Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktop 7 2109
Citrix have released a new version of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop 7 2109. So its time to upgrade your environment before Winter, a good time to clean up and update your environment and start good before winter is here :O).
Important features are support for the new bloomberg5 keyboard, improved UX support for Microsoft Teams and Windows 11 across all Citrix components.
Release 7 2109 is now available for download, 1th October, 2021.
Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktop 7 2109 is a CR release. Read more about CR here
Citrix Virtual Apps (former name: XenApp) Citrix Virtual Desktop (former name: XenDesktop)
Citrix raises the bar of for user experience and new product release of following technologies:
- Windows 11 support
- Director 2109
- Citrix Licensing 11.17.2
- Virtual Delivery Agents 2109 for ServerOS and ClientOS
- Virtual Delivery Agent 2109 for Linux
- Citrix Federated Authentication Service 2109
- Citrix Provisioning 2109
- Profile Management 2109
- Workspace Environment Management 2109
- Session Recording 2109
- Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop Service (October 2021)
- Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop Standard for Azure (October 2021)
- Citrix Cloud Health Check
- Workspace App 2109 for Windows
- Workspace App 2109 for Linux
- Workspace App 2109 for Chrome
- Workspace App 2109 for Android
- Workspace App 2109 for MacOS
- Workspace App 2109 for HTML5
- Workspace App 2109 for ChromeOS
What’s new in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop 7 2109
Windows 11 support
The Citrix components, features, and technologies in this release that support the Windows 10 OS now also support Windows 11, unless otherwise noted. For more information, see Windows 11 support.
Splitting a single database script into separate scripts that require different database rights
In enterprise environments, database setup includes scripts that might be handled by different teams with different roles (rights): securityadmin or db_owner. Previously, PowerShell was your only choice to specify the preferred database rights to generate the corresponding scripts. When using Citrix Studio to set up the database, you can now automatically get separate database scripts that require different database rights. For more information, see Databases.
Citrix Director 7 2109
Citrix Licensing 11.17.2
Support for 4096 key size in self-signed certificates
From this release onwards, the key size supported in self-signed certificates is 4096 only. Uninstall the existing License Server and install the upgraded version (11.17.2.0 build 36000) which contains the 4096 key length self-signed certificate. To create your own self-signed certificate, see Get started.
OpenSSL version upgrade
OpenSSL version: 1.1.1k
Apache version update
Apache version 2.4.48.
Virtual Delivery Agents (VDAs) 7 2109 for Windows Desktop/Server OS.
Version 2109 of the Windows single-session OS and multi-session OS VDAs includes the following enhancements. These items are in addition to any VDA installation and upgrade items listed earlier in this article.
Adaptive audio
With adaptive audio, you don’t need to manually configure the audio quality policies on the VDA. Adaptive audio optimizes settings for your environment and replaces obsolete audio compression formats to provide an excellent user experience. Adaptive audio is enabled by default. For more information, see Adaptive audio.
Adaptive audio requires Citrix Workspace app for Windows, Linux, or Mac 2109 or later.
NOTE:
If UDP audio delivery is required for real-time audio applications, adaptive audio must be disabled on the VDA to allow fallback to UDP audio delivery.
Virtual display layout on the VDA
The virtual display layout feature, already a part of Citrix Workspace app for Windows, is now also a part of the VDA. This feature lets you define a virtual monitor layout on the VDA inside a live session and virtually split the session monitors into up to eight virtual displays on the remote desktop. For more information, see Virtual display layout.
Virtual channel security update
The Virtual channel allow list is now enabled by default. To use custom or third-party virtual channels, you must manually add them. For more information, see Virtual channel security.
Multi-session VDA install and upgrade: Restore on install and upgrade failure
You can enable a restore on failure feature when installing or upgrading a multi-session VDA. When this feature is enabled, the machine is returned to a server backup performed before the install or upgrade starts if the VDA install or upgrade fails. For details, see Restore on install or upgrade failure.
