VMware have released a new version of VMware Horizon 8 (2111), and this release is general available from December 2021. This is a major release, so I hope you like this article I put together. VMware have made some huge improvements in this release, which customers/partners are going to benefit from. HINT If you are using Nvidia vGPU driver there is currently no supported driver from NVIDIA to VMware Horizon 8 2111. I have in this article also included the new features of Horizon Cloud service for 2111 IBM Cloud, AWS, Azure. Lets dig into what is new.

What is new in VMware Horizon 8 (2111)

VMware Horizon 8 2111 provides the following new features and enhancements

• VMware Horizon Connection Server
• VMware Horizon Agent for Linux
• VMware Horizon Agent for Windows
• VMware Horizon GPO Bundle
• VMware Dynamic Environment Manager 2111
• VMware Unified Access Gateway 2111
• VMware Horizon Clients 2111 for Android, Linux, iOS, Mac, Windows, HTML Access
• VMware Horizon Cloud services 2111

• Extended Service Branch
  Horizon 8 2111 is an Extended Service Branch (ESB). Approximately once a year, VMware designates one VMware Horizon release as an Extended Service Branch (ESB). An ESB is a parallel release branch to the existing Current Releases (CR) of the product. By choosing to deploy an ESB, customers receive periodic service packs (SP) updates, which include cumulative critical bug fixes and security fixes. Most importantly, there are no new features in the SP updates, so customers can rely on a stable Horizon platform for their critical deployments. For more information on the ESB and the Horizon versions that have been designated an ESB , see VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article 86477.

VMware Horizon Connection Server On-Premises

The VMware Horizon 8 version 2111 release includes many new features and enhancements.

