How get a packaging machine bootable off a zero client?

[Martin Poirier]

I'm working on creating a scanner driver layer and am having trouble getting the packaging machine in view so I can connect to it through a zero client and have it pick up the scanners as I plug them in.  The drivers are already installed, just with Unidesk 2.x, I found I had to do this so the drivers get recognized properly.  I was able (in Unidesk 2.x) to use the view agent layer as a prerequisite then I could add the installation machine to a pool and connect to it via a zero client. 

 

I can't seem to find how to do this in App Layering.  I kind of assumed since we are choosing a connector, that the view agent would be there as its in my platform layer, however, it seems the platform layer isn't a part of the packaging machine.  Since there is no view agent layer (the platform layer took that role over) I can't do it the old way.  I was thinking that I could temporarily install the view agent into the packaging machine and accomplish the same thing, but I don't want traces of it interfering.

 

Anyone encounter/try this on App Layering ?

 

App Layering 1903

Vsphere 6.5

View 7

 

 

[Rob Zylowski]

Hi,

 

What you want to do is to create a packaging platform layer and install the view agent in that.  Then when you create your packaging machine add in that packaging platform layer.  Then you will have to manually add your packaging machine into a view pool and add it to the domain.  Just remember to remove it from the pool and the domain before you finalize the layer.

 

Rob

[David Thacker]

The 7.x Horizon Agent can be done as an application layer, since it doesn't need domain join requirements during install unless it's on a RDS session host. However, if you want the OS to natively handle talking to the scanner over USB, make sure the Agent is installed with USB redirection and that Scanner Redirection is disabled. Otherwise the agent may detect a scanner and will attempt to virtualize the scanning process, which tends to fail on thin clients and interferes with pass-through communication.

 

This only works if your scanner does not do any host-based offloading in the driver. We had older Visioneer Strobe scanners that you couldn't virtualize because the scanner off-loaded some of the processing to the driver and some custom services which didn't work over USB redirection. Supposedly TWAIN-compliant, but with caveats. We have since moved to Fujitsu FI-series scanners that are actually TWAIN-compliant, so the driver can be baked into the OS image, and it will handle it fine via USB redirection.

 

Also, the Horizon client is restricted by the OS as to which types of USB devices can be passed through. Windows is very strict, and only allows specific USB classes to be redirected. I did some testing with a HP thin client running ThinPro and SmartZero, and it would allow any USB device to be passed through to the VM (they use the linux version of the Horizon client.) Most TWAIN-compliant scanners should work just fine.