Archive for the ‘XenApp’ Category

Improving XenDesktop/XenApp 7.x logon times for Windows Server 2012/2012R2

Thursday, July 7th, 2016

Hello Folks,

with a small trick you can strongly improve the login times for Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 in a XenApp/XenDesktop 7.x environment or if you run into a black screen during the login.

Just delete the registry entry HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UFH\SHC for example thru an login script, see also KB 3161390. We reduced the login time for a User from more than 40 seconds to less then 20 seconds without any negative impact, so it’s worth to try it out.

Cheers
Michael

Nutanix Akropolis (AHV) support for XenDesktop/XenApp 7.9

Thursday, June 9th, 2016

Hello Folks,

as you may already note, XenDesktop/XenApp 7.9 was released and it’s now comes with support for the Akropolis support from Nutanix.

To get your Nutanix installation working it’s important to know that you have to install the “NutanixAcropolis-MCS-XD7.9_or_later.msi” provided by Nutanix (Nutanix Portal->Tools) on all of your XenDesktop/XenApp 7.9 delivery controllers.

The Software was released today, the old Version does not work with the MCS and your Akropolis Hypervisor must be Version 4.6.1.x or higher!

The installation is quite simple and the manual provided by Nutanix works well, one important thing (i run into this issue)… It’s not enough to create a Master VM! You must take a snapshot and the snapshot name MUST start with “XD_” so like XD_TS_Master_2012R2_Snapshot. Otherwise the snapshot will not be recognized during Machine Catalog Setup creation in Citrix Studio.

It’s quite simple, so if you run already a Nutanix or Citrix environment this is what you’re looking for.

Cheers
Michael

Release: XenDesktop 7.6 FP3 is now available at www.citrix.com

Wednesday, September 30th, 2015

Hello Folks,

Citrix XenDesktop/XenApp 7.6 feature pack 3 is now available in the download area at citrix.com.

It contains minor updates for nearly all XenDesktop/XenApp components but make sure your licenses have an SA date min. 21 September 2015 before you perform the upgrade to your environment.

Cheers

Michael

Info: Improved Microsoft Lync support with latest IGEL LX/OS V5 Firmwares

Monday, May 18th, 2015

Hi Folks,

maybe you noticed already that IGEL has now released two new releases for the OS and LX Firmwares.

Here is the difference:

5.06.100 has integrated Citrix HDX Realtime Media Engine 1.6.0-6
for support of the Lync 2010 Client (Lync 2010 and 2013 Server).
5.06.101 has integrated Citrix HDX Realtime Media Engine 1.7.0-56
for support of the Lync 2013 Client (Lync 2013 Server).

Cheers

Michael

Tip: Citrix released Feature Pack 1 for XenDesktop/XenApp 7.6

Tuesday, March 31st, 2015

Hello Folks,

today Citrix released the Feature Pack for XenDesktop/XenApp 7.6.

The FP1 brings Session Recording and better Lync 2013 (HDX Realtime Optimization Pack 1.7: Manual) support to your Citrix environment, it will now support the use of the Lync 2013 Client running on the Terminal Server/VDI.

The Download is available here: Download (Citrix account required)

Cheers

Michael

P.S.: Please note, you need to update the HDX Realtime Optimzation Pack Client component (Media Engine) to 1.7.

 

Tip: Optimizing Windows Server 2012 (R2) or Windows 8(.1) for VDI/Terminal Server use

Wednesday, March 18th, 2015

Hi Folks,

Citrix already one year ago released in article with several optimizations for Windows Server 2012 (R2) and Windows 8(.1) to optimize these systems for VDI / Terminal Server use. A lot of people doesn’t know it and it can be really helpfull, you can find the article here and it also include a .vbs script to run all these optimizations in one step. It will work for Citrix and also other solutions and can be very usefull to improve the user experience in general.

Just try it!

Cheers

Michael

Tip: Still using IGEL LX/OS Version 4.x.x and require SHA2 or Storefront support for Citrix ICA sessions?

