blog – Alexander Ollischer | Citrix | Microsoft
Sharing IT Knowledge about Citrix and Microsoft
When trying to execute the MDX Toolkit v10.x in a Mac OS X Virtual Machine you might be left with empty dialogue boxes:
This is due to the MDX Toolkit not running in a virtualized Mac OS X environment, thus having to revert to Command Line Wrapping.
...continue reading "MDX Toolkit v10.x – Command Line Wrapping in a Mac OS X Virtual Machine (VM)"
As I'm always thankful for any tool that might come in handy during troubleshooting sessions I thought that this might be interesting for you NetScaler/XenMobile guys as well. Just recently I stumbled upon this neat little article: CTX141060 - Citrix Cerebro - XenMobile Troubleshooting Tool and the tool it provides: Citrix Cerebro (what kind of name is that actually?):
This quite comprehensive article explains the tool's core functionality pretty well, so there's not much to add right now. Therefore I simply share my experience here while using this tool in order to troubleshoot some XenMobile issues I had just recently: Access to your company network is not currently available while setting up WorxMail.
...continue reading "How to use Citrix Cerebro – XenMobile Troubleshooting Tool"
Starting with Citrix XenDesktop 7.x there have been some features that have been deprecated by Citrix, such as LPT and COM Port Mapping, which are not working as expected or properly after upgrading to VDA 7.x. I stumbled upon this quite annoying issue as soon as I upgraded my existing Citrix XenApp servers to the latest XenDesktop 7.x, i.e. Hosted Shared Desktops with Virtual Desktop Agents v7.x.
During implementing quite some XenMobile 10.x solutions in the last couple of months I came across some issues that caused quite some headaches. Therefore I'd like to document and share my lessons learned in this new blog.
As all my implementations were with existing NetScaler 10.x configurations already in place, I was not able to follow all those XenMobile 10.x installation and configuration guides out there by the book. All of those blogs and guides have one thing in common: they assume your start from scratch with both XenMobile 10.x and NetScaler 10.x and thus miss the point in merging XenMobile 10.x requirements with NetScaler 10.x, i.e. adding all those nasty MDM/MAM LB VIPs, DNS records, firewall rules, certificates, Session Policies and Profiles, et al.
I'm trying to shed some light on how to add a new XenMobile 10.x installation to an already existing NetScaler Gateway configuration.
...continue reading "XenMobile 10.x and NetScaler 10.x – A Comprehensive HowTo Guide"
All of a sudden my Mac users started complaining that they are unable to connect to or add a new Store to Citrix Receiver for Mac. Right after entering the NetScaler's URL and hitting Add, they receive an error stating "Could not detect the specified account" and "The server might be invalid or may be unavailable at this time. Make sure the URL is correct and check your network connection."
Nothing has been changed. Receiver for Mac was the latest version v12.1. No network issues, Safari works just well, navigating to the NetScaler URL, entering credentials, and launching a Citrix session. No certificate issues. Nothing, just as expected. I tried the script as mentioned here, but to no prevail.
Solution:
As all users came in from external networks through NetScaler, I had to disable EdgeSight Monitoring (HTML Injection) in NetScaler's System | Settings | Configure Advanced Features:
In my case I didn't have to disable AppFlow on my NetScaler's vServer as described by other users having the same issue. It already worked for me after disabling HTML Injection alone:
The same goes for having issues while connecting with Citrix Receiver for Android, receiving an error stating "An error has occurred while connecting. Check your server address and data connection". Have a look at Jason Samuel's blog article as well.
Further reading:
Citrix StoreFront - Upgrade v3.0.0.45 to v3.5.0.23 fails and the Application Event Log shows an Event ID 0, Source: Citrix Extensible Meta-Installer, stating:
Timestamp: 22.03.2016 11:28:18
Category:Error, WinError
Message:Installation of '..\CitrixStoreFront-x64.msi' failed with error code 1603. Fatal error during installation
With an failed upgrade log files can be found in C:\Windows\Temp\StoreFront\, e.g.:
But checking CitrixMsi-CitrixStoreFront-x64-2016-03-22-11-27-21.log revealed nothing useful, except this:
MSI (s) (04:10) [11:28:07:090]: Note: 1: 1708
MSI (s) (04:10) [11:28:07:090]: Product: Citrix StoreFront -- Installation failed.
MSI (s) (04:10) [11:28:07:091]: Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: Citrix StoreFront. Product Version: 3.5.0.23. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer: Citrix Systems, Inc.. Installation success or error status: 1603.
In Citrix-DeliveryServicesRoleManager-2016-03-22 11-27-00.log I did find something more useful:
[22.03.2016 11:53:02][5224][Information] ExitCode = "1603"
[22.03.2016 11:53:02][5224][Information] ExitCode.Reason = "Installation of DeliveryServicesRole failed."
As the following suggestions did not work for me neither:
I had to look further, as pointed out here:
Installer can have issues in converting/migrating the custom configuration you might have put in. Although it may be pointing to Authentication however its possible that issues are in STORE\Web.config file.
So I checked my own web.config file, placed in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\StoreWeb, but didn't find any refernces to any bogus, e.g. generatePublisherEvidence, which might have been put there working with an earlier version of StoreFront:
Per Citrix Support: This was a setting that was in place for web interface, some customers may have had this implemented and once updated may have copied their web.config files over as well. This setting was not tested with Storefront and is the reason why the installer fails because its not a standard in the XML file.
