What is VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure)?

 End User Computing, Omnissa Horizon, VDI  4 Responses »
Dec 072020
 
Picture of a business office with cubicles

In this post I’m going to explain what VDI is in the most simplest form and how you can benefit from using virtual desktop infrastructure (virtualized desktops) in your EUC strategy.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

VDI standards for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. Think of your existing physical desktop infrastructure (your desktop computers, also called end user computing), now virtualize those desktop computers in a virtual environment much like your servers are, and you now have Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

End User Computing (EUC)

Traditionally end user computing has been delivered by means of deploying physical (real) computers to each user in your office (and possibly remote users). This brings with it the cost of the systems, the time/cost to maintain the systems and hardware, and the management overhead of maintaining those systems.

By utilizing VDI, you can significantly reduce the cost, management, and maintenance required to maintain your EUC infrastructure.

What is VDI

When you implement a VDI solution, you virtualize your desktops and workstations on a virtualization server, much like your servers are probably already virtualized. Users will connect via software, a thin client, or a zero client to establish the session to transmit and receive the video, monitor, and keyboard of workstation that is virtualized.

This might sound familiar, like RDS (Remote Desktop Services). However, in an RDS environment numerous users share the same server and resources and access it un a multi-user fashion, whereas with VDI they are using a virtualized Windows instance dedicated to them running an OS like Windows 10.

How does VDI work

Using the software, thin client, or zero client, a user establishes a session to a connection broker, which then passes it along to the Virtual Machine running on the server. The Virtual Machine encodes and compresses the graphics and then connects the users keyboard and mouse to the VM.

What’s even cooler, is that remote devices like printers and USB devices can also be forwarded on to the VM, giving the user the feeling that the computer that’s running on the server, is actually right in front of them.

And if that isn’t cool enough, in an environment where 3D accelerated and high-performance graphics are required, you can use special graphics cards and GPUs to provide those high end graphics remotely to users. Technically you could game, do engineering work, video and graphics editing, and more.

Why use VDI

So your desktops are now virtualized. This means you no longer need to maintain numerous physical PCs and the hardware that is inside of them.

You can deploy a standardized golden image that instantly clones as users log in to give them a pre-configured and maintained environment. This means you manage 1 or few desktops which can get deployed to hundreds of users, instead of managed hundreds of desktops.

If a thin client or zero client fails you can simply re-deploy a new unit to the user, which are very inexpensive, and reduces downtime.

In the event of a disaster, your VDI EUC environment would be integrated in to your disaster recovery solution, meaning it would be very easy to get users back up and running.

One of the best parts is that the environment can be used inside of your office and externally, allowing you to provide a smooth experience for remote users. This made business continuity a breeze for organizations that need to deploy remote users or “Work from home” users on the fly.

The cost of VDI

The cost to roll out a VDI solution varies depending on the number of users, types of users, and functionality you’d like.

Typically, VDI is a no-brainer for large organizations and enterprises due to the cost savings on hardware, management, and maintaining the solution vs traditional desktops. But smaller organizations can also benefit from VDI, examples being organizations that use expensive desktops and/or laptops for uses such as engineering, software development, and other uses that require high-cost workstations.

One last thought I want to leave you with; imagine an environment with 50-100 systems, and all the wasted power and CPU cycles when users are just browsing the internet. In a virtual environment you can over-allocate resources, which means you can identify user trends and only purchase the hardware you need to based on observed workloads. This can significantly reduce the cost of hardware, especially for software development, engineering, and other high performance computing.

For more information on VDI, take a look at my other VDI related blog posts.

Nvidia vGPU GRID K1/K2 – No h264 session encoding offload

 End User Computing, GRID, NVIDIA, Omnissa Horizon, VDI, VMware  12 Responses »
Oct 102020
 

If you’re like me and use an older Nvidia GRID K1 or K2 vGPU video card for your VDI homelab, you may notice that when using VMware Horizon that VMware Blast h264 encoding is no longer being offloaded to the GPU and is instead being encoded via the CPU.

The Problem

Originally when an environment was configured with an Nvidia GRID K1 or K2 card, not only does the card provide 3D acceleration and rendering, but it also offloads the VMware BLAST h264 stream (the visual session) so that the CPU doesn’t have to. This results in less CPU usage and provides a streamlined experience for the user.

This functionality was handled via NVFBC (Nvidia Frame Buffer Capture) which was part of the Nvidia Capture SDK (formerly known as GRID SDK). This function allowed the video card to capture the video frame buffer and encode it using NVENC (Nvidia Encoder).

