Appstack and Horizon USB issues when UEM in installed but not configured

[jqvm]

Word of warning for anyone starting a UEM migration, it appears that UEM can mess with PCoIP USB if it is left in a running but unconfigured state.

We installed UEM in a Gold master image and left the service to automatic startup, with no UEM GPO's were applied to the linked clone pools.  (We were preparing for UEM migration/testing)

USB devices fail to attach in the initial login session, a reconnect on PCoIP allows the devices to pass through from the Zero client.   The issue also seems to delay the attachment of Appvolumes appstacks.  PCoIP server log reports:

LVL:1 RC:   0        SOFT_USB :VHUBLIB(error): GetUemStatus : Failed to open key path is Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware UEM\SessionData\1

LVL:1 RC:   0        SOFT_USB :VHUBLIB(error): The UEM component is still not ready yet

Workaround is to set the service to manual/disabled until UEM is required for a desktop pool.   If UEM is enabled at login (say via the GP extension method), the issue does not occur.   We didn't raise a case for this, but an interesting one anyway.

(UEM 9, Appvol 2.9, Horizon 7)

Josh

[deep84]

Awesome! You did this without the registry fix? Wonder if we could get this working on windows 7 without the registry fix.

[b34ny]

We're having this issue on Windows 10 (1709) with Horizon 7.4 and UEM 9.2.  It was hard to tell from some of the responses but does upgrading to UEM 9.3 resolve the issue?  Is the consensus that 7.4 and 9.3 still have the issue and the registry workaround is still required?

[DEMdev]

Hi b34ny,

It depends a bit on what "this issue" is, exactly... There is an issue with USB redirection in the Horizon 7.4 agent that happens regardless of the UEM version, but there are also some USB-related issues for which there might be a workaround.

What issue(s) do you have, and what software (App Volumes?) and hardware (smart cards, thin clients?) are you using?

[b34ny]

We're experiencing USB Redirection not working on initial connection via Zero Client (Tera2 on firmware 5.5.1) but USB Redirection works fine on disconnect/reconnect.  Per my post above we're running Windows 10 build 1709, Horizon 7.4,UEM 9.2, and AppVolumes 2.13.3.

At the moment we're having users with USB attached devices (outside of mouse and keyboard which always work) sign on to their non-persistent pool VM and then disconnect.  Once they reconnect their hardware is detected and works properly.

[DEMdev]

I'm afraid that is the Horizon agent issue for which no fix or workaround exists at the moment...

If you bump the Horizon logging to trace (as per VMware KB 1025887), does the PCoIP server log contain messages like Failed to query user token for sessionId=1, lastError=1008?

[Rdiaz29]

We have the exact same issue when users connect from Zero Clients. We have external and internal Smart Card Readers that don't get recognized on first login. Users have to reconnect for Windows to load/install the drivers. My workaround right now is to use Horizon Agent 7.3.2 and UEM 9.3. We are running Windows 10 1703. As a test, I tried the latest version of the Horizon Agent (7.5) and UEM (7.4) but no luck.

I want to start using Windows 10 1709 or even 1804 but I need to remain with the Horizon Agent 7.3.2 which supports Windows 10 1703 or lower.

[DEMdev]

Hi Rdiaz29,

Would you mind configuring the UemFlags registry value described in KB2151440​, but setting it to 257 (hex 101)?

[Rdiaz29]

Hi UEMdev,

I tried the registry setting from a Zero Client I have at home and it works. I will try it at work tomorrow morning. I tried the registry setting using 1 and then 257. Both values seem to work. What is the difference between 1 and 257? Also, what are the caveats to setting this registry item. For example, will I lose functionality in other areas?

[DEMdev]

Hi Rdiaz29,

Happy to hear that the initial test results look promising!

The last few releases of the Horizon agent sometimes can't determine whether UEM provided any USB redirection settings through Horizon Smart Policies. If that happens, USB redirection is turned off (with Horizon agent 7.4), or turned on (with Horizon agent 7.3). This happens regardless of whether any Smart Policies settings have been configured in UEM.

UemFlags is a setting in the Horizon agent that controls whether it should skip the check for USB-related Horizon Smart Policies settings as provided by UEM. If set to 1, the check is skipped for zero clients; if set to 257, it is skipped for both zero clients and for VMware's "soft" clients for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android.

