You can set various options for the VMware Identity Manager Desktop application when you run its installer program using the command line or a deployment script.

Available Command-Line Options for the VMware Identity Manager Desktop Installer

After you download the .exe file for the client application's installer to a Windows system, you can see a list of the installation options by running the following command: 
VMware-Identity-Manager-Desktop-n.n.n-nnnnnnn /?
where n.n.n-nnnnnnn represents the file's version and build number. A dialog box appears that lists the available installation options for installing the client application using the command line or a deployment script.
Table 1. Installer Command-Line Options
Installer Option Value Description
/? Displays the installer command-line options.
/a Performs an administrative installation.

For more information, see the Windows Installer documentation.

/a full path to existing administrative installation Patches an existing administrative installation.
/s Hides the initialization dialog box during installation.

To install in silent mode, use /s /v/qn.

In silent mode, no messages, dialog boxes, or prompts are displayed during installation You typically use this option when creating a deployment script to run the installer.

/v key-value pairs A set of parameters to pass to the installer, specified as key-value pairs. Use the format key=value. These arguments configure runtime options for the ThinApp packages and for the VMware Identity Manager Desktop in general.
/c Cleans out installation registration information.
/l [full path to log file] Performs detailed logging and saves to the specified log file.

If you don't specify a log file, a default log in %TEMP% is used.

/x Unpacks the installer into the %TEMP% folder.

Key-Value Pairs for the /v Option

You can use the following key-value pairs for the /v installer option.

Table 2. Keys for the /v Installer Command-Line Option
Key Value Description
WORKSPACE_SERVER Host name or URL of the VMware Identity Manager service

Provides the VMware Identity Manager service host name or URL, to allow the VMware Identity Manager Desktop application to communicate with the service. HTTPS is the required protocol. Enclose the value in quotation marks.

Use the following format:

WORKSPACE_SERVER="https://VMwareIdentityManagerFQDN"

or

WORKSPACE_SERVER="VMwareIdentityManagerHostName"

For example:

WORKSPACE_SERVER="https://myserver.mycompany.com"

WORKSPACE_SERVER="myserver"

INSTALL_MODE One of the following:

COPY_TO_LOCAL

HTTP_DOWNLOAD

RUN_FROM_SHARE

Sets the deployment mode for how the VMware Identity Manager Desktop application obtains ThinApp packages at runtime. ThinApp packages are virtualized Windows applications. The ThinApp packages reside on a network share that is integrated with VMware Identity Manager.

  • COPY_TO_LOCAL: The user's entitled packages are downloaded to the client Windows system using a file copy. When the user launches a ThinApp package, the virtualized application runs locally on that system. Before the user's first download and use of an entitled ThinApp package and to continue synchronizing the packages to the client Windows system, the client Windows system must join the same Active Directory domain to which the ThinApp packages' network share is joined. The user account used to log in to the Windows system is the account that is used to obtain the ThinApp packages from the network share. That account must have the appropriate permissions on the network share to read and copy files from the network share.
    Important: COPY_TO_LOCAL mode requires the ThinApp share to be reachable from the user's Windows system.
  • HTTP_DOWNLOAD: The user's entitled packages are downloaded to the client Windows system using the HTTP protocol. When the user launches a ThinApp package, the virtualized application runs locally on that system. The VMware Identity Manager Desktop application uses the user's VMware Identity Manager system account to authenticate to VMware Identity Manager to obtain the list of the user's entitled packages to download. The share user account provided in the VMware Identity Manager console for enabling account-based access to the ThinApp packages' network share is the account used by VMware Identity Manager to access the ThinApp packages from the repository. That share user account for VMware Identity Manager needs read permission on the network share. The account that the user used to log in to the client Windows system and the user's VMware Identity Manager system account do not need to have any permissions on the network share. The client Windows system does not have to join the same domain to which the ThinApp packages' network share is joined. This download method is typically slower than using the other modes. The benefit to this mode is that the client Windows system does not have to join the Active Directory domain to obtain and run the virtualized application.
    Important: For the HTTP_DOWNLOAD option to work, the ThinApp packages integration in VMware Identity Manager must be configured for account-based access. See VMware Identity Manager Installation and Configuration.
    Important: For VMware Identity Manager 2.6 and later on Windows 2008 R2 or Windows 7, the HTTP_DOWNLOAD option does not work unless you either enable TLS 1.0 in VMware Identity Manager or enable TLS 1.1. or 1.2 in the Windows 2008 R2 or Windows 7 system. To enable TLS 1.0 in VMware Identity Manager, see Knowledge Base article 2144805. To enable TLS 1.1 or 1.2 on the Windows system, see the Microsoft documentation at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3140245.
    Important: HTTP_DOWNLOAD mode requires the IDP URL to be reachable from the user's Windows system.
  • RUN_FROM_SHARE: The virtualized application is streamed to the client Windows system from the network share when the user launches the ThinApp package. The RUN_FROM_SHARE option is best suited for Windows systems that will always have connectivity to the network share where the ThinApp packages reside, because the ThinApp packages are not present on the Windows system and the virtualized applications only run if the Windows system can connect to the network share. The client Windows system must join the same Active Directory domain to which the ThinApp packages' network share is joined. The user account used to log in to the Windows system is the account that is used to obtain the ThinApp packages from the network share. That account must have the appropriate permissions on the network share to read and execute files on the network share.
    Important: RUN_FROM_SHARE mode requires the ThinApp share to be reachable from the user's Windows machine.

The default value is COPY_TO_LOCAL.

For all of the modes, the network share must have the appropriate file and sharing permissions configured. See VMware Identity Manager Installation and Configuration.

