VMware Horizon Community
PositronicBrain
Contributor
Contributor

Fullscreen misbehaves in Horizon View Client 3.2 in Yosemite

I'm having an issue similar to the one described in full screen broken on horizon view client 3.0

I'm using Horizon View Client in a Macbook Pro and a external monitor. If I expand the View window into Full Screen, it "bleeds" into the other screen - part of the remote desktop window goes into the other screen and the rest of that screen goes black. This happens indistinctly of whether the "Displays have different spaces" option is turned on or off in Mission Control (and yes, I've logged out after I've changed that option) and if the desktop have the same or different resolutions - this is as if the Full Screen window's resolution was larger than the available resolution in the screen so it spills over into the other desktop. (See attached screenshots)

If I use the Dock to enable the option to Assign Horizon View Client to a single Desktop then the View Client starts crashing and relaunching in an infinite loop as soon as it goes full screen, requiring a Force Stop.

I'm using Yosemite (10.10.2) and this happens with both View Client 3.2 and 3.0. Surprisingly, Horizon View Client 2.2 (which I copied from an older Mac with Mavericks) works as it should - when I expand the window into Full Screen in any Desktop it only takes over one screen with no odd behavior.

Anybody else has experienced something similar? Is this a known bug? And more importantly, any fixes other than to stick to 2.2?

6 Replies
yuleyl
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

For the display issue, it looks like the remote desktop doesn't auto-fit after enter Full-screen/Multiple monitor mode. It is usually caused by less Video card memory of the Virtual Machine, please contacts the administrator to increase the Video card memory (also checking the Pool setting in Admin web UI of Connection Server), then power off the VM to make the changes taking effect.


For the crash issue, I also can reproduce it when there are some other app entered Full-screen mode (such as Fusion), trying below may work as workaround:

1. Do not assign Horizon Client app into single Desktop with Multiple Monitor mode.

2. Make sure no other Mac app entered Full-screen mode, e.g. Fusion.


The implement of Multiple-Monitor for 3.0/3.2 client is different to 2.2. If you want to use 2.2 client with multiple monitor display, please to trun off the "Displays have different spaces" option in Mission Control.


Thanks.

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PositronicBrain
Contributor
Contributor

Let me try this solution - the remote machine depends on an external company, so it might take a while. I'll be sure to report back.

However, I have to point out that View crashes even if there are no other apps in fullscreen mode. It might have something to do with the remote machine, though. I'll be sure to test it.

It disappoints me that older versions of VMWare handle this situation correctly, even if the remote machine is at fault, while newer versions misbehave. I'd really wish VMWare implemented in newer versions of View Client the way 2.2 handled fullscreen mode, either as an automatic fallback in case of problems or as an optional setting.

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PositronicBrain
Contributor
Contributor

So they maxed up the VM's video card memory to the max, and I have findings.

Maxing up the video card and restricting the VM to a max of 1 screen doesn't fix the issue - Client 3.2 misbehaves in exactly the same way, taking over both screens and 'bleeding' when going into fullscreen mode. Client 2.2 behaves right - it goes into full screen mode and only takes over one of the screens.

Modifying the VM in the WebUI so it supports a maximum of 2 screens makes Client 3.2 take both monitors without issues in the right resolution for two desktops. However, I haven't found a way to limit it to only one screen and restricting it to a single desktop in the Dock makes it crash in a loop.

So far, the only way I've managed to connect to a remote VM and make it go full screen without it taking over both monitors is using the old version of the Client.

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YunYiQun
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi,

We'll consider to provide an option that Full-Screen only uses 1 display in the future. Now by default, it always uses all displays when entering Full Screen mode.

Thanks

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spalmer90
Contributor
Contributor

I came across this thread because I see the same problems with the VMware Horizon Client 3.4.  In my mind this is a major usability mistake to not allow only one display to be used in full screen.  I have used multiple displays for many years and one of the main reasons to use it is so I can have different full screen applications "side by side" on the two displays.  I frequently like to have Windows full screen on one display and a Mac application full screen on another display so I can use them "side by side".  However, it gets to be really annoying when every time I switch to or even just click on the Windows desktop on one of the displays to have the other display automatically switch to the VMware Horizon Client.  This also has the negative effect of never allowing me to use my secondary Mac display as the primary Windows display in full screen.

I can work around this by maximizing the window instead of using the full screen mode, however this has two major downsides:

1 - Maximizing the window does not cause the application to move to its own Space like using full screen does.

2 - Simply maximizing the window loses a lot of vertical real estate to the menubar, title bar and Dock.

I have upgraded to the 3.x client with each new update hoping this will be fixed and I try to either live with the issue or use one of the workarounds but after a short while it gets annoying enough that I revert back to the 2.x client.  I rely heavily on Apple's Spaces and Full Screen technologies but the VMware Horizon Client does not implement them correctly.  It is a totally incorrect assumption to make that because an end user has two displays and wants to use the the VMware View Horizon client in full screen mode that they also want to use both screens.  That is one of the major reasons why Apple added the "Displays have separate Spaces" option starting in OS X 10.9 (see OS X: Using multiple displays in Mavericks - Apple Support).

Just an FYI, I am an IT administrator and I have also recommended against installing the 3.x version for other Mac users that use dual displays for this same reason.

adex2
Contributor
Contributor

Hello,

I would like to know if there is a time frame for the resolution of this problem or a work around. In order to have a better resolution I must use fullscreen but if I do the second monitor will be totally useless.

Please provide steps for a work around.

Thanks

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