Ultimately after spending hours troubleshooting, I learned that NVFBC has been deprecated and is no longer support, hence why it’s no longer functioning. I also checked and noticed that tools (such as nvfbcenable) were no longer bundled with the VMware Horizon agent. One can assume that the agent doesn’t even attempt to check or use this function.

Symptoms

Before I was aware of this, I noticed that while 3D Acceleration and graphics were functioning, I was experiencing high CPU usage. Upon further investigation I noticed that my VMware BLAST sessions were not offloading h264 encoding to the video card.

VMware Horizon Performance Tracker
VMware Horizon Performance Tracker with NVidia GRID K1

You’ll notice above that under the “Encoder” section, the “Encoder Name” was listed as “h264 4:2:0”. Normally this would say “NVIDIA NvEnc H264” (or “NVIDIA NvEnc HEVC” on newer cards) if it was being offloaded to the GPU.

Looking at a VMware Blast session (Blast-Worker-SessionId1.log), the following lines can be seen.

[INFO ] 0x1f34 bora::Log: NvEnc: VNCEncodeRegionNvEncLoadLibrary: Loaded NVIDIA SDK shared library "nvEncodeAPI64.dll"
[INFO ] 0x1f34 bora::Log: NvEnc: VNCEncodeRegionNvEncLoadLibrary: Loaded NVIDIA SDK shared library "nvml.dll"
[WARN ] 0x1f34 bora::Warning: GetProcAddress: Failed to resolve nvmlDeviceGetEncoderCapacity: 127
[WARN ] 0x1f34 bora::Warning: GetProcAddress: Failed to resolve nvmlDeviceGetProcessUtilization: 127
[WARN ] 0x1f34 bora::Warning: GetProcAddress: Failed to resolve nvmlDeviceGetGridLicensableFeatures: 127
[INFO ] 0x1f34 bora::Log: NvEnc: VNCEncodeRegionNvEncLoadLibrary: Some NVIDIA nvml functions unavailable, unloading
[INFO ] 0x1f34 bora::Log: NvEnc: VNCEncodeRegionNvEncUnloadLibrary: Unloading NVIDIA SDK shared library "nvEncodeAPI64.dll"
[INFO ] 0x1f34 bora::Log: NvEnc: VNCEncodeRegionNvEncUnloadLibrary: Unloading NVIDIA SDK shared library "nvml.dll"
[WARN ] 0x1f34 bora::Warning: GetProcAddress: Failed to resolve nvmlDeviceGetEncoderCapacity: 127
[WARN ] 0x1f34 bora::Warning: GetProcAddress: Failed to resolve nvmlDeviceGetProcessUtilization: 127
[WARN ] 0x1f34 bora::Warning: GetProcAddress: Failed to resolve nvmlDeviceGetGridLicensableFeatures: 127

You’ll notice it tries to load the proper functions, however it fails.

The Solution

Unfortunately the only solution is to upgrade to newer or different hardware.

The GRID K1 and GRID K2 cards have reached their EOL (End of Life) and are no longer support. The drivers are not being maintained or updated so I doubt they will take advantage of the newer frame buffer capture functions of Windows 10.

Newer hardware and solutions have incorporated this change and use a different means of frame buffer capture.

To resolve this in my own homelab, I plan to migrate to an AMD FirePro S7150x2.

Hosted Desktop Infrastructure (HDI) vs Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

 Business, End User Computing, HDI, Moonshot, Omnissa Horizon, VDI  No Responses »
Jul 072020
 
Picture of a business office with cubicles

In the ever-evolving world of IT and End User Computing (EUC), new technologies and solutions are constantly being developed to decrease costs, improve functionality, and help the business’ bottom line. In this pursuit, as far as end user computing goes, two technologies have emerged: Hosted Desktop Infrastructure (HDI), and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). In this post I hope to explain the differences and compare the technologies.

We’re at a point where due to the low cost of backend server computing, performance, and storage, it doesn’t make sense to waste end user hardware and resources. By deploying thin clients, zero clients, or software clients, we can reduce the cost per user for workstations or desktop computers, and consolidate these on the backend side of things. By moving moving EUC to the data center (or server room), we can reduce power requirements, reduce hardware and licensing costs, and take advantage of some cool technologies thanks to the use of virtualization and/or Storage (SANs), snapshots, fancy provisioning, backup and disaster recovery, and others.

