Thursday, November 1, 2012

Application launch disappear after Welcome screen in Citrix XenApp

The published desktop works fine but some of the published applications can not launch and they disappear after welcome screen screen. You will see following screen before it was disappearing



Reason: Some times, CitrixCseEngine.exe takes longtime to process GPOs. In that case the published desktop application will respond even after logoff check time of application launch. But published application was unable to respond after logoff check time. 

As I said in previous article you can increase time delay value as temporary fix.

Root cause: RDP session also takes long time to login. One of the root cause was Active directory replication. My situation, users are in one domain and XenApp servers are in another domain. Replication was broken and CitrixCseEngine.exe was taking long time to process GPOs.

Solution: Force replication or wait for full automatic replication between two domains. 


Please use above solution as is based on your decision.

Have a nice time! 

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Event ID 4008 IMA service not starting

The following errors appears in System log of the Windows server:

Event ID: 4008

The database name and database server name recorded in the DSN file must either be empty or match the values stored in Group policy.

Event ID: 7024:

The Citrix Independent Management Architecture service terminated with Service specific error.

Reason: You will see these errors when you move your farm database to new SQL/Oracle server. DSN file contents are conflicting with Group Policy value of initial database  server name. You will see these errors on provision vdisk xenapp server.

Solution: Assuming that your dsn file has the correct name of the new DB server. Open local group policy on problemed server with Gpedit.msc and modify the value of initial database server name under computer configuration/Citrix policies as shown in figure:



 Open command prompt and run following commands:

dsmaint recreatelhc
dsmaint recreaterade

Now start IMA service.


Have a nice day!
 

Application launch disappear after Welcome in Xenapp


The published desktop works fine but the some of the published applications can not launch and they will disappear after welcome screen. You will see following screen before it was disappearing


Reason: Some times, CitrixCseEngine.exe takes longtime to process GPOs. In that case the published desktop application will respond even after logoff check time of application launch. But published application was unable to respond after logoff check time. 

Solution: Increase the logoff check time delay value in registry to 10 minutes:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\wfshell\TWI
Value Name: LogoffCheckerStartupDelayInSeconds

Type: REG_DWORD
Value: An integer for the length of time to wait for application start.
Enter the delay time in seconds, up to 10 minutes (600 seconds).


Please use above solution as is based on your decision.

Have a nice time! 

Ravi Challa

Friday, September 7, 2012

Citrix- Users see slowness in running sessions


 Users see slowness during sessions because session reliability service's (XTE service) non paged pool size has reached 4 GB size.

Reason & solution:

XTE Service -(session relaibility) -XTE service's "Non Paged Pool" size reaches 4 GB that means you have some issue with memory. You can check this in task manger by enabling non paged pool in filter.

Solution: Apply the Microsoft hotfix http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936655

Apply the Citrix patch: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX123956

Have a nice day!

Perf OS Event ID 2012 - Citrix -Not accepting connections after 30 users

In citrix presentation Server 4.5/5.0 environment, the Citrix servers were rejecting user logons/sessions after certain number of active sessions(30 in my case). You can see errors in event log as mentioned below:
Event ID 2012 perfOS
Unable to contact server or XML broker
Server is busy to process request

There two reasons for the above scenario:
1. XTE Service -(session relaibility) -XTE service's "Non Paged Pool" size reaches 4 GB  that means you have some issue with memory. You can check this in task manger by enabling non paged pool in filter.

