Install Horizon Agent on a Linux Virtual Machine

This article describes how to install Horizon Agent on a Linux virtual machine. Installing Horizon Agent allows you to deploy the machine as a remote desktop.

Caution: If you plan to use NVIDIA GRID vGPU, you must configure 3D graphics features on the Linux virtual machine before you install Horizon Agent. If you install Horizon Agent first, required parameters in the xorg.conf file are overwritten, and the 3D graphics features do not work.

See Setting Up Graphics for Linux Desktops. Install Horizon Agent after the 3D graphics configuration is completed.

For a 2D graphics configuration, you can install Horizon Agent after you complete the steps in Prepare a Linux Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment.

The Horizon Agent installer is available in two different formats:

The .tar.gz installer package supports installation on all Linux distributions. This installer is not digitally signed.
The .rpm installer package supports installation on RHEL 8.x machines only. This installer is digitally signed.

Note: If you are upgrading Horizon Agent from an existing version, see the instructions in Upgrade Horizon Agent on a Linux Virtual Machine.

Prerequisites

Verify that the Linux machine is prepared for desktop use. See Prepare a Linux Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment.
If you plan to install Horizon Agent using the tarball installer, review the optional parameters for the install_viewagent.sh setup script. See Command-line Options for Installing Horizon Agent for Linux.

Procedure

Install Horizon Agent for Linux using the unsigned tarball installer.

Note: For a RHEL 8.x machine, you also have the option to install Horizon Agent using a digitally signed installer. See the procedure described later in this article.
1. Download the Horizon Agent for Linux installer package from the VMware download site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.
  Navigate to the download page for the current release of VMware Horizon and then to the download page for VMware Horizon for 64-bit Linux.
  Download the Horizon Agent installer tarball with filename VMware-horizonagent-linux-x86_64-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxxx.tar.gz, where YYMM is the marketing version number, y.y.y is the internal version number, and xxxxxxx is the build number.
2. Unpack the tarball for your Linux distribution.
  For example:
```
tar -xvzf VMware-horizonagent-linux-x86_64-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxxx.tar.gz
```
3. To support certain features, install the required drivers as follows.
  - To support the USB Redirection feature, install the VHCI driver as described in the "VHCI Driver for USB Redirection" section of System Requirements for Horizon Agent for Linux.
  - To support the Real-Time Audio-Video feature, complete the procedure described in Install the V4L2Loopback Driver.
4. Navigate to the tarball folder and run the install_viewagent.sh script as a superuser. Include the command-line parameters for any optional features that you want to install.
  For more information, see Command-line Options for Installing Horizon Agent for Linux.
  For example, to install Horizon Agent with automatic acceptance of the VMware General Terms and with both the Real-Time Audio-Video feature and USB Redirection feature added:
```
sudo ./install_viewagent.sh -A yes -U yes -a yes --webcam
```
5. Type Yes to accept the VMware General Terms if you run install_viewagent.sh without specifying the -A parameter.
  The installer does not run unless you accept the VMware General Terms.
6. Restart the Linux machine for the changes to take effect.
(RHEL 8.x) Install Horizon Agent for Linux using the digitally signed RPM installer.

Note: If you are installing Horizon Agent on a machine running a Linux distribution other than RHEL 8.x, do not use these instructions. Instead, use the procedure described earlier in this article.
1. Download the Horizon Agent for Linux installer package from the VMware download site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.
  Navigate to the download page for the current release of VMware Horizon and then to the download page for VMware Horizon for 64-bit Linux.
  Download the Horizon Agent RPM package with filename VMware-horizonagent-linux-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxxx.el8.x86_64.rpm, where YYMM is the marketing version number, y.y.y is the internal version number, and xxxxxxx is the build number.
2. Navigate to the folder of the downloaded RPM package and run the installer.
  For example:
```
sudo rpm -ivh VMware-horizonagent-linux-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxxx.el8.x86_64.rpm
```
  Allow the installation to proceed without interruption.
  Note: The RPM package automatically installs Horizon Agent with the default feature options. After the installation, you can add features to the Horizon Agent configuration by running the ViewSetup.sh script.
3. Restart the Linux machine for the changes to take effect.
4. To support certain features, install the required drivers as follows.
  - To support the USB Redirection feature, install the VHCI driver as described in the "VHCI Driver for USB Redirection" section of System Requirements for Horizon Agent for Linux.
  - To support the Real-Time Audio-Video feature, complete the procedure described in Install the V4L2Loopback Driver.
5. To add more optional features to the Horizon Agent configuration or modify the configuration, run the ViewSetup.sh script as described in Command-line Options for Installing Horizon Agent for Linux.
  For example, to add both the Real-Time Audio-Video feature and USB Redirection feature:
```
/usr/lib/vmware/viewagent/bin/ViewSetup.sh -U yes -a yes --webcam 
```

Results

After installation, the viewagent service is started. Verify that the service is started using sudo service viewagent status.

What to do next

Deploy the virtual machine in a desktop pool. See Setting Up Single-Session Linux Desktop and Application Pools.