Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops & WEM 2003 is released

The new current releases of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, Workspace Environament Management & Citrix Provisioning are now available. They contains many new features compared to the last LTSR.

Citrix Profile Mangement 2003

Multi-Session write-back for FSLogix Profile Container

The FSLogix Profile Container is a VHD-based profile solution from Microsoft. It does not support saving changes from all sessions. It only allows one session (read/write mode) to write changes back to the container. Changes in other sessions (read-only mode) are discarded. Citrix Profile Management Version 2003 provides a solution to write changes from all sessions back to the FSLogix Profile Container. This is done by using the Citrix Profile Management user memory as temporary memory for the read-only sessions and writing the changes back to the container in read/write mode.

The multi-session write-back feature is not compatible with profile streaming.

FSLogix Container (Office/Profile) in Citrix Environments

At login, after the profile container is mounted and I/O requests are redirected, Citrix Profile Management synchronizes all changes from user store to the local profile.

At logoff, Citrix Profile Management works differently depending on the Profile Container mode.

If read-only mode is used, Profile Management writes back changes to the user store. If read/write mode is used, Profile Management applies changes from the user store to the local profile directly. Then, FSLogix Profile Container merges changes to the profile container disk.

Requirement

You can use the multi-session write-back feature by implementing the Enable multi-session write-back for FSLogix Profile Container policy. The policy is set to Disabled by default. To use the feature, do the following:

FSLogix Profile Container

• FSLogix Profile Container is installed and activated
• The profile type is set to “Try for read-write profile and fall back to read-only”

Citrix Profile Management

• Set the Enable Profile Management policy to Enabled.
• Set the Path to user store policy with a valid path.
• Enable the Enable multi-session write-back for FSLogix Profile Container policy.

Profile Management uses the “last write wins” strategy to apply changes.

• For file/folder creation and modification, it writes back changes by comparing the file/folder last write time.
• For file/folder deletion and rename, it writes back changes by comparing the time stamps associated with the changes. Profile Management logs time stamps when changes occur

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7 2003

Changes in host support for Current Releases

As of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7 2003, current releases of that product do not support VDAs (machines that deliver apps and desktops) on the following hosts:

• Amazon Web Services (includes VMware Cloud on AWS)
• CloudPlatform (refers to the original Citrix software platform)
• Microsoft Azure (includes Azure Resource Manager and Azure Classic)

Supported SQL Server versions

Changes in supported database versions can affect Citrix upgrades.

• Site databases: SQL Server 2008 R2, 2012, and 2014 are no longer supported for the site database. (This includes the monitor and configuration logging databases.)
• Local host cache database: SQL Server version 2014 is no longer supported for the local host cache database.

You might need to upgrade your SQL Server version before you can upgrade your Citrix components.

Windows Server 2012 R2 no longer supported for Controllers, Studio, Director, VDAs and Universal Print Server

You can no longer install or upgrade Delivery Controllers, Studio, Director, VDAs, or the Universal Print Server on Windows Server 2012 R2 machines.

Changes in how to install and upgrade StoreFront

In earlier releases, when you clicked the Get Started tile in the full-product installer’s main page, the Core Components page included StoreFront. You could select StoreFront and other core components to install on the same machine.

As of this release, the Core Components page no longer contains a StoreFront check box. To install or upgrade StoreFront, click Citrix StoreFront in the Extend Deployment panel on the main page. This launches CitrixStoreFront-x64.exe from the installation media.

In the XenDesktopServerSetup.exe command, you can no longer specify /components storefront. If you do, the command fails. To install StoreFront from the command line, run CitrixStoreFront-x64.exe, which is available in the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops installation media’s x64 folder.

32-bit Studio installer no longer available on installation media

The Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops installation media no longer contains the 32-bit Studio installer.

Change in required .NET version

For components with a Microsoft .NET Framework prerequisite, .NET version 4.8 is now installed automatically if it (or a later version) is not already installed. This is a newer .NET version than in previous releases.

Citrix Scout data masking

The Citrix Scout data masking feature allows you to mask sensitive data in diagnostics files before uploading them to Citrix.