Virtual Delivery Agents (VDAs) 7 2107 for Linux
Version 2109 of the Linux VDA includes the following new features and enhancements:
Support for HDX screen sharing (experimental)
As an experimental feature, the Linux VDA now lets you share the screen of your virtual desktop with session users on other virtual desktops. The screen sharing feature is disabled by default. For more information, see HDX screen sharing.
Citrix Virtual Channel Software Development Kit (SDK) for the Linux VDA (experimental)
Citrix Virtual Channel SDK for the Linux VDA is now available. With the Virtual Channel SDK, you can write server-side applications to run on the VDA. For more information, see the Citrix Virtual Channel SDK for the Linux VDA documentation.
Citrix Virtual Channel SDK for the Linux VDA is available for download at the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops download page. Expand the appropriate version of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and click Components to select the Linux VDA download.
FAS support for VDAs using PBIS
You can now use Federated Authentication Service (FAS) to authenticate users logging on to a Linux VDA that was joined to a Windows domain using PowerBroker Identity Services (PBIS). When you select PBIS while running ctxfascfg.sh, enter the host name of the Key Distribution Center (KDC) as prompted by the script. For more information, see Configure Federated Authentication Service.
Linux streaming support for RHEL 8.4, RHEL 7.9, and SUSE 12.5
Using the Linux streaming feature with Citrix Provisioning, you can provision Linux virtual desktops directly in the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops environment. For more information, see Use Citrix Provisioning to create Linux VMs.
Keyboard layout synchronization support for MATE desktop
We have extended the keyboard layout synchronization support to MATE desktop. Anytime the keyboard layout on your client device changes, the layout on your VDA where you installed the MATE desktop environment follows suit. For more information, see Dynamic keyboard layout synchronization.
Session data query utility
We now provide a utility (ctxsdcutil) that you can use to query session data on each Linux VDA. To query the following data of all sessions or a specific session hosted on a VDA, run the /opt/Citrix/VDA/bin/ctxsdcutil -q <all | SessionID> [-c] command. The [-c] argument means to query data every second.
- Input Session Bandwidth
- Output Session Bandwidth
- Output Session Line Speed
- Latency – Last Recorded
- Round Trip Time
- Output ThinWire Bandwidth
- Output Audio Bandwidth
- Output Printer Bandwidth
- Input Drive Bandwidth
- Output Drive Bandwidth
New Linux session metrics are available
We have added the following metrics for you to track, aggregate, and visualize the performance of your Linux sessions:
- Logon durationLogon duration is a measure of the logon process from the time a user connects from Citrix Workspace app to the time when a session is ready to use. You can view this metric on the Monitor tab of the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service. Monitor is available as the Director console to monitor and troubleshoot Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Current Release and LTSR deployments.
- Session auto reconnect countYou can now view the number of auto reconnects in a Linux session through the Trends view of both Citrix Director and Monitor. Auto reconnect is enabled when the Session Reliability or the Auto Client Reconnect policies are in effect. For more information about session reconnections, see Sessions. For more information about policies, see Auto client reconnect policy settings and Session reliability policy settings.
Citrix Federated Authentication Service 2109
Connect to a different Citrix Cloud
The Connect to Citrix Cloud wizard now allows you to select which cloud to connect to. You can connect to ‘Citrix Cloud’ (default), ‘Citrix Cloud Japan’, or ‘Citrix Cloud US Government’.
FAS 2109 PowerShell cmdlets
The FAS PowerShell cmdlets have been republished as version 2109.
Citrix Provisioning 2109
Windows 11 support
The Citrix components, features, and technologies in this release that support the Windows 10 OS now also support Windows 11, unless otherwise noted. For more information, see Windows 11 support.
Azure VMware support
Citrix Machine Creation Services now supports the Azure VMware solution as a hypervisor.
Support for new Linux streaming target devices
For Linux streaming, the following operating systems are now supported:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.9
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5
See Streaming Linux target devices for details.
Citrix Profile Management 7 2109
This release includes the following new features and enhancements. It also addresses several issues that help to improve overall performance and stability.
