You can configure Horizon Client using command-line options or equivalent properties in a configuration file.

You can use the vmware-view command-line interface or set properties in configuration files to define default values your users see in Horizon Client or to suppress some dialog boxes from prompting users for information. You can also specify settings that you do not want users to change.

Processing Order for Configuration Settings

When Horizon Client starts up, configuration settings are processed from various locations in the following order:

  1. /etc/vmware/view-mandatory-config
  2. Command-line arguments
  3. ~/.vmware/view-preferences
  4. /etc/vmware/view-default-config
Note: You must create the /etc/vmware/view-default-config and /etc/vmware/view-mandatory-config files manually. The ~/.vmware/view-preferences file is generated automatically after Horizon Client starts up.

If a setting is defined in multiple locations, the value that is used is the value from the last file or command-line option read. For example, to specify settings that override users' preferences, set properties in the /etc/vmware/view-mandatory-config file.

To set default values that users can change, use the /etc/vmware/view-default-config file. After users change a setting, when they exit Horizon Client, any changed settings are saved in the ~/.vmware/view-preferences file.

Properties That Prevent Users from Changing Defaults

For many properties, you can set a corresponding view.allow property that controls whether users are allowed to change the setting. For example, if you set the view.allowDefaultBroker property to "FALSE" in the /etc/vmware/view-mandatory-config file, users cannot change the name of the server when they connect using Horizon Client.

Syntax for Using the Command-Line Interface

Use the following form of the vmware-view command from a terminal window.

vmware-view [command-line-option [argument]] ...

By default, the vmware-view command is located in the /usr/bin directory.

You can use either the short form or the long form of the option name, although not all options have a short form. For example, to specify the domain you can use either -d (short form) or --domainName= (long form). You might choose to use the long form to make a script more human-readable.

You can use the --help option to get a list of command-line options and usage information.

Important: If you must use a proxy, use the following syntax: 
http_proxy=proxy_server_URL:port https_proxy=proxy_server_URL:port vmware-view options

This workaround is required because you must clear the environment variables that were previously set for the proxy. If you do not perform this action, the proxy exception setting does not take effect in Horizon Client. You configure a proxy exception for the View Connection Server instance.