Comments on: Citrix XenApp 7.x on Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 – Setting File Type or Application Associations

By: Carl Webster

Carl Webster — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 16:44:04 +0000

In reply to Bart.

Yeah, I wish this was something that Citrix/Microsoft could/would fix.

My understanding is that you need to login to the XenApp server as the account used for launching Studio. Open your apps to allow the file extension registration on the server. Supposedly, you should now see the file extensions available in the published app properties.

Webster

By: Bart

Bart — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 15:14:30 +0000

I’ve inherited an environment and I need to associate .txt and .xml files for published apps to open with Notepad++. Notepad++ is published.
App servers are 2012R2 Citrix 7.15CU2.
I’ve followed the dism and GPO suggestion and it will not work for me. I’ve not heard what permissions are needed on that shared XML file so I gave it “Everyone” R/X.
Also in the published Application section in Studio the File Type Association for Notepad++ populates blank.
Please.. is there anything I’m missing? This is kind of a big deal for one of the applications the users need. They txt auto opens in Notepad.exe and crashes due to size, and xml asked user to specify what to open with but Notpad++ is not listed and they can’t browse the C:/D: drive to manually select it.

By: Carl Webster

Carl Webster — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 10:56:50 +0000

In reply to LL. Sorry, I don't the answer. Webster

By: LL

LL — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 02:21:28 +0000

I installed Crystal Reports and see that Crystal is the default program for RPT files. Studio doesn’t see any Crystal extensions when I publish Crystal as an app. When I run the DISM command the xml file does not include the RPT extension. How do I get Studio to recognize the extensions for Crystal Reports?

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 29 Jun 2018 13:18:19 +0000

Shocking behaviour from Microsoft and Citrix not working together.

Citrix keep promoting flexibility with URL redirection / host to client redirection / bi-directional url redirection and now HTML5 Browser redirection. These technologies are unusable. The amount of effort required on both ENDPOINT and SERVER SIDE to get all the components working “zero touch” is impossible to achieve. Even when you do manage to get it working, dual monitors and screen flickers, start menu docking focus lost. Its basically smoke and mirrors that breaks more than it works. Utter Dross!

By: Carl Webster

Carl Webster — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 20:27:58 +0000

In reply to gino. I don't know the answer. I would recommend reading Dennis Span's article on XenApp and Chrome. Google Chrome on Citrix deep-dive Webster

By: gino

gino — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 20:25:05 +0000

i have a xenapp 7.6 farm that i need to install Chrome on and only have one application use chrome.
so basically when i launch chrome (published app) it is asking me to finish the install and it is prompting me to select Chrome or Internet Explorer.

is there a way without changing my default browser to have chrome not ask this.
i dont want to change my default browser.
we are using Chrome enterprise with GPO settings.
thank you

By: Carl Webster

Carl Webster — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 13:52:25 +0000

In reply to Dries Vandooren. See my reply to Kevin. I did not have this issue with Server 2016. Webster

By: Carl Webster

Carl Webster — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 13:51:48 +0000

In reply to Kevin.

I am unable to duplicate the issue.

I created a XenApp 7.13 server based on Server 2016.
I installed Google Chrome, IrfanView, 7Zip and Adobe Reader DC.
I set all four apps to be the default handler for all their file types.
I opened files of various types to make sure the right programs were used.
I then did the “dism” stuff to export the app associations to an XML file.
Created a GPO linked to the OU where my XenApp server is for App Associations.
I restarted the server and made sure the GPO applied.
I opened files of various types to make sure the right programs were used.
I uninstalled IrfanView which gave me a popup saying all the file types were reset to Windows defaults Restarted the server and logged in. No server crash.
I opened a PNG and a JPG file and they both open in Paint.
I uninstall Adobe Reader DC.
Restarted the server and logged in. No server crash.
I opened a PDF and it opened in Chrome.
I uninstalled 7Zip.
Restarted the server and logged in. No server crash.
I opened a ZIP file and File Explorer asked to Extract it.
I uninstalled Chrome.
Restarted the server and logged in. No server crash.
I opened an HTML file and Edge started.
I opened the PDF file and Edge started.

Unable to repro.

Thanks

Webster

By: Dries Vandooren

Dries Vandooren — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 13:51:08 +0000

Hi Webster
We have a similar problem with a windows server 2016, if we try to open a URl, it keeps asking what program we’d like to open the link with. Even if we select “always use this app” it doesn’t stay as default. I tried this way to fix it, but it doesn’t appear to work. Do you know of a fix for this problem with windows server 2016?
We’ve tried numerous things the last week, but nothing seems to fix this issue.

By: Carl Webster

Carl Webster — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 19:36:37 +0000

In reply to Kevin. I checked with two Group Policy MVPs who have never heard of this issue. Webster

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 17:04:20 +0000

I Tried this group policy with xml file and found that after you implement this and then someday down the road you uninstall a program the server crashes on reboot because that application is in the .xml and not installed anymore.

By: Carl Webster

Carl Webster — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:47:58 +0000

In reply to Brian Mooney. Sorry for the delay, was doing customer training. Looks like you have a solution now. Webster

By: Brian Mooney

Brian Mooney — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 19:32:17 +0000

Carl,
Can you check out the following Citrix discussion and perhaps lend your ninja skills to the table?

http://discussions.citrix.com/topic/385357-users-are-prompted-to-specify-internet-browser-when-you-click-on-a-link-in-outlook-2016/?p=1962373

By: James Rankin

James Rankin — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 09:41:28 +0000

Hi Webster

The problem I found with Windows 8.x/Server 2012 R2 associations is that they can only be set on a per-device basis. The solution you’ve described works excellently, as long as users don’t need individual FTAs on the XenApp server system.

Myself and Duncan Murdoch tried to find a way around this – a bit hit-and-miss but we managed to get it working on a XenApp 7.6 instance with a bit of PowerShell jiggery-pokery. See http://appsensebigot.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/deploying-per-user-file-type.html

Cheers,