Windows 11 support
The Citrix components, features, and technologies in this release that support the Windows 10 OS now also support Windows 11, unless otherwise noted. For more information, see Windows 11 support.
Automatically reattach detached VHDX disks in sessions
Citrix Profile Management offers the following VHDX-based policies: Search index roaming for Outlook, Profile container, and Accelerate folder mirroring. Each policy relies on relevant VHDX virtual disks to function properly. Profile Management attaches those disks during logons and detaches them during logoffs. However, the disks might be accidentally detached during a session preventing the policies from functioning properly. Profile Management can now detect when a VHDX virtual disk is detached in a session and then reattach it automatically. This design ensures the stability of VHDX-based solutions. For more information, see Automatically reattach detached VHDX disks in sessions.
Profile roaming support for non-domain-joined VDA machines in a customer-managed Azure subscription (preview)
Citrix Profile Management now supports user profile roaming on non-domain-joined VDA machines in a customer-managed Azure subscription. A user’s profile (including the user’s personal settings, files, and folders) can now roam with the user when the user logs on to a non-domain-joined VDA session. For more information, see Profile roaming for non-domain-joined VDA machines (preview).
Citrix Workspace Environment Management 2109
Workspace Environment Management 2109 includes the following new features. For information about bug fixes, see Fixed issues.
Support for Windows 11
The Citrix components, features, and technologies in this release that support the Windows 10 OS now also support Windows 11, unless otherwise noted. For more information, see Windows 11 support.
Support for running Workspace Environment Management in FIPS mode
You can now run Workspace Environment Management (WEM) in a FIPS environment. See FIPS support for information on FIPS-related configurations in WEM and upgrade and agent considerations.
Citrix Session Recording 2109
The 2109 release includes the following new feature and addresses issues to improve the user experience:
Windows 11 support
The Citrix components, features, and technologies in this release that support the Windows 10 OS now also support Windows 11, unless otherwise noted. For more information, see Windows 11 support.
Support for event data visualization
Event data visualization is now available in the web player for each recording. It provides graphical event statistics that help you quickly comprehend large numbers of events inserted in recordings, allowing you to easily see and communicate event trends. For more information, see View graphical event statistics in the Session Recording web player article.
Monitor registry modifications
We have extended the scope of event detection to monitor the following registry modifications while recording sessions:
| Registry modification | Corresponding event |
|---|---|
| Adding a key | Registry Create |
| Adding a value | Registry Set Value |
| Renaming a key | Registry Rename |
| Renaming a value | Registry Delete Value and Registry Set Value |
| Changing an existing value | Registry Set Value |
| Deleting a key | Registry Delete |
| Deleting a value | Registry Delete Value |
For example:
To enable this registry monitoring functionality, select the Log registry modifications option for your event detection policy. For more information, see Create a custom event detection policy and Log events.
Renamed policies
In the Session Recording Policy Console, we have renamed the following recording policies and options for event detection settings:
| Old name | New name |
|---|---|
| Record event only for everyone with notification | Record only events (for everyone, with notification) |
| Record event only for everyone without notification | Record only events (for everyone, without notification) |
| Record everyone with notification | Record entire sessions (for everyone, with notification) |
| Record everyone without notification | Record entire sessions (for everyone, without notification) |
| Log sensitive file events | Log file operations |
| Log top-most window activities | Log topmost window events |
Renamed recording policies:
Renamed options for event detection settings:
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service
Whats is new (October 2021)
Bind a machine catalog to a Workspace Environment Management configuration set. When creating a machine catalog, you can now bind it to a Workspace Environment Management configuration set. Doing so lets you use Workspace Environment Management service to deliver the best possible workspace experience to your users. You can also choose to bind the catalog after you create the catalog. For more information, see Create machine catalogs and Manage machine catalogs.
- Support for Windows 11 (requires minimum VDA 2109)
What is new (September 2021)
Azure VMware Solution (AVS) integration. Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service supports AVS, the Azure VMware Solution. AVS provides cloud infrastructure containing vSphere clusters created by Azure. Leverage the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop service to use AVS for provisioning your VDA workload in the same way that you would using vSphere in on-premises environments. For more information, see Azure VMware Solution.