Furthermore it's suggested to check any custom configurations you may have applied to your StoreFront setup, i.e.
I reverted any of my StoreFront's Stores to Classic Experiences (which saw me losing my Enhanced Experience and Featured App Groups settings flushed down the drain in the process), but to no prevail:
The Application Log's error code 1603 pointed me to Citrix Discussions:
I had the same 1603 error when trying to do an in-place upgrade from StoreFront 3.0.0.45 to 3.5.0.23. Tried several reboots and many other troubleshooting steps including all suggestions above, but what worked for me in the end was to install 3.0.1.57 first, reboot, then install 3.5.0.23 on top of that.
This left me with the only choice that seems to work right now, but.... it did not work for me!
For valid upgrade paths to the latest StoreFront v3.5 have a look at Citrix eDocs.
Solution
As the aforementioned error code 1603 is generated by the MSI installer technology and thus not Citrix specific, I dug deeper into that error code and found CTX126640:
Note: The 1603 exit error is a generic installation error which stands for Fatal error during installation. Refer to the MSI installation logs for further traces because this problem does not apply to every situation.
Problem Cause
A previous installation of a Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package may cause the installation process to fail.
I compared a working StoreFront v3.5 setup with my failing v3.0 setup and identified several Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable packages installed on the failing system:
I decided to remove any of the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable packages and launched the StoreFront v3.5 upgrade executable once more - ét voila! It worked! Problem solved.
Further reading:
This one's quite easy, actually. Did you ever wonder how to remove those GoTo Icons from your StoreFront Store and/or Start Menu Shortcuts?
...continue reading "Citrix StoreFront – Remove GoToMeeting et al from Published Applications"
Did you ever wonder how to get rid of those orphaned Citrix Start Menu Shortcuts and/or folders?
Well, wonder no more! Here is the script (Remove-CitrixShortcuts.ps1) to remove any Citrix-related shortcut (lnk file extension) from selected Paths.
Citrix Receiver for Mac - Session Printer Mapping Issues - Printers don't show or won't get mapped
Update: Have a look at Carl's article as well: Print Driver for Non-Windows Clients
As per Citrix CTX140208 and CTX139020:
When non-Windows Receivers connect to a Windows 2012 Server with Universal Print Driver (UPD) options configured for client printers, the Post-script (PS) and PCL drivers might not be available, therefore the printers will not get auto-created. As a workaround, to use the Citrix UPD for non-window Receivers, like Mac and Linux, install appropriate drivers on the server manually:
- PS driver = HP Color LaserJet 2800 Series PS
- PCL4 driver = HP LaserJet Series II
- PCL5c driver = HP Color LaserJet 4500 PCL 5
With my Windows Server 2012 R2 I ran into some issues. While trying to add the aforementioned Printer Drivers manually I realized that something was wrong:
As you can see from the screenshot the button Windows Update is unavailable. This left me with investigating why that is the case. After a little bit of research I ended up with two possible solutions:
Configure Windows Update via Registry:
- Run registry editor. Click Start then type regedit and press Enter
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverSearching
- Change value of REG_DWORD DontSearchWindowsUpdate to 0
- Change value of REG_DWORD DontPromptForWindowsUpdate to 0
- Run a Command Prompt. Click Start then type cmd and press Enter
- Execute gpupdate /force
Furthermore I found this in the comments here:
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverSearching - REG_DWORD - searchorderConfig = 0
This removes that Windows Update button from the Add Printer Wizard. You can either set this key to "2", or just delete the key to restore the Windows Update button.
This is the "Disable automatic updates of drivers from Windows Updates" feature above.
Install printer locally:
Whereas adding just the required drivers left me with no Windows Update button to click, I found this article pointing me in the right direction:
I had the same issue, but found it only occurred when I was trying to add a network printer. When I try to add a local printer the button shows up. So..... I installed a local printer, allowed Windows Update to download the new drivers and then deleted the local printer. Next I add the network printer again, but this time, because the list of drivers has been refreshed, I didn't need the Windows Update button because my printer is now in the list.
Upon reading CTX140208 once more it became obvious and clear that I didn't read the article with the required attention to detail, as it clearly states:
- From the Windows Server 2012, choose Add a printer from Devices and Printers.
- Continue through the wizard as if you are adding a local printer though it is not attached.
- Click Add a local printer > select LPT1: (Printer Port) > click Windows Update.
Silly me!
2015-11-09 Update:
As Alexander Gassner pointed out here I could have checked my Device Installation Settings as well, as they tend to prohibit the Windows Update functionality too:
I launched Print Management console, drilled down to the Printers node, right-clicked it and chose Add Printer:
Then selected Add a new printer using an existing port with LPT1:
Then selected Install a new driver:
The Windows Update button was finally there, I hit it, and waited for the updated drivers to get downloaded:
Afterwards I was able to select the required drivers and install the required printers:
As Citrix pointed out in CTX139020, "if there are two versions of this driver displayed, choose the Microsoft version".
In the end it looked like this:
Further reading:
Almost everybody has struggled with the now infamous Error 1030 (The connection to "ApplicationName" failed with status (1030)) when connecting with Citrix Receiver for Windows to XenDesktop through NetScaler and StoreFront. There even is an whole armada of articles available out there, totally dedicating their content to troubleshooting this quite generic network error indicating that the connection has failed. Just google it!
The solution to this error? Well, it depends...
