not merged back into the base image. Instead, the current differencing disk is detached from the VM and a new differencing disk is created for the next session, so the machine boots back to the clean base image. This is why the differencing disk is disconnected and recreated after a restart. The other options would imply persisting user changes or altering the base image, which isn’t how non-persistent desktops behave: updates to the base image aren’t applied automatically on restart, and a Personal vDisk isn’t used to preserve changes from this session in this context unless specifically configured for persistence. Merging into the base image would defeat the non-persistent model.

In non-persistent desktops, the goal is to avoid keeping any user changes after a restart. The VM runs from a base image and uses a differencing (overlay) disk to capture the changes made during a session. When you restart, those session changes are not merged back into the base image. Instead, the current differencing disk is detached from the VM and a new differencing disk is created for the next session, so the machine boots back to the clean base image. This is why the differencing disk is disconnected and recreated after a restart.

The other options would imply persisting user changes or altering the base image, which isn’t how non-persistent desktops behave: updates to the base image aren’t applied automatically on restart, and a Personal vDisk isn’t used to preserve changes from this session in this context unless specifically configured for persistence. Merging into the base image would defeat the non-persistent model.