Skipping this logic only affects this evaluation of the USB Smart Policies setting; if you require USB redirection for your smart cards, I assume you're not planning to disable USB via Smart Policies anyway 🙂

[Rdiaz29]

Thanks UEMdev,

I have confirmed the registry setting fixes the problem. I am now running Horizon Agent 7.4 and UEM 9.3 at work without any USB redirection issues. Any ideas when this will be fixed on the Horizon Agent?

[DEMdev]

Thanks for confirming, Rdiaz29.

I can't make any official statements for my "own" product UEM, and even less so for Horizon, but the plan is to fix this in the next release.

[b34ny]

Speaking of "next release" is there going to be an update/patch to the 7.4 branch (it's been since January) or will everyone be expected to move to 7.5 for additional fixes?

[DEMdev]

Hi b34ny,

is there going to be an update/patch to the 7.4 branch

​I'm sorry, I don't know what policy the Horizon team follows for that.

Also, just to clarify: the "next release" in my previous "but the plan is to fix this in the next release" statement would be Horizon 7.6 (and UEM 9.5).

[edittech]

Re: Appstack and Horizon USB issues when UEM in installed but not configured

This fixed the USB redirection for me, ty. I have the latest UEM 9.4 and horizon 7.5.1. I had put a support ticket and they blamed it on the zero client device. They said it was not USB redirected compatible.

[kgriffinca]

Had an identical situation here ... Windows 10 v1803, View 7.2 and UEM 9.2.1.  Would like to be on something higher than View 7.2 but have yet another USB redirection issue that crops up if we try using an agent newer than 7.2, but that's another story.

In any case, wanted to note that UEMDev's UemFlags registry hit did not work for us, but Instant0Darth0Vader's solution of the HorizonLogic registry hit did -- USB redirection is working now for our Tera2-based zero clients in Windows 10.

Now if only we could get USB redirection working with View agent 7.3+ from Windows clients.  Works fine with Tera2-based zero clients.  Breaks on Windows clients -- "USB redirection is not available for this desktop".  *sigh*

[DEMdev]

Hi kgriffinca,

I think that UemFlags was introduced in Horizon agent 7.3, so that would explain why it has no effect in your 7.2 environment. Note that the HorizonLogic workaround affects all Smart Policies, not just USB redirection – there's no guarantee any of those Horizon components will pick up their UEM Smart Policies if you set HorizonLogic to 0.

As for your issue with USB redirection on Windows clients on Horizon agent 7.3+: have you also tried setting UemFlags to 257 (hex 101) instead of setting it to 1?

[kgriffinca]

Unfortunately no good.  Have tried UemFlags set to 1 and 257, both with and without the HorizonLogic set to 0, and desktop keeps coming up "USB redirection is unavailable for this desktop".  VMware's been unable to replicate this issue internally.  Doesn't appear to even be related to UEM because testing a VDI image that has never even had UEM installed comes up with the same error.

Signs actually suggest it may be a client issue because a client VM with custom install of Win7 from scratch actually connects to VDI just fine without the USB redirection error, but every system I test with that's been imaged with our corporate imaging system fails.  Even when I loaded the custom install VM of Win7 with our standard software load and same GPO's, it connects fine, but corporate desktops built through the standard imaging process fails.  Going to be digging deeper through the imaging process next week, but there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of customization in it that could account for the difference.

[tyler1985]

We have the same issue in our environment: when user logon takes too much time (more then 60 seconds) USB Redirection becomes unavailable. The only way we found to resolve it - install Horizon Agent 7.3.2 (or Horizon Agent 7.3.3). This version ignores Horizon Smart Policy. So when user connecting to his desktop Horizon Client doesn't wait for smart policys and enables USB Redirection right away.

[DEMdev]

Hi tyler1985,

Can you provide a bit more information on your setup? There are some configurable timeouts on the Horizon agent and client side that could help with this, I think.

[nhsbonn]

This issue just doesnt seem to go away.

I first found this then updating the view agent from 7.03. We had recently updated to UEM 9.1 and everything was fine but as soon as we updated to 7.1 all smart cards stopped working for our zero clients. 

Been on just about every release hoping VMware would fix this but had to revert to the cloud volumes reg fix for a long time.

Its worth noting for anyone new to this thread that even on View 7.6 and UEM 9.6 if you turn on directflex for any UEM application config the USB pass though on PCoIP will fail. We have at least managed to remove the workarounds that were previously required on earlier versions.

Has anyone seen direct flex working. Is it actually worth logging a support call?