Solution: Apply the Microsoft hotfix http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936655

Apply the Citrix patch: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX123956


2. If Free PTEs were less than 50K, then you can see above behavior:
Here is the solution:

Problem: ** Virtual Memory Usage ***

        Physical Memory:     2096923 (   8387692 Kb)
        Page File: \??\C:\pagefile.sys
          Current:  12288000 Kb  Free Space:  11893324 Kb
          Minimum:  12288000 Kb  Maximum:     13312000 Kb
        Available Pages:     1571173 (   6284692 Kb)
        ResAvail Pages:      1995682 (   7982728 Kb)
        Locked IO Pages:         245 (       980 Kb)
        Free System PTEs:        742 (      2968 Kb)
        ********** Running out of system PTEs **************

        ******* 809982 system PTE allocations have failed ******


Reason & Solution:

1.       System is booting up with about 50K PTEs. Usually the system should be have initial PTE of about 190K+. System has lost about ~140K PTEs (573 MB of Kernel VA). The system supports "Hot-Add Memory" feature which allows OS detect additional RAM which gets plugged in without needing a reboot. To allow this OS will reserve the Kernel VA to support the maximum RAM that can be added to the system. BIOS is responsible for notifying the amount of the maximum RAM that the system can support. In this case the BIOS notified the system that it can support up-to 128 GB of RAM but only 8 GB of RAM is currently plugged into the system. Hence OS reserved about ~880 MB of Kernel VA for the PFN DB expansion in case additional 120 GB of RAM gets plugged into the system.

2.       This behavior of OS can be controlled via the registry key documented in the article below, where we can specify the amount of RAM that OS should anticipate and reserve space for. Usually we set this value to 1.

913568        Decreased performance, driver load failures, or system instability may occur on Hot Add Memory systems that are running Windows Server 2003


Recommendations:

================
1.       Set the Registry value documented in the Workaround section of the above mentioned KB article to 1 and reboot the system and the observe what is the value of Free System PTEs at the boot.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

REG_DWORD DynamicMemory 0x1
 
2.       Also set the SystemPages value to 0 (ZERO)

 HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

REG_DWORD SystemPages 0x0

 
I am not repsonsible for any failures while applying above fixes.

Have a nice day!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Slowness while accessing/launching application in Citrix

Slowness while accessing/launching application in Citrix for all users or certain group of users




1. Check GPOs – any certificates are included..

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX131825/


2. Check any drive mappings existed for old drives (which are retired) in user properties in Active Directory/ Login Script or in GPOs

3. Check any printers are mappings which are not existed/retired

4. Configure printer mappings after application launching in Citrix policies

4. Troubleshoot application performance issues
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX105314/

5. Check this
http://maxwindows.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/troubleshooting-citrix-slow-performance-issues/


Have a nice day!

Citrix - Windows cannot access \\client\c$\documents and settings\user\desktop or Error Code:0x80070043 or C:\Users\temp\Desktop is not accessible or Word has insifficient memory or Microsoft office excel cannot access the file

 In Citrix, you might get these errors while saving a file
Error 1:
C:\Users\temp\Desktop is not accessible
The network path was not found
Error 2:
Windows cannot access file://client/c$/Documents and Settings\User1\Desktop

      But if we login (RDP) to the Xenapp servers as the test user and launch the citrix session, all published applications are working fine and there are no errors while saving the data in apps. The data is saving in respected redirected folders on file://server1/

Error3:
Error Code:0x80070043
The network name cannot be found

Error 4:
Word has insifficient memory. Do you want save Document1 as rescued document?

Error5: Microsoft office excel cannot access the file "C:\program files\File Directory\Folder1\file.xls. There are several reasons
The filename or path does not exist
The file is being used by another program
The workbook you are trying to save has the same name a a currently open workbook.

Folder redirection has been enabled and there was no errors found. user permissons and prifile is good.  It works fine for Citrix client 10.2 (Old client).  Giving errors for any other clients – 11.2, 12.1, 12.3 & 13.1 (Citrix receiver). Citrix desktop is working fine for any client.


Solution:
 Open Webinterface --> Open Web interface management console
Open Session settings ---> Go to Local Resources ---> Uncheck Provide Special folder Redirection to all users under Special Folder Redirection.

Have a nice day!

The Windows Installer Service Could Not Be Accessed

Error:
"The Windows Installer Service Could Not Be Accessed" error message when you install a program in Windows XP/2003/?

