A virtual workspace with a single-sign-on feature
The new Citrix Workspace app (formerly known as Citrix Receiver) provides a great user experience — a secure, contextual, and unified workspace — on any device. It gives you instant access to all your SaaS and web apps, your virtual apps, files, and desktops from an easy-to-use, all-in-one interface powered by Citrix Workspace services. This article is intended for Citrix administrators and technical teams only. Non-admin users must contact their company’s Help Desk/IT support team and can refer to CTX297149 for more information. Executing ALT+TAB keys, toggles opened applications on endpoint machine instead of Citrix Desktop session. Citrix Receiver lets you access your enterprise files, applications, and desktops to help you be as productive on the go as you are in the office. If your company uses Citrix, you have the freedom to work on your favorite device from wherever you are. Just ask your IT department how to get started. Mar 23, 2021 Citrix Workspace app can be used on domain and non-domain joined PCs, tablets, and thin clients. Provides high performance use of virtualized Skype for Business, line of business and HDX 3D Pro engineering apps, multimedia, local app access. Citrix Receiver lets you access your enterprise files, applications, and desktops to help you be as productive on the go as you are in the office. If your company uses Citrix, you have the freedom to work on your favorite device from wherever you are. Just ask your IT department how to get started.
Adapting the modern workstyles and complex IT environments are both exhausting and frustrating as you’re forced to remember various account details for every single virtual app you owned. Not to mention the performance and security issues you’ll need to bear every time you’re bound to change from different devices. These situations are not only a waste of your time but also a big hindrance to your productivity in a day.
The good thing is there’s a simple way to resolve all of these troublesome issues. Spent more time on your productivity by using the Citrix Workspace App! This app is the latest addition to the reliable Citrix’s family of services.
An efficient virtual workspace app
The app is the most extensive technology the Citrix family of services has to offer.
Citrix Workspace App is a universal software client that allows you to instantly access anytime, anywhere all your workspace services without the trouble of individually sign-on, confusing passwords, and complicated interfaces. It’s the simplest way to work on all of your virtual apps, desktops, SaaS apps, files, and mobile apps on any device. The app isn’t only providing convenience to its users, but also offers security that stops others from interfering with your business. No doubt that this app will help you boost your productivity to a higher level!
More than just a revamped
If you’re thinking that this app came out of nowhere (or just a new addition to the family of Citrix services), well, you simply missed the highlights of Citrix Synergy 2018. The app was announced to play the role of the focal point of the end-user Citrix Workspace experience. It is the successor of Citrix Receiver, a software used primarily for connecting users to XenDesktop, XenApp desktops and applications. But there’s no need to worry since the app incorporates the full capabilities of Citrix Receiver, plus a dozen more.
Citrix is also committed in helping its customers through this transition and also working double-time to prepare significant resources you can use in simplifying the process involved in shifting through these technologies. The app’s features will come from all existing Citrix Receiver technology as well as the other Citrix client technology including the NetScaler plug-ins, XenMobile Secure Hub, ShareFile drive mapper, desktop app and sync. Additionally, it is also enhanced to deliver extra premium features concerning data loss prevention, secure access to SaaS apps, secure internet browsing capabilities, advanced search, and many more.
(In)dependent workspace app
The app is all great and efficient productivity-wise. It’s also created to look modern and appealing to the taste of its users as well as intuitive enough for beginners. However, in order to have full control of your virtual workspace, you’ll need to avail the other necessary Citrix services. The app can aggregate multiple services and deliver them through the new end-user interface but will only display the associated workspace resources to which your availed services are entitled. For instance, if you only have the Citrix Cloud XenApp and XenDesktop service, then the app will intelligently enumerate and deliver only the associated virtual apps and desktops included on your bundle. You’ll lose control with the items that do not include the XenApp and XenDesktop services such as the single-sign-on to mobile apps, SaaS apps, and web apps.
On the other hand, if you currently own multiple services including ShareFile service, then you’ll have access to all the virtual apps, desktops, and files as well as cross-service integration capabilities. It’s nice to have instant access to all your virtual apps and desktops but in order to do that, you’ll just have to spend a little and avail other Citrix services and bundles.
Citrix Appdna
Where can you run this program?
The app can be utilized in various devices including Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS, iOS and Android. You can download the app from the leading app stores or by simply visiting its official website and clicking right through the download page. Although, you’ll need to have access to Citrix Workspace Platform to unlock the app’s full capabilities. You can find the Platform in all Citrix Cloud services.
