You must install Horizon Agent on virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server so that Connection Server can communicate with them. Install Horizon Agent on all virtual machines that you use as templates for full-clone desktop pools, parents for linked-clone desktop pools, master images for instant-clone desktop pools, and machines in manual desktop pools.
To install Horizon Agent on multiple Windows virtual machines without having to respond to wizard prompts, you can install Horizon Agent silently. See Installing Horizon Agent SilentlySee Installing Horizon Agent Silently.
The Horizon Agent software cannot coexist on the same virtual or physical machine with other Horizon software components, including security server, Connection Server, and View Composer. It can coexist with Horizon Client.
Prerequisites
- Verify that you have prepared Active Directory. See the Horizon Installation and Upgrade document.
- Prepare the guest operating system for remote desktop deployment. See Prepare a Guest Operating System for Remote Desktop Deployment .
- To use a Windows Server virtual machine as a single-session virtual desktop (rather than as an RDS host), perform the steps described in Prepare Windows Server Operating Systems for Desktop Use. To use a Windows Server virtual machine as an RDS host, see "Prepare Windows Server Operating Systems for Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Host Use" in the Windows Desktops and Applications in Horizon document.
- If the machine has the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package installed, verify that the version of the package is 2005 SP1 or later. If the package version is 2005 or earlier, you can either upgrade or uninstall the package.
- Download the Horizon Agent installer file from the VMware product page at http://www.vmware.com/go/downloadview.
- Verify that you have administrative rights on the virtual machine.
- Familiarize yourself with the Horizon Agent custom setup options. See Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options.
- Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the Horizon Agent installation program opens on the firewall. See the Horizon Overview and Deployment Planning document for more information.
- Verify that you have a minimum of 2 CPUs to install or upgrade Horizon Agent from versions 7.x or later.
- If you are installing Horizon Agent on an LSA enabled machine, use PowerShell to verify that the credential guard and LSA protected mode are enabled on the system.
Note: Horizon Agent installer version 7.11 supports LSA enabled machines. If you try to install Horizon Agent version 7.9 or older on an LSA enabled machine, the installer will roll back the installation process and the installation will fail. If you want to upgrade from Horizon Agent version 7.9 or older where LSA protection is enabled on the system, you must first disable LSA protection before running the Horizon Agent installer. If you cannot disable LSA protection on the system, then contact VMware Technical Support for a workaround.
Procedure
What to do next
If the virtual machine has multiple NICs, configure the subnet that Horizon Agent uses. See Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for Horizon Agent.