See below for the video, or read on for the blog post!

And it doesn’t stop there, utilizing these technologies minimizes the resources required and spent on managing, monitoring, and supporting end user computing. For businesses this is a significant reduction in costs, as well as downtime.

What is Hosted Desktop Infrastructure (HDI) and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Many IT professionals still don’t fully understand the difference between HDI and VDI, but it’s as sample as this: Hosted Desktop Infrastructure runs natively on the bare metal (whether it’s a server, or SoC) and is controlled and provided by a provisioning server or connection broker, whereas Virtual Desktop Infrastructure virtualizes (like you’re accustomed to with servers) the desktops in a virtual environment and is controlled and provided via hypervisors running on the physical hardware.

Hosted Desktop Infrastructure (HDI)

As mentioned above, Hosted Desktop Infrastructure hosts the End User Computing sessions on bare metal hardware in your datacenter (on servers). A connection broker handles the connections from the thin clients, zero clients, or software clients to the bare metal allowing the end user to see the video display, and interact with the workstation instance via keyboard and mouse.

Pros:

  • Remote Access capabilities
  • Reduction in EUC hardware and cost-savings
  • Simplifies IT Management and Support
  • Reduces downtime
  • Added redundancy
  • Runs on bare metal hardware
  • Resources are dedicated and not shared, the user has full access to the hardware the instance runs on (CPU, Memory, GPU, etc)
  • Easily provide accelerated graphics to EUC instances without additional costs
  • Reduction in licensing as virtualization products don’t need to be used

Cons:

  • Limited instance count to possible instances on hardware
  • Scaling out requires immediate purchase of hardware
  • Some virtualization features are not available since this solution doesn’t use virtualization
  • Additional backup strategy may need to be implemented separate from your virtualized infrastructure

Example:

If you require dedicated resources for end users and want to be as cost-effective as possible, HDI is a great candidate.

An example HDI deployment would utilize HPE Moonshot which is one of the main uses for HPE Moonshot 1500 chassis. HPE Moonshot allows you to provision up to 180 OS instances for each HPE Moonshot 1500 chassis.

More information on the HPE Moonshot (and HPE Edgeline EL4000 Converged Edge System) can be found here: https://www.stephenwagner.com/2018/08/22/hpe-moonshot-the-absolute-definition-of-high-density-software-defined-infrastructure/

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure virtualizes the end user operating system instances exactly how you virtualize your server infrastructure. In VMware environments, VMware Horizon View can provision, manage, and maintain the end user computing environments (virtual machines) to dynamically assign, distribute, manage, and broker sessions for users. The software product handles the connections and interaction between the virtualized workstation instances and the thin client, zero client, or software client.

Pros:

  • Remote Access capabilities
  • Reduction in EUC hardware and cost-savings
  • Simplifies IT Management and Support
  • Reduces downtime
  • Added redundancy
  • Runs as a virtual machine
  • Shared resources (you don’t waste hardware or resources as end users share the resources)
  • Easy to scale out (add more backend infrastructure as required, don’t need to “halt” scaling while waiting for equipment)
  • Can over-commit (over-provision)
  • Backup strategy is consistent with your virtualized infrastructure
  • Capabilities such as VMware DRS, VMware HA

Cons:

  • Resources are not dedicated and are shared, users share the server resources (CPU, Memory, GPU, etc)
  • Extra licensing may be required
  • Extra licensing required for virtual accelerated graphics (GPU)

Example:

If you want to share a pool of resources, require high availability, and/or have dynamic requirements then virtualization would be the way to go. You can over commit resources while expanding and growing your environment without any discontinuation of services. With virtualization you also have access to technologies such as DRS, HA, and special Backup and DR capabilities.

An example use case of VMware Horizon View and VDI can be found at: https://www.digitallyaccurate.com/blog/2018/01/23/vdi-use-case-scenario-machine-shops/

 Conclusion

Both technologies are great and have their own use cases depending on your business requirements. Make sure you research and weigh each of the options if you’re considering either technologies. Both are amazing technologies which will compliment and enhance your IT strategy.

VMware Horizon 7 Product Evaluation Extension – COVID 19

 End User Computing, Omnissa Horizon, VDI, VMware  No Responses »
Apr 072020
 
VMware Horizon View Icon

In response to COVID 19, VMware has extended their VMware Horizon 7 trial offering up to 90 days and includes 100 users. This includes both VMware Horizon 7 On-Premise, as well as VMware Cloud on AWS.

