Installing Omnissa Horizon Agent for Windows Silently

You can use the silent installation feature of the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) to install Horizon Agent on several Windows virtual machines or physical computers. In a silent installation, you do not have to respond to wizard prompts. A silent upgrade uses the same install commands. You can also modify already installed Horizon Agent components silently.

You can perform a silent installation either by entering parameters manually on the command line or by using a settings file.

About Silent Installation

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

If you do not want to install all features that are installed automatically or by default, you can use the ADDLOCAL MSI property to selectively install individual setup options and features. For details about the ADDLOCAL property, see the table in Microsoft Windows Installer Command Line Options.

You can modify features by using the ADDLOCAL and REMOVE MSI properties.

You can use the following PowerShell command to query the registry of installed components on the system where Horizon Agent is installed for the ModifyPath base command line:

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, ModifyPath | 
Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like '*Horizon Agent*'} | Format-Table –AutoSize

The output:

DisplayName               ModifyPath
Omnissa Horizon Agent      MsiExec.exe /I{A17DD662-DFB3-4997-9C0F-4E687A300111}

Prerequisites

• Verify that you have prepared Active Directory. See the Horizon 8 Installation and Upgrade document.

• Prepare the guest operating system for desktop deployment. See Prepare a Guest Operating System for Remote Desktop Deployment.

• To use Windows Server as a single-session remote desktop or as an RDSH host, perform the steps described in Prepare Windows Server Operating Systems for Desktop Use.

  Note: The Horizon Agent installer does not automatically install any role in silent mode. If you want RDS mode, then pre-install the RDSH role on the system.

• If the machine has the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package installed, verify that the version of the package is 2005 SP1 or later. If the package version is 2005 or earlier, you can either upgrade or uninstall the package.

• Download the Horizon Agent installer file from Omnissa Customer Connect.

  The installer filename has the pattern Horizon-Agent-x86-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe, where YYMM is the marketing version number, y.y.y is the internal version number, and xxxxxx is the build number.

• Verify that you have administrative rights on the virtual machine or physical PC.

• Familiarize yourself with the Horizon Agent custom setup options. See Custom Setup Options for Horizon Agent for Windows.

• 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 Horizon Agent. See Silent Installation Properties for Horizon Agent for Windows.

• Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the Horizon Agent installation program opens on the firewall. See the Horizon Overview and Deployment Planning document for more information.

• Verify that the latest Windows Update patches are installed on the guest operating systems on which you plan to install Horizon Agent silently. In certain cases, an interactive installation by an administrator might be required to execute pending Windows Update patches. Verify that all OS operations and subsequent reboots are completed.

Install Horizon Agent Silently By Entering Parameters on the Command Line

You can run these commands in a Windows command prompt on the virtual machine or physical PC.

Note: If you install Horizon Agent on a Windows Server machine, and you intend to configure the machine as a single-user Horizon desktop rather than as an RDS host, you must include the VDM_FORCE_DESKTOP_AGENT=1 property in the installation command. This requirement applies to machines that are managed by vCenter Server and unmanaged machines.

Note: In the following examples, the name agent-installer.exe stands in for the downloaded installer file. Substitute the name of the installer exe you are using.

Example One

The following example installs Horizon Agent with the components Core, Horizon Blast, Unity Touch, USB redirection, and Real-Time Audio-Video components.

agent-installer.exe /s /v "/qn VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT=1 ADDLOCAL=Core,USB,RTAV"

Example Two

The following example installs Horizon Agent on an unmanaged computer with credentials. Also, the desktop will be registered with the specified Connection Server, cs1.companydomain.com, by passing the server address and administrator credentials directly on the command line. The installer installs the Core, Horizon Blast, PCoIP, Unity Touch, Integrated Printing, and USB redirection components.

agent-installer.exe /s /v "/qn VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT=0 VDM_SERVER_NAME=cs1.companydomain.com VDM_SERVER_USERNAME=admin.companydomain.com VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD=secret ADDLOCAL=Core,PrintRedir,USB"

Example Three

The following example installs Horizon Agent on an unmanaged computer without credentials. Also, the installer installs the Core, Horizon Blast, Unity Touch, Integrated Printing, and USB redirection components. Complete the the installation on the Register with Horizon Connection Server screen based on one of the following pairing/registration modes.