Tuesday, February 24th, 2015

Hi Folks,

i know a couple of customers and users are waiting for this, so if you still have older IGEL UDx-x2x and UDx-x3x running IGEL LX Version 4.x.x or migrated 3rd Party devices (migrated with the Universal Desktop Converter Version 1) you can now use SHA2 certificates and Citrix Storefront with the latest Version 4.14.100.

Please be aware: Read the disclaimer coming with the new firmware release, it’s very important for devices coming with only a 512MB HDD/CF-Card! Also the “old” hidden failback switch (mentioned here) to select between different Citrix Receiver 12 Versions is obsolete with Firmware 4.14.100, you can now switch  between Citrix Receiver Version 12 and 13!

For the Storefront Setup you can use our Whitepaper here, only the local Client screens will look a little bit different regarding the GUI difference between Linux V4 and V5.

Cheers
Michael

Tip: Using Windows Server 2012 R2 workfolders with Remote Desktop/Citrix XenApp based Terminal Servers/VDI’s

Monday, February 23rd, 2015

Hi Folks,

already a year ago I wrote an article how you can change the default port for the Windows Server 2012 R2 workfolder role/feature. By default the Workfolder feature works a “sync” share for Windows 8.1 based desktop systems/VDI’s like a self hosted OneDrive/Google Drive. In the article here i’ve also mentioned that these Workfolders can be mapped to a Terminal Server based on Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and Citrix XenApp.

I got a couple of request how the setup should look like so here is a small guide.

1) Install the Workfolder feature (can be found in the file server roles setup) to a Windows Server 2012 R2, make sure that no other feature or application block the SSL Port 443 or modify the Port by following our guide here. During the Workfolder configuration you will be ask what “folder” name should be used, username or username@domain; use username here only.
2) After the workfolder setup is done create a new smb fileshare pointing to your workfolder directory, make sure to setup the exact similar user rights like set for the original workfolder directory. Open Windows Explorer at the Workfolder Server and check the User Rights for the Workfolder and adopt this configuration for the Workfolder Share. If not done right you may mismatch the Userrights and Users may can access files from other Users or loose the Workfolder access.
3) After this is done open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) and create a new policy linked to your Terminal Server OU
4) Edit the new policy and browse to User Configuration->Preferences->Windows Settings->Drive Maps and create two new mapping entries, in my sample i map the workfolder shares to drive U: (Click picture to enlarge). Location should be always \\*your_workfolder_server*\*Workfolder_Sharename*\%USERNAME%.

Create the share configuration

Create the share configuration

Update the share configuration

Update the share configuration

Final view

Final view

5) Close the policy and logon to a terminal server to verify the configuration, all modified content within the drive U: will be synced to the user devices and vice versa.

Cheers

Michael

P.S.: This can be also used with any Microsoft Desktop OS based VDI if you want to use the workfolder sync feature only for physical devices (which make sense to prevent double data in the Workfolder Share and the User Profile/Personal VDisk). If you install the file resource manager to the Workfolder Server to set quotes (like 250MB availabe space per User) make sure to set the similar quote also for the fileshare!

P.S.2: The screenshot’s are coming from a production environment, that why the location path is pixeled.

 

Tip (Update): Setting the Startmenu for Terminal Server Users working with Windows Server 2012 R2

Monday, February 23rd, 2015

Hi Folks,

maybe you noticed already that the handling for the Startmenu is very different between Windows Server 2012 R2 and old Windows Server versions like 2008 R2 and so on. These configurations will also work for Windows 8.1 incl. Windows 8.1 RT (Require enabled Group Policy Client service or local Policy setup).

A lot of Administrator want to modify the Startmenu and to offer a standard view for all User, this can be a very tricky task and i saw already a lot of funny way’s how to edit it. To clear this up a little bit i would like to suggest you two ways how this task can be done, the first variant will introduce you a “static” way. Static means the User will get a “fixed” Startmenu without the ability to change something here. The second way will introduce you a way to create a “default” Starmenu  that can be modified by the User. So you can figure out which way works best for you, depending on the scenario, for example if you deploy Terminal Server thru Citrix Provisioning with an static base image it doesn’t make sense to give the User the ability to modificate the Startmenu in any way. These configurations can be done thru local and/or domain policies.

