Remko Weijnen's Blog (Remko's Blog)

About Virtualization, VDI, SBC, Application Compatibility and anything else I feel like

Archive for the ‘Citrix’ Category

Yesterday I was troubleshooting an application that was migrated to Citrix XenApp.

The application is able to use a high precision scale which is attached to the client pc’s com port. This com port is redirected to XenApp.

While testing users reported several issues, let’s have a look at them.

Error configuring COM Port
Within the application the comport to which the scale is connected must be configured:

De compoort lezer staat uit

After pressing "Registreer" to register the new com port the following error message was shown

Er staat geen compoort in het register. Registreer eerste de juiste compoort

(more…)

Today’s blog is about an application that was migrated to Citrix XenApp. During testing the users reported that several application menu’s were missing.

An example is the settings menu where the System tab is missing:

Fat Client:XenApp:
clip_image002[5]clip_image002

I suspected a permissions issue so I added the account to the Local Administrator group to verify that. And indeed the System tab was visible.

Process Monitor
I removed the account from the Administrators group and fired up Process Monitor. I set a filter on the process name (ra60.exe) and on Result (ACCESS DENIED):

SNAGHTML1b3aa033

(more…)

  • 5 Comments
  • Filed under: Citrix, Packaging
  • Scriptable Citrix Password Encoder

    A while ago I published a tool to Encode and Decode Citrix passwords. Today I am publishing a small update to this tool that makes it scriptable by adding a COM interface.

    If you start the tool without parameters you will get the GUI, just like before:

    Encrypt | Decrypt Password | Hash | Citrix | Ctx1

    To use the COM interface you first need to register the executable with the /regserver switch:

    CtxPass /RegServer

    After the registration you can call it using any language that supports COM. To get you started I wrote a few examples

    (more…)

    The case of the COM Port Redirection

    SecutestOne of my colleagues asked me to assist in troubleshooting an application called SmartWare FM running on Citrix XenApp.

    This application reads data from an external device called SECUTEST.

    The device is connected to a COM port which is redirected to the XenApp session. In contrast to Microsoft Remote Desktop Services COM ports are not automatically redirected in XenApp but need to be mapped via eg a logonscript (NET USE COM1: \\Client\COM1:) or using UEM.

    In my case the COM port was mapped with RES Workspace Manager:

    image

    (more…)

    The case of the missing audio

    Yesterday I was asked to investigate a problem with a presentation pc. Even though the volume was set maximal there was not audio output.

    The machine was used to connect to a Citrix XenApp desktop and RES Workspace Extender was used to integrate local applications in the XenApp desktop.

    The local sound volume control was published as a subscribed application so I launched that and verified that the volume was set to Maximum:

    Volumeregeling

    I decided to launch the local explorer shell and noticed that there were two volume control icons in the Traybar:

    Volume Controls

    (more…)

    File:VMware ThinApp v4.0 icon.pngOne of the lesser known features of VMware ThinApp is that you can supply a Virtual Computer name.

    This is documented as follows in the package.ini reference guide:

    VirtualComputerName Parameter
    The VirtualComputerName parameter determines whether to rename the computer name, to avoid naming conflicts between the capture process and the deployment process.

    (more…)

    License Check fails on Citrix XenApp

    imageToday I was asked to assist in getting an Excel Add-In to work on Citrix XenApp.

    The application was packaged into a Thinapp by one of our package engineers.

    However when testing the Add-In on Citrix XenApp the following message appeared:

    image

    Apparently this application does a license check that fails when run from another server (how bad).

    Disclaimer
    Before we go on: I would like to make clear that my goal is not to be able to use an application without license. I am just trying to make it work within the customer’s environment.

    (more…)

  • 0 Comments
  • Filed under: Citrix
  • Another interesting issue today with an application that runs on Citrix XenApp.

    Environment
    Customer has a Citrix XenApp 5 environment running on Windows Server 2003. Clients are all Windows XP and run the Citrix Online Plugin 12.3 full screen.

    RES Workspace Extender is used to integrate locally installed application into the XenApp Session. Users have no access to the local desktop.

    Symptoms
    This particular application scans invoices using a USB scanner attached to the client and runs them trough a workflow.
    Whenever the Start scan button was pressed the application froze.

    SNAGHTML48ec098

     

    (more…)

  • 1 Comment
  • Filed under: Citrix
  • imageSome applications use the computer’s name as a unique identifier, rather than using the user name. In a single-user-per-computer environment, this strategy works well.

    However, in a Multi User environment such as Citrix XenApp or Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Server), all connected users report the same computername.

    If the application relies on unique computernames to handle tasks such as file and record locking, then the application will fail.

    imageWe can however set an Application Compatibility Flag in the registry to return the username instead of the computername.

    To demonstrate this behaviour I wrote a small Test Application called TestAppCompatFlags.exe.

    (more…)

    Twain LogoScanners attached to client machines can be used from within a Citrix XenApp session via a mechanism called Twain Redirection.

    For this mechanism to work correctly the file twain_32.dll must be present in the Windows directory.

    On Windows 2008 this dll should be copied from winsxs (side by side) to the windows directory as described in CTX123981.

    On Windows 2003 the dll is already in the correct directory, however applications that are not Terminal Server Aware cannot find this dll because the Windows directory is redirected to the user profile. Citrix recommends copying twain_32.dll to each user’s profile directory but this will take up unnecessary space.

    So what alternatives do we have?

    (more…)

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