World of EUC

In posh check off-peak percent and peak percent for DG

Thanks guys, I found a policy buried in  a poorly named GPO which I think is the cause... I did find a couple of differences in the scaling / peak config so I've matched that up too, thanks guys !

On-premises Citrix ADM is integrated with Citrix Director. What happens to the integration?
Director integration with ADM is currently supported only in on-premises ADM. <https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-application-delivery-management-software/current-release/faq-migrate.html>

image.png

/include "Citrix Profile Management","Citrix Profile Management WMI Plug-in"

These are installed by default unless /exclude is provided.

I am not sure they are by default on a RemotePC deployment.

You are right RemotePC does not include them by default.

<https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/install-configure/install-command.html#command-line-options-for-installing-a-vda>

It looks like somewhere along the line, the switch changed from /incude to /includeadditional

It’s super annoying to have to re-write command line arguments for automation with every version

If so, you know this is a funny topic. Because I was asked this about 3 times personally.
For me, it's about HDX over the RDP way, and what Citrix has in the bandwidth HDX side over RDP. It all depends on what you use as well. I feel that Citrix has more granularity control over policies vs RDS. <@ULL6F7DRA> I think is an RDS guy as well. He may be able to shed some light as well.

"technical debt" :rolling_on_the_floor_laughing:

<@ULLH5JGFR> I agree with you. RDS has so many limitations and shortcomings. You may save on license costs, but you will find yourself missing a lot of features compared to CVAD.

Of course if you don't need any of the advanced stuff in CVAD, RDS is just fine.

Cool. Thanks Kasper. That helps me as well. <@UMH935X7H> HAHA

I have this discussion almost regularly with SMB customers. I usually bring up the HDX vs RDP aspect, the lack of built in machine management like MCS or PVS, printing and the more mature profile management.

Yes, these are things I also bring up myself.  I just didn't know if any of you used a specific document or webpage to point people to.

Not the user's last accessed time. But from an application standpoint, whether it is accessed or not. If yes, then get the last accessed time. This is what I am looking for.

Ok, when you got time, can you get me that command to find application last accessed time?

Controlup Insights could get you that report easily

+1 for ControlUp, it will also give you the other exe files called by your main published apps too... plugins, integrations etc.

I covered this issue in one of my "Metrics Master" blog posts on <http://mycugc.org|mycugc.org>  <https://blogs.mycugc.org/2020/04/03/be-a-metrics-master-hosted-application-usage/>

Because of licensing, we do not have capacity management option in director. 

Are your users using random or persistent machines?  We used to see this when trying to use the MS Store apps within a shared random pool of desktops.  I ended up having to remove the store access and default calculator app and replace it with an old version of calculator.  Store apps don’t play well with randomly assigned desktops.

Yup, randomly assigned.   How did you replace the calculator app?

i think a lot of people just went and found a freeware calculator and installed it in the image.  You have to make sure users understand....

I usually run Citrix Optimizer to remove the store apps on my master image.  I then install some of the classic apps that users might still want.  Here is a download link for the old calculator <https://winaero.com/get-calculator-from-windows-8-and-windows-7-in-windows-10/>

There are listings there for sticky notes, task manager, etc.

I am reluctant to install software from some of these sites.  Are there any reputable sources of these old apps?

If you have an old Windows machine around, just copy the executables

I always try to download to a rest machine and scan for malicious behavior first and sometimes even run in sandbox to test for validity.

Like <@USWEM36TD> said, any free calculator will do, just as long as not a windows store driven app.

What version of windows?  I have not seen that as an issue while slow to launch and logon with store apps they should still work. 

Windows 10 1709 and up for us.  Folder/profile redirection and using FSLogix as well.

I think you need to upgrade at this point that is ancient. 

<@UM04QUUSJ> I meant it has been this way since 1709.  Currently running 21H2.

Ah ok yea then i would say I havent seen that ss an issue before. Is this with different images or one you have been upgrading all along. 

There does seem to be alot of posts out there about fslogix and missing store apps. Ill try to fo some testing to see if i get similar results with fslogix.  

Usually store apps work until there's some updates and your facing disappearing modern apps. Kill the with fire as <@UL5TCSW3D> would say :)

Yeah, even MS are phasing them out, so just excise them like the cancer they are. Or go LTSC Windows, then you don't get any

We've been battling windows store apps for years, the latest saga is Quick Assist. The only way to update the app is with the store.

