HP ThinPro - Upgrade the Omnissa Horizon Client

Introduction

We are able to update the HP ThinPro operating system as new releases become available.  And this will generally result in new software updates as well - Mozilla Firefox, Citrix Workspace, FreeRDP, etc.  Organizations who use the great Horizon View VDI solution will be keen keep the Omnissa Horizon Client as close to the latest release as possible.  This will entail provisioning  releases of the Horizon client that are made available in-between ThinPro OS upgrades.  In this blog I show you how to create a Horizon Client template, and how to deploy it to a client.  I will also show you how to overcome the expired certificate issue that may prevent you from upgrading your ThinPro Thin clients to the latest version of the Horizon View client.

Creating the Horizon View Template

As can be seen - currently my T530 ThinPro Thin client has Horizon View client version 2212 installed.

This version of the Horizon client comes with the HP ThinPro 8.1 sp6 Operating system.  We certainly do want to upgrade this to version 2506 because this newer version contains updated libraries, improved certificate handling, addresses various vulnerabilities, and is generally a more stable version of the Horizon Client.  So how do we achieve this?

Firstly, open up the HPDM console and navigate to the Templates & Rules node and click on HP Update Center.

Filter the results so that the desired version for your OS is listed.

Click on Generate Templates.  The Package Description Editor window appears.  

Click on Generate.  You are prompted to select the appropriate OS.  Click on OK

The Generate Templates window appears informing you that the Template was successfully created.  Click on OK and the Close.

After a few minutes your new Horizon Client template will appear in the Templates & Rules\Templates\All Templates section of the HPDM console.

Deploy the Horizon View Client - version 2506

Navigate to Manage Devices and right click on the Device/s to which you want to deploy the new Horizon client v2506.  

Select Send Task and then select File and Registry in the Category column and then select the omnissa horizon client in the Template column.

Click on Next. The Task Editor window appears.  Click on OK.

The job begins.  You can monitor the update progress in the Task & Reports\Device Tasks section of the HPDM console.  Hopefully the progress bar will turn green, indicating the Horizon client has successfully updated.  If it turns red you can proceed with the following workaround.

Workaround for Signature Block Verification: Expired certificate Error.

Your deployment may have failed with error code 14004022 indicating that the template is using an expired certificate.

If this is the case then navigate to Templates & Rules\Templates\All Templates.  Right click on the new Horizon client template and select Properties.  Select Script and then select Edit.

The Script Sub task window appears.  Enter in -k beside the xarinstall command as shown.

Click on OK and then OK.  You can now redeploy the new Horizon client - confident of a successful upgrade.

Conclusion

Our goal always is to provide the user with a secure and up to date digital experience - and this could not be more true than in the world of VDI.  I hope you have enjoyed this little blog and I hope it has armed you with the know-how so that you can update your ThinPro Horizon client agents to a newer, safer and more stable edition.