Same resource group for multiple catalogs. You can now use the same resource group for updating and creating catalogs in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service. This process:
- applies to any resource group that contains one or more machine catalogs.
- supports resource groups that are not created by Machine Creation Services.
- creates the VM and associated resources.
- deletes resources in the resource group when the VM or the catalog is removed.
For more information, see Azure Resource groups.
Retrieve information for Azure VMs, snapshots, OS disk, and gallery image definition. You can display information for an Azure VM, OS disk, snapshot and gallery image definition. This information is displayed for resources on the master image when a machine catalog is assigned. Use this functionality to view and select either a Linux or Windows image. For more information, see Retrieve information for Azure VMs, snapshots, OS disk, and gallery image definition.
New update for Automated Configuration. Automated Configuration has been updated to a new version with features including:
- Machines Creation Services (MCS) support – Automated Configuration now supports MCS catalogs. For more information, see Understanding migrating Machine Creation Services provisioned catalogs.
Other updates to Automated Configuration include:
- Enhanced Zone support by pre-populating the ZoneMapping.yml file with the names of on-premises zones during export and cloud Resource Locations when backing up.
- StoreFront has been made a top level manageable component. Prior to this, StoreFront was managed as part of Delivery Groups. This separation better facilitates site merging.
- Changed
AddMachinesOnlytoMergeMachinesto match the pattern for current and new merge options. - Added the use of the SecurityClient.csv file to import the ClientId and Secret when creating and updating the CustomerInfo.yml when using the support cmdlets.
- Added User Zone Preferences migration.
- Fixed support for the Japanese Control Plane.
- Other fixes and improvements.
Download Automated Configuration at Citrix Downloads. For more information on Automated Configuration, see Migrate to cloud.
More scheduling options available with restart schedules. The Full Configuration management interface now provides you with additional options to control when scheduled restarts occur. In addition to the daily recurring restart schedules, you can now set weekly and monthly recurrence patterns. For more information, see Create a restart schedule.
Preserve custom columns that degrade performance. Previously, on the Searchnode of the Full Configuration management interface, custom columns that degraded performance disappeared after you refreshed the browser window or signed out of the console and then signed in. You can now control whether to preserve those custom columns. For more information, see Use Search in the Full Configuration management interface.
Use the Automated Configuration tool to back up and restore. We added a node, Backup and Restore, to the Full Configuration management interface. That node aggregates all resources related to the Automated Configuration tool, including information about:
- Scheduling automated backups of your Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops configuration using a single command
- Restoring from a previous backup if necessary
- Performing backups and restores granularly
- Other use cases supported
For more information, see the Automated Configuration documentation.
Support for non-domain-joined catalogs. We added an identity type, Non-domain-joined, to the Machine Catalog Setup > Machine Identities page of the Full Configuration management interface. With that identity type, you can use MCS to create machines that are not joined to any domain. For more information, see Create machine catalogs.
Support for using a machine profile. We added an option, Use a machine profile, to the Machine Catalog Setup > Master Image page of the Full Configuration management interface. The option lets you specify which machine profile you want the image to inherit the configuration from when creating VMs in Azure environments. The image can inherit the following configurations from the selected machine profile:
- Accelerated networking
- Boot diagnostics
- Host disk caching (relating to OS and MCSIO disks)
- Machine size (unless otherwise specified)
- Tags placed on the VM
For more information, see Create a machine catalog using an Azure Resource Manager image.
Support for Windows Server 2022. Requires minimum VDA 2106.
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Standard for Azure
What is new (September 2021)
- Preview API content is available.
- Support for Windows 11 (requires minimum VDA 2109)
- Support for Windows Server 2022 (requires minimum VDA 2106).
Citrix Cloud Healthcheck
Cloud Health Check allows you to run checks that gauge the health and availability of the site and its components. You can run health checks for Virtual Delivery Agents (VDAs), StoreFront servers, and Profile Management. VDA health checks identify possible causes for common VDA registration, session launch, and time zone redirection issues.