This is great if you’re planning or about to implement and deploy VMware Horizon 7.

In it’s simplest form, Horizon 7 allows an organization to virtualize their end user computing. No more computers, no more desktops, only Zero clients and software clients. Not only does this streamline the end user computing experience, but it enables a beautiful remote access solution as well.

And Horizon isn’t limited to VDI… You can install the VMware Horizon Agent on a Physical PC so you can use VDI technologies like Blast Extreme to remote in to physical desktops at your office. It makes the perfect remote access solution. Give it a try today with an evaluation license!

To get your evaluation license, please visit https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=horizon-7.

Update: VMware Horizon 8 has been released. To get the latest evaluation, visit https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=horizon-eval-8.

VMware Horizon Blank Screen

 End User Computing, Omnissa Horizon, Remote Access, VDI, VMware  20 Responses »
Apr 042020
 
VMware Horizon View Logo

In all my years assisting and providing support with VMware Horizon, one of the most common problems that customers report with their VDI implementations, is the VMware Horizon Blank Screen.

When a user is presented with a blank or black screen when using the VMware Horizon Client, the problem can be caused by a number of different things. In this post, I will address and provide solutions for some of the common issues that cause the VMware Horizon blank screen.

VMware Horizon Blank screen issue
VMware Horizon Blank screen issue

This troubleshooting guide applies to VMware Horizon 8, VMware Horizon 7, as well as earlier versions of VMware Horizon.

VMware Horizon Blank Screen Causes

There’s a number of different causes of a blank or black screen when connecting and establishing a VDI session to Horizon View. Click on the item below to jump to that section of the post:

Now that we have a list, let’s dive in to each of these individually. Some of these will require you to do your own research and will only guide you, while other sections will include the full fix for the issue.

VMware Tools and Horizon Agent Installation Order

When deploying the VMware Horizon View agent, you are required to install the agent, along with VMware tools in a specific order. Failing to do so can cause problems, including a blank screen screen.

The installation order:

  1. Install GPU/vGPU drivers (if needed)
  2. Install VMware Tools Agent
  3. Install the VMware Horizon Agent
  4. Install the VMware User Environment Manager Agent (if needed)
  5. Install the VMware App Volumes Agent (if needed)

It is important to also consider this when upgrading the agents as well. When upgrading VMware Tools, it is recommended to re-install the Horizon agent in versions up to and including Horizon 8 2103. As of Horizon 2106 and later, you no longer need to re-install the Horizon Agent when performing a VMware Tools upgrade.

For more information on the agent installation order for VMware Horizon, please visit: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2118048.

Network ports are blocked (Computer Firewall, Network Firewall)

For the VMware Horizon agent to function properly, ports must be accessible through your firewall, whether it’s the firewall on the VM guest, client computer, or network firewall.

The following ports are required for the VMware Horizon Agent when connecting directly to a View Connection Server.

DestinationNetwork ProtocolDestination PortDetails
Horizon Connection ServerTCP443Login, authentication, and connection to the VMware Connection Server.
Horizon AgentTCP22443Blast Extreme
UDP22443Blast Extreme
TCP4172PCoIP
UDP4172PCoIP
TCP3389RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol)
TCP9427Client Shared Drive redirection (CDR) and Multi-media redirection (MMR).
TCP32111USB Redirection (Optional), can be incorporated in to the Blast Extreme connection.
Network Ports Required for VMware Horizon View to View Connection Server

The following ports are required for the VMware Horizon Agent when connecting through a VMware Unified Access Gateway (UAG).

DestinationNetwork ProtocolDestination PortDetails
Unified Access GatewayTCP443Login, authentication, and connection to the Unified Access Gateway. This port/connection can also carry tunneled RDP, client drive redirection, and USB redirection traffic.
TCP4172PCoIP via PCoIP Secure Gateway
UDP4172PCoIP via PCoIP Secure Gateway
UDP443Optional for Login traffic. Blast Extreme will attempt a UDP login if there are issues establishing a TCP connection.
TCP8443Blast Extreme via Blast Secure Gateway (High Performance connection)
UDP8443Blast Extreme via Blast Secure Gateway (Adaptive performance connection)
TCP443Blast Extreme via UAG port sharing.
Network Ports Required for VMware Horizon View to VMware Unified Access Gateway (UAG)

You’ll notice the ports that are required for Blast Extreme and PCoIP. If these are not open you can experience a blank screen when connecting to the VMware Horizon VDI Guest VM.

