docker-vmware-horizon-client

Dockernized VMware Horizon Client (vmware-view)

Run

Run using Window server via UNIX Socket

docker run -it --rm --name vmware-horizon-client \
  --privileged \
  -e DISPLAY=:0 \
  -e USER \
  -e TZ=Asia/Tokyo \
  -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
  --device /dev/snd \
  -e PULSE_SERVER=unix:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native \
  -v ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native \
  -v ~/.config/pulse/cookie:/root/.config/pulse/cookie \
  -v $HOME/.vmware:/root/.vmware \
  kyokuheki/vmware-horizon-client \
  vmware-view -u USER -p PASS -s broker1.example.com --save -q

If you get black screen, see Black screen problem

Run the container using TCP for Window server connection

The procedure to enable TCP connection for the Window server on Ubuntu 20.04 is shown below.

sudo sed -i -e '/^\[security\]/a DisallowTCP=false' /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
awk '/^\[security\]/,/^\[xdmcp\]/' /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
sudo systemctl restart gdm.service
ss -nltpu | grep 6000

Run the container.

# Allow 172.17.0.100 to connect to Window server
export DISPLAY=:0
xhost +inet:172.17.0.100

# Run the container
docker run -it --rm --name vmware-horizon-client \
  --ip=172.17.0.100 \
  -e DISPLAY=172.17.0.1:0 \
  -e USER \
  -e TZ=Asia/Tokyo \
  --device /dev/snd \
  -e PULSE_SERVER=unix:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native \
  -v ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native \
  -v ~/.config/pulse/cookie:/root/.config/pulse/cookie \
  -v $HOME/.vmware:/root/.vmware \
  kyokuheki/vmware-horizon-client \
  vmware-view -u USER -p PASS -s broker1.example.com --save -q

Use root user

If you want to use root, run the following command. You will temporarily allow the root user to access the local user's X session using the xhost command.

# Set DISPLAY env
export DISPLAY=:0

# Allow root to connect to X
xhost si:localuser:root

# Run the container
docker run -it --rm --name vmware-horizon-client \
  -e USER=root \
...

PulseAudio access with UNIX Socket

The following four Docker options are required to connect to the PulseAudio server via UNIX Socket.

1. --device /dev/snd: Add a sound device.
2. -e PULSE_SERVER=unix:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native: Set the UNIX Socket path to the environment variable PULSE_SERVER.
3. -v ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native: Mount the ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR} where the UNIX Socket is located.
4. -v ~/.config/pulse/cookie:/root/.config/pulse/cookie: Mount the cookie.

docker run ... \
  --device /dev/snd \
  -e PULSE_SERVER=unix:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native \
  -v ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native:${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/pulse/native \
  -v ~/.config/pulse/cookie:/root/.config/pulse/cookie \
...

PulseAudio access with TCP

If you want to connect to the PulseAudio server via TCP, you need to do the following steps. This is useful when the machine that outputs audio and the machine that runs vmware-view are different.

Enable TCP listen on the PulseAudio server before starting the Docker container.

sudo sed -i -e '/^#load-module module-native-protocol-tcp/c load-module module-native-protocol-tcp auth-ip-acl=127.0.0.0/8;172.17.0.0/16' /etc/pulse/default.pa
grep module-native-protocol-tcp /etc/pulse/default.pa
systemctl --user restart pulseaudio.socket pulseaudio.service
pacmd list-modules | grep -A10 -B1 module-native-protocol-tcp

The following the Docker options are required to connect to the PulseAudio server via UNIX Socket.

1. -e PULSE_SERVER=tcp:172.17.0.1: Set the TCP socket path to the environment variable PULSE_SERVER.

# Run the container
docker run ... \
  -e PULSE_SERVER=tcp:172.17.0.1 \

Run with openconnect

xhost si:localuser:root
docker run ... --name=openconnect kyokuheki/openconnect
docker run -it --rm --name vmware-horizon-client \
  --privileged \
  --net=container:openconnect \
  -e DISPLAY=:0 \
  -e USER=root \
  -e TZ=Asia/Tokyo \
  -v /tmp/.X11-unix/:/tmp/.X11-unix \
  -v$HOME/.vmware:/root/.vmware \
  kyokuheki/vmware-horizon-client \
  vmware-view -u USER -p PASS -s broker1.example.com --save -q

Black screen problem

After logging in with VMWare Horizon Client, you may face a black screen. The following table shows the matrix of screen display and audio output when Ubuntu 20.04 is used as the host OS.

VMware Horizon Client	X(TCP) / PulseAudio(UNIX)	X(TCP) / PulseAudio(TCP)	X(UNIX) / PulseAudio(UNIX)	X(UNIX) / PulseAudio(TCP)
2103-8.2.0-17742757	OK	OK	Black screen	Black screen
5.1.0-13956721	OK	OK	Black screen	Black screen
5.0.0-12557422	OK	OK	Choppy sound	Choppy sound
4.10.0-11053294	OK	OK	Choppy sound	Choppy sound

• If you need audio output, use version 2103 and connect to the Xorg server via TCP.
• If you don't need audio output, you can use version 5.0.0 and connect to the Window server via UNIX Socket.

trusted-brokers

echo "broker1.example.com" >> trusted-brokers
echo "broker2.example.com" >> trusted-brokers
docker run ... -v trusted-brokers:/root/.vmware/view-trusted-brokers ...

Custom image

FROM kyokuheki/vmware-horizon-client
COPY ./view-trusted-brokers /root/.vmware/view-trusted-brokers
COPY ./certificates/* /usr/local/share/ca-certificates
RUN set -x \
 && update-ca-certificates

git clone https://github.com/kyokuheki/docker-vmware-horizon-client.git
cd docker-vmware-horizon-client
cp /path/to/your/certificate_file certificates/
echo "broker1.example.com" >> view-trusted-brokers
echo "broker2.example.com" >> view-trusted-brokers
docker build . -f Dockerfile.custom -t vmware-horizon-client

Dependencies

VMware Horizon SmartCard
  libpcsclite1
VMware Horizon(R) Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business
  libusb-1.0-0
VMware Horizon Real-Time Audio-Video
  libpulse0
  libv4l-0
VMware Horizon Multimedia Redirection (MMR)
  libgstreamer1.0-0
  libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-0
VMware Horizon Scanner Redirection
  libsane
VMware Horizon Client HTML5 Multimedia Redirection
  libnss3
  libnspr4
  libx11-xcb1
  libdrm2
  libgbm1
  libasound2