1. Enter the name of a Horizon Connection Server and Credentials: In the dialog box, enter the CS hostname and HzE administrator credentials.

   • Silent install option: VDM_PAIRING_MECHANISM=1

2. Auto-discover the Horizon Connection Server: Select to auto-discover and continue to the Ready to install screen.

   • Silent install option: VDM_PAIRING_MECHANISM=2

3. Enter the name of the pod: Type the name of the pod that the computer will be connected to. Continue to the Ready to install screen.

   • Silent install option: VDM_PAIRING_MECHANISM=3 VDM_POD_NAME=<POD name>

Example Four

The following example modifies and removes the USB component from an existing installation:

agent-installer.exe /s /v "/qn REMOVE=USB"

ProductCode-driven command line example: msiexec.exe /I{A17DD662-DFB3-4997-9C0F-4E687A300111} /qn REMOVE=USB

Example Five

The following example modifies the agent installation by replacing Horizon Performance Tracker with the Horizon Help Desk Tool: agent-installer.exe /s /v "/qn ADDLOCAL=HelpDesk REMOVE=PerfTracker”

ProductCode-driven command line example: msiexec.exe /I{A17DD662-DFB3-4997-9C0F-4E687A300111} /qn ADDLOCAL=HelpDesk REMOVE=PerfTracker

Example Six

The following example modifies the agent installation by adding serial port and scanner redirection: agent-installer.exe /s /v "/qn ADDLOCAL=SerialPortRedirection,ScannerRedirection”

ProductCode-driven command line example: msiexec.exe /I{A17DD662-DFB3-4997-9C0F-4E687A300111} /qn ADDLOCAL=SerialPortRedirection,ScannerRedirection

When the Installation is Complete

When the installation is complete, if the virtual machine has multiple NICs, configure the subnet that Horizon Agent uses. See Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for Horizon Agent.

Install Horizon Agent Silently Using a Settings File

1. Create a text file containing the parameters you want to use for the installation.

   • The file can be located on either a local or network drive. Using mapped drives is also supported.
   • The file can have any extension, but must be text-only.
   • Each parameter must be on its own line.
   • Any other text (besides the parameters themselves) must be commented out using a hash sign (#) at the beginning of the line.
   • Both whitespace and empty newlines are allowed in the file. Note: If you install Horizon Agent on a Windows Server machine, and you intend to configure the machine as a single-user Horizon desktop rather than as an RDS host, you must include the VDM_FORCE_DESKTOP_AGENT=1 property in the settings file. This requirement applies to machines that are managed by vCenter Server and unmanaged machines.

   Attention: The installer does not process passwords. If your file includes a known password property such as VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD, the installer fails to parse the file and returns an error. To include a password, you must enter it manually on the command line. When you enter a password in this way, it is passed only once and is not logged anywhere.

   Sample file: C:\Users\demo\agent-settings.txt

  VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT=0

   VDM_SERVER_NAME=cs1.companydomain.com

   VDM_SERVER_USERNAME=admin.companydomain.com

   ADDLOCAL=HelpDesk

   REMOVE=PerfTracker

2. Open a Windows command prompt on the virtual machine or physical PC and enter the following: use the name of the agent installer file that you have in place agent-installer.exe and file path to your agent-settings.txt file.

   Example:

   agent-installer.exe /s /v "/qn SETTINGS_FILE=C:\Users\demo\agent-settings.txt VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD=secret"

When the Installation is Complete

When the installation is complete, if the virtual machine has multiple NICs, configure the subnet that Horizon Agent uses. See Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for Horizon Agent.