Solution:


To resolve this issue, follow these steps:


Log on to your computer as an administrator.

Click Start, and then click Run.

In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.

At the command prompt, typemsiexec.exe /unregister, and then press ENTER.

Type msiexec /regserver, and then press ENTER.

Verify that the SYSTEM account has full control access permissions to the

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

hive in the Windows registry. In some cases, you may also have to add Administrator accounts. To do so:Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ )

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.

Click the following registry hive:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

On the Edit menu, click Permissions.

If SYSTEM is not listed in the Group or user names list, click Add, make sure that the local computer name appears in the From this location box, type system in the Enter the object names to select box, click Check Names, and then click OK.

Click SYSTEM in the Group or user names list, and then select the Full Control check box under Allow in the Permissions for SYSTEM box.

Click Apply, click OK, and then quit Registry Editor.


Thursday, June 28, 2012

Remove START MENU programs group

 This is about editing a GPO to be applied to all users in a group to prevent access to anything other than what you want to allow no matter which machine they log onto. (Editing the local registry involves knowing which machine they will use!) Assuming you are using Server 2003 as the DC then edit the GPO and go to:

User configuration/administrative templates/start menu and task bar and enable the "force classic start menu".

User configuration/administrative templates/start menu and task bar and enable the
"Remove All Programs list from the Start menu  
"

Tweaks Registry for Start Menu -part 3

Tweaks added with Windows Vista

Open Regedit and browse through to the key as below (or create if doesnot exist)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
"Start Menu" tweaks in Windows Vista are different from previous ones in a way that the actions performed by these are already available with "Start Menu" Control Panel item. Enabling these using registry however prohibits user from controlling the said actions.
ValueName Description
QuickLaunchEnabled This policy setting controls whether the QuickLaunch bar is displayed in the Taskbar.
If you enable this setting, the QuickLaunch bar will be visible and cannot be turned off.
If you disable this setting, the QuickLaunch bar will be hidden and cannot be turned on.
If you do not configure this setting, then users will be able to turn the QuickLaunch bar on and off.
ForceRunOnStartMenu If you enable this setting, the Run command is added to the Start menu. If you disable or do not configure this setting, the Run command is not visible on the Start menu by default, but it can be added from the Taskbar and Start menu properties. If the "NoRun" is enabled, this has no effect.
UseFoldersInStartMenu User folders links launch a folder view of users files instead of a library view.
NoUserFolderInStartMenu If you enable this setting the start menu will not show a link to the user's storage folder.
If you disable or do not configure this setting, the start menu will display a link, unless the user chooses to remove it in the start menu control panel.
NoSearchCommInStartMenu If you enable this setting the start menu search box will not search for communications.
If you disable or do not configure this, the start menu will search for communications, unless the user chooses not to in the start menu control panel.
NoSearchProgramsInStartMenu If you enable this setting the start menu search box will not search for programs.
If you disable or do not configure this setting, the start menu will search for programs, unless the user chooses not to in the start menu control panel.
NoSearchInternetInStartMenu If you enable this setting the start menu search box will not search for internet history or favorites.
If you disable or do not configure this setting, the start menu will search for internet history or favorites, unless the user chooses not to in the start menu control panel.
NoSearchFilesInStartMenu If you enable this setting the start menu search box will not search for files.
If you disable or do not configure this setting, the start menu will search for files, unless the user chooses not to in the start menu control panel.
NoSearchComputerLinkInStartMenu If you enable this setting, the "See all results" link will not be shown when the user performs a search in the start menu search box.
If you disable or do not configure this policy, the "See all results" link will be shown when the user performs a search in the start menu search box.
NoStartMenuMyGames If you enable this setting the start menu will not show a link to the Games folder.
If you disable or do not configure this setting, the start menu will show a link to the Games folder, unless the user chooses to remove it in the start menu control panel.
ClearRecentProgForNewUserInStartMenu If you enable this setting, the recent programs list in the start menu will be blank for each new user.
If you disable or do not configure this setting, the start menu recent programs list will be pre-populated with programs for each new user.
statutory warning : Tweaking registry in irresposible Manner can damage your system settings and can stop your operating system to function properly or stop the functioning. Perform tweaking only if you are sure of what you are doing