+1 in using the Win7 calculator, most dont like it or want the modern one, but its the only _reliable_ option.

Yes this works for x days. I mean it was 30 or 90. :sweat_smile:

I discovered a client with 2016 RDS servers pointing at a 2012 license server and apparently that's been running that way for years.  Lots of complaints in the event log on the 2016 servers but they never stopped working

If you have user cals then here is no hard stopping connections. This only happens with device cals. So if you have specified a rds lic server in user mode, then everything is fine. 

Thanks, odd it works that way. I thought we had to have the correct user cals for each version of the terminal server. I guess it really is an honor system

If only it were that easy - too many apps with integrations into DMS, practice management, any number of home grown add-ins etc etc

It's a major issue for us too, we have 6k seats on-prems ... we may be forced to move to Azure for this reason, piss me off.

<https://worldofeuc.slack.com/archives/CK6TCV3JN/p1656595137350629>  &lt;--- We had a decent discussion on this here.

<@ULNLQFMB8> <@UL5TCSW3D> <@ULGR78LTW> <@ULHA2NPPX> <@U011KNA2PRT>
M365 support on Server 2022
<https://worldofeuc.slack.com/archives/CLSHNTWLW/p1662546712957009>

yeah, Aaron already posted it earlier, cheers

Yea I have and the keys typically work. 
Does it work Correctly when you RDP and run it on the XA server? 
This is what you tried right?
<https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX200393/registry-keys-to-check-when-published-applications-or-desktops-do-not-launch-or-disappear-during-launch|https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX200393/registry-keys-to-check-when-published-applications-or-desktops-do-not-launch-or-disappear-during-launch>

its odd since right now it started to work, but last night all the servers stop working. It's so random

Thanks, I did a cdf to send to Citrix to review

You can always try the CAX tool to see if it's seamless flags 

Yeah but it's been working for a year without any issues

I see in the event log it terminated but no reason why

I hate terminal servers. Just make everyone use full desktop

Yea they can be a pain. Another thing I do is start windows explorer on problematic apps when publishing at times for testing. But it goes back to what you said. It worked before 

Yeah, it happen to all apps and all server last night

I really think it's something with that regions network

all apps all servers, something with RDS/Citrix licensing?  You can RDP to them all (or launch hdx pub desktop) and launch the apps?

all apps in that server, but it will randomly work then later stop. I can rdp to them all.

I will try a published desktop I need to create one

and ur RDPing with domain creds?  What does the event viewer (Application and System) section say when the pubapp disappears?

how long does it try loading before terminating?

all my other delivery groups work fine just that one region

The Citrix desktop service detected that a user session has ended reason code connection failure

does the session stay open or stay in a disconnected state?

and it's not jjust you, it's everyone, only on this DG?

I reinstalled the vda on one server to check

what citrix version?  Did it every work or just stop out of the blue, or an image update or something?

it was acting odd for a little bit random

and it's the same image we use for the other regions

you look at the rest of the DGs and kinda compare the settings?  Anything in Studio or Group Pollicy that might target that specific DG or OU?

there are some powershell commands that aren't shown inthe GUI, could be something like that, i'd try recreating

so far the published desktop is just a black screen

let's see what it does and if event viewer give anything new

no errors for that published desktop in the event logs

so you dont use MCS/PVS, you just build standalones?

if you whack whack out to the c$\users are there a bunch of stale profiles there, or is it prettty empty?

they didn't use upm until recently so there are some left over profiles

%SystemRoot%\system32\LogFiles\UserProfileManager

are these machines in a different network?

i tested them all and ask the region that is having issue to use that

if you build a brand new machine and put it in that DG with all the other VDAs in maint mode, does it work?

planning to redo everything since we are going to Citrix cloud

you sure you got the registry keys right in the first reply?

yes since the registry key was there before my time

and I checked if they didn't fat finger it

might want to check director or controlup analyzer for logon duration, see where it's getting stuck

I think it's something with their network on their end

app readiness service is started or stopped?

would this other region have different AV exclusions too?

some have had success with stopping/disabling

we use crowdstrike so it works different than av exclusion

ah, gotcha, keeping hearing that with that product

nvm it's not running i had to refresh the screen

cylance and crowdstrike is the way to go for av

<https://www.deyda.net/index.php/en/2021/12/21/saml-authentication-between-citrix-microsoft-with-azure-mfa/|https://www.deyda.net/index.php/en/2021/12/21/saml-authentication-between-citrix-microsoft-with-azure-mfa/>

I think the usernames in your IdP and your ad is not the same

Disabled firewall on fas, created fas gpo on VDA server resolved the issue.

