Are you setting up a new Proof of Concept 
All credits go to Pierre Marmignon for his excellent post this weekend listing up all the Terminal Server & XenApp Tuning Tips. I have created a Group Policy based on these tips with OS W2K3/W2K8 and XenApp 4.x/5.x. The following is included in the policy :
- Operations System Tuning & XenApp / Terminal Services
- Additional Windows Explorer Tuning
- XenApp Tuning
I am using the GPMC for Windows 2008 so you will need to download Group Policy Preference Client Side Extensions for W2K3 and you install it with this command : start /wait Windows-en-US-KB943729.exe /quiet /norestart
Follow the picture guide for instructions on how to import these settings. The Group Policy can be downloaded here.
Update 22.06.2009 – XenApp50 Server Tuning Policy v1.1 :
The Group Policy Template has been updated to version 1.1 reflection changes from CitrixTools.net and some minor typos in the RDP-TCP section. I have also added Item-level Targeting for ICA-TCP tuning settings that checks if ICA-TCP exist in registry before applying the policy. The reason for this are because if the ICA-TCP exist there will be problems installing Citrix XenApp.
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{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi there.
I tried te install this on Windows server 2003 R2, but at the import i get:
“The version option is invalid”.
Installed the Group Policy Preference Client Side Extensions for W2K3 also.
Will it only work on Windows 2008 server ?
This will only work from a Windows 2008 Server or Windows Vista SP1-based computers that have Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) installed. The domain controller doesn’t need to be W2K8. So if you have a W2k8 Server in your environment install GPMC or simply use a Vista PC to manage your Group Policy’s.
More info at Microsoft : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943729
Eric
Does this GPO v1.1 support windows 2008 x64 XenApp Servers? I just wanted to make sure that keys will be created in the correct places for x64 servers…
BTW… you guys are the best…
Thanks,
Franco
Thanks, good to hear you like the webpage. All Registry Hives are provided for x86 platforms. For x64 Platforms, do not forget to add “WoW6432Node” if hive is in HKLMSoftware.
Thanks. We are in a Windows Server 2003 environment so we can’t use your Windows Server 2008 template.
Do you have an ADM version of this wonderful template?
Thanks in advance,
Benoit
You can use it, you only have to admin the policy with a Windows Vista Machine. Take a look at the 2nd comment regarding this issue.
Eric
Hi Eric,
The thing is that we do not use Windows Vista in our organization. Can you easily export an ADM version of your template?
Nope sorry, you will have to put a virtual machine or something
I try to force the GPO on a windows 2008 xenapp 5.0 farm. i checked that the GPO got apply on the machines. after login the users i found out that the roaming profiles are not loaded correctly. they had load a roaming temporary profile. Any idea how can i solve that.
thanks
Hi.
When I am following your guide to import your admx file to GPO, I keep getting a “No backups found” when I browse to the folder where the admx-file are located. Also tryed to copy the file locally to the server where I am trying from. It is a Win 2008 with Group Policy Management enabled.
What do I do wrong?
Thanks
Hi Torsten,
You will need to include the Backups folder. If you download and extract the file to C:, the path will be “C:XenApp50 Server – Tuning PolicyXenApp50 Server – Tuning PolicyBackups”.
Eric
I set this policy on an OU with a win2008 x86 server in, the policy is applied (i see it in the gpresult), but when i check the registry nothing is added or changed, what am i doing wrong?
thx, steven
Hi Steven,
You will need to delete the key HKLMSOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows NTTerminal ServicesWFDontAppendUserNameToProfile
This settings is to set Allow Mandatory Profiles Configuration via GPO. I will remove this in the next version.