If issues are present during the checks, Cloud Health Check provides a detailed report and the actions to fix the issues. Each time Cloud Health Check starts, it checks for the latest version of scripts on the Content Delivery Network (CDN) and automatically downloads the scripts if they do not exist on the local machine. Cloud Health Check always chooses the latest local version of scripts to run health checks.
Citrix Workspace App 2109.1 for Windows
Support for Windows 11
Citrix Workspace app for Windows is now supported on the Windows 11 operating system.
For the list of fixed issues in this release, see Fixed issues in 2109.1.
Adaptive audio
With Adaptive audio, you don’t need to configure the audio quality policies on the VDA. Adaptive audio optimizes settings for your environment and replaces deprecated audio compression formats to provide an excellent user experience.
NOTE:
If UDP audio delivery is required for the real-time audio application, Adaptive audio must be disabled on the VDA to allow fallback to UDP audio delivery.
For more information, see Adaptive audio.
Citrix Workspace browser
The Citrix Workspace browser is a native browser running on the client machine. It lets users open web and SaaS applications from within the Citrix Workspace app in a secure manner.
With a continued focus on enriching the user-experience, the new browser brings you an enhanced and a more native browser-like user experience, complete with the following features:
- VPN-less access to internal webpages
- Microphone and webcam support
- Tabbed browsing experience
- Multi-window views
- Editable omnibox
- Bookmarks
- Shortcuts on the new tab page
- Customizable settings
- Proxy authentication support
- Analytics
Admins can enable Secure Workspace Access (SWA) or App protection policies including anti-keylogging, anti-screen capture, download, printing, clipboard restrictions, and watermarking functionalities in varying combinations on a per-URL basis.
For more information, see Overview.
StoreFront to Workspace URL migration
As your organization transitions from on-prem StoreFront to Workspace, end users are required to manually add the new Workspace URL to the Workspace app on their end points. This feature enables the administrators to seamlessly migrate users from a StoreFront store to a Workspace store with minimal user interaction.
For more information about this feature, see StoreFront to Workspace URL Migration.
Support for custom web stores
With this release, you can access your organization’s custom web store from the Citrix Workspace app for Windows.
To use this feature, the administrator must add the domain or the custom web store to the list of allowed URLs in the Global App Configuration Service. Once this is done, you can provide the custom web store URL in the Add Account screen in the Citrix Workspace app. The custom web store opens in the native Workspace app window.
For more information about configuring custom web store, see Custom web store.
Support for Windows Hello and FIDO2 Security Keys based authentication
With this release, you can authenticate to Citrix Workspace using Windows Hello and FIDO2 security keys.
For more information, see Other Ways to authenticate to Citrix Workspace.
Single Sign-On (SSO) to Citrix Workspace app from Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AAD) joined machines with AAD as identity provider
With this release, you can single sign-on to Citrix Workspace app from Azure Active Directory (AAD) joined machines with AAD as the identity provider.
For more information, see Other Ways to authenticate to Citrix Workspace.
Support for Conditional Access with Azure Active Directory
With this release, Workspace administrators can configure and enforce Azure Active Directory conditional access policies for users authenticating to Citrix Workspace app.
For more information, see Support for Conditional access with Azure AD.
Support for Service continuity
This release supports service continuity with Citrix Workspace Web Extensions. You can use Workspace Web Extensions for Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge with Workspace app for Windows 2109. These extensions are available at Google Chrome web store and the Microsoft Edge Add-on website. The Workspace app communicates with the Citrix Workspace Web extension using the native messaging host protocol for browser extensions. Together, the Workspace app and the Workspace Web extension use Workspace connection leases to give browser users access to their apps and desktops during outages. See Service continuity for more information.
Microsoft Teams enhancements
The following features are available only after the roll-out of an update from Microsoft Teams.
When the update is rolled-out by Microsoft, you can check CTX253754 for the documentation update and the announcement.
- Support for WebRTC: This release supports WebRTC 1.0 for a better video conferencing experience along with Gallery View.