Tweaks Registry for Start Menu -part2

  

Tweaks added with Windows XP

 statutory warning : Tweaking registry in irresposible Manner can damage your system settings and can stop your operating system to function properly or stop the functioning. Perform tweaking only if you are sure of what you are doing.

Open Regedit and browse through to the key as below (or create if doesnot exist)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Creating a DWORD valuename (names as below) and setting its value to 1 (numeral one) will have effect as mentioned corresponding to it. To regain the original settings either set them to 0 (numeral zero) or delete them.
ValueName Description
NoStartMenuEjectPC Remove the "Undock PC" button from the Start Menu
NoTrayItemsDisplay Hide the notification area(previously called the "system tray") on the taskbar
NoToolbarsOnTaskbar Do not display any custom toolbars in the taskbar
NoTaskGrouping Prevent grouping of taskbar items
HideClock Remove Clock from the system notification area(previously called the "system tray")
NoSimpleStartMenu Enabled by default (Start menu displays in the new style) Disabling will Force classic Start Menu (Windows 2000 style and displays the standard desktop icons)
NoSMMyPictures Remove Pictures icon from Start Menu
NoStartMenuNetworkPlaces Remove Network icon from Start Menu
NoStartMenuMyMusic Remove Music icon from Start Menu
NoStartMenuPinnedList Remove pinned programs list from the Start Menu
NoStartMenuMorePrograms Remove "All Programs" list from the Start menu
NoStartMenuMFUprogramsList Remove frequent programs list from the Start Menu
NoSMBalloonTip Remove Balloon Tips on Start Menu items
NoAutoTrayNotify Turn off notification area(also called the "system tray") cleanup
LockTaskbar Lock the Taskbar and prevents the user from moving or resizing it
NoUserNameInStartMenu Remove the user name label from the Start Menu. Does not work on Windows Vista
NoSMConfigurePrograms Remove Default Programs link from the Start menu  

Tweaking Registry for Start Menu -Part 1

Visibility and functioning of Windows Start Menu can be modified in a large number of ways using the Registry Tweaks. This part provides information on tweaks that work on Windows 2000 and Onwards.


Open Regedit and browse through to the key as below (or create if doesnot exist)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Creating a DWORD valuename (names as below) and setting its value to 1 (numeral one) will have effect as mentioned corresponding to it. To regain the original settings either set them to 0 (numeral zero) or delete them.
ValueName Description
StartMenuLogOff Remove Logoff on the Start Menu
NoWindowsUpdate Remove links and access to Windows Update
NoTrayContextMenu Remove access to the context menus for the taskbar
NoStartMenuSubFolders Remove user's folders from the Start Menu
NoSMMyDocs Remove Documents icon from Start Menu
NoSetTaskbar Prevent changes to Taskbar and Start Menu Settings
NoSetFolders Remove programs on Settings menu
NoRun Remove Run menu from Start Menu
NoResolveTrack Do not use the tracking-based method when resolving shell shortcuts
NoResolveSearch Do not use the search-based method when resolving shell shortcuts
NoRecentDocsMenu Remove Recent Items menu from Start Menu
NoRecentDocsHistory Do not keep history of recently opened documents
NoNetworkConnection Remove Network Connections from Start Menu
NoInstrumentation Turn off user tracking
NoSMHelp Remove Help menu from Start Menu
NoFind Remove Search link from Start Menu
NoFavoritesMenu Remove Favorites menu from Start Menu
NoCommonGroups Remove common program groups from Start Menu
NoClose Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down, Restart, Sleep, and Hibernate commands
NoChangeStartMenu Remove Drag-and-drop context menus on the Start Menu
MemCheckBoxInRunDlg Add "Run in Separate Memory Space" check box to Run dialog box
Intellimenus Turn off personalized menus
GreyMSIAds Displays Start menu shortcuts to partially installed programs in gray text.
ForceStartMenuLogOff Add Logoff to the Start Menu
ClearRecentDocsOnExit Clear history of recently opened documents on exit
statutory warning : Tweaking registry in irresposible Manner can damage your system settings and can stop your operating system to function properly or stop the functioning. Perform tweaking only if you are sure of what you are doing

