With version 5.17.10 and higher, VDI Plugin Management is installed as a separate application, in addition to the standard services and files to support VDI Plugin updates. For both Windows and macOS, the application can be found with other installed applications, as well as an available uninstaller.
The VDI Plugin Management application was developed to manage the Opt Out policy. Future updates are anticipated with more options and capabilities as VDI Plugin Management continues to evolve.
This article covers:
An opt-out policy is available for VDI Plugin Management (version 5.17.10 or higher) for accounts requiring an option for their users to decline installing or updating a VDI Plugin.
By default, when the EnableVDIPluginAutoUpgrade policy is added to a virtual desktop, the user is prompted that a plugin is either missing or needs to be updated. OK is the only option in the default dialog presented to the user. Admins can provide additional options in that update prompt, including a Later option to delay the installation or wait until the user disconnects before installing, as well as the Opt Out option to decline the installation entirely.
Clicking OK downloads the VDI Plugin installation package (MSI or pkg) and the user is temporarily disconnected from their virtual desktop to complete the installation. The install or update is performed as a silent install to avoid displaying installation dialogs, but the user may be prompted to provide Admin credentials for new installations or older plugin updates (Admin permissions were added to the plugin update process in later releases).
To provide users with the option to decline VDI Plugin updates and prevent future prompts from being displayed, the new policy VDIPluginOptOut can be added to the virtual desktop. The addition of this policy will result in the VDI Plugin update dialog displaying an additional button called Opt Out. If only the VDIPluginOptOut is enabled along with enabling the EnableVDIPluginAutoUpgrade policy, users will see an OK button and an Opt Out button. Adding the policy for UpdatePluginLater with a value of “1” or “2” will add a button for Later in the prompt dialog.
Users who click the Opt Out button will be presented with a dialog to confirm their intention is to stop receiving VDI Plugin updates. This additional dialog contains buttons to allow the user to continue to Opt Out or click the default Opt In to remain receiving VDI Plugin update notifications. The dialog clarifies that VDI Plugin updates may be required for new features or even to join future meetings.
If the user does click the Opt Out button in the confirmation dialog, the preference is saved on the local machine and not in the virtual desktop. Other devices used to connect to the virtual desktop will display the VDI Prompt dialog for default configurations.
For users that click the Opt Out button and confirm that selection in the confirmation dialog, the option to opt back into receiving notifications for VDI Plugin updates is available in the VDI Plugin Management application. This application, like the Opt Out policy, is a change added to the 5.17.10 release. VDI Plugin Management for Windows can be started using the search feature to enter the name of the application. For MacOS, the new VDI Plugin Management package creates a folder called “VDI Plugin Management” inside the Applications folder. The application called VDI Plugin Management is located in that folder along with an uninstall application.
There may be some deployment situations where VDI Plugin updates are desirable for some connections but need to be prevented for others even when connecting to the same desktop. An example could be a desire to prompt employees working from home to install and update the VDI Plugin when they are using their personal computers. But when that same employee comes into the office and uses a computer managed by IT, there could be a desire to lock down the VDI plugin version and never prompt the user to update.
It is possible to both prevent VDI Plugin notifications from being displayed on a specific computer and disable the Opt In/Opt Out options in VDI Plugin Management while using VDI Plugin Management updates for other computers, such as a personal computer at home. The change required is to configure a local policy on the device which needs to have VDI Plugin updates disabled and the Opt In/Out configuration in VDI Plugin Management disabled.
To disable VDI Plugin update prompts from being displayed on a Windows computer and to disable the Opt In/Out feature from being used in the VDI Plugin Management application, the same policy applied to the virtual desktop that enables VDI Plugin Management needs to be added to the Windows computer that connects to the virtual desktop with the policy configured as disabled. The registry path for the policy is identical to that used for the virtual desktop and the recommendation is to add the policy for the local machine under:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Zoom\Zoom Meetings\VDI.
Add the policy EnableVDIPluginAutoUpgrade with a value of “0” to disable VDI Plugin management for the local machine. This will prevent the VDI Plugin update prompts from being displayed and the Opt In/Out configuration setting in the VDI Plugin Management application will be grayed out to indicate the option is not applicable for that computer.
To disable VDI Plugin Management locally on a Macintosh computer a local configuration file needs to be updated named ZoomVDIAus_Config. This file is located in the following location:
/Library/Preferences/ZoomVDIAus/ZoomVDIAus_Config
In this file, enter a line with the key “EnableVDIPluginAutoUpgrade=0“ to disable Zoom VDI Plugin Management. This will prevent the VDI Plugin update prompts from being displayed and the Opt In/Out configuration setting in the VDI Plugin Management application will be grayed out to indicate the option is not applicable for that computer.