For those already consuming Microsoft Office 365, then you will undoubtedly (to some level) be utilising Azure Active Directory. Azure AD comes with an array of tools, some of which aren’t confined to public cloud; some can even aid and strengthen your on-premises applications. One such tool is the Azure Multi-Factor Authentication Server, an on-premises 2-factor authentication mechanism which can integrate with on-prem VMware Horizon environments.
The Azure MFA Server enables us to further enhance the security of numerous applications capable of integrating with 2FA authentication, and VMware Horizon has been able to integrate with such solutions for some time. This additional level of security is a much sought after function which serves to further secure public access to internal desktop pools.
Following a recent VMware Horizon 7 upgrade, we had a few issues whereby users were unable to download the VMware Horizon Client via the Web Portal. Specifically, clicking the Install VMware Horizon Client link simply resulted in a 404 error. So, where had the installation media gone?
On closer inspection, it appears VMware Horizon 7 handles this configuration slightly differently than in previous versions, but the issue can be easily remedied.
Installing the VMware Horizon Client via the Web PortalAttempts to download the VMware Horizon Client result in a 404 error
1. First of all, we’ll need to download all clients relevant to your environment (Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android, etc.) via www.vmware.com/go/viewclients. These will need to be saved to C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\broker\webapps\downloads on each of your Connection servers.
2. The URL utilised in the Web Portal is defined in the portal-links-html-access.properties configuration file (available at C:\ProgramData\VMware\VDM\portal\). Amend each of the links (or rather the filenames) accordingly to your required platforms:
32-bit Windows installer: link.win32=https://Server-FQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-x86-build#.exe
64-bit Windows installer: link.win64=https://Server-FQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-x86_64-build#.exe
Windows Phone installer: link.winmobile=https://Server-FQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-build#.appx
32-bit Linux installer: link.linux32=https://Server-FQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-build#.x86.bundle
64-bit Linux installer: link.linux64=https://Server-FQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-build#.x64.bundle
Mac OS X installer: link.mac=https://Server-FQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-build#.dmg
Chrome OS installer: link.chromeos=https://Server-FQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-ChromeOS-build#.apk
Following the amendments, your portal-links-html-access.properties file should resemble something like the below. Please note, I mention ‘https://ConnectionServerFQDN/ below. In my instance, and as this utilises multiple this is the load-balanced address. When complete, save and close.
# Configure whether download page is accessible
enable.download=true
# Configure whether web client page is accessible
enable.webclient=true
# Configure the download page's URL address
link.download=https://www.vmware.com/go/viewclients
# Configure the help page's URL address
link.help=https://www.vmware.com/support/viewclients/doc/viewclients_pubs.html
# Links of view clients installers on different platforms
link.win32=https://ConnectionServerFQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-4.6.1-6748947.exe
link.win64=https://ConnectionServerFQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-4.6.1-6748947.exe
link.linux32=https://ConnectionServerFQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-4.6.0-6617224.x86.bundle
link.linux64=https://ConnectionServerFQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-4.6.0-6617224.x64.bundle
link.mac=https://ConnectionServerFQDN/downloads/VMware-Horizon-Client-4.6.0-6607320.dmg
3. Lastly, restart the VMware Horizon View Web Component service.
4. Revisit the Web Portal and all should now be well.
