Is the Citrix PVS for VMs agent a part of a PVS Image? fresh installed mastervm via the following command-line:

.\XenDesktopVDASetup.exe /components "vda","plugins" /controllers "CTXDDC01CR.citrix7202.lab","CTXDDC02CR.citrix7202.lab" /masterpvsimage /disableexperiencemetrics /enable_hdx_ports /enable_hdx_udp_ports /enable_real_time_transport /enable_remote_assistance /enable_ss_ports /includeadditional "Citrix Profile Management","Citrix Profile Management WMI Plug-in" /quiet

The following is explicitly stated in the logfile: VdaEnvironmentMode = MasterImagePvs Nevertheless I have the following service present on my vm:

Name                : PvsVmAgent

DisplayName         : Citrix Pvs for VMs agent

Dependencies:

Name                     DisplayName

----                     -----------

SessionEnv               Remote Desktop Configuration

Netlogon                 Netlogon

BrokerAgent              Citrix Desktopservice

BNDevice                 Citrix PVS Device Service

LanmanWorkstation        Workstation

Citrix.Xip.ClientService Citrix vDisk Update Service

LanmanServer             Server

Background: PvsVmAgent crashes at a customer with VDA 2308. VDA 2311 and 2402 have been tested already.

https://support.citrix.com/s/article/CTX579184-the-network-logon-service-was-not-start[…]n-logging-onto-pvs-target-device-via-console?language=en_US • "Citrix PVS for VMs Agent" service is a component of VDA MCS and should not be installed on PVS.

I've seen this article. @Daniel Madsen Do you have this component/service running in a PVS environment? If not, how are you excluding it? I need to test if a have a different behaviour if I'm installing first the Target Device Agent and then the VDA.

This is a list of Citrix services, that is running on a PVS image, from a customer of mine. VDA parameters: $UnattendedArgs = '/quiet /noreboot /optimize /components vda /Enable_HDX_PORTS /enable_hdx_udp_ports /Enable_REAL_TIME_TRANSPORT /enable_remote_assistance /masterpvsimage /controllers "Servernames" /disableexperiencemetrics /virtualmachine /exclude "Machine Identity Service","Citrix MCS IODriver","Citrix Rendezvous V2","Citrix Personalization for App-V - VDA"' Target Device parameters: $UnattendedArgs = '/s /v"/qn /norestart /l \"C:\Windows\temp\Install_PVS_Target_Device_SETUP.log\""'

Removed the VDA via Cleanup Tool and installed with your arguments, now the service is not present anymore! Give me a sec and I try it via GUI. I guess also via GUI mode the agent is present....

I'm guessing "Citrix MCS IODriver" still gets installed, when using the GUI. Seems dumb

Or also "Machine Identity Service". I'm digging into it.

Hi @Balint Oberrauch PvsVMAgent is actually part of MCS service with bad naming

Thank you. I guess its to enable provision VMs on Azure? --> https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2023/06/29/pvs-catalogs-made-easy-with-citrix-daas-mcs-provisioning/ Never done that and I guess it could be a nice use case but it has also it's side effects. In my case, PvsVMAgent crashed and caused the loss of trust with the domain, deregistration from the delivery controller, loss of AppSense Environment Manager configuration, and a disconnection from the session.

As @Yuhua Lu said, as of the 2311 VDA release, the PvsVmAgent service is installed for both PVS and MCS use cases -- it should not crash or be a problem if you are not using the studio based provisioning so that is something that should be reported. It also should not be installed when installing older VDA versions if you select the PVS option.

Customer has been using studio based provisioning, we switched to command line in order to get rid of the PvsVMAgent. For deployments >2311, is it now best practice to have the agent installed as well? CC @Jeff Riechers this could be of interest for your community article.

If you are using webstudio based provisioning of PVS (the version in webstudio) then you MUST have the PvsVmAgent installed -- we actually use that for managing the computer name and AD account in the case of studio provisioning in the same manner as MCS (you will also see an identity disk attached to provisioned VMs in that case for both PVS and MCS VDAs). (Note that the MMC Studio mechanism for creating PVS VDAs has been deprecated since 1912 and is now removed -- this used a completely different approach to provisioning). TL;DR: • If using PVS console based provisioning, then PvsVmAgent should not be installed if the VDA is older than 2311. From 2311 onwards, the PvsVmAgent will be installed by default but inactive in this case • If using WebStudio based provisioning of PVS VDAs then PvsVmAgent MUST be installed and this is supported with VDA >= 2311 • Webstudio provisioning of PVS targets provides access to all the identity management features that were previoulsy MCS only (like hybrid Entra-ID support)

Wow, this is a detailed explanation! Thank you! Is this documented on techzone? If not, I would reach out to Steven to see if we can publish something together.

Not on techzone AFAIK -- it's in the admin docs but not in a succinct format...

@Simon Graham will this radio button be available in future on-prem releases? Or is it availble now and I did sth wrong? (Created the MC via powershell as stated some posts above this).

@Jitao Hou 👆

It will become available in future on prem webstudio as we add more hypervisors to the support list for provisioning PVS VDAs.

@Marco Zimmermann, we are targeting to add this support to DaaS web studio in Q4. Let me check with the team about on-prem release , and will get it back to you soon.