What’s New

VMware Horizon 8 version 2206 includes the following new features and enhancements. This information is grouped by installable component.

New redesigned landing page for Horizon documentation. To learn more, see Introducing the New VMware Horizon Documentation.

Version numbering is based on the planned year and the month of the release. The actual release date can vary based on business needs and engineering schedule changes to address critical customer requirements.

• Horizon Agent for Linux
  • This release adds support for the following Linux distributions.
    • Ubuntu 22.04
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Workstation 8.6
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Server 8.6
  • Beginning with this release, the following Linux distributions are no longer supported.
    • RHEL Server 8.4
  • Horizon Agent for Linux now supports Real-Time Audio-Video redirection, which includes both audio-in and webcam redirection of locally connected devices from the client system to the remote session.
  • VMware Integrated Printing now supports printer redirection from Linux remote desktops to client devices running Horizon Client for Chrome or HTML Access.
  • Session Collaboration is now supported on the MATE desktop environment.
  • A vGPU desktop can support a maximum resolution of 3840×2160 on one, two, three, or four monitors configured in any arrangement.
  • A non-vGPU desktop can support a maximum resolution of 3840×2160 on a single monitor only.
  • Agent and Agent RDS levels are now supported for Horizon Agent for Linux.
• Virtual Desktops
  • Option to create multiple custom compute profiles (CPU, RAM, Cores per Socket) for a single golden image snapshot during desktop pool creation.
  • VMware Blast now detects the presence of a vGPU system and applies higher quality default settings.
  • vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) in vSphere 7.0 U3f and later can now be configured to automatically migrate vGPU desktops when entering ESXi host maintenance mode. For more information, see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/88271.
  • Forensic quarantine feature that archives the virtual disks of selected dedicated or floating Instant Clone desktops for forensic purposes.
  • The Blast CPU controller feature is now enabled by default in scale environments.
  • Removed pop-up for suggesting best practices during creation of an instant clone. The information now appears on the first tab/screen of the creation wizard.
  • Help Desk administrator roles are now applicable to all access groups, not just to the root access group as with previous releases.
  • Administrators can encrypt a session recording file into a .bin format so that it cannot be played from the file system.
  • If using an older Web browser, a message appears when launching the Horizon Console indicating that using a modern browser will provide a better user experience.
  • Added Support for HW encoding on Intel GPU for Windows
    • Supports Intel 11th Generation Integrated Graphics and above ( Tigerlake+) with a minimum required driver version of: 30.0.101.1660 (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19344/727284/intel-graphics-windows-dch-drivers.html)
  • VVC-based USB-R is enabled by default for non-desktop (Chrome/HTML Access/Android) Blast clients.
  • Physical PC (as Unmanaged Pool) now supports Windows 10 Education and Pro (20H2 and later) and Windows 11 Education and Pro (21H2) with the VMware Blast protocol.
  • Storage Drive Redirection (SDR) is now available as an alternative option to USB or CDR redirection for better I/O performance.
• Horizon Connection Server
  • Horizon Connection Server now enables you to configure a customized timeout warning and set the timer for the warning to appear before a user is forcibly disconnected from a remote desktop or published application session. This warning is supported with Horizon Client for Windows 2206 and Horizon Client for Mac 2206 or later.
  • Windows Hello for Business with certificate authentication is now supported when you Log In as Current User on the Horizon Client for Windows.
  • Added limited support for Hybrid Azure AD.
• Horizon Agent
  • The Horizon Agent Installer now includes a pre-check to confirm that .NET 4.6.2 is installed if Horizon Performance Tracker is selected.
• Horizon ClientFor information about new features in a Horizon client, including HTML Access, see the release notes for that Horizon client.
• General
  • The View Agent Direct-Connection Plug-In product name was changed to Horizon Agent Direct-Connection Plug-In in the documentation set.
  • Customers are automatically enrolled in the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) during installation.

Horizon API

For the latest set of Horizon APIs, see the VMware Horizon API. For a list of Horizon RESTful APIs added in each release, see VMware Knowledge Base article 84155.

Horizon Cloud Connector

Applicable to customers with VMware Horizon Universal Subscription, Horizon Enterprise Plus Subscription, Horizon Standard Plus Subscription, Horizon Apps Universal Subscription, or Horizon Apps Standard Subscription.

The Horizon Cloud Connector virtual appliance is a required component for VMware Horizon to support the management of Horizon pods using Horizon Cloud Service.

Horizon Deployed on VMware Cloud on AWS

For a list of VMware Horizon features supported on VMware Cloud on AWS, see VMware Knowledge Base article 58539.

Horizon Deployed on Azure VMware Solution

You can select Azure as an installation option to deploy Horizon on Azure VMware Solution (AVS). See Deploying VMware Horizon 8 on Azure VMware Solution.