- Screen sharing enhancement: You can share individual applications, windows, or full screen using the screen sharing feature in Microsoft Teams. Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent 2109 is a prerequisite for this feature.
- App Protection compatibility: When App Protection is enabled, you can now share content through Microsoft Teams with HDX optimization. With this feature, you can share an application window running in the virtual desktop. Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent 2109 is a prerequisite for this feature.NOTE:Full monitor or desktop sharing is disabled when App Protection is enabled for the delivery group.
- Live captions: This release supports real-time transcription of what the speaker is saying when Live Captions is enabled in Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Teams optimization
This release supports peer-to-peer audio and video call, conference call, and screen sharing in optimized Microsoft Teams on VM hosted apps.
Support for Bloomberg keyboard 5
This release includes support for Bloomberg keyboard 5. To use Bloomberg keyboard 5, you must configure Registry editor. For more information about configuring the keyboard, see Configure Bloomberg keyboard 5 section in Bloomberg keyboards.
Citrix Workspace App 21.9.5 for iOS
Battery status indicator
The battery status of the device now appears in the notification area within the virtual desktop session. Previously, the battery status indicator wasn’t visible in the session, which sometimes led to a loss of productivity when the laptop shuts down after the battery runs out.
This feature is supported only on VDA versions 7.18 and later.
NOTE:
- In sessions running on Microsoft Windows 10 VDAs, the battery status indicator might take about 1 or 2 minutes to appear.
Recommendations and notes (HTTPS, iOS 15)
- If you are on HTTP-based stores, for a secure context, we recommend that you transition to HTTPS-based stores. For more information, see HTTPS.
- We now support iOS 15.
Citrix Workspace App 2108 for Linux
Session reliability enhancement
Previously, with HDX Broadcast session reliability, you continue to see a published application’s window if the connection to the application experiences an interruption.
With this release, you can see the screen changes when session reliability begins. The session window is grayed out and a countdown timer shows the time until the next reconnection attempt.
NOTE:
This feature is supported only for Citrix Virtual Desktops.
Enhancement to logging
Previously, there was no tool available to collect log files in Citrix Workspace app. Log files were present in different folders. You had to manually collect log files from different folders.
Starting with this release, Citrix Workspace app introduces the collectlog.py tool, which lets you collect log files from different folders. You can execute this tool using the command line. The log files are generated as a compressed log file. You can download this compressed log file from the local server. For more information see, Logging.
Service continuity
NOTE:
This feature is generally available for Citrix Workspace app.
Service continuity removes or minimizes the dependency on the availability of components that are involved in the connection process. Users can launch their virtual apps and desktops regardless of the health status of the cloud services.
For information on requirements that support service continuity on Citrix Workspace app, see System Requirements.
For information on installing service continuity with Citrix Workspace app, see Installing Service Continuity.
For more information, see the Service continuity section in the Citrix Workspace documentation.
Adaptive audio
With adaptive audio, you don’t need to manually configure the audio quality policies on the VDA. Adaptive audio optimizes settings for your environment and replaces obsolete audio compression formats to provide an excellent user experience. Adaptive audio is enabled by default. For more information, see Adaptive audio.
NOTE:
If UDP audio delivery is required for real-time audio applications, adaptive audio must be disabled on the VDA to allow fallback to UDP audio delivery.
Storebrowse enhancement for service continuity
Previously, the Workspace connection lease files were synced with files available on the remote server only if you connected using the Self-Service plugin. As a result, the service continuity feature was not supported when you launched apps or desktop session using storebrowse. Most third-party thin-client vendors use storebrowse to connect to Workspace platform and service continuity feature was not enabled for them.
Starting with this release, the Workspace connection lease files sync with files available on the remote server when you connect using storebrowse as well. This helps the third-party thin-client vendors to access Workspace even when offline.
NOTE:
- This enhancement is available only when service continuity is enabled in cloud deployments. For more information, see the Configure Service Continuity section in the Citrix Workspace documentation.