Virtual Delivery Agents (VDAs) 2003

Version 2003 of the Windows VDA for Multi-session OS and the VDA for Single-session OS includes the following enhancements (in addition to the VDA installation and upgrade items listed previously in this article).

Enhanced browser content redirection routing using new proxy configuration options

Citrix added other configuration options for the proxy settings on the VDA. You can choose from these options:

• Direct or transparent – Routes browser content redirection traffic through the VDA and forwards it directly to the web server hosting the content.
• Explicit proxy (was previously included) – Routes browser content redirection traffic through the VDA and forwards it to the specified web proxy.
• PAC files – Routes browser content redirection traffic through the VDA and forwards it to the web proxy determined by evaluating the specified PAC file.

Enhanced Build to lossless

Build to lossless is enhanced with automatic image detection. Previously, Build to lossless assumed a lossy-first approach. In that approach, all moving imagery is encoded using H.264 (or H.265) and then is progressively sharpened to lossless when movement ceases. Sometimes staying lossless is preferable. The new automatic image detection feature performs some light image analysis on each frame. This feature determines whether to send the frame lossless; thus, skipping the lossy-first step.

To revert to lossy-first, set this registry key on the VDA:

Multi-Stream virtual channel stream assignment

In previous releases, you used a registry setting to change the virtual channel assignment when using multi-stream ICA. This release includes policy settings for assigning virtual channels.

If you do not configure these settings, virtual channels are kept in their default stream. To assign a virtual channel to an ICA stream, select the desired stream number (0, 1, 2, 3) from the Stream Number list next to the virtual channel name.

By default, the virtual channels and their stream assignments are:

• App Flow: 2
• Audio: 0
• Browser Content Redirection: 2
• Client COM Port Mapping: 3
• Client Drive Mapping: 2
• Client Printer Mapping: 3
• Clipboard: 2
• CTXDND: 1 (Note: Citrix added CTXDND for customers evaluating the new drag and drop feature.)
• DVC Plugins (Static VC name auto-generated from DVC Plugin Friendly Name, or admin-assigned): 2
• End User Experience Monitoring: 1
• File Transfer (HTML5 Receiver): 2
• Generic Data Transfer: 2
• ICA Control: 1
• Input Method Editor: 1
• Legacy Client Printer Mapping (COM1): 1, 3
• Legacy Client Printer Mapping (COM2): 2, 3
• Legacy Client Printer Mapping (LPT1): 1, 3
• Legacy Client Printer Mapping (LPT2): 2, 3
• License Management: 1
• Microsoft Teams/WebRTC Redirection: 1
• Mobile Receiver: 1
• MultiTouch: 1
• Port Forwarding: 2
• Remote Audio and Video Extensions (RAVE): 2
• Seamless (Transparent Window Integration): 1
• Sensor and Location: 1
• Smart Card: 1
• Thinwire Graphics: 1
• Transparent UI Integration/Logon Status: 2
• TWAIN Redirection: 2
• USB: 2
• Zero Latency Font and Keyboard: 2
• Zero Latency Data Channel: 2

Enhanced support for electron-based apps in multi-session OS VDA

Citrix now support electron-based apps. Electron is an open-source framework for developing desktop GUI applications. For example Microsoft Teams and Slack.

Wait for printers to be created before an application starts

The wait for printers to be created feature is now available for Citrix Virtual Apps. Using a PowerShell cmdlet running on a Delivery Controller, you can specify that all printers be created before the app is started.

Wait for printers to be created (Citrix Virtual Apps):

Setting the following PowerShell cmdlet allows a delay in connecting to virtual apps created on server desktops so that client-redirected printers can be auto-created.

By default, a connection delay does not occur.

Drag and then drop files between a Citrix session and a local endpoint (for evaluation only)

Dragging and then dropping files between a Citrix session and a local endpoint is available for evaluation. You can drag and then drop files, groups of files, directories, groups of directories, or a combination of files and directories to and the same client on the session. This ability applies to a desktop session or a seamless app. This includes the desktop, Explorer window, and some applications. This feature does not support all apps. For example, you can drag a file out of a compressed (zipped) folder, but not into one.

