Install Horizon Client for Windows (2024)

This procedure describes how to install Horizon Client by using an interactive installation wizard. To install Horizon Client from the command line, see Install Horizon Client From the Command Line. To install the URL Content Redirection feature, you must run the installer from the command line.

Note: You can install Horizon Client in the remote desktop virtual machine. Companies might use this installation strategy when their end users access published applications from Windows thin-client devices.

Prerequisites

• Verify that the client system uses a supported operating system. See Hardware and Software Requirements for Horizon Windows Client.
• Verify that you have the URL for a download page that contains the Horizon Client installer. This URL might be the VMware Downloads page at http://www.vmware.com/go/viewclients, or it might be the URL for a Connection Server instance.
• Verify that you can log in as an administrator on the client system.
• Verify that the domain controllers have the latest patches, enough free disk space, and can communicate with each other.
• If you plan to install Horizon Client with FIPS-compliant cryptography, enable FIPS mode in the client operating system. See Enabling FIPS Mode in the Horizon Windows Client Operating System.
• If you plan to select the IPv6 protocol or automatic Internet protocol selection, see the Horizon 8 Installation and Upgrade document for information about features that are not available in an IPv6 environment.
• If you plan to enable automatic Internet protocol selection, see Enabling Automatic Internet Protocol Selection on Horizon Windows Client for information about the supported features.
• If you plan to install the USB Redirection component, perform the following tasks:
  • Determine whether the person who uses the client device is allowed to access locally connected USB devices from a remote desktop. If access is not permitted, either do not install the USB Redirection component, or install the component and disable it by using a group policy setting. If you use group policy to disable USB redirection, you do not need to reinstall Horizon Client if you later decide to enable USB redirection for a client. For more information, see Using Group Policy Settings to Configure Horizon Windows Client.
  • Verify that the Windows Automatic Update feature is not turned off on the client computer.
• Decide whether to use the feature that allows end users to log in to Horizon Client and their remote desktop as the currently logged in user. Credential information that the user entered when logging in to the client system is passed to the Connection Server instance and ultimately to the remote desktop. Some client operating systems do not support this feature.
• If you do not want end users to have to supply the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the Connection Server instance, determine the FQDN so that you can supply it during installation.

Procedure

1. Log in to the client system as an administrator.
2. Navigate to the VMware Downloads page at http://www.vmware.com/go/viewclients.
3. Download the installer file, for example, VMware-Horizon-Client-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe.

   YYMM is the marketing version number, y.y.y is the internal version number, and xxxxxx is the build number.

4. Double-click the installer file to begin the installation.
5. Select an installation type and follow the prompts.

   Option	Action
   Typical installation	Click Agree & Install. The installer configures the client to use the IPv4 Internet protocol and installs the following features. USB Redirection Log in as current user, including showing the Log in as current user menu option. Support for HTML5 Multimedia Redirection and Browser Redirection
   Custom installation	Click Customize Installation and select the features to install. You must select this option to install the following features. Specify a non-default installation location. Use the IPv6 Internet protocol or automatic selection. If you enable automatic selection, Horizon Client checks the current network and connects over IPv4 or IPv6 automatically. Set the default login behavior to Log in as current user. Specify a default Connection Server instance. Enable FIPS-compliant cryptography. FIPS-compliant cryptography custom installation options are available in the installer only if FIPS mode is enabled on the client operating system. Select Enable Keylogger Blocking to enable anti keylogger and on-screen keyboard encryption.

6. Click Agree & Install and then click Finish.

   The installer installs Windows services, including VMware Horizon Client ( horizon_client_service) and VMware USB Arbitration Service ( VMUSBArbService).

7. Click Restart Now to apply the configuration changes.
8. Follow the steps below to make the Windows client compliant with FIPS. These steps apply to both installation types.
   1. Open the Group Policy Management Editor console.
   2. Click VMware Horizon Client Configuration > Security Settings and then click Configure SSL protocols and cryptographic algorithms in the right panel.
   3. In the Configure SSL protocols and cryptographic algorithms section, click Enable.
   4. In SSL protocols and ciphersuite, enter TLSv1.2:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384.
   5. In Configure Signature Algorithms Extension, enter RSA+SHA384.
   6. In Configure Supported Groups Extension, enter P-384 and click Apply.
   7. In Group Policy Editor, click Strict certificate revocation check in the right panel.
   8. Click Enable and then click Apply.
   9. In the Group Policy Editor, click Protocol connection certificate verification mode in the right panel, click Enable, and then select PKI or PKI & Thumbprint.

      Note: If you have an SSL proxy server, set this option to PKI.

   10. Click Apply and then click OK.

What to do next

Start Horizon Client and verify that you can log in to the correct remote desktop or published application. See Connect to a Remote Desktop or Published Application from Horizon Windows Client.