I recently had to build out a XenApp 5.0 farm for a client to support a legacy application in their environment. Off of a clean install of Windows 2003 R2, Windows Updates kept failing. Now, I realize (and hope) most of you are already on 2008 R2 or newer, but there are cases when it’s needed.
Issue: Windows Update fails on Windows 2003 R2 x64
Cause: Windows Update Agent fails to communicate w/ Microsoft Update servers.
Resolution:
1. Browse to the x64 version of the Windows Update Agent
2. Download to C:\ for example
3. Open command prompt
4. Browse to C:\
5. Type the following command: WindowsUpdateAgent30-x64.exe /wuforce
6. Run Windows Update
If you need the x86 version, go here: x86 WUA
I’m genuinely excited about the Surface tablets that are coming out. The first to be released are reported on the 26th of this month. I’m really interested in the Samsung Series 7 Surface device. Not only does it have a clamshell docking station, but it also integrates Sammie’s S-Pen. I really think this is the start of Microsoft taking a hold on the mobile sector. I could be disillusioned, but I seriously think they are on the right track. As far as home consumers go, I think Microsoft is still 18-24 months out from making any headway just because there isn’t nearly enough development and apps available, but they’ve taken all the right steps to get that kicked off. Remember, when Android was first introduced, many people, including myself said the same thing about that platform; now look at where Android is.
If Microsoft continues to bring in developers to code for this platform, the sky is the limit.
So I’ve been running Windows 8 on my w520 since the final release and I’ve been more than satisfied with it thus far. The only issues I’ve had were expected. Drivers. By default, Windows will grab the majority of drivers for you without issues via Windows Update, but there are a couple of things you may want to do that has helped me out through trial and error.
Here is my configuration for my Lenovo w520.
Lenovo w520 (4270CTO)
Core i7 2860
32GB RAM
240GB mSATA
512GB Crucial m4 SSD
750GB Hitach Hybrid HD
nVidia 1000m Video Card
After initial installation of 8, (which by the way only take about 25 minutes or so) there were 3 things I had to do.
1. Obtain latest nVidia driver/software from nVidia’s site for Windows 8. nVidia Driver
*Note* By default, Windows will be able to install the device driver, but for those that have the 1000m or 2000m nVidia in addition to the onboard Intel chip, you’ll want this driver/software so the switching of graphics chips works.
2. You will have 2 devices that do not have drivers installed. The two show up as “Unknown Device” and “Base System Device”.
For the “Unknown Device”, download the following driver from Lenovo’s site. It’s for the Ricoh Card Reader.
For the “Base System Device”, download the following driver from Lenovo’s site. This is for Windows 7, but it works for 8 also. Power Management Driver
*NOTE* I have the 4270CTO, so you may need to specify your exact build. Keep that in mind.
Now, all is looking pretty. As a side note, the reason why I have so much RAM in my rig is because I have a lab that I run off of my laptop for work. 
People always give me a weird look when I tell them how much RAM I have in my laptop.
Thanks, and hope this helps. Oh, and don’t make the same mistake I made and try the BETA nVidia drivers from Lenovo, it will more than likely break your machine.
By default, the Desktop Toolbar is not enabled. To enable this, perform the following steps. This is pretty common knowledge, but thought I’d share for those who haven’t encountered it yet.
1. On your Web Interface, browse to the specific directory of the site. For example: C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\XenApp\conf
2. You’ll now want to open the WebInterface.conf file with your preferred text editor. (Depending on your UAC settings, you may need to open the text editor with elevated privileges).
3. Find the following line #ShowDesktopViewer=Off
4. Save the WebInterface.conf file.
*Remember to perform the same function on all of your Web Interfaces. (If you have multiple for load balancing).
Here is a screenshot of how the file should look like by default, and what it should look like to enable.
Default:
Toolbar Enabled:
Are there scenarios where you don’t want to enable the Desktop Toolbar? Simple answer, yes. We could lay out several scenarios but at the end of the day, it really is environment specific.
A quick and easy way to personalize the default printer for users across either XenDesktop, XenApp or standard machines via AppSense v8.x using Personalization (or Session Data v8.1+) is pretty simple. Thought I’d share it anyway.
