If you use the VMware Blast display protocol or the PCoIP display protocol when using 3D applications in a remote desktop, mouse performance improves when you enable the relative mouse feature.

In most circumstances, if you are using applications that do not require 3D rendering, Horizon Client transmits information about mouse pointer movements by using absolute coordinates. Using absolute coordinates, the client renders the mouse movements locally, which improves performance, especially if you are outside the corporate network.

For work that requires using graphics-intensive applications, such as AutoCAD, or for playing 3D video games, you can improve mouse performance by enabling the relative mouse feature, which uses relative, rather than absolute, coordinates.

The Horizon Client relative mouse feature is not enabled by default. A Horizon administrator can use the view.enableRelativeMouse configuration key in the ~/.vmware/view-preferences file to enable or deactivate Horizon Client relative mouse and prevent users from changing the setting in the Horizon Client user interface. An administrator must configure the relative mouse setting before end users connect to a server. The setting is applied to the current desktop connection session. If the Horizon Client relative mouse setting is configured using the ~/.vmware/view-preferences file, end users cannot change the setting after connecting to a server.

When the relative mouse feature is enabled, performance might be slow if you are outside the corporate network, on a WAN.

Prerequisites

A Horizon administrator must turn on 3D rendering for the desktop pool. For information about pool settings and the options available for 3D rendering, see the Windows Desktops and Applications in Horizon document.

Procedure

  1. Start Horizon Client and log in to the server.
  2. Right-click the remote desktop and select VMware Blast or PCoIP.
  3. Connect to the remote desktop.
  4. Select Connection > Enable Relative Mouse from the Horizon Client menu bar.
    The option is a toggle. To deactivate the relative mouse feature, select Connection > Enable Relative Mouse again.
    Note: If you use Horizon Client in windowed mode rather than full-screen mode and the relative mouse feature is enabled, you might not be able to move the mouse pointer to the Horizon Client menu options or move the pointer outside of the Horizon Client window. To resolve this situation, press Ctrl+Alt.