Way 1 – Static Startmenu for all users

1) Login as User with Administrator permissions and install/setup all Applications you want to provide to the user.
2) Setup Starmenu like it should be “published” to the users.
3) After you have finished the final look and feel create a new SMB Share on any fileserver in your environment, call it “startmenu” or something similar.
4) At the server where you have created the Startmenu “User” view open the powerhell with administrative permissions and enter the command: “Export-StartLayout -Path \\*yourfileserver*\*sharename*\StartMenu.xml -As XML”
5) Logoff from the Terminal Server and start the GPMC (Group Policy Management Console) on any domain system where the GPMC is available.
6) Create a new policy (or use an existing Policy) and link it to the OU where your Terminal Server Users can be found and click the right mouse button->Edit.
7) In the policy browse to User Configuration->Policies->Administrative Templates->Start Menu and Taskbar and edit here the setting Start Screen Layout.
8) Enable the policy and set the Start Layout File to the file you have created in 4) = \\*yourfileserver*\*sharename*\StartMenu.xml

startmenustatic

9) Close the policy and make sure the policy is assigned to the right OU, after this login to the Server and verify the result.

Please note: The Startmenu can not be modified thru a User! For the Export-StartLayout command (4) you have to use the XML format for the export, the bin format can not be used thru the policy! If you assign the policies to a Computer OU like your terminal servers don’t forget to enable loopback processing!

Update: I forgot, Applications where the shortcut is not listed in %ProgramData%>Microsoft>Windows>Start Menu may dissapear after the second User Login (Notepad, Internet Explorer default entry as example). So you may have to create the Shortcuts by your own and assign it to the Startmenu before exporting the XML file. In this folder you can also setup the Applications that should be shown to the User in the “full” Starmenu applications view by editing the User permissions for each file and folder in a very simple way. As example if you want to hide the Windows Store disable the permission inheritance and set the User permissions to full access for “Domain Administrators”, “System”, “Administrators” and add the Usergroup(s) which should be able to gain access to the Applications thru the “full” Startmenu view (Arrow down button in the Startmenu). If you want to be more secure regarding the general Application access you can also combine this with the Windows Applocker feature.

Way 2 – Flexible default Startmenu for all Users (Source: Microsoft Platform)

There is also an alternative described here: Microsoft Platform, this way allows also provide write access for the users but it’s a little bit tricky to set it up and can cause issues in production.

I personal do prefer Way 1 which make more sense for the most scenarios, so i do provide only the link to the source.

Cheers

Michael

Citrix Tool Highlight: Pimp my Storefront – Introducing the StoreFront Web Configuration GUI

Thursday, February 19th, 2015

Hi Folks,

i just want to introduce you a small and mostly unknown tool to configure your Storefront Servers a little bit more than with the regular StoreFront Console.

First of all you can download the tool for free from here: Citrix StoreFront Web GUI Assistant

Download the archive and extract the .exe file to your Citrix StoreFront Server(s), the tool do require local Administrator permissions so make sure the User has full access to the system. Now execute the tool to get the console, if the tool is executed at your StoreFront Server you will the “Running on Storefront” in the upper left corner.

SFCG1

Now you need to open the web.config file for the Web GUI you want to edit, in my sample the file is located in the folder C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\DEMOWeb. Please note: Only Web related web.config files can be edited with this tool!

SFCG2After you have opened the web.config file you can now edit and save the file thru the tool, i do also strongly recommend to make a backup before you overwrite an existing/production web.config file.

There are a bunch of useful configurations available, just a few samples (click on a picture to enlarge):

SFCG3

SFCG4

SFCG5

Of course you can also edit the web.config files in a manual way but this is only recommended for User with some experience, it’s also a good way to create documentation screenshots and to gain easy access to these configuration. Of course you can now ask.. Why are these settings not available in the regular StoreFront Management? This is a very good question! But at all this is a good (and mostly unknown) configuration tool for Administrators to maintain/configure new or existing StoreFront installations in an easy way.

