VMware Horizon agent unreachable troubleshooting

Taylor Marchetta

• 2 min read
VMware Horizon agent unreachable troubleshooting

There are several ways to potentially fix this problem, at this time I don't have a Flowchart that can be followed I'm just collecting a bunch of Solutions in order to solve the problem.

Status: Agent Unreachable

Logs

C:\ProgramData\VMware\VDM\logs

Collect the logs
Obtaining diagnostic information from the Horizon Agent
  1. Log in to a virtual machine with Horizon Agent installed.
  2. Open a command prompt and execute:
cd %USERPROFILE%/Desktop

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Agent\DCT\support.bat
  1. On the desktop, the folder vdm-sdct contains zipped log files with the date of generation in the filename.
Enabling advanced debug logging
  1. Open a command prompt and run:
"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Agent\DCT\support.bat" loglevels
  1. When prompted, press 2 to enable advanced logging.

Enabling advanced debug logging will only ensure that any future events are logged at a high level of log granularity. Please only enable logging above this when directed to by VMware Support.

Collecting Agent logs remotely from the Connection Server
  1. Run this command in a command prompt:
cd C:\Program Files\VMware\Vmware View\Server\tools\bin

vdmadmin -A -getDCT -outfile file_name.zip -d pool_name -m virtual_machine_name

By default, this utility is located at C:\Program Files\VMware\Vmware View\Server\tools\bin in the Connection Server.


Please use a unique, descriptive name for the file name – Ideally including the machine name and a timestamp.

  1. More detailed examples are available here: Configuring Logging in Horizon Agent Using the -A Option.
The support bundle is created in the directory where the command is run.The pool name and virtual machine name are both case-sensitive.This command may be run while a user is connected and working on the virtual machine.

Collecting VMware Horizon View log bundles

Powered on

Is the desktop (VM) is powered on?

Registry Editor

Confirm in the registry appropriate values are set for your brokers.

  1. Login the VM Machine open the Registry editor, run as administrator.
  2. Go to the following path Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc\VMware VDM\Agent\Configuration
  3. Look for the registry String Value (REG_SZ): Broker: Make sure the broker names are Entered


Broker : < server.domain.com server2.domain.com >

Networking
  1. IP address was obtained?
  2. Ping both Server and VM
  3. There is connectivity between the View Connection server and VDI


When a virtual machine installed with Horizon view agent has more than one NIC, you must configure the subnet that Horizon view agent uses by modifying registry settings as:

  1. Registry Configs
    • Horizon 7 onwards: HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\IpPrefix = n.n.n.n/m (REG_SZ)
    • Horizon 6 and earlier: HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\Node Manager\subnet = n.n.n.n/m (REG_SZ)
Reset key

VMware Horizon ResetKey Agent is a command-line utility designed to reset the security key on a virtual machine running VMware Horizon Agent. The security key is a unique identifier that is used to establish a secure communication channel between the Horizon Agent and the Connection Server. In some cases, such as when a virtual machine is cloned or when the security key is out of sync, you may need to reset the security key to resolve connection issues.

From a Connection (broker) server, open CMD run as an administrator.

cd "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\tools\bin"

vdmadmin -A -d < desktop-pool-name > -m < name-of-machine-in-pool > -resetkey
Service(s)

All Horizon View Agent services have been started?

  • VMware Horizon View Agent
Domain secure connection

Desktop’s domain secure connection is not broken?