You can download and run a Horizon Client installer bundle from the VMware Downloads page. This installer contains modules for features such as USB redirection, Virtual Printing, Real-Time Audio-Video, smart card, and client drive redirection.

Note: On most Linux distributions, the Horizon Client installer bundle starts a GUI wizard. You can also run the installer with the --console option to start the command-line wizard.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the client system runs a supported operating system. See System Requirements for Linux Client Systems.
  • Become familiar with the installation options. See Installation Options.
  • Verify that you have root access on the client system.
  • Verify that VMware Workstation is not installed on the client system.
  • If you plan to use the RDP display protocol to connect to a View desktop, verify that you have the appropriate RDP client installed. See System Requirements for Linux Client Systems.
  • Uninstall any earlier version of the Horizon Client software. See Uninstall Horizon Client for Linux.
  • If you plan to use the command-line installer, become familiar with the Linux command-line installation options. See Command-Line Installation Options for the Linux Client.
  • Confirm that version 2.x of Python is installed on the client system. If the system does not have the Python 2.x package, run the necessary command to install it.
  • If you are using a thin client, confirm that libgtk 3.14 or later is installed on the system. If needed, obtain version 3.14 or later of the libgtk library and install it on the thin-client system.

As part of the installation process, the installer runs a scan of the system libraries to determine whether the system is compatible with Horizon Client, although you can select to skip the scan.

Procedure

  1. On the Linux client system, download the Horizon Client installer file from the Horizon Client Product Downloads page at http://www.vmware.com/go/viewclients.
    The name of the file is VMware-Horizon-Client-x.x.x-yyyyyyy.arch.bundle, where x.x.x is the version number, yyyyyyy is the build number, and arch is either x86 or x64.
  2. Open a Terminal window and change directories to the directory that contains the installer file.
  3. If you want to set executable permissions on the installer file, run the appropriate command. For example: 
    chmod +x VMware-Horizon-Client-x.x.x-yyyyyyy.arch.bundle
  4. Run the installer using the appropriate command.
    Option Command
    For the GUI wizard, if you have set executable permissions 
    sudo ./VMware-Horizon-Client-x.x.x-yyyyyyy.arch.bundle
    For the GUI wizard, if you have not set executable permissions 
    sudo sh ./VMware-Horizon-Client-x.x.x-yyyyyyy.arch.bundle
    For the command-line installer, if you have set executable permissions 
    sudo ./VMware-Horizon-Client-x.x.x-yyyyyyy.arch.bundle 
--console
    For the command-line installer, if you have not set executable permissions 
    sudo sh ./VMware-Horizon-Client-x.x.x-yyyyyyy.arch.bundle 
--console
    The installer wizard appears, prompting you to accept the end-user license agreement.
  5. To finish the installation, follow the prompts.
    Important: You are prompted to allow the installer to register and start installed services after the installation. Allowing the installer to complete these tasks means that you must manually start USB redirection services every time you reboot, and you do not need to enable the Virtual Printing feature manually.
  6. After installation is complete, specify whether to perform the compatibility scan for libraries that various feature components depend on.
    The system scan displays a result value for each library compatibility.
    Result Value Description
    Success All needed libraries were found.
    Failed The specified library was not found.

Results

Log information about the installation is recorded in /tmp/vmware-root/vmware-installer-pid.log.

What to do next

Start Horizon Client and verify that you can log in to the correct virtual desktop. See Connect to a Remote Desktop or Published Application.