VMware Horizon Deployments of Foxit PDF Editor

You can deploy Foxit PDF Editor on a VMware Horizon server for streaming to Windows machines via VDI (desktop virtualized deployments). Only desktop streaming with the application hosted on a server is supported. Foxit has certified the following:

• Virtual machine-based desktop deployments using pooled virtual desktops for Windows 7 and 10.

Note: Since there are many ways to configure Foxit PDF Editor for VDIs, these instructions are intended as basic examples. Administrators may need to tailor these instructions to meet the requirements of their environment.

Audience:

Organizations looking to deploy Foxit PDF Editor to their knowledge workers. 

In this article:

• System Requirements
• Fine-tuning your VMware environment
• Tuning for virtual environments
• Licensing
  • Named user licensing deployments
  • Shared device licensing deployments

System Requirements

• VMware Horizon 6.2

• Windows 7 or 8 64 bit

VMware tuning

• Apply all critical and recommended hotfixes and all hotfix rollup packs that Microsoft provides.

• Apply all critical and recommended hotfixes and all hotfix rollup packs that VMware provides.

Tuning for virtual environments

Tuning helps mitigate performance issues, simplifies the end user experience, and allows you to disable features and behaviors that should not be accessible to end users in an IT-managed environment.

• Install the latest product.
• Customize the installer.
• Disable the updater.

Licensing

Only licensed users should have access to the virtual Foxit PDF Editor instance. For more information, refer to the Software license terms.

Citrix deployments support the following licensing options:

• Named user licensing
• Shared device licensing

Named user licensing deployments

With named user licensing, end users simply “activate” Foxit PDF Editor by logging in to the software. License-related data is saved in the user's "AppData/Roaming/Foxit Software/Foxit PDF Editor/" folder and registry hive "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Foxit Software\Foxit PDF Editor 11.0\Advanced" which is synced to the VM on login.

1. Set up profile redirection. User profile data in roaming folder as well as the HKCU hive must sync to the VM instance on which the user logs in.

Admins should ensure that such data is saved on user logout or disconnect. Some systems provide VM tools; for example, Citrix (Citrix Profile Management) and VMware Horizon (View Personal Management). At a minimum, sync the following:

• Roaming Folder:
  • C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Roaming\Foxit Software\Foxit PDF Editor
• HKCU hive:
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Foxit Software\Foxit PDF Editor 11.0\Advanced
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Foxit Software\Foxit PDF Editor 11.0\plugins\CPDFServer

2. Customize the package using the Foxit Customization Wizard.

3. Deploy as usual.

Shared device licensing deployments

Foxit PDF Editor supports Offline Licensing in most virtual environments, including Citrix, VMWare, RDS/WTS, and App-V. Use this package type for end-users who:

• Cannot adopt named user licensing since they are not allowed to use online services.
• Restricted environment with no internet.

Don't use this package type for end-users who:

• Periodically connect to the internet, because the Admin Console only needs to check license usage every 60 days.

1. Customize the package using the Foxit Customization Wizard to include the Shared Device key

2. Deploy as usual.