Horizon 8 Valuable Features
MB
Michael Baars
Owner at CoBSS
What I appreciate about Horizon 8 is that it just works. If it works, it just works. People can access the desktop from anywhere, whether it is a desktop or published applications, and it's easy to manage from a maintenance perspective. As IT consultants, it's very easy for users, who can access it by the web, using cloud, or any platform such as an Apple or Windows machine. It even works on systems that usually play Minecraft or something, all from Google security.
From a security point of view, security in Horizon 8 is one of the main points in keeping the system resources from the company away from bad actors. You can keep the desktops completely isolated, and you don't need to share your file shares or database with the end-user system. You can even provide users with thin clients, and they can still access all information on the company network. You can choose if special resources, such as USB drives, are allowed to be shared. From a security standpoint, VMware really helps many mid-range companies achieve a security standard that otherwise would be hard to maintain.
The Horizon 8 brings some resource saving, but the costs are higher than simply giving users a normal laptop. However, providing a single user with a laptop means managing that particular system. With Horizon 8, I can manage a whole group of desktops for about 90% of my end users at the same time, on the same management console, and this makes it easier to handle multiple issues at once. It is also more cost-effective when certain systems need upgrades, as you do not have to trouble end users with local system issues, which helps reduce help desk load and customer tickets. This is especially crucial for users working remotely, such as during the pandemic, as it allows for scaling up and down easily to meet user demands.
View full review »The solution has data leak prevention features that ensure data is not copied from the base machine to VDI, and API copyright capabilities.
View full review »The product helps us to lock down the desktops. We can stop the end user from taking data out of the desktops. These are the key security features of the tool.
Buyer's Guide
Horizon 8
June 2025

Learn what your peers think about Horizon 8. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
859,687 professionals have used our research since 2012.
I think the tool is very useful for attracting new people, either new hires or consultants. Remote usage is also a significant benefit. VMware Horizon's security features depend on the customer and what they want. Of course, if they have multi-factor authentication, VMware Horizon supports that. It depends on their policies, but it works with pretty much anything.
You don't have to buy laptops for everyone. You can use the ones you have for over three years, even five to six years. Additionally, you have data closer to the data center or servers. When you start programs, they're almost probably on the same switch. For instance, if you use AutoCAD or something similar, you can cut significant time from operations
View full review »The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon is the VDI service, which helps externals use their own devices while keeping the data inside our data center.
View full review »AB
Aslaf Borker
Information Technology Specialist at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Once our organization upgraded to the latest version of VMware Horizon, we eliminated the delayed login times we had faced in the prior version. The USB redirection is one of the valuable features of VMware Horizon.
Using the aforementioned feature, I have allowed access to certain types of USB models, and only these authorized models by the employer are accessible in the VDI environment, therefore any USB outside the whitelisted manufacturers won't function in our organization's environment.
I also find the solution's Unified Access Gateway (UAG) feature useful as it makes administration tasks easier. For instance, if I want to enable a particular network device to access VMware Horizon, UAG makes such processes quick and easy.
At our organization, we are also using VMware Workspace ONE for endpoint management, which facilitates the employees' ability to bring their own devices, which can be used to access the on-premise infrastructure and the applications present on it.
The tool provides a single pane of glass into all virtual infrastructure.
View full review »The App Volumes feature is valuable for application automation. We can use what we want inside the solution. VMware has its own troubleshooting tool. We can also use VMware Aria. We can use a lot of applications.
View full review »The most valuable features of VMware Horizon in our education organization are its Graphics Virtualization Unit (GVU) integration. It helps us with social software for behavioral assignments and research purposes. Its availability is also one of the crucial features.
View full review »It's a solid product with favorable pricing, versatile use cases, and seamless implementation. It stands as a robust setup with considerable capabilities.
View full review »The most valuable feature of this solution is the clone variant. We have been using the linked clone for the past five years, but I am willing to support and take on the function of the instant cloud.
The clone variant enhances the solution's functionality, making it more beneficial.
View full review »The most valuable feature in this solution which really helped for my use case was the stand out three dimensional acceleration. It was really important for enhancing the performance for certain clients based on their scenarios.
View full review »
The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is easy to set it up, and the user experience it provides is just like a normal desktop.
Compared to Citrix, which is one of VMware's main competitors, VMware Horizon View is easy to manage on top of the VPN connections and, owing to the integration it allows with the VPN part, makes up for some of its main features. With VMware Horizon View, the configuration, deployment, manageability, VMware vRealize Operations Manager, and everything else is much better in my experience.
