Log In to Desktops or RDS-Based Remote Applications Using the Horizon Client

When your end users connect to Horizon Cloud using the Horizon Client, they can work with their assigned desktops or remote applications.

These steps describe using Horizon Client for the first time to connect to a desktop provided by a Horizon Cloud pod.

Important: If you are assigning URL redirection to your end users, they must install their Horizon Client with the URL Content Redirection feature enabled for them to take advantage of that feature. The client must be installed using the command line to enable URL Content Redirection in the client. As a starting point to learn about this area, see these topics in the Horizon Client documentation:

• Installing Horizon Client for Windows from the Command Line
• Clicking URL Links That Open Outside of Horizon Client

Prerequisites

• Familiarize yourself with the most up-to-date information regarding VMware Horizon Clients. For example, to check for up-to-date Horizon Client support information, see the VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes at https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/sim/interop_matrix.php and to see the respective documentation, see the Horizon Client documentation page at https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Horizon-Client/index.html.
• From your organization's DNS information, obtain the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) that your organization has associated in its domain name system (DNS) for end-user connections to this pod, such as desktops.mycorp.example.com.

  For example, when the Horizon Cloud pod in Microsoft Azure is configured to use Unified Access Gateway for end-user connections, your organization has a DNS CNAME or A record that maps the FQDN that you provided in the deployment wizard to the auto-generated public FQDN of the pod's deployed load balancer. See How to Obtain the Horizon Cloud Pod Gateway's Load Balancer Information to Map in Your DNS Server for a description of this auto-generated public FQDN.

• If you want those Horizon clients that have implemented the client retry feature to automatically retry the connection when the system has to power on the underlying desktop VM or farm RDSH VM, set the Allow Client to Wait for Powered-Off VM option to Yes in the Horizon Universal Console's Broker page. The Horizon Client for Windows and Horizon Client for Mac starting with version 4.8 and later have this feature implemented.

Procedure

1. Start the Horizon Client.
2. In the client, select the choices to add a new server.
3. In the new server configuration, enter the name that was added to your DNS for end-user connections, for example, desktops.mycorp.com.
4. Enter the credentials for your Active Directory user in the authentication dialog box.
5. If a two-factor authentication configuration is in place, enter the two-factor authentication credentials as prompted.
6. From the displayed list of entitled desktops and remote applications, connect to the one you want to use.
   When the underlying desktop VM or farm RDSH VM is powered off, due to any power-management schedules configured in the VDI desktop assignment or farm, the system starts powering on the VM in response to the connection request. If you are running version 4.8 or later of Horizon Client for Windows or Horizon Client for Mac and you have Allow Client to Wait for Powered-Off VM option set to Yes for your tenant environment, the client displays a message describing the connection will be made when the desktop is ready and the estimated time it might take.
7. (Optional) To configure additional options that apply when you launch the selected desktop or application, right-click the icon and make your selection.