How do I enable Remote Desktop in Citrix?

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Remote PC Catalog

1. In Citrix Studio, create a Machine Catalog.
   
2. In the Introduction page, click Next.
3. In the Operating System page, select Remote PC Access, and click Next.
   
4. In the Machine Accounts page, click Add OUs.
   
5. Browse to an OU containing office PCs. Check the box next to Include subfolders, and click OK.
   
6. Then click Next.
   
7. Name the catalog Remote PC or similar, and then click Finish.
   
8. After the Catalog is created, you can Edit Machine Catalog to add more OUs.
   
   
   
9. Or explicitly add individual machines to the Catalog.
   
   
   

Remote PC Delivery Group

1. Create a Delivery Group.
   
2. In the Introduction page, click Next.
3. In the Machines page, highlight the Remote PC catalog, and click Next.
   
4. Add users that can access the Remote PCs, and then click Next.
   
5. In the Desktop Assignment Rules page, adding an entry here will let users connect to unassigned machines. If you don’t add anything here, then users can only connect to machines to which they’ve been explicitly assigned. Click Next.
   
6. In the Summary page, enter a name for the Delivery Group, and then click Finish.
   
7. Click Yes when prompted that there are no desktops to deliver.
   

Remote PC Citrix Policy

• Citrix Policy 2106 and newer have a User Setting [user half of GPO] named Disconnected session timer for Remote PC Access.
  
  • Make sure you also configure the Disconnected session timer interval.
    

Multiple Users per PC

Citrix CTX137805 How to Switch Off Remote PC Access Multiple User Assignment in XenDesktop 7.x: By default, when using Remote PC Access in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops [CVAD], anybody that logs into the console session of the physical PC is automatically assigned to the Catalog machine in Citrix Studio. This can result in multiple users assigned to the same machine. For IT desktop support staff that routinely log into multiple PCs to support them, the IT staff could see many more machines in StoreFront than they intend.

To stop this, on every Delivery Controller, configure the following registry value so only the first user to log on to the machine after it has registered with the Citrix Broker service gets assigned to the machine. You can still manually assign users to machines using Studio or Director.

• HKLM\Software\Citrix\DesktopServer\
  • AllowMultipleRemotePCAssignments [DWORD] = 0

Wake On LAN

As of CVAD 2012, this SCCM integration feature has been deprecated. The replacement Wake on LAN feature in CVAD 2009 and newer no longer needs SCCM and is configured using PowerShell as detailed at Configure Wake on LAN at Citrix Docs.

If you have SCCM configured for Wake On LAN, you can connect Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops [CVAD] to SCCM to power manage the Remote PC machines.

1. In Citrix Studio, go to Configuration, right-click Hosting, and click Add Connection and Resources.
   
2. In the Connection page, change the selection to Create a new connection.
3. Change the Connection type to Microsoft Configuration Manager Wake on LAN.
4. Enter the SCCM server’s FQDN.
5. Enter SCCM credentials. The SCCM credentials you specify must include collections in the scope, and the Remote Tools Operator role.
6. Give the Connection a name, and click Next.
   
7. In the Summary page, click Finish.
   
8. Edit the Remote PC Machine Catalog.
   
9. In the Power Management page, change the selection to Yes, and click OK
   

Install VDA on PC

1. Windows 10 Compatibility – CTX224843 Windows 10 compatibility with Citrix Virtual Desktops [XenDesktop]
   
2. On the PC, install .NET Framework 4.8 [or newer].
3. Disable power saving options [e.g. Hibernate, Sleep, etc.]
4. If Wake on LAN is desired, configure the PC’s BIOS and NIC to enable Wake on LAN.
   • Make sure SCCM Agent is installed and Hardware Inventory has run at least once.
5. Download Standalone Single-session OS [aka Desktop OS] installers for Virtual Delivery Agent 2112, Virtual Delivery Agent 1912 LTSR CU4, or Virtual Delivery Agent 7.15 LTSR Cumulative Update 8.
   1. The standalone VDA installers are in the Components that are on the product ISO but also packaged separately section.
      
   2. The Single-session OS Core Services VDA is designed specifically for Remote PC, and is the smallest installer available. However, Core Services VDAs older than version 2003 do not include Browser Content Redirection and Teams Redirection. See CTX287063 Microsoft Teams HDX Optimization not working with VDA core installation.
   3. In VDA 2003 and newer, the Core Services installer includes Browser Content Redirection [BCR] and Teams Redirection.
      
6. Remote PC is typically installed on many distributed PCs. Use a software deployment tool to install the VDA package using CLI parameters. See Use the standalone VDA installer at Citrix Docs for more information.
7. For Teams Redirection and Browser Content Redirection [BCR] in VDA 1912 and older, use the full VDA installer with the /remotepc switch: VDAWorkstationSetup_1912.exe /quiet /remotepc /controllers "xdc01.corp.local xdc02.corp.local" /enable_hdx_ports /noreboot
8. For Teams Redirection and Browser Content Redirection [BCR] in the Core Services VDA 2003 and newer, use a command line similar to the following: VDAWorkstationCoreSetup_2112.exe /quiet /controllers "xdc01.corp.local xdc02.corp.local" /enable_hdx_ports /noresume /noreboot
9. CTX256820 When a user connects to his physical VDA using Remote PC Access, the monitor layout order changes.
   1. On the Remote PC machine, in regedit, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\Graphics
   2. Create a DWORD named  UseSDCForLocalModes and set it to 1.
10. Vrajesh Subrahari at Remote PC Solution Issue – The virtual machine ‘Unknown’ cannot accept additional sessions at Citrix Discussions recommends disabling Fast Boot.
    1. On the Remote PC machine, in regedit, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power\.
    2. Set HiberbootEnabled to 0.
11. After the machine is rebooted, if the machine is in one of the OUs assigned to the Remote PC Catalog, then the machine will be automatically added to the Catalog and the Delivery Group.
12. When somebody logs into the console of the machine, that user will be automatically assigned to the machine. You can use the Change User link on the right to change or add users. Multiple users can be assigned to one machine.
    
    
    
13. When the user logs into StoreFront, the user will see the actual machine name.
    
14. The name displayed in StoreFront can be changed by running Set-BrokerPrivateDesktop MyMachine -PublishedName MyDisplayName.
    

Remote PC Maintenance

Assign/Un-assign users – There are four methods of assigning users to desktops:

• Let Remote PC do it automatically. The first user that logs into the physical machine will be assigned to the desktop. If single user mode is not enabled then all other users that log into the machine will also be assigned to the desktop.
• In Citrix Studio, find the machine, right-click it, and click Change User.
  
• In Director, go to machine details and click Manage Users.
  
• Use PowerShell: asnp citrix.* Remove-BrokerUser -Machine 'CORP\WIN1002' -Name 'CORP\user01' Add-BrokerUser -Machine 'CORP\WIN1002' -Name 'CORP\user01'

Rename desktop icon – For Remote PC, the icon displayed to the user is the actual machine name. This sometimes is not very intuitive. The name displayed to the user can be changed by running a PowerShell command.

Display last login time for the machines – Use the following PowerShell to display desktops sorted by when they were last used. Adjust the date filter as desired. You can manually remove the older machines or pipe the results to Remove-BrokerMachine.

The above PowerShell command uses the -filter and -property switches. These switches process the filtering on the server-side, which improves performance.