• Log4j update for CVE-2021-44228 and CVE-2021-45046Updated Log4j in Horizon Connection Server and HTML Access Direct-Connection to version 2.16 which is not vulnerable to CVE-2021-44228 or CVE-2021-45046. Note the following:
  • Currently released 2111 Horizon Connection Server build 19067837 (release date 12/16/2021) is not vulnerable to CVE-2021-44228 or CVE-2021-45046.
  • Previously released 2111 Horizon Connection Server build 19052438 (release date 12/14/2021) is vulnerable to CVE-2021-45046 only if the HTML Access portal is installed.
  • Previously released 2111 Horizon Connection Server build 18964782 (release date 11/30/2021) is vulnerable to both CVE-2021-44228 and CVE-2021-45046 only if the HTML Access portal is installed.
• General
  • Unauthenticated users are now supported for untrusted domains. See Configuring Untrusted Domains and Configuring Unauthenticated Access.
• Published Desktops and Applications
  • Status for RDS hosts can now display as Drain, indicating that the host is in drain mode and not accepting new connections. See Status of RDS Hosts in Horizon Console.
  • New load balancing settings Connecting session threshold and Load index threshold for use in logon storm handling. See Load Balancing Settings.
• Virtual Desktops
  • URL Content Redirection is now supported for the IPv6 protocol. See Configuring URL Content Redirection.
  • URL Content Redirection now supports browser-based RDSH Apps (in addition to Internet Explorer and non-browser based applications that were already supported). See Configuring URL Content Redirection.
  • URL Content Redirection now supports the Mozilla Firefox browser. See System Requirements for URL Content Redirection.
  • Geolocation Redirection is now supported for the Chrome and HTML Access clients. See System Requirements for Geolocation Redirection.
  • Live captions are now supported for Microsoft Teams meetings. See Configuring Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams.
  • Custom Together Mode Scenes are now supported for Microsoft Teams meetings. See Configuring Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams.
  • E911 and location-based routing are now supported for Microsoft Teams on Horizon Client for Windows and Horizon Client for Mac. See Configuring Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams.
  • VMware Integrated Printing now supports printer names without suffixes. See Configuring VMware Integrated Printing.
  • Real-Time Audio-Video (RTAV) has been optimized for improved performance in WAN environments. For information about configuring RTAV, see Configuring Real-Time Audio-Video.
  • Multiple audio output devices are now supported with Windows Media Multimedia Redirection (MMR) when using the Windows client with the Blast protocol. For information about configuring MMR, see Managing Access to Windows Media Multimedia Redirection (MMR).
  • There is now an option to include printer redirection in event logging. See Configuring VMware Integrated Printing.
  • There is a new Driver Mapping option that substitutes a different print driver when creating a virtual printer. See VMware Integrated Printing Policy Settings.
  • Multiple network adapters are now supported for Instant Clone pools and farms. See Worksheet for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool and Worksheet for Creating an Automated Instant-Clone Farm in Horizon.
  • Standard networks are now supported for Instant Clone pools and farms. See Create an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool and Create an Automated Instant-Clone Farm in Horizon.
  • The Horizon Recording feature (previously named Horizon Desktop Recording) is now supported for RDSH desktop sessions. See Using VMware Horizon Desktop Recording.
  • For Instant Clone pools, you can now publish a secondary image and use it to patch selected machines. See Patching an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool.
  • You can now use maintenance mode to customize Instant Clone machines without reassigning ownership. See “Manually Customizing Machines” under Creating and Managing Instant-Clone Desktop Pools.
  • For Carbon Black users, if you select a Carbon Black configured golden image for an Instant Clone pool or farm, then the snapshot selection screen displays information from the Carbon Black Scan for each snapshot listed. See Create an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool or Create an Automated Instant-Clone Farm in Horizon.
• Horizon Console
  • Unauthenticated users are now supported for untrusted domains. See Configuring Untrusted Domains and Authenticating Users and Groups.
  • Enhancements to Monitor > Events page: ability to display up to 20,000 events; option to display event time in UTC format; option to retrieve event objects; new filters for Severity, Module, Message, and Source. See Monitor Events in VMware Horizon.
  • You can specify the level of information reported in logs and collect logs for specific remote experience features. See Collect Logs in Horizon Console.
  • The Machine Status section of the dashboard allows you to quickly survey the status of machines in your Horizon deployment. See Monitor Machine Status.
  • For pages with tables of data, you can now select to display 20, 50, or 100 rows per page. See Tips for Using the Horizon Console Interface.
  • You can select all rows in a multi-page table by switching on the Select All Pages toggle at the bottom of the page. See Tips for Using the Horizon Console Interface.
• Security
  • There is now a setting to have certificates replaced before expiry to avoid loss of service. See Security-Related Settings in Horizon LDAP.
• HTML Access
  • This release provides expanded options for customizing logos and images on the HTML Access page.