VMware Horizon is beneficial because it reduces bandwidth consumption when accessing VDI or the virtual infrastructure. It's more secure compared to accessing a Windows desktop using RDP. It enhances security, provides better app utilization, and improves performance using graphic-intensive tools like Photoshop or 3ds Max. Using the Horizon Client makes it easy to work on those tools.
View full review »The most valuable feature of this solution is secure remote access to resources.
View full review »VMware Horizon View is easily scalable. Its onboarding is easy and comes with flash provisioning features.
View full review »It's centralized and secure, making it great for business.
View full review »It is easy to navigate through the product. The product makes it easier for us to manage the user’s expectations. The solution is seamless and easy to use. We can choose to use either the web or the client. We can integrate the solution with other tools using Active Directory.
View full review »SH
Syed SaqibHabib
System Administrator at a media company with 201-500 employees
VMware offers a friendly environment, and it's easy to provide the user with the package. It is a bundled solution that is readily deployable. The advantage lies in its simplicity, it requires minimal expertise. There are instances where Microsoft RDP outperforms due to its integration with the backend operating system. Yet, deploying and managing a Microsoft environment necessitates a specific skill set, typically that of a knowledgeable system administrator.
On the other hand, Horizon offers a more user-friendly experience; you can quickly deploy applications, access simple documents, and navigate without needing specialized expertise. Additionally, comprehensive support and documentation are readily available to aid in setting up the Horizon environment.
The product’s scalability makes the deployment easy. It is important to us. The product handles security and compliance in the virtual infrastructure well.
View full review »The solution's most valuable feature is low bandwidth consumption. It helps to improve user experience.
View full review »RH
Roger Heid
System Administrator Senior at KV Zürich Business School
I like VMware Horizon's ability and performance.
View full review »The solution's most valuable features are its ease of deployment and ease of distribution of the desktops and the applications. It is quite an easy product since the end user does not have to go through much of a learning curve.
HA
Hasan Afzal
General Manager Technical at Techaccess Pakistan
The use of VMware Workspace ONE with Horizon is quite impressive. VMware Horizon availability on both the cloud and on-prem and its flexible licensing options are worth noting.
In addition, combined with ThinApp it offers efficiency and stability for the system, which is not always available in alternate solutions.
View full review »VT
Vijayakumar Tharmalingam
Lead Converged Infrastructure Virtualization Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
VMware's most helpful feature is its ability to work like a centralized management system. When I say centralized management, it includes everything from vulnerability to application management, and much more. Regarding an R&D environment, we can quickly roll out VDI on their customized operating system. VMware is beneficial for customized platforms that offer auto-promotion and auto-deprovision.
We have found the link loans for desktops most valuable.
View full review »I like that it updates quickly and allows users to have virtual desktops.
View full review »One of the most interesting features in the enterprise version is the ability to do some support. There is a feature for remote control and debugging, which is something we didn't have before having Horizon 7 and the enterprise version.
It is safer in terms of viruses and other types of attacks. If a machine ever becomes compromised, you can just destroy it immediately by logging off and having it recomposed.
View full review »It's centralized management, and you have access gateway to enter the VMs from outside.
View full review »VMware Horizon View offers something called a security gateway, which allows users to get access to VDI without a VPN. The user experience provided by VMware Blast Extreme is also good. The USB redirection from the client to VDI is another good feature of VMware Horizon View.
One of the most valuable aspects is that I can connect from home, and the system operates seamlessly. It offers great flexibility, allowing us to access it as a complete virtual machine or even just as individual applications.
View full review »The most valuable feature is that VMware Horizon is easy to setup.
View full review »From my standpoint, the desktop is the most valuable feature.
View full review »AT
AmerTouma
Manager, IT at The School of Research Science
We have found this solution valuable because it has cut our costs for purchasing new hardware.
View full review »Horizon View provides virtual desktops on demand.
View full review »VMware Horizon View is easy to configure and deploy.
View full review »The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon 7 is its ease of use.
View full review »The major advantage of this solution is that users can log in from anywhere and from a variety of devices. Previously, it was difficult for us to manage but when we moved to VDI and people were able to log in from anywhere, it made a huge difference. I like that we're able to take a snapshot of the desktop.
View full review »CC
Cristiano Cumer
Systems Engineer at a university with 201-500 employees
The benefits of this solution are that it is modern and it works perfectly well with the rest of the VMware environments we have. Having this vertical integration is what matters to us as an organization and this solution excels in this area. You deploy it and it works without much hassle.
View full review »The console is straightforward and easy to understand for the end user. It can be deployed on any device, including iPads and Mac OS. Users can access their daily applications and resources provided by the VMware Horizon environment from any device.
It covers and deploy legacy applications to customers who are using outdated operating systems. Legacy applications run only on older computers, but with the power of Horizon, they can be deployed on any device. With recent changes, Horizon operates with a high degree of independence. It enables users to work anytime, anywhere, on any device.