Important: When installing VMware Identity Manager Desktop in floating View desktops, use the RUN_FROM_SHARE option to avoid copying the ThinApp packages into those stateless View desktop systems.

When the VMware Identity Manager Desktop application is installed with one of these configurations, the user account that logs into the Windows system must have the appropriate file and sharing permissions on the network share to be able to obtain the ThinApp packages:

  • The RUN_FROM_SHARE option
  • The COPY_TO_LOCAL option, without also having the AUTO_TRY_HTTP option enabled and account-based access configured in VMware Identity Manager
POLLING_INTERVAL Frequency in seconds Sets the frequency, in seconds, of synchronization between the installed VMware Identity Manager Desktop application and VMware Identity Manager to check for new ThinApp packages or entitlements. If unspecified, the default value of 300 seconds (5 minutes) applies.

For example:

POLLING_INTERVAL=600

ENABLE_AUTOUPDATE 0 or 1

Enables or disables the automatic update check and download activity. If enabled, the installed VMware Identity Manager Desktop application automatically checks if a newer application is available for download. If a newer version is available, the VMware Identity Manager Desktop application automatically downloads and updates itself to the newer version. This option is enabled by default.

Set the value of this variable to 0 to disable automatic update. If unspecified, the default value of 1 applies.

Installation of automatic updates requires administrator privileges.
SHARED_CACHE 0 or 1

Determines whether the ThinApp package cache is located in a common folder in the Windows system to which the client application is being installed. Set the value of this variable to 1 to specify that all user accounts on the Windows system share a common cache location. By default, the common folder is %ProgramData%\VMware\Identity Manager Desktop\thinapp.

If unspecified, the default value of 0 applies, and each Windows user account gets its own cache, and its default location is %LOCALAPPDATA%\VMware\Identity Manager Desktop\thinapp.

Note: If you specify a shared cache, the VMware Identity Manager Desktop application does not automatically delete ThinApp packages from this shared cache. Because SHARED_CACHE=1 indicates that all user accounts on the Windows system share the same location, the packages must remain in the shared location so that entitled users can use them, even when you unentitle one user. When you unentitle a user from a ThinApp package, the VMware Identity Manager Desktop application unregisters that package for that user. Other entitled users on that Windows system can continue to use the ThinApp package. You can delete the common cache manually to reclaim the space if no user accounts on that Windows system are entitled to use the ThinApp packages. Each ThinApp package has its own folder under the cache location.
CACHE_DIR Path to folder Sets the location where ThinApp packages will be cached locally if the HTTP_DOWNLOAD or COPY_TO_LOCAL install modes are used. This value is set per system, not per user, so you must use environment variables, such as %LOCALAPPDATA%, to select user-specific locations. Be sure to escape the % character on the command-line to prevent immediate expansion. For example:

CACHE_DIR=^%LOCALAPPDATA^%\cache

AUTO_TRY_HTTP 0 or 1

When the VMware Identity Manager Desktop application is installed with the COPY_TO_LOCAL option and account-based access is configured for VMware Identity Manager, the AUTO_TRY_HTTP option determines whether the client should automatically try downloading the user's entitled ThinApp packages using the HTTP protocol, similar to the HTTP_DOWNLOAD option, if the first download attempt fails. This option is enabled by default. Set the value of this option to 0 to disable automatically trying the HTTP protocol for the download.

Important: For the AUTO_TRY_HTTP option to work, the ThinApp packages integration in VMware Identity Manager must be configured for account-based access. See VMware Identity Manager Requirements for ThinApp Packages and the Network Share Repository.
INSTALL_MODULES thinapp A comma-separated list specifying which modules to install. Currently, only the thinapp module is available.
MIGRATE_ACTION One of the following:

MOVE

COPY

NONE

If the old Workspace for Windows application is installed, the installer will migrate data and settings from the old application to the new one. The default value is MOVE.

The following settings are moved, copied, or ignored, depending on the value you specify.

Cached ThinApp Packages

Downloaded ThinApp packages will be copied from the Workspace for Windows cache, %LOCALAPPDATA%\VMware\Horizon ThinApp\PackageCache, to the new cache location, %LOCALAPPDATA%\VMware\Identity Manager Desktop\thinapp. Folder names within the cache folder will be altered.

Important: Properties set for VMware Identity Manager during installation take precedence over any migrated values for those properties. For example, if the INSTALL_MODE in Workspace for Windows was set to COPY_TO_LOCAL, and, while installing Identity Manager Desktop you specify /v INSTALL_MODE=HTTP_DOWNLOAD, then INSTALL_MODE is set to HTTP_DOWNLOAD.

Using the VMware Identity Manager Desktop Command-Line Installer Options

If your VMware Identity Manager instance has a URL of https://identitymanagerFQDN, and VMware Identity Manager is configured for account-based access to your ThinApp packages' network share, and you want to silently install the VMware Identity Manager Desktop application to multiple desktops of that VMware Identity Manager instance with these options:

  • The ThinApp install option set to HTTP_DOWNLOAD, because you expect these Windows systems will not be likely to join the domain. VMware Identity Manager is appropriately configured for account-based access to the ThinApp packages' network share.
  • The clients check for new packages and entitlements with VMware Identity Manager every 60 seconds.
You would create a script that invokes the following command: 
VMware-Identity-Manager-Desktop-n.n.n-nnnnnnn.exe /s
   /v/qn WORKSPACE_SERVER="https://identitymanagerFQDN" INSTALL_MODE=HTTP_DOWNLOAD POLLING_INTERVAL=60
where you replace the n.n.n-nnnnnnn portion of the file name to match the name of your downloaded VMware Identity Manager Desktop installer.