- This enhancement is not available if you have set the value of
AuthManLiteEnabledtoTruein the$ICAROOT/config/AuthManConfig.xmlfile. By default, this value is set toFalse.
Global App Config Service (Public Technical Preview)
The new Global App Configuration Service for Citrix Workspace allows a Citrix administrator to deliver Workspace service URLs through a centrally managed service.
As a prerequisite, you must enable this feature in the AuthManConfig.xml file. Navigate to $ICAROOT/config/AuthManConfig.xml and add the following entries:
Copy
&lt;key&gt;AppConfigEnabled&lt;/key&gt;
&lt;value&gt; true &lt;/value&gt;
For more information on Workspace service URLs settings , see Global App Configuration Service documentation.
NOTE:
Citrix Workspace app for Linux uses the Global App Configuration Service only to deliver Workspace service URLs.
EDT MTU discovery
Citrix Workspace app now supports Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) discovery in Enlightened Data Transport (EDT). It increases the reliability and compatibility of the EDT protocol and provides an improved user experience. For more information see, the EDT MTU Discovery section in the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops documentation.
Creating custom user-agent strings in network request
With this release, Citrix Workspace app introduces an option to append the User-Agent strings in the network request and identify the source of a network request. Based on this User-Agent strings request, you can decide how to manage your network request. This feature allows you to accept network requests only from trusted devices.
NOTE:
- This feature is supported on cloud deployments of Citrix Workspace app. Also, x86, x64, and armhf are the supported packages.
For more information see, Creating Custom User-Agent in Network Request.
Feature flag management
If an issue occurs with Citrix Workspace app in production, we can disable an affected feature dynamically in Citrix Workspace app even after the feature ships. To do so, we use feature flags and a third-party service called LaunchDarkly. You do not need to make any configurations to enable traffic to LaunchDarkly, unless you have a firewall or proxy blocking outbound traffic. In that case, you enable traffic to LaunchDarkly via specific URLs or IP addresses, depending on your policy requirements.
For more information, see Feature flag management.
Citrix Workspace App 21.9.5 for Android
Service continuity
We now support Service continuity. Service continuity lets you connect to your virtual apps and desktops during outages, as long as your device maintains a network connection to a resource location. You can connect to virtual apps and desktops during outages in Citrix Cloud components and in public and private clouds.
Notes (Android 12 Beta 4, HTTPS)
- Citrix Workspace app for Android 21.9.5 supports Android 12 Beta 4.
- If you are on HTTP-based stores, for a secure context, we recommend that you transition to HTTPS-based stores. For more information, see HTTPS.
Citrix Workspace App 2109.1 for Apple OSX
This release addresses issues that help to improve overall performance and stability.
For the list of fixed issues in this release, see Fixed issues in 2109.1
NOTE:
If Service continuity is enabled, and you upgrade to version 2109, the connection lease files are refreshed. All the existing leases are deleted and new leases are fetched as part of functionality enhancements.
Citrix Workspace app for Mac on macOS Monterey Beta
Citrix Workspace app 2109 for Mac has been tested on macOS Monterey Beta 7. Use this setup in a test environment and provide your feedback.
CAUTION:
Do not use Citrix Workspace app for Mac on macOS Monterey Beta versions in production environments.
Email-based auto-discovery of store
With this release, you can simply provide your email address in Citrix Workspace app for Mac to automatically discover the store associated with the email address. If there are multiple stores associated with a domain, then by default the first store returned by the Global App Configuration Service is added as the store of choice for logging in and accessing a store. Users can always switch to another store if necessary.
Citrix Workspace browser
The Citrix Workspace browser is a native browser running on the client machine which enables users to open web or SaaS applications from within the Citrix Workspace app in a secure manner.
With a continued focus on enriching the user-experience, the new Workspace browser brings you an enhanced and a more native browser-like experience, complete with the following features:
- VPN-less access to internal web pages
- Microphone and webcam support
- Tabbed browsing experience
- Multi-window views
- Editable omnibox
- Bookmarks
- Shortcuts on the new tab page
- Customizable settings
- Analytics
Admins can enable Secure Workspace Access (SWA) or App protection policies including anti key-logging, anti-screen capture, download, printing, clipboard restrictions, and watermarking functionalities in varying combinations on a per-URL basis.
