Why does ArcGIS Pro on VMWare Horizon create Geoprocessing Cache for each VDI session?

[James_Whitacre]

My organization uses ArcGIS Pro on VMWare Horizon VDI. Every time an ArcGIS Pro project is opened, whether it is new or existing, it creates a Geoprocessing Cache, and sometimes the cache can take many minutes to create. In a regular desktop/laptop, this typically only happens once in my experience as I suspect the cache is retained between sessions.

The VDI is designed to basically create a fresh desktop instance, but some user-level settings are retained. What I suspect is happening is the geoprocessing cache default location is located within the OS file structure, and not in the C:\User files.

So I am wondering a few things:

• Where is the Geoprocessing Cache stored? I cannot find any documentation about this.
• Can the default location be changed?
• If not, can this be added as a setting to change the default location for the Geoprocessing Cache to be stored at the user-level or ArcGIS Project folder level?
• Are there settings in the VMWare Horizon VDI that can be set so this behavior no longer occurs?

Thanks.

[MichaelVolz]

Are you using vmWare Horizon from a home remote setting?

Do you have the capability to remote back into an individual machine with ArcPro installed instead of using a shared VDI session that has ArcPro installed?

[James_Whitacre]

@MichaelVolzNo. My organization uses VMware Horizon VDI as the primary way to use ArcGIS Pro as we are a distributed workforce across many offices and we are not authorized to telework (at the moment), which also means that this is our normal use of ArcGIS. Most of us do not have physical desktops, only laptops. While our laptops are capable of running ArcGIS Pro, they are not spec'd to handle many of our advanced ArcGIS Pro workflows and needs.

Part of what I am looking for with my questions here is guidance on how to adjust the VDI settings or ways to set up ArcGIS Pro, if possible. And if any of that can't be done, then I will seek to influence Esri or VMware to make their products work better together.

[MichaelVolz]

James:

Has your organization ever tried WMware Horizon VDI with ArcMap as the GIS software?  I ask because my organization has tried this setup in the past but the performance of the GIS software then became unusable so we abandoned this effort.  Pro is even more memory intensive so I cannot see that environment being any better.

[jessneuner]

HI @James_Whitacre 

Were you ever able to find a resolution to this one?  I'm currently trying to sniff out a solution with a similar set up -- 

thanks!

jess

[James_Whitacre]

@jessneuner, I never found a resolution, but I have not really had further issues with this recently and I have not had any users have significant issues with this issue. It could be related to some Windows and ArcGIS Pro updates, as we have updated lots of software since I first posted about this issue. I can't recall the Windows version we updated to, but we are now on ArcGIS Pro 2.9.3. Hope that helps.

[jessneuner]

Thanks for the update!