VMware Horizon Community
tonym4work
Contributor
Contributor

Chrome OS "can't open this page" for Horizon Client

I access Horizon via work portal.   However, when launching the portal link for my VMware Horizon Desktop, I get an error "Google Chrome OS can't open this page".

I have installed the VMware Horizon Client 5.4.1, and it will launch from the Shelf.

But I'm not able to authenticate using that method.  I must authenticate via the portal.

I was recently moved to VMware Horizon, and it worked fine when I was on Citrix.

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tonym4work
Contributor
Contributor

I'm starting to think there is a coding issue with our Portal site.  Is there special code that has to be part of the Portal to be able to launch the Chrome OS Horizon Client compared to the Windows client or Android client running on Chrome OS?

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alienjoker
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

To clarify, if you access the portal from a Windows/MAC/Android device, the desktop launches successfully post authentication with the installed Horizon client?

If yes to the above, it may be that you need to reinstall the Horizon client for Chrome OS on your device to re-register the association that makes a call to the app post authentication.

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tonym4work
Contributor
Contributor

I can launch the Windows Horizon Client from a Windows PC.

On a Chromebook, I've reinstalling the Chrome Horizon Client (non-Android) many times, but it never works.  The browser always displays the error "can't open this page".

Also, my understanding is; if you can use the Android Horizon Client on a ChromeOS device, you'll get the same error until the Android application starts (which could include starting the Android layer).  So you have to just retry every few seconds until it finally works.

With that in mind, I've even tried launching the ChromeOS Horizon Client, and then clicked the link on the Portal and still get the same error.  It's like the Portal page is looking for something that isn't there.

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alienjoker
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

When you say portal page, are you referring to identity manager or workspace one? Is this an enterprise owned device or a personal device? If its enterprise owned, is it enrolled for management?

Thanks

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tonym4work
Contributor
Contributor

This is an enterprise portal.  And this is a personal device.

We're allowed (actually encouraged) to use personal devices and they don't have to be enrolled.

We're required to use the portal for authentication, which then launches the Horizon Client, which automatically connects to my virtual PC and logs me in.

If I could add a server in the Horizon Client for Chrome OS, and launch my virtual PC from there, everything would most likely work fine.

Thanks for the inquiry.

PS  I still feel like there is something missing in the portal that is required to launch the client or there is a technical limitation of the Chrome OS client where it isn't registering something it needs.  I wish I knew the details on how the Horizon client works with a portal.  Citrix was easy, since it downloaded a file, which was associated with the Citrix client.  Opening the file launched Citrix, which Citrix read the contents of the file and connected to the remote host.

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alienjoker
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks for confirming your setup.

Does your portal look similar to the below? If so, this is Workspace One.

workspace.png

Have you tried uninstalling the installed Horizon Client from Chrome OS and then re-authenticate to the portal to see if it triggers a subsequent installation of the Horizon client? I'm wondering if the association with the browser is simply broken and a forced install from within the portal (if it prompts you) will rectify the problem.  The only other solution I can think of is to try and use a different browser on the Chrome device and see if that works (firefox for example) - which would eliminate the problem at the remote end and highlight the issue is with the Chrome Browser itself on the device.

If this doesn't solve things and it is indeed a Workspace One portal as per the image above, I would suggest moving this post over to the Workspace One forum as it is less of a Horizon issue, more of a portal integration problem.

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tonym4work
Contributor
Contributor

No, my portal does not look like that one.  Its the same portal we use for both VMware and Citrix. 

2nd.  I uninstalled the Horizon Client and tried launching the session from the portal, but I still just got the same error.  It didn't prompt to install the client, etc.  But the fact it's the same error with the client installed or not, should mean something.

3rd. On a Chrome OS device, the device is just the Chrome browser.  You can't install other browsers (unless you install Android apps).

I'll look into portal integration as I really believe that is the issue. As I mentioned before, I'd like to know how the Portal tries to launch the client, as they could help narrow down the issue.

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alienjoker
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ok, without knowing what the portal is I'm afraid its difficult to know what the trigger or the application launch is calling and how it interfaces with the client. As you say, with or without the Horizon client installed, the problem remains the same, therefore it is suggesting that perhaps an extension of the portal needs to be registered on the client device for it to know to pass the previously authenticated session via SAML to the Horizon broker and into the Horizon client on the device.

If you can find out who owns the portal and what it is, that might be the best next line of enquiry.

Sorry I can't be of much more help.

Thanks

Andrew

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tommalt
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

I was just wondering if you'd got this fixed?

We've got one person using a Chromebook and we're using Microsoft Azure MFA to secure our connections to Horizon. The user opens the Horizon client on the Cromebook, this then opens a tab in Chrome for them to authenticate in. The authentication tab then tries to go back to the Horizon client but fail with a "google chrome os can't open this page" error.

It's got to be a setting in either Chrome or the Horizon app, but I can't see what at the moment...

thanks,

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tonym4work
Contributor
Contributor

No, it's still not fixed.

Are you using the native Chrome OS app, or the Android app on ChromeOS?   

For us, users that "can" use the Android app, it does work.  But not all ChromeOS devices can run Android apps, so the workaround is limited.

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kdenike
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hello. Yes TonyM4Work, you're completely right. By default ChromeOS blocks any launch of an app from an unrelated web site. Google did this as a security precaution. But they didn't add the same block for Android apps, I don't know why. Since VMware created the Workspace ONE portal, we were able to add in the code to associate the Horizon Client for Chrome with the Workspace ONE portal, so that flow works. But if your company created its own portal, it won't have the extra code. 

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FLPhoenix
Contributor
Contributor

We're using Workspace One Access with our Horizon on-prem deployment but not using the Hub browser experience thus our portal looks a bit different than the above image.

We are having the same problem. Our users are not able to launch applications or desktops in chromebook using the workspace one portal in the chrome browser. Instead our current work around is to have them install the workspace one app from the playstore and also the horizon client from the playstore and launch it from the workspace one app. It would be convenient if users could just launch it from the web page and it open the client rather than having to use the workspace one app as we don't have SSO certs for mobile devices enabled.

 

Is there a setting in chrome that will allow it to see the client and launch the application when clicked? If not, you mentioned that VMware was able to associate the code for the workspace one portal but when was that done? I am using 20.01.0.0 Build 15509389.

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jpiperbe
Contributor
Contributor

We do have a workspace one portal and it gives this same error when trying to launch virtual apps/desktops on a chromebook.  They do run in the web, but I suspect the performance would be better in the client.  The difficulty is that I can manage the chromebooks, but I have no administrative access to our portal.  would it be possible to link the appropriate documentation?  I'm not having any luck finding it, and since I don't have access I need to forward it to one of the Workspace one administrators anyway. 

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