Differences in Client Drive Mapping between XenApp 6.0, Presentation Server 4.5, and XenApp 5.0
Summary
This article describes the difference between earlier versions of Client Drive Mapping (CDM) and the version in Citrix XenApp 6.
Description
Versions older than Citrix XenApp 6.0 use the method of network mapping of the user’s local drive. This method only mapped local drivers, not network drivers of the user’s machine. For users to be able to add network driver mappings they require a script to use the net use command and locate the drives from \\CLIENT\. With this method, the administrator is also required to create a log off script to delete these drives when the session is logged off. On XenApp 6.0, the CDM system uses a completely different mechanism; it uses the concept of redirection; the same concept used with Microsoft Remote Desktop connections.
Simple things to know about the client drive redirection:
- Mapped drives are classified inside the session as Network Drives; redirected drivers have no specific Windows category so they are classified as
Others. - Before, users had to create scripts to add the network drives in the ICA session; this is not required with redirection. The only setting the user need
to modify would be the policy to allow redirection for network drives on the client’s workstation. - If an application depends on searching in the network drive, the application will fail. Redirected drives are not searchable by applications; in this case
the user would require searching \\CLIENT\ inside the session and mapped the desired drive. This can be done manually or by script.
