You can include specific properties when you silently install Horizon Agent from the command line. You must use a PROPERTY=value format so that Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) can interpret the properties and values. A silent upgrade uses the same install commands. You can also modify already installed Horizon Agent components silently.

The following table shows the Horizon Agent silent installation properties that you can use at the command-line.

Table 1. MSI Properties for Silently Installing Horizon Agent
MSI Property Description Default Value
ENABLE_UNC_REDIRECTION Specifies whether the UNC Path Redirection feature is installed. A value of 1 installs the feature. You must use group policy settings to configure which UNCs to redirect. See "Configuring UNC Path Redirection" in the Horizon Remote Desktop Features and GPOs document.

This MSI property is optional.

 0
IGNORE_DOTNET_CHECK Determines whether the installer checks for a minimum .NET version. By default, when Horizon Performance Tracker is selected, the installer performs a pre-check to confirm that .NET 4.6.2 or later is installed, and stops the install process if it is not.

A value of 1 cancels this pre-check. A value of 0 allows the pre-check to proceed.

%ProgramFiles%\VMware\VMware View\Agent
INSTALLDIR Path and folder in which the Horizon Agent software is installed. For example:

INSTALLDIR=""D:\abc\my folder""

The sets of two double quotes that enclose the path permit the MSI installer to ignore the space in the path.

This MSI property is optional.

RDP_CHOICE Determines whether to enable Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) on the desktop.

A value of 1 enables RDP. A value of 0 leaves the RDP setting deactivated.

This MSI property is optional.

1
SUPPRESS_RUNONCE_CHECK Ignores pending Windows Update tasks scheduled at the next operating system reboot in the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce and RunOnceEx keys. Using this flag allows concurrent installation but does not guarantee the installation outcome when the system updates affect the Horizon Agent run-time dependencies.

This MSI property is optional.

None
URL_FILTERING_ENABLED Specifies whether the URL Content Redirection feature is installed. A value of 1 installs the feature. You must use group policy settings to configure which URLs to redirect. See "Configuring URL Content Redirection" in the Horizon Remote Desktop Features and GPOs document.

This MSI property is optional.

0
VDM_SKIP_BROKER_REGISTRATION A value of 1 skips unmanaged desktops. None
VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT Determines whether vCenter Server manages the virtual machine on which Horizon Agent is installed.

A value of 1 configures the desktop as a vCenter Server-managed virtual machine.

A value of 0 configures the desktop as unmanaged by vCenter Server.

This MSI property is required.

Note: The installer repair option is not supported for an unmanaged installation. Repairing such an installation results in an installation of a managed Horizon Agent.
None
VDM_SERVER_NAME Host name or IP address of the Connection Server instance on which the Horizon Agent installer registers an unmanaged desktop. This property applies to unmanaged desktops only. For example:

VDM_SERVER_NAME=10.123.01.01

This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.

Do not use this MSI property for virtual desktops that are managed by vCenter Server.

None
VDM_SERVER_USERNAME User name of the administrator on the Connection Server instance. This MSI property applies only to unmanaged desktops. For example:

VDM_SERVER_USERNAME=domain\username

This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.

Do not use this MSI property for virtual desktops managed by vCenter Server.

None
VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD Connection Server administrator user password. For example:

VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD=secret

This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.

Do not use this MSI property for virtual desktops that are managed by vCenter Server.

None
VDM_IP_PROTOCOL_USAGE Specifies the IP version that Horizon Agent uses. Valid values are IPv4 and IPv6. IPv4
VDM_FIPS_ENABLED Specifies whether to enable or disable FIPS mode. A value of 1 enables FIPS mode. A value of 0 disables FIPS mode. If this property is set to 1 and Windows is not in FIPS mode, the installer will stop. 0
VDM_FORCE_DESKTOP_AGENT If you install Horizon Agent on a Windows Server machine and configure it as a single-user Horizon desktop rather than as an RDS host, set the value to 1. This requirement applies to machines managed by vCenter Server and unmanaged machines. For non-server Windows guests that host application sessions, set the value to 0.

