Receiver 4.2 not deleting desktop shortcuts on logoff

[Gwyn Williams]

I'm using Receiver 4.2 within a published desktop, to launch apps from the desktop (like users have been doing for 25 years!) rather going into a new-fangled app chooser that will probably look completely different next year because Citrix like to change everything all the time.

 

I have the Receiver GPO set up to remove the icons on Exit and on Logoff.  But it doesn't work.  My Desktop folder is redirected, and all the receiver isons remains after logoff.

 

The effect of this is that a whole new set of icons are created on EVERY logon, so for every published app icon, there are (1), (2), (3), etc. versions of each.

 

The 'delete on exit' works fine - when I close Receiver mid-session, the icons remove correctly.

 

Do you know why there icons aren't being deleted on logoff?  Is Receiver a bit slow to close when the session logs off?

[Thomas Mora]

We are also experiencing the same problem. We redirect the "Start Menu" and the "Desktop". It seems like whenever an end user launches Receiver for the first time on a new computer it will create shortcuts in the redirected Start Menu or Desktop even though the application shortcuts already exist. As a result end users get duplicate shortcuts for ever new computer the end user logs into.

 

To work around the issue we were going to enable the remove shortcuts on exit and remove shortcuts on logoff options but it seems like these settings don't remove the shortcuts when the end user logs off of the workstation. However, if the end user right-clicks the Reciever in the system tray and selects "Exit" or "Log Off" then the shortcuts get deleted accordingly.

 

Did you find anything for this issue? We were going to open a ticket with Citrix concerning this.

[Donald Stewart]

I am experiencing something similiar.  The shortcuts are not deleted on user account logoff.  The user logs in again, however, it takes some time for the receiver to start and connect to the storefront.  If the user attampts to launch an application or desktop from the shortcut they receive an error.  After a few minutes when the receive connects to the storefront things are fine.  In the mean time I am getting complaints from users that things don't work.  If I log off manually from the receiver is does remove the shortscuts.

[Dominik Britz]

I know it is a weird workaround, but it works for me.

 

1. Add C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\SelfServicePlugin\SelfService.exe -poll in your loginscript so that the receiver really connects and checks for assigned apps

2. Add C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\SelfServicePlugin\SelfService.exe -logoff to your logoffscript so that the receiver forces the log off process for the logged on user

See http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX138514 for more information

[Gwyn Williams]

Hi Dominik, thanks for posting your workaround.  The "legacy PNAgent" functionality in 4.2.100 is far, far too buggy for me to consider going live with it, so I've admitted defeat and have gone back to 3.4 Enterprise CU3.

[Thomas Mora]

We opened a ticket with Citrix and they stated that the delete apps on logoff option is only intended to work when end users actually logoff from the receiver. Either by right-clicking on the Receiver in the system tray and select logoff or opening the Receiver interface and selecting logoff. It is not meant to work if the end user just logs off the computer.

 

I don't find this acceptable. With the old enterprise client and the Web Interface options to remove shortcuts on logoff the shortcuts were removed when the end user logged off the computer. According to Citrix I would have to put in a feature request so that they can look into it for future releases.

 

We had tried what Dominik suggested regarding the logoff script to send the logoff command to Receiver but the results are sporadic. It seems like sometimes the user logs off of the computer before the command can finish sometimes.

[Dominik Britz]

I suggest to write a script, which does the receiver logoff, sleep some seconds, terminates the receiver.exe and waits for a successfull exit. If you can live with the extra time at logoff you should be save. As I wrote earlier, I know it is weird to do these things, but at least it is working.

[Helen Clarkson1709155264]

If it helps I have found that this icon duplication only occurs when you delete the user's profile. So, user has already logged on, Receiver has created icons on desktop.  You then log the user off and delete their profile, but you don't delete the desktop icons (probably because you have a redirected desktop).  Log the user back on and the icons get duplicated. 

 

So if you are getting this behaviour on a day to day basis  then it sounds like you are not saving enough of the profile.  I am saving AppData\Local\Citrix, AppData\Roaming\ICAClient and AppData\Roaming\Citrix.  I haven't done anything to try and track down which folder it is but I suspect you might not be saving off the AppData\Local\Citrix at logoff?

[Thorsten Lambrecht1709155778]

Here is one external link, as Citrix is rearranging their docs at the moment, links to the docs are a bad idea :-(

http://jhmeier.de/2014/12/03/citrix-receiver-4-2-startmenu-integration/

The Options RemoveAppsOnLogOff and RemoveAppsOnExit should be the ones you are searching for.

 

Regards

Thorsten

 

[Tristan Dawson]

Hi All, I know this thread is a few months old, but I thought I'd add my 2c anyway - Thanks for the great tips above!

 

Below is the relevant portion of my logoff script to clean up the Receiver Start Menu shortcuts. Note that I'm using Receiver v4.3, and in the release of v4.3, Citrix (in their wisdom), decided to change the path to the executable. ugh..

 

Michel has a good post on it here:
http://discussions.citrix.com/topic/367023-receiver-43-driving-the-receiver-from-commandline/

I had to put 'start /wait' in front of the command, otherwise my Windows 8.1 machines would shut down prior to the Receiver logoff process finishing, and thus I was getting sporadic results.. Your results may vary..

 

I agree that this isn't the most elegant way to do this, but it does work :) I've also noticed with Receiver v4.3 I no longer need a logon script which contains the -poll command (I previously need this with Receiver v4.1) - which in my view is a positive step forward.

 

I've also got the 'RemoveAppsOnLogOff' and 'RemoveAppsOnExit' set via Group Policy (as per the link that Thorsten posted above) to ensure icons are deleted when the logoff script is run.

 

My environment is as follows:

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.6 - Server 2012 R2 & Server 2008 R2

Storefront 2.6 - Server 2012 R2

Receiver 4.3 - Windows 8.1

 

And here's my logoff script code (Batch file):

 

 

::Detecting OS processor type

 

if "%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%"=="AMD64" goto 64BIT

echo 32-bit OS

start "" /wait "C:\Program Files\Citrix\ICA Client\SelfServicePlugin\SelfService.exe" -logoff

goto END

 

:64BIT

echo 64-bit OS

start "" /wait "C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\ICA Client\SelfServicePlugin\SelfService.exe" -logoff

:END

 

 

Hopefully someone finds this useful.

 

Additionally, here's a Citrix article update to CTX138514 that Dominik posted above. It shows (amongst other things) new command line options of Receiver 4.2+, some of which didn't exist in previous versions:

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX200337

[Andy Snailham]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\Dazzle]

"RemoveAppsOnLogOff"="True"

"RemoveAppsOnExit"="True"

"ReuseStubs"="true"

 

fixes this for us

[Sascha Friedl1709157956]

We have the issue, too.

 

Server 2016 (6.1.7601.244756.1.7601.24475) with VDA 7.15.4000.653 and the Citrix Workspace App 1812 with SSO enabled installed. We use a MCS based deployment. We configuerd the Workspace app via admx file and set in the "Manage App Shortcut" Setting the options "Remove apps on Logoff" and "Remove apps on Exit". We use a redireced Desktop and pusch the app icons from the workspace app to the desktop. all works fine. But when we reset the profile and the user logon again, the old links will be still there. Any new idea?

[Alexander Ollischer1709156587]

Dear all,

 

have a look at: https://blog.ollischer.com/citrix-receiver-for-windows-remove-orphaned-start-menu-shortcuts-andor-folders

 

Maybe this helps

 

kind regards

Alex