For more information on VMware Horizon network ports, visit VMware’s Network Ports in VMware Horizon | VMware.

Certain types of IPS (Intrusion Prevention Service) can also intercept and block traffic. IPS may cause intermittent issues.

DNS Issues

While VMware Horizon View usually uses IP address for connectivity between the View Connection Server, guest VM, and client, I have seen times where DNS issues have stopped certain components from functioning properly.

It’s always a good idea to verify that DNS is functioning both internally and externally. DNS (forward and reverse) is required for VMware Horizon Linux guests VMs.

XDR, EDR, and AV Platform causing momentary blank screen at logon

When using an XDR (Extended Detection and Response), EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response), or special AV solution with non-persistent desktops, one may experience a momentary blank screen on user session logon. I have observed this with Sophos XDR as well as Cortex XDR, with blank screens varying from 10-30 seconds on user login.

Removal of the platform can reduce the momentary blank screen down to 1-5 seconds.

I highly recommend configuring and tweaking policies as much as possible to enhance and optimize your environment. There will always be a trade off of performance for security, and the decisions should be made by those in the organization who make cyber security related decisions.

Incorrectly configured Unified Access Gateway

A big offender when it comes to blank screens is an incorrectly configured VMWare Unified Access Gateway for VMware Horizon.

Sometimes, first-time UAG users will incorrectly configure the View Connection server and UAG.

When configuring a UAG, you must disable both “Blast Secure Gateway”, and “PCoIP Secure Gateway” on the View Connection Server, as the UAG will be handling this. See below.

Picture of the Secure Gateway settings on VMware Horizon View Connection Server when used with VMware UAG.
Secure Gateway Settings on View Connection Server when used with UAG

Another regular issue is when admins misconfigure the UAG itself. There are a number of key things that must be configured properly. These are the values that should be populated on the UAG under Horizon Settings.

Connection Server URLhttps://ConnectionServerIP:443
Connection Server URL Thumbprintsha1=SSLTHUMPRINT
(Thumbprint of the SSL certificate your View Connection Server is using)
PCOIP External URLUAG-EXTERNALIP:4172
Blast External URLUAG-InternetFQDN:443
Tunnel External URLUAG-InternetFQDN:443

You must also have a valid SSL certificate installed under “TLS Server Certificate Settings”. I’d recommend applying it to both the admin and internal interface. This is a certificate that must match the FQDN (internal and external) of your UAG appliance.

Once you’re good, you’re green!

Picture of the VMware UAG interface showing all green (functioning).
VMware Unified Access Gateway showing valid

You should always see green lights, all protocols should work, and the connections should run smooth. If not, troubleshoot.

GPU Driver Issue

When using a GPU with your VM for 3D graphics, make sure you adhere to the requirements of the GPU vendor, along with the VMware requirements.

Some vendors have display count, resolution, and other limits that when reached, cause Blast Extreme to fail.

An incorrectly installed driver can also cause issues. Make sure that there are no issues with the drivers in the “Device Manager”.

VMware documents regarding 3D rendering:

Blast Extreme log files can be found on the guest VM in the following directory.

C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Blast\

Looking at these log files, you can find information that may pertain to the H.264 or display driver issues that will assist in troubleshooting.

When using GPUs such as Nvidia GRID and AMD MxGPU, it is recommended to disable the VMware SVGA 3D Driver and adapter inside of Device Manager after you install the applicable GPU drivers.

NVIDIA vGPU Issues

You may be experiencing issues related to the NVIDIA vGPU platform, either inside of the VM guest, or on the VMware ESXi host.

Please check out my NVIDIA vGPU Troubleshooting Guide – How to troubleshoot vGPU on VMware for more information on how to troubleshoot, as well as a list of common issues experienced with VMware Horizon and NVIDIA vGPU.

VMware Tools

A corrupt VMware tools install, whether software or drivers can cause display issues. Make sure that the drivers (including the display driver) are installed and functioning properly.

It may be a good idea to completely uninstall VMware Tools and re-install.

If you’re experiencing display driver issues (such as a blank screen), before re-installing VMware Tools try forcibly removing the display driver.

  1. Open “Device Manager”
  2. Right click on the VMware Display adapter and open “Properties”
  3. On the “Driver” tab, select “Uninstall”
  4. Check the box for “Delete the driver software for this device”.

