Since VMware Horizon View version 5.3 it is possible to use Windows 2008 R2 SP1 (Datacenter edition) as a desktop operating system.
To be able to install the Horizon View Agent on a Windows 2008 R2 SP1 operating system, you need to install the Horizon View Agent in desktop mode. The procedure to do this is the following:
- Verify that the Remote Desktop Services role is not installed
- Configure the Windows 2008 R2 Virtual Machine as you would configure a Windows 7 Virtual Machine
- Install the Horizon View Agent with the VDM_FORCE_DESKTOP_AGENT flag set to 1.
- This flag can be set a a system environment variable or can be passed as an argument to the Horizon View Agent installer.
- E.g. VMware-viewagent-x86_64-5.3.1-xxxxx.exe /v”VDM_FORCE_DESKTOP_AGENT=1”