Installing VMware Horizon Client on Silverblue

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1

Hi all,

For work, I need the Horizon VMware Client. Said client comes as a .run file. I’ve tried installing it using toolbox, but I’m afraid I don’t know enough about toolbox yet - and I’m running into issues (I’m guessing because X isn’t installed inside a container?).

I guess it is important to note that VMware horizon client is not used for running virtual machines, but rather to access virtual installations elsewhere.

So far, I’ve tried the following:

$ toolbox create
$ toolbox enter
$ wget https://download3.vmware.com/software/view/viewclients/CART22FH2/VMware-Horizon-Client-2111-8.4.0-18957622.x64.bundle
$ chmod +x VMware-Horizon-Client-2111-8.4.0-18957622.x64.bundle
$ sudo ./VMware-Horizon-Client-2111-8.4.0-18957622.x64.bundle
Extracting VMware Installer...done.
Unable to load gtk: No module named 'gi', falling back to console.
You must accept the VMware Horizon Client End User License Agreement
to continue.  Press Enter to proceed.
Do you agree? [yes/no]: yes 



[######################################################################] 100%
Installation was unsuccessful.

If anyone has some pointers on how to properly install .run or .bundle files inside toolbox, that’d really appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

2

I think you are performing the correct things.
I don’t think it is something related to the graphical environment.
Look at the installation logs
/tmp/vmware-root/vmware-installer-*

3

To avoid such warning:

sudo dnf install python3-gobject gtk3
4

Thanks for your replies! I did just remember that the vmware horizon installation on Fedora 35 requires a bit of a workaround, but that sadly didn’t resolve the issue either. I’ve installed python3-gobject and gtk3, but the gi module error remains.

I did however manage to find why VMware Horizon won’t install:

[2021-12-20 15:55:18,144] self._installer: <vmis.core.errors.VMwareInstaller object at 0x7f9ae4f315e0>
[2021-12-20 15:55:18,146] No init script directory was able to be located
[2021-12-20 15:55:21,832] Top level exception handler
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/vmis.8f12rA/install/vmware-installer/vmis/core/transaction.py", line 458, in RunThreadedTransaction
    txn.Run()
  File "/tmp/vmis.8f12rA/install/vmware-installer/vmis/core/transaction.py", line 80, in Run
    self.get()()
  File "/tmp/vmis.8f12rA/install/vmware-installer/vmis/ui/console.py", line 277, in Show
    if (question.footer != ''):
AttributeError: 'InitScriptDir' object has no attribute 'footer'

After creating /etc/init.d inside the toolbox container, the installation continued just fine. However, now the application won’t start:

⬢[jeffrey@toolbox ~]$ vmware-view
/usr/bin/vmware-view: line 116: /usr/lib/vmware/view/env/env_utils.sh: No such file or directory
/usr/bin/vmware-view: line 95: is_glibcxx_compatible: command not found
/usr/bin/vmware-view: line 95: [: ==: unary operator expected
File not exists:/usr/lib/vmware/view/bin/vmware-view

I guess this will require some more digging…

1 Like
5

I managed to get this working a while back, but never got around to actually posting the solution. I just tried this on Fedora Silverblue 37 and it works well. Steps to install are:

Disclaimer

I’ve only done the installation in a VM and not properly tested actual use of it. It will start under Wayland and X11.

Create a toolbox

toolbox create
toolbox enter

Install dependencies

sudo dnf install python3-gobject gtk3 libstd++

Download VMware Horizon Agent

Adjust below URL according to the latest version of VMware Horizon Client

wget https://download3.vmware.com/software/CART23FQ4_LIN64_2212.1/VMware-Horizon-Client-2212.1-8.8.1-21219348.x64.bundle
chmod +x VMware-Horizon-Client-2212.1-8.8.1-21219348.x64.bundle

sudo ./VMware-Horizon-Client-2212.1-8.8.1-21219348.x64.bundle --console --required \
--set-setting vmware-horizon-html5mmr html5mmrEnable yes \
--set-setting vmware-horizon-integrated-printing vmipEnable no \
--set-setting vmware-horizon-media-provider mediaproviderEnable yes \
--set-setting vmware-horizon-teams-optimization teamsOptimizationEnable yes \
--set-setting vmware-horizon-mmr mmrEnable yes \
--set-setting vmware-horizon-rtav rtavEnable yes \
--set-setting vmware-horizon-scannerclient scannerEnable no \
--set-setting vmware-horizon-serialportclient serialportEnable no \
--set-setting vmware-horizon-smartcard smartcardEnable no \
--set-setting vmware-horizon-tsdr tsdrEnable yes \
--set-setting vmware-horizon-usb usbEnable no

Ensure libraries are properly linked

cd /usr/lib/vmware
ln -sf view/lib/libclientSdkCPrimitive.so ./

Starting from inside the toolbox

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/vmware GDK_BACKEND=X11 /usr/lib/vmware/view/bin/vmware-view

Starting from the Silverblue host

toolbox run bash -c "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/vmware GDK_BACKEND=X11 /usr/lib/vmware/view/bin/vmware-view"

Creating a desktop file

From within the toolbox

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/icons ~/.local/share/applications
cp /usr/share/icons/vmware-view.png ~/.local/share/icons/
cp /usr/share/applications/vmware-view.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/

From Silverblue

Adjust ~/.local/share/applications/vmware-view.desktop so it looks like:

Modify <USERNAME> to your username

[Desktop Entry]
..
Icon=/var/home/<USERNAME>/.local/share/icons/vmware-view.png
Exec=toolbox run bash -c "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/vmware GDK_BACKEND=X11 /usr/lib/vmware/view/bin/vmware-view"
..

Hope this helps people on their search to install vmware horizon! I reckon it’ll at least help future me :slight_smile: