You can install Horizon Client from the command line by typing the installer filename and specifying installation commands and properties. You can install Horizon Client silently from the command line.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the client system uses a supported operating system. See System Requirements for Windows Client Systems.
  • Verify that you can log in as an administrator on the client system.
  • Verify that the domain controllers have the latest patches, enough free disk space, and can communicate with each other. Otherwise, when you run the installer on a Windows 8.1 system, the installer can take an unusual amount of time to finish. This problem occurs if the machine's domain controller, or another domain controller in its hierarchy, is unresponsive or unreachable.
  • If you plan to install Horizon Client with FIPS-compliant cryptography, enable FIPS mode in the client operating system. See Enabling FIPS Mode in the Windows Client Operating System.
  • Decide whether to use the feature that allows end users to log in to Horizon Client and their remote desktop as the currently logged in user. Credential information that the user entered when logging in to the client system is passed to the Connection Server instance and ultimately to the remote desktop. Some client operating systems do not support this feature.
  • Become familiar with the Horizon Client installation commands. See Installation Commands for Horizon Client.
  • Become familiar with the Horizon Client installation properties. See Installation Properties for Horizon Client.
  • Determine whether to allow end users to access locally connected USB devices from their remote desktops. If not, set the ADDLOCAL installation property to the list of features and omit the USB feature. For more information, see Installation Properties for Horizon Client.
  • If you do not want to require end users to supply the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the Connection Server instance, determine the FQDN so that you can supply it during installation.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the client system as an administrator.
  2. Navigate to the VMware Downloads page at http://www.vmware.com/go/viewclients.
  3. Download the Horizon Client installer file, for example, VMware-Horizon-Client-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe.
    xxxxxx is the build number and y.y.y is the version number.
  4. Open a command prompt on the Windows client computer.
  5. Type the installer filename, installation commands, and installation properties on one line.
    VMware-Horizon-Client-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe [commands] [properties]

Results

The installer installs Horizon Client according to the installation commands and properties that you specify. If you specify the /silent installation command, the wizard prompts do not appear.

The installer installs Windows services, including VMware Horizon Client (horizon_client_service) and VMware USB Arbitration Service (VMUSBArbService).

Example: Sample Installation Commands

The following command installs Horizon Client interactively and enables the URL Content Redirection feature. 

VMware-Horizon-Client-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe URL_FILTERING_ENABLED=1

The following command installs Horizon Client silently and suppresses all restarts and restart prompts during the installation process. 

VMware-Horizon-Client-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /silent /norestart

What to do next

If you enabled the URL Content Redirection feature when you installed Horizon Client, verify that the feature is installed. See Verify URL Content Redirection Installation.

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