Syntax includes the vmware-view URI scheme, a path part to specify the desktop or application, and, optionally, a query to specify desktop or application actions or configuration options.

URI Specification

Use the following syntax to create URIs to start Horizon Client: 

vmware-view://[authority-part][/path-part][?query-part]

The only required element is the URI scheme, vmware-view. For some versions of some client operating systems, the scheme name is case-sensitive. Therefore, use vmware-view.

Important:

In all parts, non-ASCII characters must first be encoded according to UTF-8 [STD63], and then each octet of the corresponding UTF-8 sequence must be percent-encoded to be represented as URI characters.

For information about encoding for ASCII characters, see the URL encoding reference at http://www.utf8-chartable.de/.

authority-part

Specifies the server address and, optionally, a user name, a non-default port number, or both. Underscores (_) are not supported in server names. Server names must conform to DNS syntax.

To specify a user name, use the following syntax: 

user1@server-address

You cannot specify a UPN address, which includes the domain. To specify the domain, you can use the domainName query part in the URI.

To specify a port number, use the following syntax: 

server-address:port-number

path-part

Specifies the desktop or application. Use the desktop display name or application display name. This name is the one specified in Horizon Administrator when the desktop or application pool was created. If the display name has a space in it, use the %20 encoding mechanism to represent the space.

query-part

Specifies the configuration options to use or the desktop or application actions to perform. Queries are not case-sensitive. To use multiple queries, use an ampersand (&) between the queries. If queries conflict with each other, the last query in the list is used. Use the following syntax: 

query1=value1[&query2=value2...]

Supported Queries

This topic lists the queries that are supported for this type of Horizon Client. If you are creating URIs for multiple types of clients, such as desktop clients and mobile clients, see the Using VMware Horizon Client guide for each type of client system.

action

Table 1. Values That Can Be Used With the action Query

Value

Description

browse

Displays a list of available desktops and applications hosted on the specified server. You are not required to specify a desktop or application when using this action.

start-session

Opens the specified desktop or application. If no action query is provided and the desktop or application name is provided, start-session is the default action.

reset

Shuts down and restarts the specified desktop or remote application. Unsaved data is lost. Resetting a remote desktop is the equivalent of pressing the Reset button on a physical PC.

restart

Shuts down and restarts the specified desktop. Restarting a remote desktop is the equivalent of the Windows operating system restart command. The operating system usually prompts the user to save any unsaved data before it restarts.

logoff

Logs the user out of the guest operating system in the remote desktop. If you specify an application, the action is ignored or the end user sees the warning message "Invalid URI action."

args

Specifies command-line arguments to add to remote application launch. Use the syntax args=value, where value is a string. Use percent encoding for the following characters:

  • For a colon (:), use %3A

  • For a back slash (\), use %5C

  • For a space ( ), use %20

  • For a double quotation mark ("), use %22

For example, to specify the filename "My new file.txt" for the Notepad++ application, use %22My%20new%20file.txt%22.

appProtocol

For remote applications, valid values are PCOIP and BLAST. For example, to specify PCoIP, use the syntax appProtocol=PCOIP.

connectUSBOnInsert

Connects a USB device to the foreground virtual desktop when you plug in the device. This query is implicitly set if you specify the unattended query. To use this query, you must set the action query to start-session or else not have an action query. Valid values are true and false. An example of the syntax is connectUSBOnInsert=true.

connectUSBOnStartup

Redirects all USB devices that are currently connected to the client system to the desktop. This query is implicitly set if you specify the unattended query. To use this query, you must set the action query to start-session or else not have an action query. Valid values are true and false. An example of the syntax is connectUSBOnStartup=true.

desktopLayout

Sets the size of the window that displays a remote desktop. To use this query, you must set the action query to start-session or else not have an action query.

Table 2. Valid Values for the desktopLayout Query

Value

Description

fullscreen

Full screen on one monitor. This value is the default.

multimonitor

Full screen on all monitors.

windowLarge

Large window.

windowSmall

Small window.

WxH

Custom resolution, where you specify the width by height, in pixels. An example of the syntax is desktopLayout=1280x800.

desktopProtocol

For remote desktops, valid values are RDP, PCOIP, and BLAST. For example, to specify PCoIP, use the syntax desktopProtocol=PCOIP.

domainName

The NETBIOS domain name associated with the user who is connecting to the remote desktop or application. For example, you might use mycompany rather than mycompany.com.

filePath

Specifies the path to the file on the local system that you want to open with the remote application. You must use the full path, including the drive letter. Use percent encoding for the following characters:

  • For a colon (:), use %3A

  • For a back slash (\), use %5C

  • For a space ( ), use %20

For example, to represent file path C:\test file.txt, use C%3A%5Ctest%20file.txt.

tokenUserName

Specifies the RSA or RADIUS user name. Use this query only if the RSA or RADIUS user name is different from the Active Directory user name. If you do not specify this query and RSA or RADIUS authentication is required, the Windows user name is used. The syntax is tokenUserName=name.

unattended

Creates a server connection to a remote desktop in kiosk mode. If you use this query, do not specify user information if you generated the account name from the MAC address of the client device. If you created custom account names in ADAM, however, such as names that begin with "custom-" you must specify the account information.

useExisting

If this option is set to true, only one Horizon Client instance can run. If users try to connect to a second server, they must log out of the first server, causing desktop and application sessions to be disconnected. If this option is set to false, multiple Horizon Client instances can run and users can connect to multiple servers at the same time. The default is true. An example of the syntax is useExisting=false.

unauthenticatedAccessEnabled

If this option is set to true, the Unauthenticated Access feature is enabled by default. The Log in anonymously using Unauthenticated Access option is visible in the user interface and is selected. If this option is set to false, the Unauthenticated Access feature is disabled. The Log in anonymously using Unauthenticated Access setting is hidden and disabled. When this option is set to "", the Unauthenticated Access feature is disabled and the Log in anonymously using Unauthenticated Access setting is hidden from the user interface and disabled. An example of the syntax is unauthenticatedAccessEnabled=true.

unauthenticatedAccessAccount

Sets the account to use if the Unauthenticated Access feature is enabled. If Unauthenticated Access is disabled, then this query is ignored. An example of the syntax using the anonymous1 user account is unauthenticatedAccessAccount=anonymous1.