For AppSense 8.1 and 8.2, AppSense moved the majority of what you would have normally set in Personalization over to Session Data. For the sake of this example, I’m using the Session Data feature, but, for those of you still on 8.0, you can apply the same, just in “Desktop Settings” in Personalization, instead of Session Data.
1. While in the User Personalization node, click on Tools on the menu bar.
2. Then click on Session Data.
3. Once the Session Data dialog box is up, enter the following key.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Devices
Voila, you’re now Personalizing your users’ default printers. This doesn’t necessarily apply to all. You do have the ability to set default printers when mapping them via policies/actions in EM, but if you or your users want to ability to change their default printers, this is a good way to give them that option. After all, it is all about the users right?
I just found out a nice little tidbit today about the GoToManage Free mobile application. For many of you in the IT industry that have iPads, you know that you can use GoToManage free to establish remote support sessions for your users/clients. I’ve always thought it silly that it was for iOS only. Now, Citrix is working on the Android version. Hooray right? That’s the only thing that I really want from the iPad that my Android tablet doesn’t have. I’m anxiously awaiting its release now.
If your hosting infrastructure is VMWare, then you probably ran into the issue where your DDCs and PVS boxes can’t connect to the hosting infrastructure. Main reason for this is you need to install the VMWare specific certificate on your DDCs and PVS boxes in order for them to establish that connection. These boxes need the ability to not only connect to the ESX(i) hosts, but to also manage machines as well as create them. Here’s the simple steps to install the cert. (My current environment is ESXi 4.1 Update1, XenDesktop 5.5 and PVS 6.0).
*Depending on your UAC settings, you may need to run the browser as administrator
1) Browse via browser to your vCenter server. Click on “Continue to this website (not recommended)”
2) Once you proceed to the main page, click on Certificates, then View the Cert
3) Click on Install Certificate
4) Click Next to continue the import
5) Select “Place all certificates in the following store, then browse and choose Local Computer under the “Trusted People” store
6) Click OK, Next, then finish.
Note that you’ll need to do this on all of your DDCs and PVS boxes.
I recently ran into an issue where I needed to update a template. I converted the template back to virtual machine, made my changes and attempted to update the vlan the NIC was on and received the following error.
“The Server Fault ‘SystemError’ had no message”
I’m still not 100% clear as to why this occurred, but to resolve this, simply do the following.
1. Figure out which datastore your VM resides on.
2. Then remove your virtual machine from inventory.
3. Browse the datastore your vm is located on.
4. Right click on the .vmx file and choose ‘Add to inventory’.
You should now be able to edit settings, and then convert back to template for deployment.
A few weeks back, I purchased my first Tablet. I went with the Asus TF because of the optional keyboard, it’s expandability and the extra juice the keyboard comes with, along with USB 2.0 ports and SDCard slot for even more external storage. Anyway, another reason I got the keyboard was because, like all tablet owners know all to well, it’s hard as hell to type on a tablet that measures 10.1″, and it’s virtually impossible to type in landscape. Efficiently anyway.
Now, the native onscreen keyboard on the TF does come with Swype like functionality. (I’m not positive if this was an ASUS thing, or a Honeycomb thing). It’s decent, but there’s no real substitute for good old QWERTY keyboard. I came across Swift Key X, and thought I’d give it a shot just to test other keyboards other than the stock one on the TF. I liked it, but again, it wasn’t any easier to type in landscape mode on the tablet. Then the tablet edition was released on the Market and I decided to try it out. If I didn’t like it, I could return anyway, so low risk right? I would know if I liked it or not immediately.
After downloading and installing, I haven’t looked back. The tablet edition splits the keys across the screen, placing the numkeys in the middle. I can type in landscape mode much easier now. One of the best, if not the best purchases I’ve made.
Here’s a screenshot of the keyboard
Since completing the migration to Windows 7 on XenDesktop, I’ve now begun to focus on on EdgeSight. There’s an existing EdgeSight 5.3 environment here by my predecessor, but of course no one knows the credentials to login. That wouldn’t be a problem, but if you don’t know which email address was used at initial configuration, you’re SOL.
If you’ve run into this issue, do the following.
- Login to your SQL Server
- Launch SQL Studio (locally or remotely)
- Select your EdgeSight DB, then run the following script
- select value from config where name = ‘SupportEmailID’
This will just simply query the db for the initial email used to configure EdgeSight. You can then perform the password reset function, and be on your merry way to wrestling with EdgeSight.