The strategy for upgrading the agent software depends on the type of desktop source.

Note: To upgrade the operating system in a virtual machine desktop from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, you must uninstall Horizon Agent, upgrade the operating system from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, and then reinstall Horizon Agent. Alternatively, you can perform a fresh installation of Windows 8.1 and then install Horizon Agent.

This procedure provides an overview of the tasks you must perform to upgrade the agent software in virtual machines used as desktop sources. To complete some of these tasks, you might need the step-by-step instructions found in the vSphere Client online help or in Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7, available by clicking the Help button in Horizon Administrator. To upgrade the agent software on a Terminal Services host or Microsoft RDS host, see Upgrade RDS Hosts That Provide Session-Based Desktops. To upgrade the agent software on a Linux virtual machine, see the separate document, Setting Up Horizon 7 for Linux Desktops.

If you plan to deploy instant clones, you can use this procedure to create a parent virtual machine for an instant-clone desktop pool. When you upgrade Horizon Agent on a parent virtual machine, simply select the appropriate option for an instant-clone desktop pool.

Important: The Horizon Agent installer now includes all components that were previously included in the Remote Experience Agent, which was part of the VMware Horizon™ View™ Feature Pack. To upgrade features that were installed with the Remote Experience Agent, you can run the Horizon Agent installer. This installer removes the Remote Experience Agent before performing the upgrade. If, for some reason, you decide to remove the Remote Experience Agent manually, be sure to do so before you run the installer for the new version of Horizon Agent.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that all Connection Server instances in the replicated group have been upgraded. All Connection Server instances must be upgraded first so that the secure JMS pairing mechanism can work with Horizon Agent.
  • If you are upgrading ESXi hosts and virtual machines, complete the procedure described in Upgrade ESXi Hosts and Their Virtual Machines.
  • Verify that you have a domain user account with administrative privileges on the hosts that you will use to run the installer and perform the upgrade.

Procedure

  1. If you plan to deploy instant clones or View Composer linked clones, upgrade the agent software on a parent virtual machine and create a desktop pool for testing purposes.
    1. Download and run the new version of the Horizon Agent installer on a parent virtual machine.
      You can download the installer from the VMware website.
    2. Create a small desktop pool from this virtual machine.
    3. Test a virtual machine desktop from the desktop pool to verify that all the use cases function properly.
      For example, create a desktop pool that contains one virtual machine desktop, and verify that you can use Horizon Client to log in to that desktop.
    Step-by-step instructions for running the Horizon Agent installer and creating desktop pools appear in Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7, available by clicking the Help button in Horizon Administrator.
    Important: If you are upgrading from View 5.1.x or earlier, and you use Sysprep, and your end users connect USB devices to their remote desktops, you must follow the procedure described in the VMware Knowledge Base, at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2051801. Otherwise, after you upgrade the agent software, the USB redirection feature might not work.
  2. On the other parent virtual machines and virtual machine templates, download and run the installer for the new version of Horizon Agent.
    Step-by-step instructions for running the Horizon Agent installer and creating desktop pools appear in Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7, available by clicking the Help button in Horizon Administrator.
  3. If you plan to create instant-clone or View Composer linked-clone desktop pools, take a snapshot of each upgraded parent virtual machine.
    Use the new snapshot for creating an instant-clone or linked-clone desktop pool, or for recomposing an existing linked-clone desktop pool.

    For instructions on taking snapshots, see the vSphere Client online help.

  4. If you use full-clone desktops or other virtual machines that you added as individual desktops or as part of a manual pool, upgrade the agent software by using whatever third-party tools you usually use for software upgrades.
  5. For automated and manual Windows 7 and 8 pools that are not instant-clone or linked-clone pools, to turn on the 3D rendering feature, edit the pool and power the virtual machine desktops off and on.
    1. Configure the following pool settings:
      • Set the pool to use the PCoIP display protocol or the VMware Blast display protocol.
      • Set Allow users to choose protocol to No.
      • Turn on the 3D Renderer feature.
    2. Power off each virtual machine and power it on again.
      Restarting a virtual machine, rather than powering off and on, does not cause the setting to take effect.
  6. If you use physical PCs or virtual machines as Microsoft RDS hosts, to provide remote desktops or applications, download and run the installer for the new version of Horizon Agent on these machines.
    You can download the installer from the VMware website.
    Important: When you run the installer on a virtual machine RDS host, the View Composer Agent component is deselected. Do not select this component during an upgrade. If you want to use this component to create an automated farm, which is a feature introduced with Horizon 6 version 6.2, uninstall the previous version of the agent software and then install the new version with the View Composer Agent component selected.
  7. If you use physical PCs as desktop sources, download and run the installer for the new version of Horizon Agent on these physical machines.
    You can download the installer from the VMware website.
    Important: On Windows Server operating systems configured for desktop use, if you do not want to change Horizon Agent installation mode during upgrade, select Desktop Mode in Horizon Agent installer and proceed. If you want to change the mode, select RDS Mode and follow the installer instructions to proceed with upgrade.
  8. Use a Horizon Client that has not been upgraded to verify that you can log in to the upgraded remote desktop sources with your old client software.

What to do next

If you use View Composer desktop pools, recompose or recreate the pools. See Upgrade View Composer Desktop Pools.

Upgrade clients. See Upgrade the Client Application.