During the sign in process to access a virtual machine, you may be met with a variety of errors that either prevent you from signing into the virtual machine or present you with black monitor screens after sign in. This guide will show you a few basic remediation steps to attempt before reaching out for help. In most cases, this will save time in case a virtual machine admin is unavailable.
Error while trying to access a virtual machine
The most common error you may experience is an error pop up after selecting your virtual machine source, also known as a desktop pool. This error pop up has a few different descriptions indicating what went wrong, but can mostly be handled by resetting the VM.
After clearing the error, select the house icon at the top right of your monitor that says "VDI Menu." Once this is chosen, the list of your available desktop pools will show back up. Select the gear icon next to the desktop pool you received an error from and select the option "ResetVM" from the drop down list.
Once the source resets, you can attempt to connect to it. It may take around five minutes for the VM to reset fully. There are no indicators that will tell you when the VM has been reset. It may also be necessary to sign out of the Horizon Client and try again after the VM reset. To do so, simply select the "Shutdown" power icon on the bottom left of the VDI menu and select "Sign out."
NOTE: If the "ResetVM" option is grayed out for you, then you will not be able to reset it yourself and will need to call the Service Desk at 270-809-2346.
Black screen after signing into a VM
You may also have an issue where, after successfully connecting to your desktop, you are met with a black screen and nothing else. If you are still able to move and see your mouse on the screen, you can hover over the leftmost side of your main monitor and get the VDI menu to show itself. It may take some finesse, but the menu is set to pop out after hovering your mouse on the left side for two seconds. When it pops out, you can follow the same steps as detailed above to reset the VM.
If you are still having issues accessing your VM, please call the Service Desk at 270-809-2346 or submit a Virtual Machine Support ticket.