Cheers

Michael

Windows Update KB3013455 breaks Font Smoothing on Windows XP, Server 2003R2 and 2008

Thursday, February 12th, 2015

Hello Folks,

if you are using Windows XP as VDI or have old Terminal Server’s (incl. Citrix solutions) running Microsoft Windows Server 2003R2 or 2008 (32-Bit) you should not deploy KB3013455 which was released during the last Microsoft Patch Day.

The Update will cause a general font smoothing issue with a bunch of fonts and the users will/can get a much lower user experience if working with a lot of text content.

There is currently no work around for this issue, Windows Server 2008R2/2012(R2) and Windows 7/8(.1) do not show any issue once the update is applied.

The issue is already confirmed by Microsoft, read also here: MS15-010

The MS15-010 article currently doesn’t mention Windows XP (or Vista) but i was able to reproduce it also with a Windows XP 32-Bit VM.

Cheers
Michael

P.S.: Some Users also reporting issues with Windows Vista 32 Bit but i believe this is less important for VDI environments.

Tip: Business Card Scanners for Linux / MacOSX in virtual environments and without USB Redirection.

Monday, February 9th, 2015

Hi Folks,

from time to time customers are asking what type of Business Card Scanners can be used with the IGEL Linux or any other “none” Windows Client devices together with XenApp or Microsoft Remote Desktop Services. Typical these customers don’t want to deal with USB Redirection (XenApp 7.x or Microsoft Remote FX) or don’t have USB Redirection available (XenApp <=6.5 / Windows Terminal Server <= Windows 2008 R2)

If you run in a situation like this you should look out for solutions like IRIS Card Anywhere (Canon). Devices working in the same way don’t need a “special” driver installed, they come with an internal memory or SD-Card and can be used like an regular USB Memory and this means: It can be used with Windows, Linux, MacOSX or an Android Tablet providing a USB Port. Disadvantage: They are a little bit more expensive but if you calculate the work to get a driver installed or deployed in your environment than you will have a much cheaper TCO.

Cheers

Michael

P.S.: I used the IRIS Card as sample regarding my past experience, it’s not an advertisement. 🙂 In any way there are several solutions out there and you should test it in advance and before ordering a bunch of these devices. 😉

Tip: Flashplayer 16, Citrix HDX Flash redirection and Linux based Thin Clients

Monday, February 2nd, 2015

Hello Folks,

the Flashplayer 16 plugin  now comes in two plugin versions (NPAPI and PPAPI), one for Chrome and one for Firefox… Both Plugins will currently not work with HDX Flash Redirection for Linux based Thin Clients.

To get it working you need to perform the configuration settings from an older article here in the blog and you have now to install the following Flash Players to the VM / Terminal Server / Thin Client.

Follow these steps:

1) Install the Flash Player 15 Plugin (not the ActiveX Plugin!) to the VDI/Terminal Server (download can be found in the flash player archive)
2) Install the Flash Player 16 ActiveX Plugin to the VDI/Terminal Server
3) Disable Flash Player Updates in the system control
4) Perform the configurations to the registry mentioned here: HDX Flash Tweaks
5) Deploy the Flash Player for Linux to the IGEL LX/OS based devices and make sure HDX Flash Redirection is enabled in the Sessions->Citrix->ICA Global configuration!
6) Make sure the Citrix Policies for the Flash redirection are in place incl. the website compatibility Policy!!

That’s it!

Cheers

Michael

P.S.: I forgot… Install the Internet Explorer 11 or any other HTML 5 enabled browser if you want to watch youtube and kick out any Flash Player in your environment! This is the best multimedia support.. 🙂 🙂 🙂 Do you believe i hate flash? Yes, you’re right but iam sorry to say that we currently still have to live it. 🙁 🙁

P.S.2: Perform the steps in the order like shown! Tested with XenDesktop 7.5 and XenApp 6.5.

Tip: How to optimize the Adobe Acrobat Reader for Terminal Server / VDI use

Monday, December 1st, 2014

Hi Folks,

do you get performance issues if using Adobe Acrobat Reader on a Terminal Server / VDI?