Is there a better alternative?
Since looking for the most suitable virtual workspace program for your needs can be troublesome at times, checking out one app will never be enough. Aside from Citrix Workspace, you can check out and try its well-known rival--VMware Workspace ONE. It is a digital workspace platform that delivers and manages any app on any device by integrating access control, application management, and multi-platform endpoint management. It also offers a wide range of features; most of them are comparable to what’s available in Citrix Workspace such as it's ability to give you a passwordless single sign-on to a catalog that provides easy access to virtual apps and files. VMware Workspace One isn’t necessarily better than Citrix Workspace as it works (almost) the same functions. You’ll only need to determine which product is the closest to delivering exactly what you need for you to be able to choose from the two.
Our take
The app has its own merits including the fact that it’s developed by one of the most reliable names in the digital workspace market. But for some users, this fact can also be considered as the app’s own downfall. Even if you can download the app for free, you can only fully utilize its potential by availing Citrix’s other services which come with a pricey subscription fee. The only thing that will stop you from liking the app is your unwillingness to try out the whole package of Citrix services. Overall, the app is really for user’s convenience and back-end security. It’s UI is designed perfectly modern-looking and beginner-friendly. It is also highly recommended for those who have already Citrix Receiver to start with since the app is a total upgrade of the cloud-based software.
Should you download it?
Only if you have already other Citrix services such as XenApp, XenDesktop, NetScaler, XenMobile, and ShareFile. The app will work perfectly managing your virtual apps and desktops through these services. Although you may also check out the app’s biggest rival, VMware Workspace ONE, to see which specific service fits your needs.
Highs
- Free download available
- Modern interface design
- Beginner-friendly features
- Offers single-sign-on to all your virtual apps and files
- From the reliable Citrix’s family of services
Lows
- Unlock the app’s full potential only by availing other Citrix paid services
- Needs access to Citrix Workspace Platform
- Complex transition process from Citrix Receiver to the app
Citrix Receiverfor Windows
18.8.0.0
Microsoft has recently released the new Microsoft Edge browser which is built on top of Chromium. This is a very strong proposition for the enterprise market. With all the benefits of the open source Chromium engine and the good bits of Microsoft enterprise security and manageability. However because this browser is quite fresh, it does present a few challenges when it comes to integrating it with existing products such as Citrix Storefront and Citrix Workspace. I am currently in the process of deploying new laptops, one of the key features we will use is our existing Citrix XenDesktop environment.
As of currently I find these settings to be providing the best end user experience, as it provides the users with the following experience:
- No hassle of installing or updating the Citrix Workspace app, I have configured this through the Microsoft Store.
- no struggles with receiver detection;
- no need to manually allow downloading of .ICA files;
- no user interruptions from login to desktop.
This might be contrary to modern management with which you give your end users more and more freedom of choice. But I do feel that some things just need to be taken care of for your end users. Street fighter 4rd strike.
Citrix Workspace deployment
Before we go on with the next steps we need to make sure that we have the Citrix Workspace application installed on our device. We use Microsoft Endpoint Manager (MEM) to manage our laptops. With Endpoint Manager you can easily deploy apps that are available in the Microsoft Store.
I used the same method to deploy the Citrix Workspace app. I did this using the following steps:
- Go to Apps > Windows click on the Add button and choose Microsoft store app as the application type and click on Select.
- Enter the application details, such as the Name, Description, Publisher.:
- The application URL can be determined by visiting the Microsoft store, and searching for the Citrix Workspace application.
- If all went well you can click on Next.
- In the next window you can select your preferred assignments. Assign the application to a group, or whatever your prefer and click on Next.
- You can now click on Create to create your application deployment.
After a while you should end up with a Citrix Workspace application installed on your machine. There are off course numerous other ways to get the Citrix Workspace application installed on a managed device. But this method provided is a modern and commonly used method.
Citrix Receiver/ Workspace detection
Citrix Receiver or Workspace detection is quite troublesome when it comes the new Microsoft Edge browser. As of now I could not find any information on how to make this detection work. From the past I can remember that is quite troublesome anyway. Because we already provided our end users with a Citrix Workspace app using the previously described Citrix Workspace deployment through the Windows Store. We can skip the receiver detection all together. Citrix has this process documented and it requires modification of the StoreFront web.config file.