View full review »DN
DHACHANNAACHAISIN
Managing Director at WISE VARY
I find the virtual desktop and its spacious capacity to be the most valuable aspect of VMware Horizon View in my experience.
View full review »LA
Laith Aljawamis
Senior Executive Manager - Data Center Virtualization at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I appreciate how simple and straightforward the operation of VMware Horizon View is. It is very user-friendly and can be used on any device, anywhere, and anytime.
HW
HarshaWijesinghe
Research Engineer
The solution includes good user profiles and policies.
The solution integrates well with other VMware products.
Productivity is improved with use of the solution.
View full review »This product works quickly and is reliable. You feel like you're working on your own desktop and not on a remote desktop.
View full review »Instant Clone instantly creates another VM with a Delta disk, which is just the VMware backend. This helps with scalability and management.
View full review »OA
Omar Al-Qaysie
Senior Chief Engineer at ministry of electricity
It is a stable solution. It is wonderful for multi-user environments, and it supports different virtual machines and operating systems. You can go for any kind of virtual machine.
It has many features, especially for a call center. You don't have the issue of computers going down from time to time. You just need to copy the virtual machine to deploy it. You also don't need many people to maintain computers. With Horizon 7, you just need one or two people.
View full review »The most valuable feature is the instant clones, the integration with ESXi, and the center servers are the standout features.
View full review »The solution is quite stable. The performance is good.
The scalability has been very good. It's easy to expand it to more endpoints.
The initial setup is pretty straightforward.
View full review »AB
Aslaf Borker
Information Technology Specialist at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Horizon 7's most valuable feature is the unified endpoint management, including the Orchestrator feature that helps those without any programming knowledge.
View full review »The app virtualizing is a great feature. The system developers use it to deliver apps to targeted staff. It basically reduces the server infrastructure resource. The solution provides good functionality.
View full review »The most valuable features of VMware Horizon View technology is easier to use and is user-friendly with the customers.
VMware has spent a lot of money to improve its solutions.
View full review »The most valuable feature of VMware Horizon 7 is that it can be accessed anywhere in my internal network. It has a lot of flexibility.
View full review »DU
Deepak Upreti
Senior Associate at NTT DATA
The most valuable feature is that when we access the machine, it automatically builds on the back-end and provides to the user. Then when the user logs off, the machine logs off automatically or is destroyed, which helps to reduce load on the server.
View full review »The most valuable features are the ability to manage a great number of desktops at once and the remote access for users who are working from outside of the office or from a different office in the country.
View full review »The most valuable feature of the solution is its reliability.
View full review »This product is great for desktop management, particularly when it comes to all the upgrades. It enables you to update one golden image, save it and basically deploy it. Any user logging in will get that new DDI and you've only had to upgrade one machine. The other advantage is that because you're pushing out this image, it's a clone of the original so everybody has the same experience. That's not always the case when people use different laptops, adjusting and tweaking them. It makes management a lot easier. There's also the huge savings we've had with the pandemic because everybody had to work from home. Even if there weren't enough laptops to go around, almost everybody has a home computer. It was just a matter of installing Horizon on your home computer and connecting to the office using two factor authentication. They made it really simple.
HB
Helberth Bayona
ENGINEER IT at SYAC
The solution's most valuable aspect is the VDI - the remote virtual desktop interface. We really enjoy using the remote desktop.
The solution can scale.
The product has been quite stable so far. The performance is very good.
View full review »It is stable and easily scalable.
View full review »Horizon actually has been working well in the current pandemic situation. Originally, we had clients deployed in our infrastructure. Now, once working from home or remote working has been imposed, we deployed a Unified Gateway. It's simply one more component of Horizon, and it allows us to give access over the public IP so that those people at home get the same environment itself as they work from their home without causing any user experience problems. There were no additional licenses required for that job either, which was nice.
View full review »VMware Horizon 7 has its proprietary Elastic streaming protocol, which is very good for delivering VDI. It helps with graphic-intensive applications.
The experience is seamless for graphic-intensive applications using this particular protocol.
View full review »The most valuable features are Instant Clones and AppStacks.
View full review »VMware Horizon View is an easy-to-use solution. VMware Horizon View allows us to access and manage any type of client.
View full review »We use VMware Horizon to provide remote access for remote users.
View full review »RR
Rodrigo Roldan
Engineering Sales Specialist at Adistec
We don't have to pay for HyperFlex. The solution's speed gives a nice user experience.
View full review »The application delivery is it's most valuable feature.