Here are some tweaks to improve it.. 🙂

First of all you should be aware that the Adobe Acrobat Reader works with User based settings, this is very important to know because you need to make sure that all configurations “must” be applied to the User hive in the Windows Registry. This can be done thru a Windows Login Script to apply the registry settings and so on but never forget to do it!

You also can provide the User a settings guide, but this mostly is not usable if you are working with a bunch of users and not only a small group.

So where to start? First of all you should install the Adobe Acrobat Reader you want to use, all settings provided in this guide are pure Acrobat Reader Settings so it can be used with VMWare View, Microsoft Remote Desktop Services, Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop or whatever.

Now you should start the Acrobat Reader with you administration account and open any PDF document… Try how it looks and feel during you work with the pdf file, if it not run smooth or it feels very laggy open the menu Edit->Preferences and browse to the Page Display settings. Configure the settings like shown below:

AdobeReader1

The screenshot is from Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 11, if you are using an older Version you will also have an Option “2D Graphic Acceleration”. This setting should be also disabled, disable also the “Auto Update” Feature in the Updater configuration.

Now close the Acrobat Reader and open it again and try the same test as done before, the result should be much better now.

I’ve also prepared a small registry file that contains already the needed modifications (without the disabled updates), you can download the .reg file from here: Download

Please note: The registry file is configured to be used with the Acrobat Reader 11, if used with an other Acrobat Reader Version open the .reg file with notepad and replace “11.0” with your Version like “10.0” and so on.

Have fun!

Michael

Tip: Troubleshoot Citrix HDX Flash Redirection Windows .reg file

Wednesday, November 26th, 2014

Hello Folks,

i’ve been asked to provide a ready to use .reg file to setup the Windows registry settings from our HDX Flash Redirection Troubleshooting guide (Here).

The registry file can be downloaded here: Here

You can also create it thru copy and paste, the file will do the 64-Bit and x86 related settings but please note:

1) You still need to enable HDX Flash thru Citrix Policies
2) You still need to install the Flash Plugin (not ActiveX Plugin!!!) at the Server and the Client!

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\HdxMediaStreamForFlash\Server\PseudoServer]
“FlashPlayerVersionComparisonMask”=dword:00000000
“UserEnabledFlashV2″=dword:00000001
“IEBrowserMaximumMajorVersion”=dword:0000000b

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\HdxMediaStreamForFlash\Server\PseudoServer]
“FlashPlayerVersionComparisonMask”=dword:00000000
“UserEnabledFlashV2″=dword:00000001
“IEBrowserMaximumMajorVersion”=dword:0000000b

 

Have fun

Michael

P.S.: This will more or less force flash redirection for all Flash enabled Websites (thru Citrix Policy), for clients without a installed Flash Plugin only a colored Windows (color set thru a Citrix Policy.. again) will appear. So you need to verify that all clients in the environment have the Flash Plugin installed! Not compatible flash content will provide the same result!

P.S.2: You are responsible for it… And still this is my personal opinion how to handle flash movies for users:Best way how to handle flash content in business areas and yes.. Iam a bad Admin.

Tip: Workaround for NumLock issues in Citrix Session with the IGEL Linux

Monday, November 24th, 2014

H Folks,

maybe you run into an issue that the NumLock Key is partial not working in a ICA Session if you’re using the Citrix Receiver for Linux.

To fix create a new profile  or open the local setup at the IGEL and browse to System->Firmware Customizations->Custom Commands->Desktop Commands and add the following line to the Custom Command Desktop Final Area:

xmodmap -e 'remove mod2 = Num_Lock'

Close the setup and apply the configurations or assign the profile to the affected devices.

After a reboot the issue should be gone but please note, the NumLock key will be not available for local Applications if used. This is only a temporary work around until this behavior is fixed with newer Citrix Receiver Versions.

Cheers

Michael

Tip: Getting legacy printer names back in XenApp 7.5

Thursday, October 2nd, 2014

Hello Folks,

i got some questions regarding the use of legacy printer names in XenApp 7.5. In XenApp/XenDesktop 7.5 the legacy printer name policy is not available any more. This is really bad for a couple of applications which needs to get the old Printer name convention.