VMware Horizon Agent 8 2111 for Linux

• Log4j update for CVE-2021-44228 and CVE-2021-45046 – Updated Log4j to version 2.16 which is not vulnerable to CVE-2021-44228 or CVE-2021-45046.Note the following:
  • Currently released 2111 Horizon Agent for Linux build 19066680 (release date 12/16/2021) is not vulnerable to CVE-2021-44228 or CVE-2021-45046.
  • Previously released 2111 Horizon Agent for Linux build 19050247 (release date 12/14/2021) is vulnerable to CVE-2021-45046.
  • Previously released 2111 Horizon Agent for Linux build 18950695 (release date 11/30/2021) is vulnerable to CVE-2021-44228 and CVE-2021-45046.
• This release adds support for the following Linux distributions. See System Requirements for Horizon Agent for Linux.
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 15 SP3
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15 SP3
• Begining with this release, the following Linux distributions are no longer supported.
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Workstation 7.5 and earlier
  • CentOS 7.5 and earlier
• For RHEL 8.x machines, the Horizon Agent installer is provided as a digitally signed RPM package. See Install Horizon Agent on a Linux Virtual Machine.
• The install_viewagent.sh setup script provides a new command-line parameter, --force, which allows you to install Horizon Agent on Open OS Linux distributions not included in the list of supported operating systems. See Command-Line Options for Installing Horizon Agent for Linux.
• This release introduces support for the View Agent Direct-Connection Plugin. This plug-in is an installable extension to Horizon Agent for Linux that allows clients to directly connect to a virtual machine-based desktop, a published desktop, or an application without using Horizon Connection Server. See View Agent Direct-Connection Plug-In Administration.
• Watermarks are now supported on Linux desktops running K Desktop Environment (KDE). See Features of Horizon Linux Desktops.
• Linux published applications support vGPU capabilities when vSphere 7 U3 or later is installed in your environment and you assign the full memory of the physical GPU to the base VM. See Install the VIB for the NVIDIA GRID vGPU Graphics Card on the ESXi Hostand Configure a Shared PCI Device for vGPU on the Linux Virtual Machine.
• This release allows you to configure several new conditions for a Horizon smart policy or environment variable: one condition based on the OS platform of the client system and another condition based on whether the client system is located inside or outside the corporate network. See Adding Conditions to Horizon Smart Policy Definitions and Environment Variable Definitions.
• The /etc/vmware/config file includes several new configuration options. See Setting Options in Configuration Files on a Linux Desktop.
  • printSvc.PrintOptions allows you to specify the default print settings when using the VMware Integrated Printing feature if print settings cannot be detected from the source application.
  • printSvc.paperListFile allows you to define the list of paper sizes that can be used when using the VMware Integrated Printing feature. This option is supported only when printing from Horizon Client for Windows and applies globally to all virtual printers on a Windows client system.
  • RemoteDisplay.updateCacheSizeKB allows you to set the maximum size of the Blast encoder image cache.

VMware Horizon Agent 8 2111 for Windows

• Log4j update for CVE-2021-44228 and CVE-2021-45046 – Updated Log4j version to version 2.16 which is not vulnerable to CVE-2021-44228 or CVE-2021-45046.Note the following:
  • Currently released 2111 Horizon Agent build 19066669 (release date 12/16/2021) is not vulnerable to CVE-2021-44228 or CVE-2021-45046.
  • Previously released 2111 Horizon Agent build 19050221 (release date 12/14/2021) is not vulnerable to CVE-2021-44228 or CVE-2021-45046 but a new build has been published for mitigating the scenario where security scans will show an unused log4j jar vulnerable to CVE-2021-45046.
  • Previously released 2111 Horizon Agent build 18964730 (release date 11/30/2021) is not vulnerable to CVE-2021-44228 or CVE-2021-45046 but a new build has been published for mitigating the scenario where security scans will show an unused log4j jar vulnerable to CVE-2021-44228 and CVE-2021-45046.
• New option in Horizon Agent Installer to perform silent installation using a settings file instead of entering parameters manually on the command line. See Installing Horizon Agent Silently.
• The VMware Tools SVGA driver is not included in Horizon Agent Installer. For more information see VMware Knowledge Base articles 2078739 and 2118048.

VMware Horizon 8 2111 GPO Bundle

• The Max DPI for UPD printers group policy setting sets the maximum DPI level or the maximum x-axis value for UPD printers. See VMware Integrated Printing Policy Settings.
• The Key Logger Blocking group policy setting determines whether the end point encrypts the communication between the keyboard and the Horizon Client to avoid key-logging malware on the end point. See VMware View Agent Configuration ADMX Template Settings.
• The Encoder Image Cache Size (KB) group policy setting sets the maximum size of the encoder image cache. See VMware Blast Policy Settings.
• The Allow/Deny port filters group policy setting provides filtering for serial port redirection. See Guidelines for Serial Port Redirection.
• The Enable E911 for Microsoft Teams group policy setting enables sharing client location data with Microsoft for E911 calling. See VMware HTML5 Feature Policy Settings and Configuring Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams.