This will fully remove the VMware driver. Now re-install VMware Tools.

Horizon Agent

Often, re-installing the Horizon Agent can resolve issues. Always make sure that VMware Tools are installed first before installing the Horizon Agent.

Make sure that if you are running 64-bit Windows in the VM then you install and use the 64-bit Horizon Agent.

You may experience issues with the “VMware Horizon Indirect Display Driver”. Some users have reported an error on this driver and issues loading it, resulting in a blank screen. To do this, I’d recommend forcibly uninstalling the driver and re-installing the Horizon Agent.

To forcibly remove the “VMware Horizon Indirect Display Driver”:

  1. Open “Device Manager”
  2. Right click on the “VMware Horizon Indirect Display Driver” and open “Properties”
  3. On the “Driver” tab, select “Uninstall”
  4. Check the box for “Delete the driver software for this device”.

Now proceed to uninstall and reinstall the Horizon View Agent.

When running the Horizon Agent on Horizon for Linux, make sure that forward and reverse DNS entries exist, and that DNS is functioning on the network where the Linux VM resides.

Also, as a reminder, it is recommended that you re-install the Horizon agent in versions up to and including Horizon 8 2103 after upgrading VMware Tools. As of Horizon 8 2106, you no longer need to re-install the Horizon Agent when performing a VMware Tools upgrade.

Video Settings (Video Memory (VRAM), Resolution, Number of Displays)

When experiencing video display issues or blank screens on VMware Horizon View, these could be associated with the guest VM’s memory, video memory (VRAM), display resolution, and number of displays.

vSphere Video RAM (VRAM) configuration for VMware Horizon
vSphere Video RAM Configuration for VMware Horizon

If you do not have enough Video RAM (VRAM) allocated to the virtual machine and/or you have too many displays (multi-monitor), then you can experience the blank screen with Horizon.

Make sure you are adhering to the specifications put forth by VMware. Please see the following links for more information.

Master Image Resolution

While this isn’t likely to cause a blank screen issue (it can though), it’s always a good idea to set your image to a lower resolution before snapping or converting to a template for deployment.

It’s a lot easier for the VMs to start using lower resolution and VRAM (Video Memory) and then increase to what’s needed, instead of starting at a crazy high resolution and then getting adjusted down.

I consider it a good practice to reduce the graphics resolution before creating and deploying the image to the desktop pools.

Protocol

When troubleshooting blank screens with VMware Horizon, you need to try to identify whether it’s specific to the guest VM, or if it’s associated with the connection protocol you’re using (and the route it takes whether through a Connection Server, or UAG).

Always try different protocols to see if the issue is associated with all, or one. Then try establishing connections and find if it’s isolated direct to the Connection Server, or through the UAG.

If the issue is with a specific protocol, you can view the protocol log files. If the issue is with the UAG, you can troubleshoot the UAG.

Log files can be found in the following directory:

C:\ProgramData\VMware\

HTTPS Proxy and redirection issues

If you are connecting through a network that does passive and/or transparent HTTPS scanning or uses a proxy server, you may experience issues with inability to connect, or blank screens.

You’ll need to modify your firewall or proxy to allow the VMware connection and open the required ports for VMware Horizon and create an exception not to touch or manipulate the VMware Horizon related traffic.

Login banner or disclaimer (PCoIP)

I haven’t seen or heard of this one in some time, but when using VMware Horizon with PCoIP, sessions can fail or show a blank screen when the legal disclaimer login banner is used on the Windows instance (Windows 7, Windows 10, or Windows 11).

For more information on this issue, and how to resolve or workaround, visit https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1016961.

Old version of VMware Horizon

It never stops surprising me how old some of the VMware Horizon View environments are that some businesses are running. VMware regularly updates, and releases new versions of VMware Horizon that resolve known issues and bugs in the software.

While it may be difficult, simply upgrading your VMware Horizon environment (VMware vSphere, View Connection Server, VMware Tools, VMware Horizon Agent) can often resolve many issues.

Blank Screen connecting to Physical PC running Horizon Agent

When you install the VMware Horizon Agent on a Physical PC, you may encounter issues with a blank screen.

This is usually caused by:

After troubleshooting these issues, you should be able to resolve the issue.

Conclusion

As you can see there are a number of different things that can cause Horizon View to show a blank screen on login. It’s always best to try to understand how the technology works, and establish where the failure points are.

Let me know if this helped you out, or if you find other reasons and feel I should add them to the list!

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