After doing a small research i found a working solution in the Citrix Forums, after the Login was done and the Printers are mapped you need to run a small powershell script:

$SessionID=((qwinsta /server:$ServerName | foreach { (($_.trim() -replace “\s+”,”,”))} | ConvertFrom-Csv)|Where-Object {$_.SESSIONNAME.StartsWith(">")}).id
$MyPrinters=Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Printer -Filter "PortName like 'Client:$SessionID%'" -Property PortName,DeviceID
$MyPrinters|% {$_.RenamePrinter("Client/$env:clientname#/"+$_.PortName.Split(':')[2])}>$null

Save this code in a powershell script and execute it as last command in a logon script.

Of course you can modify it if required but please note: This comes without any support or warranty!

Cheers
Michael

Tip: Troubleshoot Citrix HDX Flash redirection issues

Friday, September 12th, 2014

Hi Folks,

you have issues with the HDX Flash redirection? Just try the following steps:

 

1) Make sure the Flash Player plugin is installed on the Server and the Client site, it’s not available for ARM based devices like the IZ1(!).

 

2) Disable the Flash Player Auto Update at the Server site!

 

3) Flash redirection in general is not 100% compatible and never could be it.

 

4) Make sure that all Citrix Server Policies for HDX Flash redirection are enabled and configured in the right way.

 

5) Make sure that the Flash Redirection feature is enabled at the client site.

 

6) Make sure content fetching is enabled if the client can not access the Internet directly, this needs to be enabled at the Server and the Client.

 

7) Follow http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX134786, perform the registry settings to disable the Version check:

You can disable the version check by modifying Windows Registry Key on VDA, named “FlashPlayerVersionComparisonMask” which is a dword that should be set to zero.

This needs to be set on each and every VDA you need the checking disabled on.

32-bit OS HKLM\\Software\\Citrix\\HdxMediaStreamForFlash\\Server\\PseudoServer

64-bit OS HKLM\\Software\\Wow6432Node\\Citrix\\HdxMediaStreamForFlash\\Server\\PseudoServer

 

8) Ask user where they have to upload or download data thru websites and verify that these sites will not be redirected. Why? If the content is redirected the user will only see the file system coming from the Thin Client! It’s running redirected local at the client right… 🙂

 

9) For XenApp 6.5 make sure CTX140236 Hotfix is installed, http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX140236

 

10) For XenDesktop 5.x/XenApp 7.x or higher make sure the latest VDA Version incl. Hotfixes are installed.

 

11) If it is still not working add the following Registry Keys to the PseudoServer Registry Part (see 7).

UserEnabledFlashV2 as REG DWORD = 1
IEBrowserMaximumMajorVersion as REG DWORD = Installed IE Version in decimal, for example IE 9 = 9

 

Cheers

Michael

Tip: Getting struggled with SHA2 certificates and the Citrix Linux Receiver?

Friday, September 5th, 2014

Hi Folks,

if you got issues with SHA2 certificates in the past and if used together with a Citrix environment you should try the latest IGEL 5.04.100 LX/OS firmware.

The new firmware contains a updated Citrix Receiver 13 version which comes now with SHA2 certificate support, important here: You must use the Citrix Receiver 13, no option to use Receiver Version 12 here! So it might be that you have to reconfigure your thin clients to work together with your environment and to get Receiver 13 to work.

Please test the new configuration in advance, do not just modify it to see what happens for all your users (otherwise they will hate you). 😉

Cheers

Michael

 

Info: Citrix going back the Linux way… Register for the XenDesktop/XenApp Linux Desktop Tech Preview now.

Wednesday, August 27th, 2014

Hi Folks,

after years Citrix is going back the Linux way… You can now register for a XenDesktop/XenApp 7.5 Linux Desktop Tech Preview. This means: Offer your users a Linux Desktop or Apps.

There are a couple of reasons why to offer a Linux Desktop or App to the Users, App is not available for Windows like some Linux based GFX Tools, Licensing fee’s or general issues with Desktop OS Licensing for cloud offerings (CSP). So i really like to see what happens here in the future…

If you want to register for the Tech Preview or to get more information’s just visit the Citrix Blog here: Citrix Blog

Have Fun

Michael