VMware View Client version 1.6 and above can be launched by using a URI Hyperlink. So for example if you click the following URI the VMware View Client can be launched automatically logging you in to your View desktop. vmware-view://view.mycompany.com/Primary%20Desktop?action=start-session
Note: All the information in this post can be found in the following document: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/view-client-mac-document.pdf
VMware View Client URI Scheme
This is the URI syntax for the VMware View client: vmware-view://[authority-part][/path-part][?query-part]
authority-part
Specifies the server address and, optionally, a user name, a non-default port number, or both. Server names must conform to DNS syntax.
To specify a user name, use the following syntax: user1@server-address
Note that you cannot specify a UPN address, which includes the domain.
To specify the domain, you can use the domainName query part in the URI. To specify a port number, use the following syntax: server-address:port-number
path-part
Specifies the desktop. Use the desktop display name. If the display name has a space in it, use the %20 encoding mechanism to represent the space.
query-part
Specifies the configuration options to use or the desktop actions to perform. Queries are not case-sensitive. To use multiple queries, use an ampersand (&) between the queries. If queries conflict with each other, the last query in the list is used. Use the following syntax: query1=value1[&query2=value2…]
Here is a list of queries that are supported with the VMware View Client:
Example URI's
vmware-view://view.mycompany.com/Primary%20Desktop?action=start-session
View Client is launched and connects to the view.mycompany.com server. The login box prompts the user for a user name, domain name, and password. After a successful login, the client connects to the desktop whose display name is displayed as Primary Desktop, and the user is logged in to the guest operating system
vmware-view://view.mycompany.com:7555/Primary%20Desktop
This URI has the same effect as the previous example, except that it uses the nondefault port of 7555 for View Connection Server. (The default port is 443.) Because a desktop identifier is provided, the desktop is launched even though the start-session action is not included in the URI.
vmware-view://fred@view.mycompany.com/Finance%20Desktop?desktopProtocol=PcoIP
View Client is launched and connects to the view.mycompany.com server. In the login box, the User name text box is populated with the name fred. The user must supply the domain name and password. After a successful login, the client connects to the desktop whose display name is displayed as Finance Desktop, and the user is logged in to the guest operating system. The connection uses the PCoIP display protocol.
vmware-view://fred@view.mycompany.com/Finance%20Desktop?domainName=mycompany
View Client is launched and connects to the view.mycompany.com server. In the login box, the User name text box is populated with the name fred, and the Domain text box is populated with mycompany. The user must supply only a password. After a successful login, the client connects to the desktop whose display name is displayed as Finance Desktop, and the user is logged in to the guest operating system.
vmware-view://view.mycompany.com/
View Client is launched, and the user is taken to the login prompt for connecting to the view.mycompany.com server.
vmware-view://view.mycompany.com/Primary%20Desktop?action=reset
View Client is launched and connects to the view.mycompany.com server. The login box prompts the user for a user name, domain name, and password. After a successful login, View Client displays a dialog box that prompts the user to confirm the reset operation for Primary Desktop. After the reset occurs, depending on the type of View Client, the user might see a message indicating whether the reset was successful.
vmware-view://
View Client is launched, and the user is taken to the page for entering the address of a View Connection Server instance.
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View Comments
Simon,
I was one of the most vocal folks out there asking for this functionality. I am very happy that it is here. I do have one question about the URI Schema.
Do you know if there is a hidden ?password= portion of the URI schema that can be used to pass the password as part of the URI. I am missing the functionality that is available via launching the Windows wswc.exe from the command line with the -password switch. From a single windows command line I can launch a view client, login, select a desktop and have it displayed with no user interaction. I can almost do the same with the URI schema. With the URI schema I can launch the view client (on multiple platforms --Yay!) but the login screen is presented and the user has to enter password to proceed onto their desktop.
If not present in current clients, do you know if ever this functionality will be added in future clients?
Paul
Hi Paul, thanks for the feedback. I'll do some digging and see what I can find out.