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ICA download on Safari 12


Andreas Vogelsang

Question

Hello, everybody,

with the last update to Safari 12, I now have the following problem in my organization. When someone starts an application from the web page, the ICA file is now downloaded and does not run or start automatically.
Now you always have to click on the ICA file to start the application. The ICA file will be deleted afterwards but it would be better not to click on it again.

 

The problem occurs with the Citrix Workspace App version 18.8.0.35 as well as with the old Citrix Receiver 12

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  • 4
3 hours ago, Andreas Vogelsang said:

Hi,

 

Thanks for the quick answer. I adapted the web.config yesterday. 
Do you know if I can set Safari to open the file automatically? I think Chrome is able to do it.

 

I just found a potential solution last night for the ICA file opening automatically. It's worked for me in my initial testing, but I only have a couple of Macs so it's not something I need to deploy widely.

 

Create a text file in ~/Library/Preferences/ named com.apple.DownloadAssessment.plist and populate it with the following (if the file already exists, this may need to be changed slightly - in my case the file did not exist):

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com-PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> 
<plist version="1.0"> 
    <dict> 
        <key>LSRiskCategorySafe</key> 
        <dict> 
            <key>LSRiskCategoryExtensions</key> 
            <array> 
                <string>ica</string>  
            </array> 
        </dict> 
    </dict> 
</plist>

 

 

Source: https://www.blackmanticore.com/1c569206754935dacb0dc6b89ca818b8

 

 

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Hi Andreas,

 

With the new Safari 12, Apple has increased the security wall around Safari. One of the steps they took is to deprecate Safari Plugins and Legacy Safari Extensions. This can be solved by changing a configuration in your storefront as explained in this blog

https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2018/08/03/npapi-support-is-being-removed-from-safari-12/

 

However, even with this approach, each time you launch any application, Safari will throw up a popup to allow the launching of the app.

 

If using other browsers like Chrome and Firefox is feasible, you may switch your browser for a better user experience.

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  • 1

--- Issue solved ---

 

Thank you very much @benjyb. Your proposed solution below helped to solve the issue with Safari 12 on Apple Mac. The ICA file now opens automatically as before and as wished. Fantastic!

 

17 hours ago, Benjamin Brockmann said:

 

I just found a potential solution last night for the ICA file opening automatically. It's worked for me in my initial testing, but I only have a couple of Macs so it's not something I need to deploy widely.

 

Create a text file in ~/Library/Preferences/ named com.apple.DownloadAssessment.plist and populate it with the following (if the file already exists, this may need to be changed slightly - in my case the file did not exist):


<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com-PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> 
<plist version="1.0"> 
    <dict> 
        <key>LSRiskCategorySafe</key> 
        <dict> 
            <key>LSRiskCategoryExtensions</key> 
            <array> 
                <string>ica</string>  
            </array> 
        </dict> 
    </dict> 
</plist>

 

 

Source: https://www.blackmanticore.com/1c569206754935dacb0dc6b89ca818b8

 

 

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5 hours ago, Andreas Vogelsang said:

To be honest it isn't the best answer because user have to do something but it is working perfectly! 

So thank you!

 

I completely agree - it's a poor option, but it gets it working for the few Macs I support. I don't understand why Apple doesn't have an option to "Always open files of this type", or at least a way to do it via a settings panel.

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Just now, wesseli wesseli said:

I have created the file and saved in the folder but the Citrix application was not started automatically :-(. What can I do or check?

 

You may verify that the file format is .plist and not .txt.

Did you close Safari before trying again?

 

btw. another solution I heard is to just double-click on the .ica file. I did not try on my own yet.

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On 9/21/2018 at 6:56 AM, Jochen Hanselmann said:

 

You may verify that the file format is .plist and not .txt.

Did you close Safari before trying again?

 

btw. another solution I heard is to just double-click on the .ica file. I did not try on my own yet.

I heard about this problem but got caught when MacOS automatically updated Safari to version 12 without asking me :(

 

I can verify that double clicking on the .ica file works. The easiest solution/workaround I have found is to simply click on the .ica file when it appears under the download button at the top right of the Safari window. Citrix even delete the file out of your download folder so you don't end up with a bunch of miscellaneous .ica files hanging around. 

 

According to Wikipedia, Safari was actually one of the last browsers to continue supporting NPAPI. The protocol is over 20 years old and firms started moving away from it over 5 years ago, so the main question is why does Citrix continue to use it? Given Apple announced they were dropping support several months ago and other browsers are doing the same, the fact that Citrix doesn't have a solution in place already seems to indicate rather poor planning.

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1 hour ago, Steve Marsh said:

I have created the file and saved it in the folder but the Citrix application did not started automatically for me either, I can however confirm that it works by clicking on the ica file although not ideal and would prefer a more permenant solution.

Did you restart Safari and/or your Mac? Actually I had the same problem but after restarting the Mac it worked. Maybe it helps.

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1 hour ago, Steve Marsh said:

Yes restarted mac mini (10.13.6) and safari 12 but it makes no difference and just proceeds to download ica file.

 

attached created file if anyone can see if there is anything wrong with it which was placed in ~/library/preferences/ 

com.apple.DownloadAssessment.plist

 

I'm not certain why it wouldn't work then. Make sure you're including the ~ before /library/preferences - I forgot it once and put the settings in the system version of that location, and it doesn't work there. The ~/library/preferences version is the user specific location. If you were prompted for a password when placing or creating the file, it's probably the wrong place (that's what clued me in when I was trying to figure out why it didn't work on one of the machines).

