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Just recently I was tasked to identify all Citrix Receiver Versions connecting to a Citrix XenDesktop 7.x environment.

For starters, to get information on current sessions issue the following PowerShell cmdlets on your Citrix Broker Server:

Add-PSSnapin *Citrix*
Get-BrokerSession | Select MachineName,UserName,ClientPlatform,ClientVersion,*Protocol* | Out-GridView

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To get hands on every single information of your current Broker Sessions simply run:

Get-BrokerSession | Out-GridView

Now, in terms of historical session and connection information you have to query the OData API (http://<ServerBrokerFQDN>/Citrix/Monitor/OData/v2/Data), as with the Get-BrokerSession cmdlet you only get information on current sessions. So in case you’re looking for historical reports and data, which you cannot find in the Director Web UI, you could simply create a custom report with Microsoft Excel by connecting to the Data Feed.

This leaves me with recommending the following Citrix Blog Article, that explains how to

  • connect and read the available OData Data Feed from your Citrix Broker Server,
  • read the content of the Connection table and import it into an Excel Sheet,
  • limit the data's timeframe we’re looking at,
  • add a PivotChart, and
  • filter the required data.

The result might look something like this:

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You can then tinker with the different tables available through the Data Feed in order to achieve the resultant data set required for your purpose. As opposed to the aforementioned Citrix Blog you could select the following tables to even get information on Citrix Receiver Versions, Client Names, and corresponding User Names:

  • Connection
  • Session
  • User

Just have a look at the underlying SQL DB and its Database Diagram in order to reveal the tables' relationships:

Relationship NameTable NameTables SpecificationColumns Specifiation
Session_UserSessionsForeign Key ColumnUserId
UsersPrimary Key ColumnId
Connection_SessionForeign Key ColumnSessionKey
Primary Key ColumnSessionKey
Session_CurrentConnectionConnectionsForeign Key ColumnCurrentConnectionId
SessionsPrimary Key ColumnId

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Then you should be able to rebuild these relationships within Microsoft Excel and get the resultant set of data including corresponding user names:

Otherwise you could create a corresponding View directly within SQL Server Management Studio on the server hosting your XenDesktop SQL Monitoring database. I created one and called it v_ReceiverVersions, thus allowing me to access the data through Excel as well. The custom View includes the aforementioned tables

  • Connection (MonitorData)
  • Session (MonitorData)
  • User (MonitorData)

SELECT MonitorData.Connection.ClientName, MonitorData.Connection.ClientVersion, MonitorData.Connection.BrokeringDate, MonitorData.[User].Upn
FROM MonitorData.Connection INNER JOIN
MonitorData.Session ON MonitorData.Connection.SessionKey = MonitorData.Session.SessionKey AND
MonitorData.Connection.Id = MonitorData.Session.CurrentConnectionId INNER JOIN
MonitorData.[User] ON MonitorData.Session.UserId = MonitorData.[User].Id

This setup allows me to filter the available data (i.e. set to the required period in time by utilizing the BrokeringDate) by either choosing ClientName, ClientVersion or UPN:

The data available in Citrix Director is dependent on your Citrix License, which in turn determines your usage data retention within Citrix Director. As per Citrix:

  • All editions: Director – real-time monitoring and basic troubleshooting (up to 7 days of data)
  • XD7 Platinum: EdgeSight performance management feature – includes #1 + historical monitoring (up to a full year of data through the monitoring SQL database)
  • XD7 Platinum + NetScaler Enterprise: EdgeSight performance management and network analysis – includes #2 plus 60 mins. of network data
  • XD7 Platinum + NetScaler Platinum: EdgeSight performance management and network analysis – includes #2 plus unlimited network data

Further reading:

Citrix Receiver - How to speed up App Enumeration and Start Menu Population

Important: settings in HKCU have preference over HKLM.

...continue reading "Citrix Receiver – How to speed up App Enumeration and Start Menu Population"

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."

mac_error_01

mac_version_01

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:

mac_error_02

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:

mac_error_03

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:

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.

...continue reading "Citrix Receiver for Windows – Remove orphaned Start Menu Shortcuts and/or Folders"

1

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:

hp_cllj_2800_ps

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:

  1. Configure the corresponding registry settings for Windows Update
  2. Install a local printer and chose the appropiate model/driver as listed above

Configure Windows Update via Registry:

  1. Run registry editor. Click Start then type regedit and press Enter
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverSearching
  3. Change value of REG_DWORD DontSearchWindowsUpdate to 0
  4. Change value of REG_DWORD DontPromptForWindowsUpdate to 0
  5. Run a Command Prompt. Click Start then type cmd and press Enter
  6. 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:

  1. From the Windows Server 2012, choose Add a printer from Devices and Printers.
  2. Continue through the wizard as if you are adding a local printer though it is not attached.
  3. 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:

  • either go for Control Panel | Change Device Installation Settings
  • or search for Change Device Installation Settings

dev_inst_01

  • Select both No, let me choose what to do + Always install the best driver software from Windows Update
  • and hit Save Changes

dev_inst_02


I launched Print Management console, drilled down to the Printers node, right-clicked it and chose Add Printer:

add_printer_01

Then selected Add a new printer using an existing port with LPT1:

add_printer_02

Then selected Install a new driver:

add_printer_03

The Windows Update button was finally there, I hit it, and waited for the updated drivers to get downloaded:

add_printer_04 add_printer_05

Afterwards I was able to select the required drivers and install the required printers:

add_printer_06

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:

add_printer_07

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!

error_1030_4

The solution to this error? Well, it depends...

...continue reading "Citrix Receiver for Windows – The connection to “ApplicationName” failed with status (1030) – Updated"

StoreFront v3.0 and new Unified Receiver Experience - First Impressions (Part 3)

I was mostly interested in the new customization options and how to switch from the previous Green Bubble UI (a.k.a. the Classic Receiver Experience) to the new Unified Receiver Experience. So I'd like to start a little blog series about my first steps with StoreFront v3.0, covering:

  1. Upgrading to StoreFront v3.0 and enabling the new Unified Receiver Experience
  2. Customizing the Receiver for Web Unified Experience
  3. Evaluating the Google Chrome Support

...continue reading "StoreFront v3.0 and new Unified Receiver Experience – First Impressions (Part 3)"

When clicking Deploy Citrix Receiver in the Citrix StoreFront v3.0 MMC it crashed immediately and I received an error stating: MMC has detected an error in a snap-in and will unload it:

mmc_1

...continue reading "Citrix StoreFront v3.0 MMC crashes with error – MMC has detected an error in a snap-in and will unload it"

StoreFront v3.0 and new Unified Receiver Experience with Citrix Receiver for Windows v4.3 (Part 2)

I was mostly interested in the new customization options and how to switch from the previous Green Bubble UI (a.k.a. the Classic Receiver Experience) to the new Unified Receiver Experience. So I'd like to start a little blog series about my first steps with StoreFront v3.0, covering:

  1. Upgrading to StoreFront v3.0 and enabling the new Unified Receiver Experience
  2. Customizing the Receiver for Web Unified Experience
  3. Evaluating the Google Chrome Support

...continue reading "StoreFront v3.0 and new Unified Receiver Experience – First Impressions (Part 2)"