This MSI property is optional.

0

In a silent installation command, you can use the ADDLOCAL property to specify options that the Horizon Agent installer configures.

The following table shows the Horizon Agent options that you can enter at the command line. These options have corresponding setup options that you can deselect or select during an interactive installation.

When you do not use the ADDLOCAL property at the command line, Horizon Agent installs all of the options that are installed by default during an interactive installation, if they are supported on the guest operating system. When you use ADDLOCAL=ALL, Horizon Agent installs all of the following options, both on-by-default and off-by-default, if they are supported on the guest operating system.

For more information, see the ADDLOCAL table entry in Microsoft Windows Installer Command-Line Options.

If you use ADDLOCAL to specify features individually (you do not specify ADDLOCAL=ALL), you must always specify Core.

You can modify features by using the ADDLOCAL and REMOVE MSI properties. Use the following PowerShell command to query the registry of installed components on the system where Horizon Agent is installed for the ModifyPath base command line: 
Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* |
        Select-Object DisplayName, ModifyPath | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -eq 'VMware Horizon
        Agent'} | Format-Table –AutoSize
The output: 
DisplayName               ModifyPath
          VMware Horizon Agent      MsiExec.exe /I{A17DD662-DFB3-4997-9C0F-4E687A300111}

The following example modifies and removes the USB component from an existing installation: VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn REMOVE=USB"

The following example modifies the agent installation by replacing Horizon Performance Tracker with the Horizon Help Desk Tool: VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn ADDLOCAL=HelpDesk REMOVE=PerfTracker”

The following example modifies the agent installation by adding serial port and scanner redirection: VMware-Horizon-Agent-x86-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn ADDLOCAL=SerialPortRedirection,ScannerRedirection”

Table 2. Horizon Agent Silent Installation Options and Interactive Custom Setup Options
Silent Installation Option Custom Setup Option in an Interactive Installation Installed by Default Interactively or When ADDLOCAL Is Not Used
Core The core Horizon Agent functions.

If you specify ADDLOCAL=ALL, the Core features are installed.

Yes
PCoIP PCoIP Protocol Agent Yes
USB USB Redirection No
NGVC Instant Clone Agent No
RTAV Real-Time Audio-Video Yes
ClientDriveRedirection Client Drive Redirection Yes
SerialPortRedirection Serial Port Redirection No
ScannerRedirection Scanner Redirection No
GEOREDIR Geolocation Redirection No
V4V Horizon Monitoring Service Agent Yes
SmartCard Smartcard

This feature is not installed by default in an interactive installation.

No
VmwVaudio VMware Audio (virtual audio driver) Yes
VmwVidd VMware Indirect Display Driver Yes
Note: VmwVidd is installed and marked as Local in the registry only if:
  • Desktop Mode Windows Server is RS4 and above (OS build 17134 - version 1803), or
  • Server is 19H1 and above (OS build 18362 - version 1903)

VmwVidd is installed and set as Absent in the registry in Windows Server 2019 (version 1809) std and datacenter with the RDS role.

VmwVidd will be installed and set as Local in the registry in Windows Server 2022 with the RDS role.
TSMMR Windows Media Multimedia Redirection (MMR) Yes
RDP Enables RDP in the registry if you use the RDP_CHOICE=1 property on the command line or select RDP as the default display protocol when you create or edit a desktop pool.

This feature is hidden during interactive installations.

Yes
VMWMediaProviderProxy VMware Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business No
RDSH3D 3D rendering on RDS hosts No
BlastUDP UDP Transport support for Blast Yes
SdoSensor SDO Sensor Redirection No
PerfTracker Horizon Performance Tracker No
HelpDesk Horizon Help Desk Tool Yes
PrintRedir VMware Integrated Printing Yes
PSG This feature sets a registry entry that tells Connection Server whether Horizon Agent is using IPv4 or IPv6. Yes