Seems to get a thumbs up here... <https://discussions.citrix.com/topic/407145-vmware-memory-optimizations-with-vdi/>

Is anyone aware of a means to limit the number of base disks that Citrix can create?  In terms of a machine catalog update, potentially a counter that can be set to stop it creating more, until the previous ones have cleared down.

Ivanti noticed the same thing, in this article they say both methods are needed, even in newer versions of citrix.  <https://forums.ivanti.com/s/article/Best-Known-Method-UWM-Exclusions-for-Citrix-Hooks?language=en_US>

cheers i managed to get it sorted they was setting UviProcessExcludes via GPP registry but normally after adding a process to UviProcessExcluded it requires a reboot. As they was using PVS i booted the Vdisk into MM and baked it into the image and rebooted and sealed and promoted. Now i dont see the Mfaphook64.dll in use when using Excel.exe

Webster's scripts will run on old shit, AFAIK

Nice - Cheers, James. Will dig up the old ones :slightly_smiling_face:

Glad I don't work for the company with that opportunity 

I'm sick all of the days that project is live 

<@UR99U4W0Y> I believe <@UKJTJD4KA> is volunteering to help you. 

<@ULJH9ED53> you are lying to poor Gallagher. This is definitely a character building opportunity for him

in MDT i have a line "powershell.exe -Uninstall-WindowsFeature -name "Windows-Defender"

I am using this code in my MDT deployments.
Try this:
To Disable Windows Defender
REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender" /v DisableAntiSpyware /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f


To Enable Windows Defender

 Reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender" /v DisableAntiSpyware /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

`powershell.exe -Uninstall-WindowsFeature -name "Windows-Defende` is perfect for Server-OS.

Do you have any special policy set? Is it with a specific website or directly when you open Edge?

as for Citrix policies, just the default ones related to browser - no BCR enabled if thats what you were getting at.  As for Chrome or Edge, yes quite a bit configured in GPO to manage those browsers but I would expect that to be pretty normal is a corp environment.  It doesn’t seem to matter what page, the default home page is a Sharepoint site, but the Bing new tab page will cause it to BSOD as well.  It can take from 30s to a minute or two to BSOD.

Hmm, no registry keys set like the hooks? Trying to understand what is different in your environment

yeah…i know.  I did try disabling the ctx hooks to no avail.

If you have a GPU it should not be needed to disable HW acceleration

yes hardware acceleration is disabled in GPO for both browsers

No GPU in use. I’m going to open a case with Citrix.  If I get a resolution I will post here

By chance, do you have ControlUp <@UVBEF2GQG>?

If you're licensed for Remote DX, it's that

·        <https://support.controlup.com/docs/remote-dx-known-issues#issue-5-citrix-session-crashes-when-remote-dx-cannot-open-a-virtual-channel|Remote DX known issues #5>
·        Added = *EnableClientMetrics* registry key to all VDA devices under *_HKLM\SOFTWARE\Smart-X\ControlUp\Agent*_

Dude thank you. Let me try this and report back

happened to us when we POC'd remotedx.... 70% of our sessions BSOD'd 20 minutes after license was enabled, it was "fun"

If it does fix it, they can provide a hotfix'd CUAgent btw.

<@ULN862X8E> That was it.  Not only did it fix the BSOD issue the browser performance was greatly improved.  One thing though, while the reg key fixed the BSOD issue, the browser performance didnt improve until I removed the RemoteDX plugin from my client device.  Thank you for this tip. I was literally pulling my hair out.

add authentication samlAction saml_axxxxx -samlIdPCertName XXXXX -samlSigningCertName XXX -samlRedirectUrl "<https://adfs-xxxxc.org/adfs/ls>" -samlUserField "Name ID" -samlIssuerName "<https://xxxxx.org>" -logoutURL "<https://adfs-xxxx.org/adfs/ls/?wa=wsignout1.0>"

<@ULJUX26GG> It is throwing me below error when I've tried it.

citrix now requires you set up mfa and is mandatory by october 1st i think

Yep, this is enabled across the board for Citrix.

I ran into the same thing and had to open a citrix case and they provided a backup code so I could sign in and run through MFA setup.