IMPORTANT:

The feature requires a minimum of Citrix Workspace app 2002 for Windows. This feature is included for customer evaluation only and is disabled by default.

Some known limitations:

• You cannot drag a file from a client desktop into a Firefox or Internet Explorer browser window inside a desktop session.
• You cannot drag and then drop into a zipped folder, into an application shortcut, a message from a seamless application to a client desktop, or into a seamless Outlook message if dragged quickly from a client.

To enable drag-and-drop, make the following registry setting on the host:

After you enable the registry value, and if using the required Citrix Workspace app version, drag-and-drop is enabled after the next session logon.

Loss tolerant mode

IMPORTANT:

The feature requires a minimum of Citrix Workspace app 2002 for Windows. This version of the VDA will support it when it becomes available.

Loss tolerant mode is not supported on Citrix Gateway or Citrix Gateway Service. This mode is available only with direct connections.

Loss tolerant mode uses a new transport protocol to enhance the user experience in challenging network conditions.

By default, loss tolerant mode is Allowed. When allowed, the mode is entered when the packet loss and latency are above a threshold. You can set the thresholds using the loss tolerant thresholds policy.

The default thresholds are:

• Packet loss: 5%
• Latency: 300ms (RTT)

Citrix Federated Authentication Service 2003

Support for single sign-on to virtual apps and desktops in Citrix Workspace

NOTE:

This is a preview feature for testing and evaluation purposes only. It is not intended for production environments.

Citrix Federated Authentication Service (FAS) supports single sign-on to virtual apps and desktops in Citrix Workspace. Within each resource location, you can connect multiple FAS servers to Citrix Cloud for load balancing and failover purposes. You can configure the same FAS server for both on-premises and Citrix Cloud.

PowerShell cmdlets

The FAS PowerShell cmdlets have been republished as version 2003.

Citrix Provisioning 2003

Removed support for 32-bit Provisioning Console

This release of Citrix Provisioning removes support for 32-bit consoles. As a result, 32-bit snap-ins are no longer provided.

Workspace Environment Management 2003

Citrix optimizer

Citrix optimizer is now available in Workspace Environment Management (WEM). You can use the feature to optimize user environments for better performance. Citrix optimizer runs a quick scan of user environments and then applies template-based optimization recommendations. You can optimize user environments in two ways:

• You can use built-in templates to perform optimizations. To do so, select a template applicable to the operating system.
• Alternatively, you can create your own custom templates with specific optimizations you want and then add them to WEM.

In System Optimization, there is a new Citrix Optimizer panel. In the panel, there is a Citrix Optimizer tab for configuring optimization-related settings.

External task

This release includes enhancements to the external task feature. The feature now provides you with two additional options to control when to run external tasks:

• Logoff. This option lets you specify whether to run external tasks when users log off.
• Reconnect. This option lets you specify whether to run external tasks when a user reconnects to a machine on which the agent is running. This option is not applicable to scenarios where the WEM agent is installed on a physical Windows device.

Optimized action processing

Starting with this release, WEM supports processing actions without retrieving settings from the infrastructure services. There is a new “Use Cache to Accelerate Actions Processing” option on the Administration Console > Advanced Settings > Configuration > Agent Options tab. The option enables the WEM agent to process actions by using the agent local cache. As a result, the agent no longer needs to communicate with the infrastructure services when processing actions.

Optimized logon performance

In earlier releases, WEM delayed user logons until the processing of user Group Policy settings completed. Starting with this release, WEM no longer delays logons, and user Group Policy settings are processed in the background by default.

Optimized file type associations

In previous releases, file type associations other than those for text (.txt) files did not work consistently. Starting with this release, file type associations that you configure become default associations automatically. This enhancement lets you more effectively manage user environments. In addition, you now have more flexibility in configuring file type associations. In the New File Association window, you no longer have to fill out the following fields: Action, Target application, and Command. You can leave the fields empty as long as you can provide the correct ProgID.

Profile Management

As of this release, you can use the Workspace Environment Management to configure all settings for Citrix Profile Management 2003. The following option is now available in the administration console:

• Enable multi-session write-back for FSLogix Profile Container (option to save changes in multi-session scenarios for FSLogix Profile Container)