using Group Policy to hide and map specified drives

Map network drives :
Open Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) and create a new policy. Browse to User Configuration – Preferences – Windows Settings – Drive Maps
Map Network Drive Group Policy 01 270x300 Using Group Policy to hide and map specified drives
Map Network Drive Group Policy 02 270x300 Using Group Policy to hide and map specified drives
Map Network Drive Group Policy 03 300x233 Using Group Policy to hide and map specified drives
In this example we map K: to the Accounting folder for all users member of the Accounting group. It’s possible to create many rules, if member of group A or B or and so on.
Hide Drives :
Hide Drive Group Policy 02 270x300 Using Group Policy to hide and map specified drives
Hide Drive Group Policy 03 300x233 Using Group Policy to hide and map specified drives
In this example we hide C: for all users except for Domain Admins. When you start playing around we GPP you’ll learn how really powerful it is.

Have a nice day!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Citrix Web Interface - Slow login

Symptoms: When a user logs in to the web interface, the login page clocks and it takes a long time to display the published applications. This problem is observed when the same web interface site is used to access multiple farms or retired servers.

Cause: All the servers listed to contact one of the specified farms are not responding. This causes the web interface server to continue attempting to contact that farm during a confgurable time before it fails and display the published resources for the available farms. Possible causes for the servers not responding: Servers are down, the Citrix XML service is not running.

Resolution: Change the servers used to contact the non responding farm for working servers or remove the farm from the web interface site if it's not longer required. Remove retired servers from the web interface farm web sites and Services site. 

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Useful RUN Commands

Here are the few commands for System Administrators:

To Access… Run Command
Accessibility Controls access.cpl
Accessibility Wizard accwiz
Add Hardware Wizard hdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools control admintools
Adobe Acrobat (if installed) acrobat
Adobe Designer (if installed) formdesigner
Adobe Distiller (if installed) acrodist
Adobe ImageReady (if installed) imageready
Adobe Photoshop (if installed) photoshop
Automatic Updates wuaucpl.cpl
Bluetooth Transfer Wizard fsquirt
Calculator calc
Certificate Manager certmgr.msc
Character Map charmap
Check Disk Utility chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer clipbrd
Command Prompt cmd
Component Services dcomcnfg
Computer Management compmgmt.msc
Control Panel control
Date and Time Properties timedate.cpl
DDE Shares ddeshare
Device Manager devmgmt.msc
Direct X Control Panel (if installed)* directx.cpl
Direct X Troubleshooter dxdiag
Disk Cleanup Utility cleanmgr
Disk Defragment dfrg.msc
Disk Management diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager diskpart
Display Properties control desktop
Display Properties desk.cpl
Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected) control color
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility verifier
Event Viewer eventvwr.msc
Files and Settings Transfer Tool migwiz
File Signature Verification Tool sigverif
Findfast findfast.cpl
Firefox (if installed) firefox
Folders Properties folders
Fonts control fonts
Fonts Folder fonts
Free Cell Card Game freecell
Game Controllers joy.cpl
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof) gpedit.msc
Hearts Card Game mshearts
Help and Support helpctr
HyperTerminal hypertrm
Iexpress Wizard iexpress
Indexing Service ciadv.msc
Internet Connection Wizard icwconn1
Internet Explorer iexplore
Internet Properties inetcpl.cpl
Internet Setup Wizard inetwiz
IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration) ipconfig /all
IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents) ipconfig /displaydns
IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents) ipconfig /flushdns
IP Configuration (Release All Connections) ipconfig /release
IP Configuration (Renew All Connections) ipconfig /renew
IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP & Re-Registers DNS) ipconfig /registerdns
IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID) ipconfig /showclassid
IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID) ipconfig /setclassid
Java Control Panel (if installed) jpicpl32.cpl
Java Control Panel (if installed) javaws
Keyboard Properties control keyboard
Local Security Settings secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups lusrmgr.msc
Logs You Out Of Windows logoff
Malicious Software Removal Tool mrt
Microsoft Access (if installed) msaccess
Microsoft Chat winchat
Microsoft Excel (if installed) excel
Microsoft Frontpage (if installed) frontpg
Microsoft Movie Maker moviemk
Microsoft Paint mspaint
Microsoft Powerpoint (if installed) powerpnt
Microsoft Word (if installed) winword
Microsoft Syncronization Tool mobsync
Minesweeper Game winmine
Mouse Properties control mouse
Mouse Properties main.cpl
Nero (if installed) nero
Netmeeting conf
Network Connections control netconnections
Network Connections ncpa.cpl
Network Setup Wizard netsetup.cpl
Notepad notepad
Nview Desktop Manager (if installed) nvtuicpl.cpl
Object Packager packager
ODBC Data Source Administrator odbccp32.cpl
On Screen Keyboard osk
Opens AC3 Filter (if installed) ac3filter.cpl
Outlook Express msimn
Paint pbrush
Password Properties password.cpl
Performance Monitor perfmon.msc
Performance Monitor perfmon
Phone and Modem Options telephon.cpl
Phone Dialer dialer
Pinball Game pinball
Power Configuration powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes control printers
Printers Folder printers
Private Character Editor eudcedit
Quicktime (If Installed) QuickTime.cpl
Quicktime Player (if installed) quicktimeplayer
Real Player (if installed) realplay
Regional Settings intl.cpl
Registry Editor regedit
Registry Editor regedit32
Remote Access Phonebook rasphone
Remote Desktop mstsc
Removable Storage ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests ntmsoprq.msc
Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof) rsop.msc
Scanners and Cameras sticpl.cpl
Scheduled Tasks control schedtasks
Security Center wscui.cpl
Services services.msc
Shared Folders fsmgmt.msc
Shuts Down Windows shutdown
Sounds and Audio mmsys.cpl
Spider Solitare Card Game spider
SQL Client Configuration cliconfg
System Configuration Editor sysedit
System Configuration Utility msconfig
System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately) sfc /scannow
System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At The Next Boot) sfc /scanonce
System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot) sfc /scanboot
System File Checker Utility (Return Scan Setting To Default) sfc /revert
System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache) sfc /purgecache
System File Checker Utility (Sets Cache Size to size x) sfc /cachesize=x
System Information msinfo32
System Properties sysdm.cpl
Task Manager taskmgr
TCP Tester tcptest
Telnet Client telnet
Tweak UI (if installed) tweakui
User Account Management nusrmgr.cpl
Utility Manager utilman
Windows Address Book wab
Windows Address Book Import Utility wabmig
Windows Backup Utility (if installed) ntbackup
Windows Explorer explorer
Windows Firewall firewall.cpl
Windows Magnifier magnify
Windows Management Infrastructure wmimgmt.msc
Windows Media Player wmplayer
Windows Messenger msmsgs
Windows Picture Import Wizard (need camera connected) wiaacmgr
Windows System Security Tool syskey
Windows Update Launches wupdmgr
Windows Version (to show which version of windows) winver
Windows XP Tour Wizard tourstart
Wordpad write


Have a nice day!