Windows OS Optimization Tool for Horizon

• Windows OS Optimization Tool for Horizon
  The Windows OS Optimization Tool for Horizon optimizes Windows images for virtual desktops and RDS hosts by disabling or tuning unnecessary services, tasks, settings and features typically present in a default Windows installation. As a result, the Windows OS Optimization Tool improves the performance of Horizon virtual desktops and published applications, reducing resource consumption and improving user experience.

VMware Dynamic Environment Manager 2111

• VMware Dynamic Environment Manager integration with OneDrive for Business. Support for storing profile archives in OneDrive for Business. Removed the requirement for a VMware Dynamic Environment Manager profile archive Server Message Block (SMB) share and enhanced easy roaming from on-prem to cloud or between public clouds.
• Enhanced printer mapping. Support for configuring timeout and abort options for printer mapping.
• Simplified VMware Dynamic Environment Manager FlexEngine launch configuration. Removed the requirement for configuring Group Policy client-side extension to launch the FlexEngine. Also, removed the requirement of configuring logoff scripts.
• Support for overriding Active Directory Group Policy. VMware Dynamic Environment Manager now supports overriding Active Directory Group Policy using VMware Dynamic Environment Manager’s ADMX-based settings.
• Support for multi-session App Volumes setups. Updated VMware Dynamic Environment Manager Trigger from “All AppStacks attached” to “App Volumes logon-time apps delivered” to support configuring session-specific trigger-based actions.
• Additional Windows Support. VMware Dynamic Environment Manager now supports Windows 10 Version 21H2, Windows 11, and Windows Server 2022.

VMware Unified Access Gateway 2111.

VMware Unified Access Gateway 2111.1 includes important security updates.

• VMware Unified Access Gateway 2111.1 includes a fix for the critical CVE-2021-44228 vulnerability, the CVE-2021-45046 vulnerability and a fix for the uagdeploy PowerShell deployment script. Refer to the Resolved Issues section for more details.
• Updates to Photon OS package versions and Java versions.

Supported versions of Windows 10 on Horizon Agent Including All VDI Clones (Full Clones, Instant Clones, and Linked Clones on Horizon 8 2103)

• Windows 10 21H2 SAC (Pro, Education, Enterprise) Full support
• Windows 10 21H1 SAC (Pro, Education, Enterprise) Full support
• Windows 10 20H2 SAC (Pro,Education,Enterprise) Full support
• Windows 10 2004 SAC (Pro,Education,Enterprise) Full support
• Windows 10 1909 SAC (Pro,Education,Enterprise) Full support
• Windows 10 1903 SAC and earlier (Pro,Education,Enterprise) Not Supported
• Windows 10 LTSC 2019 (Enterprise) Full support
• Windows 10 1607 LTSB (Enterprise) Full support

For more additional information please read this knowledge article

VMware Horizon Client 2111 – new features

VMware Horizon Client 2111.1 for Android

• Multi-monitor display support for Samsung DeX
  You can connect to an external monitor from your Dex-enabled Samsung devices.
• Signature verification for enrolled devices including Chromebook and Android devices
  You can use the Google Admin console to configure a verification check of the APK signature when users start Horizon Client. The setting-listsection includes the following new application properties: check_signature , signatures , algorithm, and digest. See Application Settings.

VMware Horizon Client 2111 for ChromeOS

Horizon Client for Chrome 2111 includes the following new features.

• Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams This release adds support for the Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams feature, which redirects Teams audio calls, video calls, and viewing desktop shares to the client machine for processing. See Configure Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams in Horizon Client for Chrome.
• Geolocation Redirection You can enable geolocation redirection to use the location service of the local device in remote desktops or published applications. See Share Location Information.
• Windows System Tray Redirection The Windows System Tray was not available. This feature adds a bar to simulate the behavior of Windows System Tray.
• Enhanced File Association Feature You can associate Chrome Native Client apps with file types. See Set File Association.
• DPI Synchronization Feature This feature provides you with the ability to synchronize the DPI in live sessions to optimize viewing based on the monitor. See Using DPI Synchronization.
• Ability to Enable Alt-Backspace to delete from the right You can activate the setting, Enable Alt-Backspace, to change the key combination behavior for the Delete key. The Delete key removes text to the left. When this feature is enabled, the Alt-Backspace key removes text to the right.

