VMware Horizon – Browser Redirection

Release date: June 26th 2022

Welcome to my VMware Horizon series. In this session I will describe how I configured Browser Redirection for my Horizon Desktops. This is done by configuring the Browser Redirection settings in Group Policy using the Horizon Admx files. To configure the silent installation of the VMware Browser Redirection Extension for Google Chrome and MS Edge (Chromium), I have to add the Google Chrome and Edge Chromium admx templates to the PolicyDefinitions folder in SYSVOL, links below.  This is the same procedure as adding VMware Horizon admx-files to MS AD, as described here: VMware Horizon – Upgrade Horizon GPO Bundle to v. 2203. Another prerequisite is to install Google Chrome and/or MS Edge Chromium on the computer running the Horizon Client. There are some limitations that has to be observed when enabling Browser Redirection, these VMware have documented here: Browser Redirection Limitations

• Google Chrome Policy Templates: https://dl.google.com/dl/edgedl/chrome/policy/policy_templates.zip
• Microsoft Edge Policy Templates:  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/business/download

In this example I have created a separate Group Policy for Redirection, which I have connected to the OU where my VDI’s computer accounts reside. This is the same GPO that I used to configure HTML5 redirection.

In Windows on the client system, the Horizon Client for Windows must be installed with the “Support for HTML5 Multimedia Redirection and Browser Redirection” custom setup option selected, which is selected by default. I configure the GPO settings for the Browser Redirection as shown below.

Navigate to the “Computer Configuration – Policies – Administrative Templates – VMware View Agent Configuration – VMware HTML5 Features” folder

If not enabled, enable the “Enable VMware HTML5 Features” setting, OK

Navigate to the “Computer Configuration – Policies – Administrative Templates – VMware View Agent Configuration – VMware HTML5 Features – VMware Browser Redirection” folder

Enable the “Enable VMware Browser Redirection” setting, OK

To enable browser redirect for Google Chrome, Enable the “Enable VMware Browser Redirection for Chrome Browser” setting OK

To enable browser redirect for Edge Chromium, enable the “Enable VMware Browser Redirection feature for Microsoft Edge (Chromium) Browser” setting, OK

To specify which websites to redirect, enable the “Enable URL list for VMware Browser Redirection“, click Show…

At this point, I can enter a number of URL’s, but as my internet connection in my Lab is quite poor, I will simply redirect everything, as show below

Update: Although the above setting seemed smart at the time, it turned out to be not so smart. When I was testing and enabling the Sync-setting in Google Chrome, it didn’t work. So, having determined that I wanted to use Google Chrome Sync, I went for a more granulated approach when setting the above URL’s.

Silent install of Browser Redirection Extension for Google Chrome

Navigate to the “Computer Configuration – Policies – Administrative Templates – Google Chrome – Extensions” folder

Enable the “Configure the list of force-installed apps and extensions” setting, click Show…

Enter the value below, OK

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Verify that the Browser Redirection extension is installed in Chrome by typing “chrome://extensions” in the address bar

When testing the redirect, the “REDIR” icon lights up on the Browser Redirection extension

Silent install of the Browser Redirection Extension for Edge Chromium

Navigate to the “Computer Configuration – Policies – Administrative Templates – Microsoft Edge – Extensions” folder.

Enable the “Control which extensions are installed silently” setting, click Show…

Enter the value below, OK

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Verify that the Browser Redirection extension is installed in Edge Chromium

IMPORTANT: These extensions won’t be installed if You’ve used VMware OS Optimization Tool and removed Web-extensions under Common Settings.

The same applies when configuring OS Optimization in MDT Task Sequence

Official VMware Documentation about this topic:

Install and Configure Browser Redirection

Install the VMware Horizon Browser Redirection Extension for Chrome

Install the VMware Horizon Browser Redirection Extension for Edge (Chromium)

Browser Redirection Limitations

VMware Horizon planning, deployment etc.

Official VMware Horizon 8 Documentation

Disclaimer: Every tips/tricks/posting I have published here, is tried and tested in different it-solutions. It is not guaranteed to work everywhere, but is meant as a tip for other users out there. Remember, Google is your friend and don’t be afraid to steal with pride! Feel free to comment below as needed.