For more information, see Citrix Workspace Browser documentation.
EPA enhancement
Starting with this release, Citrix Workspace app supports End Point Analysis (EPA) as a pre-authentication scan, before you log in to your workspace. Advanced Endpoint Analysis (EPA) scans the device for endpoint security requirements configured on the Citrix Gateway. When the scan completes successfully, the Citrix Workspace app login window appears.
NOTE:
This feature works only if you have configured nFactor authentication in your environment.
For more information about the EPA scan, see Advanced Endpoint Analysis scans.
Adaptive audio
With Adaptive audio, you don’t need to configure the audio quality policies on the VDA. Adaptive audio optimizes settings for your environment and replaces legacy audio compression formats to provide an excellent user experience. For more information, see Adaptive Audio.
Support for H.264 Advanced Video Coding (MPEG-4 AVC) with Microsoft Teams
This release includes support for hardware accelerated H.264 video encoding/decoding, which reduces the load on CPU usage and improves your video conferencing experience. The multimedia engine of Citrix HDX optimized Microsoft Teams (HdxRtcEngine.exe) now uses Apple’s Video Toolbox framework for encoding and decoding. This framework compresses and decompresses video faster and in real time. Also, the offloading of encoding and decoding to the GPU is optimized. Hardware accelerated video decoding and encoding is enabled by default if a device supports it. This enhancement reduces the load on the CPU during multimedia usage when Microsoft Teams is optimized with HDX.
Citrix Workspace App 2109 for Chrome OS
Support for virtual desktops in multiple-monitor setups
You can now use your virtual desktop in full-screen mode across a subset of available monitors. Previously when you selected multi-monitor mode from the toolbar, the virtual desktop spanned across all available monitors. You can now drag your virtual desktop to span two monitors (out of more than two) and then select multi-monitor mode. A typical use case for this scenario is where you chose to run a video conferencing app on your native device monitor and want to view your virtual desktop contents in full-screen across your other two monitors during the call.
NOTE:
To use this feature, ensure that within General settings, “Use all the monitors to span display” under Multi-monitor settings is selected.
Battery status indicator
The battery status of the device now appears in the notification area within the virtual desktop session. Previously, the battery status indicator wasn’t visible in the session, which sometimes led to a loss of productivity when the laptop shuts down after the battery runs out.
This feature is supported only on VDA versions 7.18 and later.
NOTE:
With Microsoft Windows 10 VDA, the battery status indicator might take about 1 or 2 minutes to appear.
Support for copying image clips
Using the standard keyboard shortcuts, you can now copy and paste image clips between your local device and your virtual desktop and app sessions. You can use the standard keyboard shortcuts for copying and pasting while using apps such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Paint, and Adobe Photoshop. Previously, this functionality was available only for text.
NOTE:
- Due to network bandwidth constraints, sessions might become unresponsive when you try to copy and paste an image clip larger than 2 MB.
- You can select and press Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V to copy and paste. The right-click functionality to copy or paste is also supported.
- We’ve tested this feature with BMP, PNG, JPEG, and GIF formats.
Auto-launch of ICA sessions
Citrix Workspace app for Chrome OS now supports auto-launch of ICA (Independent computing architecture) sessions on Google managed devices or users. With this feature, you can access resources remotely from Citrix Workspace for web. The downloaded ICA file starts automatically, with the Citrix Workspace app for Chrome OS, if it has been installed on the device. Previously, you were able to only download ICA files and open the files manually in order to start resources. Also, the ICA file wasn’t deleted when opened and remained on the device. With this release, the ICA file is automatically deleted from the device – once it is used to auto-launch the session.
For more information, see Auto-launch of ICA sessions.
Note (HTTPS):
If you are on HTTP-based stores, for a secure context, we recommend that you transition to HTTPS-based stores. For more information, see HTTPS.
