You can run the Horizon Agents Installer on a Windows server as an RDSH role.

Note: Keep the following points in mind as you perform these tasks:
  • Installing a version of the Horizon Agents Installer that is older than the most recent version of the Horizon Agents Installer can cause problems subsequently when you create RDS pools based on the image VM. In this situation, when you create a new RDS pool, the system can allow you to select HTML Access (Blast) as a protocol, but this selection will not be applied to the pool even though it appears to have been applied successfully.
  • The Help Desk Plugin option is installed by default. If you choose not to install this option, performance-related metrics from user sessions in the desktop instances or farm server instances based on this image are not collected. As a result, some data will not be available in the user card for such sessions. For details, see The User Card in the Horizon Cloud Administration Console.
  • The vRealize Operations Desktop Agent option is installed by default. If you choose not to install this option, activity-related data from user sessions in the desktop instance or farm server instances based on this image is not reported to the system. As a result, data from end-user activity and other types of desktop activity will not be displayed in reports in the Administration Console.

Procedure

  1. Add the Remote Desktop Services role.
    1. Select Start > Administrative Tools > Server Manager to open the Server Manager.
    2. Select Roles and then select Add Roles in the right pane.

      The Before You Begin page of the Add Roles Wizard window appears.

    3. Click Next.

      The Select Server Roles page appears.

    4. Select the check box for Remote Desktop Services and click Next.

      The Remote Desktop Services page appears.

    5. Click Next.

      The Select Role Services page appears.

    6. Select the check box for Remote Desktop Session Host and click Next.

      The Uninstall and Reinstall Applications for Compatibility page appears.

    7. Click Next.

      The Specify Authentication Method for Remote Desktop Session Host page appears.

    8. Select the appropriate Authentication Level, and then click Next.

      The Specify Licensing Mode page appears.

    9. Specify the licensing mode, and then click Next

      The Select User Groups Allowed Access To This RD Session Host Server page appears.

    10. Add your Users or User Groups, and then click Next.

      The Configure Client Experience page appears.

    11. Make desired settings, and then click Next.

      The Confirm Installation Selections page appears.

    12. Confirm your selections. If something is incorrect, click Previous to return to the previous steps and change the settings. Click Install.

      The Installation Progress page appears. The installation takes a few minutes to finish. The Installation Results page appears, and asks for restart.

    13. Click Close.

      A dialog appears, asking for confirmation for restart.

    14. Click Yes to restart the server.
    15. When the server comes back, log in again.

      The Resuming Configuration page appears. It takes a few seconds to resume configuration. The Installation Results page appears.

    16. Click Close to complete the installation.

      The Server Manager window appears.

    17. Click Roles and confirm that the Remote Desktop Services role is installed.
  2. Download the latest Horizon Agents Installer from the Myvmware download site. Note that there are separate downloads for 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.
  3. Double-click the Horizon Agents Installer file (file name is: VMware-Horizon-Agents-Installer-x.y.z-nnnnnnn-x64.exe for the 64-bit installer).
    Note:

    If you want to use the URL redirection capability with the session desktops and remote applications that will be provided by this base VM, use the command line method to launch the installer and add the VDM_URL_FILTERING_ENABLED=1 parameter to the command.

    For example:

    VMware-Horizon-Agents-Installer-x.y.z-build-x64.exe VDM_URL_FILTERING_ENABLED=1

    Where x.y.z and build match the numbers in the file name.

    Note:

    If you choose to perform a silent install, be aware that not all silent install options are applicable to all platforms.

  4. Click Configure under Horizon Cloud Endpoint Desktop.
  5. Make desired configuration changes as described below.

    • Install paths for components

      Enter custom path or leave default.

    • Cloning capability

      To enable Instant Clone, select the Instant Clone radio button.

      Note:

      Selecting Instant Clone deactivates the Horizon 7 Persona Management option below.

    • Features to install

      Select features to install using the available check boxes. You can hover over each selection for more information about that feature.

  6. Click the forward arrow at the bottom of the wizard to continue.
  7. If you wish to save the silent install command for future use, copy it from the text box.
  8. Click Proceed with installation.

    The wizard shows installation progress for the components.

  9. When all components are installed, click Finish.
  10. Restart the virtual machine when prompted.

What to do next

For improved security regarding the use of the Horizon Agent, deactivate weak ciphers in SSL and TLS, which requires you to edit the Group Policy Object (GPO) of the Active Directory server. See the appropriate Horizon Agent documentation for information about deactivating weak ciphers in SSL/TLS, such as in the VMware Horizon 7 documentation set.