Black Screens and Broker Sign-Ons for Horizon VDI

Hello,

Same problem with dell wyse 5070 and 5470. Vmware Horizon 8.1 Instant Clones through BLAST protocol running Windows 10 2004....

we wait for dell to fix the problem with updates... users are not satisfied

If you have not already, please open a support case with Dell and provide logs for engineering to review so it can be resolved. 

We've been seeing what sounds like the same problem ever since we changed from PCoIP to Blast in our VMware pools, and today we may have found the problem. We noticed that the problem appears to go away when we uncheck the Allow High Efficiency Video Decoding (HEVC) H.265 checkbox on a thin client.

We also found a very similar article from HP regarding their thin clients having the same issue. They released this advisory and workaround. It sounds like Dell has a similar issue but just hasn't known about it or addressed it.

Advisory: HP ThinClients t420 and t520 - Blast Desktop Session Screen is Black | HP® Customer Support

We are experiencing the exact issue in our environment.  I have disabled the setting you mentioned.  Fingers crossed, this corrects the issue!  I will follow up with the results.

Horizon 2111.1
Blast Protocol

Group A - Almost everyone in this group is seeing the issue
OS Version 9.1.5067
VMware_Horizon_2106.8.3.0.18251983_9
Cisco_Jabber_14.0.2.306216_3
Zoom_Horizon_5.8.0.20927_8

Group B - This is the level I have been downgrading everyone to. Although it seemed to help in some cases, it did not correct the issue completely.

OS Version 9.1.3129
VMware Horizon_2103.8.2.0.17742757_11
Cisco_Jabber_14.0.1.305914_3
Zoom_Horizon_5.5.6.20501_2

On 1/24/2022 Dell support posted Horizon Cclient 2111.

For many, I have seen this address Black screen issues.   Please validate with 9.1.5067 and this horizon client.  If you are still experiencing the issues, open support cases so engineering can investigate.  

VMware_Horizon_2111.8.4.0.18957622_3.zip

#IWork4Dell

I have been seeing this issue few different ways for months now. 
I have had 4 tickets open with Vmware and they cant seem to figure out the issue. 

We are running 
Lastest Horizon 2111.1 
Latest Windows 10 - 21H2
We are currenty on VMware_Horizon_2106.8.3.0.18251983_9 but looking to upgrade soon (2111 just came out 2 days ago) 
Also, new recomendation - using Vmware tools as the "Drivers"  and not the Vmware Agent for SVAG 

Please note, if your user sees a black screen - try this to see if you get the same solution - 
RDP into that box (as local admin) then go to Device manager and "Disable the SVGA Driver" then "Re-enable SVGA Driver" 

Log out as the admin and then tell the user to log back back in. 
This has always worked for us but no one seems to be able to figure out how to solve this issue. 

The issue isnt there if user login from home or other devices, We ususally see this issue, after few days. 



Pratik 

Pratik - I plan to disable/enable the SVGA driver within VMware Tools on VM's that users complain about.  Unfortunately, I currently run Full Clones in my environment so this can be a long task.  We are in the process of building and testing Instant Clones.

I did come across this article from VMware as it relates to this issue.  https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2078739 

I guess when we upgraded our environment to 2111 they removed the SVGA settings from the Horizon Agent.?.?

Thanks for the recommendation, I will follow up with this thread if I can determine this corrects our problem.  

@buffalobound- I do have a case open regarding this, with Dell and VMware and have provided logs to both vendors.  VMware does not see anything that would be causing an issue.   I will upgrade a pilot group this evening to VMware_Horizon_2111.8.4.0.18957622_3 to see if this helps.  

Thanks!

This change alone did not correct our issue.  We still have several users getting the Black Screens when logging in. 

@buffalobound  So I created a new Pilot Group in WMS and applied the new VMware_Horizon_2111.8.4.0.18957622_3 package.  I moved one of my users over to this new group that was having the "Black Screen" issue and updated his 3040 with the latest package and the user still experienced the back screens.  < Private Service request number removed.TOS73>   

Also, one way we have been able to get the Windows Desktop to finally appear for users when they experience this is to try to connect to them using the "Launch Remote Console" and "Launch Web Console" within VCenter.  If we try to connect by using one method and click the mouse within the session, then close the window and try the other connection methoid, the Windows Desktop will eventually show up for the user.  This is not a fix, but to help isolate the issue.  

Pilot Group
OS Version 9.1.5067
VMware_Horizon_2111.8.4.0.18957622_3
Cisco_Jabber_14.0.2.306216_3
Zoom_Horizon_5.8.0.20927_8

Thought I would provide an update in case anyone else comes across this thread.  I updated my Horizon package the following version and power cycled the thin clients to resolve this issue.

OS Version 9.1.5067
VMware_Horizon_2111.8.4.0.18957622_3

Yeah, unfortunately the update of the client to 2111 doesn't seem to have eliminated the issue.

We also have this issue occurring randomly. More for some users than others. We are running both 8.6 and 9.1 3040 clients and my feeling is that it is happening more (or only) on the 9.1 clients. I opened a case with VMware last week.

Yeah, it's become quite frustrating. We've opened tickets with VMware and Dell but we tend to get finger pointing, large delays between email correspondence, and ultimately no helpful response. I've send logs to both vendors but nothing....

My Blast logs have warnings related to setting display topology. it'll go thru all ten attempts and tries again over and over and over. I think this is part of the black screen issue while it tries to figure out my multiple displays. Honestly I'm just happy that I've found others with similar issues. 

Warning: VNCSERVER-WIN32: FindDisplayID matching screen ID not found.

2022-02-28 08:28:06.292-0600 [WARN ] 0x16c0 bora::Warning: VNCSERVER-WIN32: List of screens reported by DevApi:
2022-02-28 08:28:06.292-0600 [WARN ] 0x16c0 bora::Warning: VNCSERVER-WIN32: Screen ID 0 position X=0, Y=316, Width=1920, Height=1200
2022-02-28 08:28:06.292-0600 [INFO ] 0x16c0 bora::Log: VNCSERVER-WIN32: Retrying FindDisplayID, attempt 0 out of 10

If any of you have active cases with Dell support please message me with the case @#'s.

I would like to look into them and see what engineering is seeing.

#IWork4Dell