Thanks for getting back - this wasn't the issue. I updated the C++ runtimes and it didn't help. I also disabled antivirus, pulled out the MSI file and tried to run it independently, disabled the installation of the features included on the install popup: nothing made a difference for me until I found a tip buried in a thread out in the wild that worked. I will assert that this seems a ridiculously simple thing to miss, and I'm baffled VMWare missed it in their install routines. Pretty dumb failure.

That said: VMWare Horizon 8 (2106) works just fine on Windows 11 Home V. 21H2. I have it running on 2 different (but both HP) laptops, no hiccups or issues. Your experience may vary.