Install Horizon Connection Server Silently

You can use the silent installation feature of the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) to perform a standard installation of Connection Server on several Windows computers. In a silent installation, you use the command line and do not have to respond to wizard prompts.

With silent installation, you can efficiently deploy VMware Horizon 8 components in a large enterprise.

Prerequisites

• Verify that you can log in as a domain user with administrator privileges on the Windows Server computer on which you install Connection Server.
• Verify that your installation satisfies the requirements described in Horizon Connection Server Requirements.
• Prepare your environment for the installation. See Installation Prerequisites for Horizon Connection Server.
• If you intend to authorize a domain user or group as the Horizon Administrators account, verify that you created the domain account in Active Directory.
• If you use MIT Kerberos authentication to log in to a Windows Server 2008 R2 computer on which you are installing Connection Server, install the Microsoft hotfix that is described in KB 978116 at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978116.
• Familiarize yourself with the network ports that must be opened on the Windows Firewall for Connection Server instances. See Firewall Rules for Horizon Connection Server.
• Verify that the Windows computer on which you install Connection Server has version 2.0 or later of the MSI runtime engine. For details, see the Microsoft Web site.
• Familiarize yourself with the MSI installer command-line options. See Microsoft Windows Installer Command-Line Options.
• Familiarize yourself with the silent installation properties available with a standard installation of Connection Server. See Silent Installation Properties for a Horizon Connection Server Standard Installation.

Procedure

1. Download the Connection Server installer file from the VMware download site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.
   Under Desktop & End-User Computing, select the VMware Horizon download, which includes Connection Server.

   The installer filename is VMware-Horizon-Connection-Server-x86_64-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe, where xxxxxx is the build number and y.y.y is the version number.

2. Open a command prompt on the Windows Server computer.
3. Type the installation command on one line.
   For example: VMware-Horizon-Connection-Server-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_SERVER_INSTANCE_TYPE=1 VDM_INITIAL_ADMIN_SID=S-1-5-32-544 VDM_SERVER_RECOVERY_PWD=mini VDM_SERVER_RECOVERY_PWD_REMINDER=""First car"""
   Important: When you perform a silent installation, the full command line, including the data recovery password, is logged in the installer's vminst.log file. After the installation is complete, either delete this log file or change the data recovery password by using Horizon Console.
4. Check for new patches on the Windows Server computer and run Windows Update as needed.
   Even if you fully patched the Windows Server computer before you installed Connection Server, the installation might have enabled operating system features for the first time. Additional patches might now be required.

Results

The VMware Horizon services are installed on the Windows Server computer:

• VMware Horizon Connection Server
• VMware Horizon Framework Component
• VMware Horizon Message Bus Component
• VMware Horizon Script Host
• VMware Horizon Security Gateway Component
• VMware Horizon PCoIP Secure Gateway
• VMware Horizon Blast Secure Gateway
• VMware Horizon Web Component
• VMware VDMDS, which provides Horizon LDAP services

If the Install HTML Access setting was selected during the installation, the HTML Access component is installed on the Windows Server computer. This component configures the HTML Access icon in the VMware Horizon user portal page and enables the VMware Horizon Connection Server (Blast-In) rule in the Windows Firewall. This firewall rule allows Web browsers on client devices to connect to the Connection Server on TCP port 8443.

For information about these services, see the Horizon 8 Administration document.

What to do next

Configure SSL server certificates for Connection Server. See Configuring TLS Certificates for VMware Horizon 8 Servers.

If you are configuring VMware Horizon 8 for the first time, perform initial configuration on Connection Server. See Configuring VMware Horizon for the First Time.