When deleting machines that were created and provisioned through the vRealize Automation service catalog, as a best practice, use a workflow or the Destroy action available in vRealize Automation, rather than deleting the machine through Horizon Console or vSphere Web Client.

If a vRealize Automation-provisioned machine is deleted in Horizon Console, the machine status on the Infrastructure tab in vRealize Automation appears as Missing. For this reason, consider using a machine-naming convention that indicates whether the machine provider is vRealize Automation or VMware Horizon 8.

If this situation occurs, use the Destroy action on the Infrastructure tab in vRealize Automation. Whenever an administrator or delegated administrator uses the Destroy action, the virtual machine is removed from the desktop pool and the virtual machine is deleted.

To use the Destroy action, the tenant administrator or delegated administrator must have delegated administrator access on the pool to which the machine belongs. To add a tenant administrator or delegated administrator to the group of delegated administrators for the pool, run the Add Delegated Administrator Configuration workflow as described in Assign Delegated Administrators to Pools. To determine the pool to which a machine belongs, select the Properties tab for the machine on the Infrastructure tab in vRealize Automation.

When you use the Destroy action, the vcac-desktop-callback workflow runs in vRealize Orchestrator. This workflow is in the Horizon/CoreModules/Business Logic folder. To monitor the action, you can log in to vRealize Orchestrator and view the logs for the workflow. You can also monitor progress in vRealize Automation, by clicking the machine item on the Infrastructure > Machines > Managed Machines tab. The status changes from InitializingRequest to UnprovisioningMachine to Disposing. Finally, the machine is removed from the list.

Note: For delegated administrators, the Destroy action might also be available on the Items tab, from the Machines panel. The delegated administrator can click a machine name to access the Item Details tab, where the Destroy button might be available. The Recycle button, which is available only for end users, removes the user's entitlement to the pool and unassigns the user from the machine. It does not delete the machine unless the pool policy is set to do so.