Blog: Citrix Receiver

We were having issues with screensaver security locking not working on Windows 8 clients.  At first we kept zeroing in on the GPOs being applied to the PCs.  After further evaluation and verification that the settings were configured in the registry from the GPOs appropriately, we began to look at application interference.

Turning off Citrix Receiver client software allowed the screensaver to come on as it normally would during idle period.  It was discovered that the application refresh interval had been set to 15 minutes (default is 1 hour), the same amount of time as the screensaver settings.

Manipulating the registry keys below and testing a 1 hour value allowed the idle timer to function correctly and initiate the screensaver.  We believe that the application refresh was causing the idle time to reset itself. 

" RefreshMs " controls the interval for subsequent refreshes. By default the value is 1hr (3600000 ms ).

64-bit Windows Location: HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Citrix\Dazzle
Name: RefreshMs
Type: REG_SZ
Value: 3600000

32-bit Windows Location: HKLM\Software\Citrix\Dazzle
Name: RefreshMs
Type: REG_SZ
Value: 3600000 

 


 

Many of our customers are still running the Citrix Online Plug-in or Citrix Receiver Enterprise 3.4 because it allows them to place application shortcuts on a user's Desktop and in the Start Menu. Later version of the Receiver require the use of the Citrix Launcher and do not allow Desktop or Start Menu shortcuts. The Citrix Receiver Enterprise 3.4 will not install on Server 2012 R2 RDP servers, so another solution is needed.

Citrix has recently reintroduced the ability to add application shortcuts to the user's Desktop and Start Menu. The current version of the Citrix Receiver is 4.4 and includes an option to disable Self-Service Mode. There are a few other options that must be set to allow icons to appear on the Desktop, which can be set via a command line install or by editing the registry.

An example command line to install the Citrix Receiver 4.4, enable single sign-on, configure the URL of a XenApp 6.5 farm, disable Self-Service Mode, add icons to the user's Desktop, and allow adding a URL that is a HTTP address is below:

"CitrixReceiver.exe /includeSSON  /STORE0="PNAgent;http://storefront.domain.local/Citrix/PNAgent/config.xml;on;CustomerXenApp" SELFSERVICEMODE=false PutShortcutsOnDesktop=true AllowAddStore=A /silent"

CitrixReceiver.exe – Install file
/IncludeSSON – Enabled Single Sign-On
/STORE0= Path to XenApp 6.5 farm config URL
SELFSERVICEMODE – Set to false to disable the Citrix Launcher and enable Desktop and Start Menu application shortcuts
PutShortcutsOnDesktop – Set to true to add application shortcuts to the user's Desktop
AllowAddStore – Set to A to allow the addition of a URL that is a HTTP address
/silent – Performs a silent install

After that command is run, the following command must also be run to complete the configuration to allow the use of a URL that is a HTTP address:

"reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\AuthManager /v ConnectionSecurityMode /t REG_SZ /d Any"

After these two commands are run, the Citrix Receiver will work as it did with the Citrix Online Plug-in and the Citrix Receiver Enterprise 3.4