 

I noticed your file also has a blank line at the beginning of the file - I don't know if that can affect it, but I'd try removing it.

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19 hours ago, Benjamin Brockmann said:

 

I'm not certain why it wouldn't work then. Make sure you're including the ~ before /library/preferences - I forgot it once and put the settings in the system version of that location, and it doesn't work there. The ~/library/preferences version is the user specific location. If you were prompted for a password when placing or creating the file, it's probably the wrong place (that's what clued me in when I was trying to figure out why it didn't work on one of the machines).

 

I noticed your file also has a blank line at the beginning of the file - I don't know if that can affect it, but I'd try removing it.

 

Yes definately in the right place and double checked, also removed the blank line but it hasn't made any difference.

 

Thanks for your help though.

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On 9/24/2018 at 11:33 AM, Steve Marsh said:

I have created the file and saved it in the folder but the Citrix application did not started automatically for me either, I can however confirm that it works by clicking on the ica file although not ideal and would prefer a more permenant solution.

 

@stevemar,

 

Did you try modifying Storefront as described in the post by @Tejus Adiga M?

 

 

On 9/19/2018 at 9:38 AM, Tejus Adiga M said:

Hi Andreas,

 

With the new Safari 12, Apple has increased the security wall around Safari. One of the steps they took is to deprecate Safari Plugins and Legacy Safari Extensions. This can be solved by changing a configuration in your storefront as explained in this blog

https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2018/08/03/npapi-support-is-being-removed-from-safari-12/

 

However, even with this approach, each time you launch any application, Safari will throw up a popup to allow the launching of the app.

 

If using other browsers like Chrome and Firefox is feasible, you may switch your browser for a better user experience.

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On 2.10.2018 at 9:55 AM, John Quirke said:

 

@stevemar,

 

Did you try modifying Storefront as described in the post by @Tejus Adiga M?

 

 

 

The solution described by @Tejus Adiga M seems to explain only a path on Windows. At least I can't find it on Mac.

In addition I realize that the solution with the .pslist by @Benjamin Brockmann does not work for me any more since upgrading auf Citrix Receiver 12.9.1. However, double-clicking on the .ica file in the download folder resp. in the download section on top right of Safari works.

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Hello johans2018,

 

 

5 minutes ago, Jochen Hanselmann said:

 

The solution described by @Tejus Adiga M seems to explain only a path on Windows. At least I can't find it on Mac.

In addition I realize that the solution with the .pslist by @Benjamin Brockmann does not work for me any more since upgrading auf Citrix Receiver 12.9.1. However, double-clicking on the .ica file in the download folder resp. in the download section on top right of Safari works.

 

The path I mentioned is to be changed on the Storefront server. The storefront is commonly installed on DDC.

 

Tejus

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@stevemar,

 

Did you try modifying Storefront as described in the post by @TejusAdigaM?

 

We dont have access to the storefront to change anything as we can only log into a cloud based service.  We have tried the above method on 3 seperate mac mini's all running 10.13.6 but to no avail, keep having to restore system from time machine as we also keep getting the safari updates installed even though they get hidden each time as the seem to get installed with other security updates. We do click on more to open the updates and hide all safari updates but it seems to override the hidden updates and still install safari updates.

 

Do anyone know if or when a new receiver or workspace app is going to be available that will work in safari 12 ?

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Frankly, it's ridiculous that Citrix doesn't fix this without having to jump through hoops.

There should be a native client (plugin) for Safari written without npapi.

There should be a native Chrome extension written without npapi.

Citrix is a multi billion dollar company.

They could have this done in a few weeks if they assigned programming resources to it.

Throwing their hands up and saying "welp npapi support is gone, oh well..." is ridiculous.

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10 minutes ago, Network Admin said:

Frankly, it's ridiculous that Citrix doesn't fix this without having to jump through hoops.

There should be a native client (plugin) for Safari written without npapi.

There should be a native Chrome extension written without npapi.

Citrix is a multi billion dollar company.

They could have this done in a few weeks if they assigned programming resources to it.

Throwing their hands up and saying "welp npapi support is gone, oh well..." is ridiculous.

It has been been fixed in Storefront 1903:

https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/storefront/downloads/storefront-1903.pdf (See fixed issues)

 

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7 minutes ago, John Quirke said:

It has been been fixed in Storefront 1903:

https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/storefront/downloads/storefront-1903.pdf (See fixed issues)

 

Not really. This is a problem on the client side. Were there a native plugin there would be no issue. I tried the web.config fixes mentioned, it still doesn't work. Still beside the point actually, they need to release a non npapi plugin or extension.

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On 5/8/2020 at 2:41 PM, John Vigilia said:

im testing these fixes on MacOS Mojave 10.14.6 2 with Safari 13.1 and Citrix WorkSpace 2002 > Fails to launch ica file automatically.  File goes into "downloads" and mustbe clicked on there.  Has anyone resolved this?

It works in Safari 13.1 - make sure you change the plist file from RTF to TXT format- In TextEdit select format > Make Plain Text > Save file. Finally, replace the .txt extension with .plist.

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