Black Boxes on VMware View Windows 7 x64 Desktops (Bitmap Cache Issue)

[Rob81]

Hello there,

I've come here in the hope that some kind people will be able to give me some advice/pointers for an issue I currently have with our VDI setup, thats starting to seriously grate on me.

We have just started to witness what I believe to be caused by 'Bitmap Caching' on only SOME of our VDI Windows 7 desktops, and its only happening with the users running x64 desktops. The x86 users are completely fine and happy as can be.

The issue, appears to be exactly the same as the two links underneath:

- http://communities.vmware.com/message/1463298#1463298

- http://communities.vmware.com/message/1334250#1334250

In terms of setup, we have users using Dell Wyse P20 Zero clients, Dell Wyse CL10 units and then a minority of users running the View 5.0 client from their laptops to connect to desktops.

The issue is certainly more apparent in the users running the View client from their laptops and the users running P20 units.

I'm afraid, I am very new to alot of this, though I am aware that bitmap caching is the likely culprit, I am unsure what the best way is to disable it? I've imported the client.adm template from the View Management Server, which contains the GPO stuff for enabling/disabling. Doesnt seem to have worked though from what we can see and the GPO lists as RDP Settings, will this work given the majority of the suers are using the PCOIP protocol on the Wyse P20 units?

Can Bitmap Caching be disabled manually on each View desktop by adding specific entries to the registry? (Mainly the P20 users, but again, they're using PCOIP, so how is that even going to work given I'm under the impression Bitmap Caching is related to RDP and not PCOIP)

Any help on the issue would be massively appreciated, its causing huge amounts of frustration for users at present and really dimmed their view on the VDI experience I feel.

Many thanks in advance.

[LarryBlanco2]

So we are still experiencing the issue, We have had a ticket with VMWare for over a month.  They hinted that they are seeing a lot of screen redraws.  so far that is all I have as we have been getting a lot of questions from vmware and we answer them

The only thing I can add is that the same application when under HW v.7 did not produce the black lines.  When we upgraded the VM's to HW v.8 it start occuring.   

Has anyone gotten anywhere?

[Rob81]

I will be on annual leave until 26/11/12 and will have limited access to email during this period. If the matter is urgent however, please contact Christian Mcgrane on +44 (0) 7717 340875.

Many thanks,

Rob Bates | MCTS

Group Infrastructure Support Engineer - Creditsafe Group

Mobile: +44 (0) 7730 089811 | Direct Line: +44 (0)29 2085 6701

[LarryBlanco2]

As an update, there really isn't one.  At this time there is no fix if u have tried the workarounds listed on their kb pages.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=203403...

They attached my support request to their internal bug tracking (PR).  They are aware of the issue and should address it in a future release.

So the users who use the application that causes the issue are now using RDP to access their desktops.  Not an ideal situation.

Larry B.

[Stu_Robinson]

I will be out of the office with limited email access until January 9, 2013. For support - please open a ticket with the support team on techsupport.teradici.com.

Thanks,

Stu

[jimmycartrette]

We have P25s, and after upgrading View Agent (only) from 5.1.0, to 5.1.2, our users with their second monitor in a vertical position (1600x1200 and 1200x1600) experience the issue, but users with both horizontal configurations (1600x1200 and 1600x1200) do not experience the issue. Upgrading the Teradici firmware from 4.0.2 to 4.0.3 does not fix the issue.

We are having to force everyone to use horizontal monitors.

From reading this thread, it is disappointing that VMWare has not been able to address this issue. Considering that purely a View Agent change from 5.1.0 to 5.1.2 causes the issue, it is clear that whatever is being sent via the PCOIP encoder in the View Agent is changed or broken in some fashion, so that the teradici chip is no longer able to decode it properly. It would be nice if someone in the VMWare staff would take up the issue and fix it. I would start by looking at the changes in the PCOIP encoding code between 5.1.0 and 5.1.2.

[jimmycartrette]

Larry,

I believe there is an issue that we are experiencing that VMWare is internally confused with a seperate issue, and they are attaching our support cases to this fix for a different issue. Support says the functionality of the internal fix is to fix the video memory sizing, which we already know doesn't affect this issue on the teradici.

I believe when 5.2 comes out, the issue with webex and other users with general black boxes after a long time of running applicaitons (fixed by minimizing/maximizing the window or upping the memory via the "number of desktops" trick), but it will leave our issue unresolved. VMWare refuses to listen to my case, they just want my support ticket to be closed.

[btrabue]

Has anyone came up with a solid answer to this problem?  We are using VIEW 5.1.2 with a Windows 7 pool and the users are complaining about the lines drawing around their applications.  Sometimes a refresh on their screen will help the borders to go away.  Currently I have the users on Agent version 5.1.1 and the tools are upgraded. 

I had the same pool in the 4.6 environment and I did not have this issue in that environment.  Does anyone have any ideas what I could try to solve this?  Thank you!

[jimmycartrette]

Are you using Teradici (Wyse clients) client hardware? If so, downgrading to 5.1.0 agent on the VMs fixed our issue. If you don’t have Teradici clients, you may be talking about the other issue, which may be fixed by changing the VM video memory per the KB article.

[btrabue]

We are using  WYSE devices but they are Linux based.  I will take a look at the KB and see what it says.  Thank you for your input!

[rlitch1978]

After having this issue and applying all the fixes that VMware recommended to no avail.   We decided to enable Aero Thems in Win 7 64bit, as a work around, even though it is not recomended as best practice.  We have had know ill side affects with this workaround I might add.  This has been the only workaround that has been succesful.  We are still looking for a good resolution to this black box issue.  Anyone with a final resolution would be greatly appreciated.

[rlitch1978]

Try enabling Aero Themes in windows 7.  It's the only work around we have come accross.

[rlitch1978]

The only thing we have had success with on this is, turning on The Aero themes in Windows 7.   This has been our work around until they come up with a solid fix.

[nzorn]

Has anyone tried this ESXi patch to see if it fixes the problem?

PR774818: Black frames might appear around text boxes in an application running on Virtual Machine Hardware Version 8 or later. You might also observe this issue if any of the open application windows are moved across on the desktop. This issue occurs on virtual machines with Windows 7 guest operating system and View 5.0 PCoIP.

VMware ESXi 5.1, Patch ESXi510-201307401-BG: Updates esx-base and misc-drivers (2052144)

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=205214...

VMware ESXi 5.1, Patch Release ESXi510-201307001 (2052143)

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=205214...

[gmtx]

Yes, and it does. Haven't had a single report of the issue since installing the patch.

Geoff