AJ
Abd Allah Jawish
System engineer at DCA
Horizon View's best features are that it gives you more control over the PCs on your infrastructure, and it's specialized for banking environments.
View full review »I appreciate the ability to have a more centralized environment.
View full review »The most valuable feature is that it works with virtualization and works with physical systems as well.
It has a lot of features and they are similar to what we have seen in any environment management solution.
View full review »We are happy with the interface, configurations, pricing and support.
SK
Shams K
Vmware Administrator at Intertech
The ease of deployment is one of the most valuable features. If I want to install something, I can have a test phase to see what sort of impact it will have and whether it will affect production. So I can install it on my lab, make sure it is okay, and if it is, I can deploy it directly to the users or to the staff.
Instant clone is one of the best features. Within seconds, we can create a new WEM based on the requirements. So whenever they log in, the system or VM will be able to use it.
View full review »CM
Carlos-Maldonado
Director comercial at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
The best thing about this product was the ease of customizing the terminal, including the ability to add or decrease memory.
View full review »The most important feature of this solution is the connectivity with every device, such as iPad, iPhone, and other terminals. The security of the solution is very good.
View full review »The solution is secure.
View full review »The local hardware pass-throughs are valuable. I like being able to have access to local hardware.
Personally, I prefer Citrix, because you can do a lot of things with Citrix. Still, VMware has a lot of experience in virtualization — they are the pioneers in virtualization. They are both great solutions.
View full review »The embedded features of the solution are valuable.
View full review »MS
Michal Sadlik
Systems Architect at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
What I liked was the sorting feature to create the UI on demand. We sorted complaints from a vendor image of the virtual machine.
The solution is very user friendly.
The solution is very fast and easy to configure.
The solution offers good documentation.
Our customers maintain that they don't face any issues when using the solution and find it very reliable.
The product can really cater to specific customer environments.
View full review »AT
AmerTouma
Manager, IT at The School of Research Science
The most valuable feature is the graphics facilities.
View full review »PM
Payman Maher
Storage Specialist at Informatics Services Corporation
Managing all operating systems in a single environment helped a lot in organizing and integrating it. Also, there is no operating system on the user-side hardware.
There is no worry that it will crash and you will be able to recover it in seconds.
Using this solution in medium to large organizations can be justified. Since virtualization is widespread in many organizations today, launching this solution may not require much infrastructure change.
Offices that do not require much processing are a good place to use this solution.
DR
Dan Reynolds
Director of IT at BLDD ARCHITECTS INC
The ability to reliably virtualize desktops and support them. Simple to say, but complicated nonetheless.
View full review »- Horizon-linked clone desktops
- App Volumes
- UEM
The ability to spin up desktops as quickly as possible. You just build one image and then set multiple images and be ready quickly.
View full review »- Control
- Consolidated way of doing updates
- Security
It’s easy to maintain with the recompose feature. It makes my job easier, as I can update and break the computers, and then rebuild them immediately.
View full review »The ability to log in from anywhere is huge. Remote access is a third party product, but with them working together, it's is great.
View full review »Being able to centrally manage our environments from one pane of glass.
View full review »The administrative console – it allows us to do a lot from the back-end where we don’t have to impact the users at all.
View full review »The most valuable feature is virtual machine provisioning.
View full review »Features like LinkedClone, Desktop Pool with many delivery options and one single pane of glass to rule all desktop environments can simplify VDI management and reduce infrastructure costs.
View full review »
• Central Management
• VMware vShield Endpoint
• PCOIP (PC Over IP) Protocol
• Linked Clones & ThinApps
• Local Mode
• VMware Knowledge
View full review »
View not only makes desktop management, storage, and provisioning easier, but also reduces the cost of management as well as automation of routine and storage duties performed by administrators.View easily allows for recovery of desktop systems in case of a disaster and enables end users to print universally using thin print, connect over the internet, and even create virtual desktop systems dynamically for them.
View full review »
The solution has a lot of Visual Desktop's persistent and non-persistent desktops which publish the applications.
View full review »The solution has good performance and functionality. However, if the network connection was poor we noticed a decrease in performance.
View full review »The free version of the solution is great. It's perfect for if you have to build lab environments.
We like that VMware is the top competitor in virtualization. Many customers have this technology for virtualization.
It integrates well with other systems.
View full review »The most valuable features are that it is easy to use and easy to manage.
View full review »I find the security of Horizon to be most valuable. The Vue protocol, which is VMware BaaS, and the new BaaS codec feature of this protocol are particularly beneficial. The implementation of Instant Clone Technology also provides utility.
View full review »Buyer's Guide
Horizon 8
June 2025

Learn what your peers think about Horizon 8. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2025.
859,687 professionals have used our research since 2012.