Cool thanks! Yup I had heard they would require it, I just never got the prompt to set it up and now stuck. I'll have to give a call on Monday

I also never got the prompt to configure it either

thanks for the feedback! i'll see if support can help tomorrow for me

They merged mine with my Citrix Cloud account, unknowing to me.  If you have one of those, try that?

Yes, my mant accounts, including "My Citrix" and Citrix Cloud account and my Azure AD account were part of the confusion and ultimately support had to pull in a developer. If you are still facing an issue I can DM you my Citrix case number

Citrix tech chat did the trick for me.....like others mentioned just needed to reset MFA for me so that i could sign in w/ the backup code and re-enroll. thanks for the help!

1912 or 2203 but would need hybrid use rights - best with 1912 if doing it on public cloud 

Thanks.  Just using the 30 day trial(no license applied)

Yeah - public cloud is blocked without a specific entitlement now 

Just my opinion, but to learn it, have him setup an on-prem system and get to know all the components.

Yep thats what he did last night.  Proud dad :wink:

Yeah :slightly_smiling_face: My biggest challenge is supplying him... he wants bigger and badder pc but things are so expensive :stuck_out_tongue: MSDN subscription only goes so far but got him enough that he certified AZ900 and is working on AZ104 and AZ204 by Dec.

That’s so cool. Seems like a very hungry and talented boy you have.

yeah he'll be set.  He's currently learning patience as he's only 14 and too young to work :wink:

via the _desktop-config.json_ file:

```{
   "appPreferenceSettings": {
      "registerAsIMProvider": true,
      "runningOnClose": true,
	  "openAsHidden": true,
	  "openAtLogin": false,
      "disableGpu": true
   },
   "theme": "default"
}```
Note the 'disableGpu' option.

I send a copy of that file down to the user's profile at initial logon via WEM.

You drop it in here?  %Appdata%\Microsoft\Teams

$Env:AppData\Microsoft\Teams\desktop-config.json

<https://github.com/Deyda/Microsoft/blob/master/Teams/Teams-UserSettings.ps1|https://github.com/Deyda/Microsoft/blob/master/Teams/Teams-UserSettings.ps1>

Full details here (this also includes an update to show you how to set the default language in Teams, see the JSON sample in the article) <https://james-rankin.com/articles/microsoft-teams-on-citrix-virtual-apps-and-desktops-part-2-default-settings-and-json-wrangling/>

Easiest way IMO is to put a default desktop-config.json in the default profile in your image

<@UL5TCSW3D> when the user logs in for the first time, there is no %Appdata%\Microsoft\Teams until the user launches Teams for the first time (Teams auto launch is disabled).  How do you address that?

Put it in the default profile, the full folder path and file

Right!  Sorry, I did not scroll down far enough in your post

One other thought James.  We are using a pool of physical desktops (Remote PC - no MCS or PVS) in play.  What would be a good way to edit the default profile on the physical machines without visiting each machine?  Sorry, these seem like n00bie questions.

Put the default user profile into netlogon might work as well

It will indeed, but will apply to every user in the domain

<@ULJM98FME> Keep in mind for the physicals, if the user has already logged on or they have a Windows Roaming profile, editing the Default Profile won't affect them

Yep, in which case you'd have to insert a new json file into the appropriate folder via a script or something

I add it to the default user profile on my single Citrix image

Default profile is a great idea. Never considered that.

Yeah, there has been some changes in which arguments are valid

I don't know if Citrix has updated the docs yet, but I know that the citrix personalization for app-v - vda,citrix files for windows,citrix files for outlook are no longer valid

"Citrix Telemetry Service" doesn't seem to be valid either

<https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/install-configure/install-command.html>

<@ULL6F7DRA> the docs should be updated. If you still see an issue let me know

Did you already try the solutions mentioned in the Discussion? Looks like disabling shadowing or FastReconnect resolved. Did you already rule out any updates related to drivers? And last dumb thing to double-check, I assume your PVS cache drives are not filling up?

Disabling Shadwing fixes the issue yes - but the customer would like to use this feature :wink:

The other "solution" doesn't help and yes the write cache has enough free space (it's a moonshot environment with a 250GB ssd as writecache)

<@UKJTJD4KA> any ideas? I know its in place at a customer we have worked with, cheers

Doesn’t relate to the auth changes by Microsoft does it? Wasn’t there a load of legacy auth changes coming through?

That name makes hairs stand up on the back of my neck When I was in health care it was a pain. Badge in and badge out to login and open published apps. Unless there is another product called Imprivata

Don’t risk it - move it - customer can easily move that one over and save the pain 

Yea I would either move it or spin up a rds and Citrix license server. Update the MAC address in the citrix portal and reactive the rds part through the clearing house. Rds lic server will being down will show message on a seamless app launch. I did it once and I got pop ups after the session launched. So RDS will pop up saying that it can’t talk to RDS cal and you have 180 days or something similar. Citrix licensing part won’t. But the are the silent ninja  After 30 days they just cut you of at the knees lol . I do remember years ago I called and told them and they were cool with it for Eula conformation that I was worried about

Probably a recovery partition behind your C: partition. Can you share a screenshot of Disk Management?

<https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX247721/unable-to-extend-a-drive-volume-on-machines-in-catalog>

I have this issue at times when other provision things without modifications. I use disk part. I can send you what I have if you are interested 

Says MCS, But it really for any WIndows OS

Or use the tool In the CTX article. There are numerous free tools that will do this. When I build servers or machines I rearrange the Patitions before I start using it in whateve 
Solution it’s going In. 

Had this for a customer 2 weeks back, ended up doing a re-build, as the diskpart method didn't work. That being said, try the diskpart method <@ULLH5JGFR> has provided, i've had it work half the time i've tried it, worth it in a coin toss! Else, you'll want to look at using a paid third party partition mgmt tool from Paragon or EaseUS

I wonder is Macrium Reflect (free version would help)

Thanks <@ULLH5JGFR> i followed your doc it worked for me

<@ULLH5JGFR>, i tried "Macrium reflect" just now to extend some of my windows golden images on my lab, didn't work, however, I found a method to do it via gparted! Will create a blog on it soon

Nice man. Never used gparted. Will be interesting to read that

done! Complete with Billy Mays (rip) reference
<https://getvpro.wordpress.com/2022/09/01/extending-os-drives-on-efi-based-systems-the-ez-way/>

Can anybody give me the registry key controlling Adaptive Audio, I have a strange audio issue with 2203 CU1 and our controllers are running 1912 LTSR so there is no such policy yet.

Interesting, I've only got 2203 CU1 at one customer, they did report some app launch issues, but I had figured it was down vSphere DRS being active. I asked them to disable DRS for the impacted VDAs. In your case, what errors are logged on the VDAs or 2203 infra?

<@UMH935X7H> <https://worldofeuc.slack.com/archives/CK6TCV3JN/p1654035681089039|this thread> basically.  No errors, just hundreds of zombie sessions on any VDA we have attempted to move to past 1912_CU3 (not tried CU5) or the patched 2112

Actually i take that back.. There was an error with VDA 2203 and Office apps, Excel seeming to the main one.  Redacted example attached.  Rolling back the VDA resolved it, and the weirdness in Director (profiles not showing as running, latency calcs broken, "datasource not responding errors etc") Examples attached.

It seems Any VDA past 1912CU3 has been a train-wreck one way or another for highly active farms, 2203 CU1 the worst so far.

Odd ! Never a dull moment :smiley:
Which OS, btw ? All server 2016? My client is 2019 w 2203.1

Mostly 2016.  Handful of 2019 but those are machines we broker user to rather than own / manage, and are persistent VMs.

IMG_1918.jpg

The fall back of Browser Content Redirection BCR doesn’t work for me when accessing the VDA from a macOS endpoint. Is this a know issue? When opening the website in a private tab where the BCR plugin doesn’t get loaded it works as expected - so it looks like something is broken with the fallback mechanism.

Looks like it's because of this:

```

Single-session VDA upgrades to 2203 Cumulative Update 1 can fail and the following error message appears:

IcaConfigConsole.exe failed with error code -4

As a workaround create the following registry key on the target machine before the upgrade:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\wfshell\TWI

For more information, see Knowledge Center article CTX463588.

Note: This issue was addressed in Cumulative Update 1100 - the respin of Cumulative Update 1.

[LCM-11719]```

I've burned so many hours updating / reverting updates of session hosts in the last few months.  Not falling for this.  1912_CU3 for life.

I need to read up on that, because this is the second time I've seen it mentioned, but I have no idea what it is.

<https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX267071/password-field-not-displayed-when-publishing-any-office-365-application-such-as-excel-or-word-on-server-2019-or-windows-10|https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX267071/password-field-not-displayed-when-publishing-any-office-365-application-such-as-excel-or-word-on-server-2019-or-windows-10>