For your convenience I have included the required steps below:
- Find the web.config file on your StoreFront server. This is typically located in the C:inetpubwwwrootCitrix<storename>Web directory. Replace <storename> with the name of your StoreFront store.
- With the file open, search for the phrase protocolHandler.
- Look for the entry with protocolHandler inside, in my case it was formatted as follows:
- Now go ahead make the change, and change <protocolHandler enabled=”true” to <protocolHandler enabled= “false”
- Save the web.config file and restart iis using iisreset (from an elevated command prompt.
- Note: if you have multiple StoreFront servers make sure that you apply the configuration change on each of your StoreFront servers.
Now if you revisit the StoreFront webpage, you should automatically be taken to the desktop list. Now you can open the preferred desktop without getting bothered by the Citrix Receiver detection. Tales of berseria kamoana.
Desktop not opened automatically
So there we go, Citrix Workspace/ Receiver detection is working. But wait, lets open a desktop. Dang, another user interruption:
The .ICA desktop file is not automatically opened due to the security features of the Microsoft Edge browser. This prevents automatic opening of downloaded files, which is essentially what is happening when you click on a desktop to launch. Fair enough, you need this kind of security nowadays. Luckily we can overcome this by setting specific Edge policies.
We need to set two edge policies in order to allow downloads of ICA files. If you have not done so already, you can create a device configuration profile in Microsoft Endpoint Manager in order to manage Microsoft Edge. You can also use traditional GPO’s, the policy names should be the same. I will guide you through the Endpoint Manager method in this article.
- In Microsoft Endpoint Manager, go to Devices and click on Configuration profiles
- Click on Create profile and choose Windows 10 and later as a platform and Administrative Templates as a profile. Click on Create
- Give the profile a sensible name, and click on Next.
- The first policy that we need to configure is: List of file types that should be automatically opened on download so search for that in the configuration settings. The setting type can be either device or user as a setting type. Configure ica as a file type:
Citrix App Providence
5. Next up we want to make sure that our configuration is still secure. You don’t want to be wildly allowing ICA files to be opened from anywhere. So we need to set the additional setting URLs where AutoOpenFileTypes can apply. Set this to your StoreFront location:
6. Now we can finish up the wizard. Make sure you set the assignment to a group that you require.
You should now wait a while in order to allow Endpoint Manager to apply the configuration profile. But this should get rid of the extra download step from a user perspective.
Citrix Workspace Add Account pop-up
Once the desktop is launched, you will also notice the Citrix Workspace Add account pop-up.
This is not directly related to Edge, but I tried to make this article as complete as possible. You can disable this pop-up manually by selecting the checkbox Do not show this window automatically at logon.
One other option is to distribute the following registry key to your clients: Djordje balasevic diskografija download.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesCitrixEnableFTU=dword:00000000
Deployment of registry keys is somewhat limited using Microsoft Endpoint Manager. But current ways of doing this are:
- Using PowerShell scripts
- using custom MSI’s or other ways of installing the registry key.
I will walk you through the PowerShell method. For convenience I have included the PowerShell script as well. Here are the steps that you should take:
Citrix App Protection
- From the Microsoft Endpoint Manager console, go to devices and then go to scripts. Click on Add to add a new script. Choose Windows 10.
- First you need the script saved in a .ps1 file, the script that I used is the following:
New-Item -Path HKLM:SoftwarePoliciesCitrix
New-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:SoftwarePoliciesCitrix -Name EnableFTU -PropertyType DWORD -Value 0
This script is really simple, it first created the Citrix path, followed by a DWORD registry entry. - Next up in the MEM console, give the script a name. And click Next.
- Select the script and leave all other toggles to its default value (we want to run the script under the SYSTEM context and not the user context)
- Select Next, assign the script to a group and finish up the script.
Citrix Apple
Now give MEM some time to distribute and execute the script.
Conclusion and wrap-up
This concludes this guide of using Citrix Workspace and Microsoft Edge together. The Edge browser is great and should be a great competitor in the browser space for the coming years. But is still very fresh, which does present some challenges currently. There is not a lot of information out there yet.
I hope this article helped you to overcome some of the challenges you will face with Citrix in conjunction with Microsoft Edge. If you have any other suggestions for Citrix and Microsoft Edge (Chromium) feel free to add them in the comments down below and I will make sure I will update the article accordingly.