VMware Horizon Client 2111 for iOS

Horizon Client for iOS 2111 includes the following new features:

• Supports iOS/iPad version 15.x The client supports iOS/iPad versions 13.x, 14.x, and 15.x. See System Requirements for iOS Clients.
• Support for manual configuration of external keyboards After you enable this feature, you have the same user experience as connecting an external keyboard to the PC. You can manually configure the keyboard and then select from an expanded list of Windows keyboard layouts. Previously the client supported only Windows keyboard layout names offered in the local system settings. Now the client has an expanded list of names. Note: This feature requires Connection Server and Horizon Agent versions 8.4.0 or later. See Enable Options for External Keyboards.
• Supports more single and combo keys on the external keyboard. You can use the keys F1-F12/Home/End/PageUp/PageDown; Windows + R/D/E/L/M/S/Ctrl+S/T/U/Number/Up/Down/Left/Right/X/K.
• Settings for mapping for special keys, function keys, and key combinations With manual keyboard configuration enabled, you can manage the mapping for any of the keys on the keyboard. See Enable Options for External Keyboards.

VMware Horizon Client 2111 for Mac

Horizon Client for Mac 2111 includes the following new features:

• Codec Parameter is Configurable for Real-Time Audio-Visual (RTAV) You can set the compression technology used by RTAV. The default value is VmwH264Speex; however, you can change to VmwTheoraSpeex. If the value you enter is invalid, the default value remains. See Configuring Real-Time Audio-Video on Mac Client.
• Increased integration with assistive technologies These accessibility enhancements include improved interoperability with screen readers such as VoiceOver.
• Ability to assign 3-key operations Some hosted applications override common 2-key mappings. You can customize your keyboard by assigning operations, such as switching between applications, to a 3-key operation.
• Enhanced USB management You can manage USB services from the Connection menu and specify redirection to start up automatically for all or certain USB devices. See Use USB Devices.
• The application icon in the Dock displays a counter for new items For seamless applications, the item counter was missing from the application icon in the Dock. In this release, the application icon includes a counter. This counter indicates the arrival of new items. In the event of a disconnection, the counter updates after reconnecting and a new item arrives.
• Keystroke Encryption You can enable encryption between the keyboard and the client to avoid key-logging malware on the endpoint.

VMware Horizon Client 2111 for Linux

Horizon Client for Linux 2111 includes the following new features:

• Client settings take effect in individual desktopsIn earlier versions of Horizon Client for Linux, changes specified in the Settings dialog box and changes to the monitor configuration applied globally to all desktops under a given server connection. Starting with version 2111, these changes apply individually to the selected desktop only. See Select Specific Monitors to Display a Remote Desktop.
• Configuration option for Blast decoder cacheThe RemoteDisplay.updateCacheSizeKB configuration option allows you to set the maximum size of the Blast decoder image cache. See Horizon Client Configuration Settings and Command-Line Options.

VMware Horizon Client 2111 for Windows

Horizon Client for Windows 2111 includes the following new features:

• Enhanced default printing behavior This release introduces the following enhancements to the VMware Integrated Printing feature. A new toolbar offers updated page icons and the ability to scroll with the mouse wheel. The preview displays pages immediately. Previously, you had to wait for all pages to process before a preview was rendered.
• The system tray displays a counter for new items For seamless applications, the item counter was missing from the application icon in the Windows system tray of the Horizon client. In this release, the application icon includes a counter. This counter indicates the arrival of new items. In the event of a disconnection, the counter updates after reconnecting and a new item arrives.
• Enhanced Alt-Tab behavior – Previously, focus might return to a window’s title bar and not the application after using Alt-Tab. In this release, the focus returns to the application as expected.
• Increased integration with assistive technologies These accessibility enhancements include improved interoperability with screen readers such as Narrator.
• Additional language support for Input Method Editor (IME)  Horizon Client for Windows supports Traditional Chinese for IME with Remote Desktops and right-click options for Japanese.
• Risk score assessment  The Horizon Client for Windows supports risk score assessment from Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub.
• Windows 11 and Windows 10 version 21H2 support You can install Horizon Client for Windows 2111 on a Windows system that is running Windows 11 or 10 version 21H2.
• Client Hardware Acceleration support for Real Time Audio Video (RTAV) The Horizon Client for Windows supports registry keys for hardware acceleration.

VMware Horizon Client 2111 for HTML Access

HTML Access 2111 includes the following new features:

• Virtual and Augmented Reality Environment Support The Horizon App can now be streamed in Virtual and Augmented Reality environments. Available on Occulus and most AR/VR headsets.
• Geolocation Redirection The local system settings for location services is available to the remote desktops and published applications when enabled on the client.
• DPI Synchronization This feature synchronizes the DPI in live remote sessions to optimize viewing based on the active monitor.
• Co-branding Enhancements This release provides expanded options for customizing the logos and images on the HTML Access page.
• Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams This release provides support for the Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams feature. The feature is dependent on the Microsoft launch of the WebRTC 1.0 update and is deactivated by default. See Configure Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams in HTML Access.

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on IBM Cloud 21.1.0

• Tenant Auto Agent Update (AAU) has been enhanced to upgrade persistent desktop assignments and golden images using different Horizon Agent Installer (HAI) versions, based on OS type and version.
• Tenant Auto Agent Update (AAU) has undergone several enhancements for stability and functionality, including the ability to roll back the agent update for a desktop if that was enabled beforehand.
• Support for VMware Instant Clone Smart Provisioning, where the provisioning mode (A or B) depends on environmental factors like pool size and image size. has been added. For more information, see https://techzone.vmware.com/?share=video2745.

What’s New for Horizon Cloud Service

What’s New November 30, 2021 (v2111, v2.1.x, v21.06, v21.3)

Note: A critical vulnerability in Apache Log4j identified by CVE-2021-44228 has been addressed in this version. Review VMSA-2021-0028 for more details. VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2111 | pod manifest 3139.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 2.1.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 21.06 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 21.3.x | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 3139.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 3139.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 3139.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests. Below are this release’s highlights provided by the Product Management Team. If any questions about these highlight bullets, contact horizoncloudservice@vmware.com. If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional release items are described in the November 2021 section of the documentation topic About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

• For existing provisioned VDI VMs, administrators can now adjust the VM type as needed (to supported alternate VM specifications).
• Administrators can move individual VMs between assignments in the same pod. This feature is enabled for tenants by request.
• For greenfield deployments of Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure, Universal Broker is enabled as the default.
• Horizon Agent Update for Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure now supports remediating incomplete or failed agent updates in cases where the agent is stopped.
• Administrators can now specify non-admin email addresses for receiving service alerts and notifications.
• Multi-pod image management now supports use of multi-session Windows OSes with farms for Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure.
• In Horizon on VMware Cloud on AWS, administrators can configure App Volume content replication between two or more VMware Cloud on AWS instances. Horizon Universal License is required. This feature is available as a beta preview.
• If your Horizon Universal License includes SDDC components such as VMware vCenter, vSAN, and vSphere, you can retrieve these keys using the Horizon Universal Console. Note: Full enablement of this feature in the control plane for all tenants is pending and it will be fully enabled in the near future. These Release Notes will be updated at that time.
• App Volumes now supports Dynamic Environment Manager with Windows 10 multi-session OS.
• App packages will now be automatically detached as the last assigned user of that app logs off a Windows 10 multi-session system.

Source

• VMware Horizon 8 (2111)
• VMware Horizon Cloud Services
• VMware Horizon Cloud Service on IBM Cloud 20.2.0