Also make sure you have a Loopback processing GPO configured, it’s not part of this template.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/231287
Eric
Great Policy testing it right now as we speak. Had a quick question have you ever seen or heard of a document out there for best practices on user lockdown inside of a full published desktop for Xenapp. We are looking to deploy this to about three hundred end users, and just trying to understand the best ways to do profile redirection, locking down of admins tools, and also making sure server manager doesn’t launch on login.. Thanks again for your blog
Hi James,
I’m not aware of any documents on user lockdown. If you have Citrix XenApp Enterprise license I would recommend using the Citrix Profile Management. Within policy you will need to remove run, hide drives, disable registry, disable manage computer e.g. Take a look at this great blog Group Policy Center.
Looks great. I was ondering if there an older version of this gpo in .adm format anywhere. Small shop not ready to switch our AD servers to 2008. Thanks
Hi Daniel,
You do not have to switch your AD to W2K8, you can administrate the policy’s with Windows Vista / Windows 7 with the RSAT tool installed.
Eric
Thank you so much for compiling this into an ADMx for us!
Excuse my ignorance, but could you elaborate on why a loopback policy needs to be set and also expand a little on my farm running on 64bit 2008 and your statement “do not forget to add “WoW6432Node” if hive is in HKLMSoftware.”? Can you push me in the right direction to tie things up so I can use this?
Thanks so much,
Chris
Loopback Policy Explained : How to apply Group Policy objects to Terminal Services servers
WoW6432Node : Nicolas Dille, Helge Klein and MSDN
Eric
Version 1.1 works very well with x86 servers. How do I go about changing it to work correctly on 64bit 2K8 R2 domain controllers for 64bit 2K8 R1 XenApp servers? Cheers GB
Hi Glenn,
If your are going to use this policy on Windows 2008 x64 Remote Desktop Services (RDS) you’ll need to edit each string to point to the new Wow6432Node location.
In Windows 2003 x32 and x64 the Software registry keys are located e.g. like this : HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionAeDebug.
In a Windows 2008 x64 environment they are located here : HKLMSOFTWAREWow6432NodeMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionAeDebug
I don’t know when I’ll have time to create new W2K8x64 templates, but hopefully they will be finished after the summer vacation.
Hi there,
My environment as below:
windows 2003 AD
Windows 2008 Xenapp 5 Server
windows XP workstations
How can I implement this group policy?
what do I need to download / install?
Is that possible a little bit details please?
Thanks
Johnson
Hi Johnson,
All you have to do is to install Group Policy Management Console on one/all of your W2K8 XenApp 5 Server’s. Remember that you from now on need to administrate Group Policy from these servers. Start – Run – “ServerManagerCmd.exe -i GPMC”.
If you sign up for the eBook you’ll find all the information you need.
We have installed XenApp 6.0 on Windows 2008 R2. Will this tuning policy work with XenApp 6 as well?
Thanks,
Hi Tuck,
No, you’ll need to take a look at this post : XenApp 6 Tuning Group Policy for Windows 2008 R2
Hi
LogoffCheckSysModules is not supported in XenApp 5.0 and 6.0 on Windows 2008 x64. Do you any other way of sorting process not closing at logoff?
Regards,
Brian
You test this gpo template in your environment?
Hi RP, yes I’ve tested this and aslo 4570 other people that have download this policy template. Which problems do you have ?
Hi – am I missing something? When I click the download here link I’m taken to a download site page to download core applications. I can’t see anything that resembles an exported gpo – any help appreciated.
Hi Mark, thanks for letting me know. The link have been fixed
Eric – curious if you ever updated to include 2008 x64 for this tuning? We are still on XA4.5/5 and added a few x64 servers and having some chaos with Office 2010 pausing for 5s – so would like to test applying this tuning. We are running office 2010 32bit, so was not sure if this GP will work or must I also double up with the x64 variants?
Thanks.
Hi Ron, just check out this blog post : http://www.xenappblog.com/2010/xenapp-6-tuning-group-policy-for-windows-2008-r2/. This tuning only affect OS so it doesn’t matter if you’re running Office 2010 x32.
Will this work for Xenapp 4.5/5 on 2008 64bit even though it shows for Xenapp6 (which is only 2008 R2)?
Hi Ron,
I’ve not tested it on that system, but the XA5 should work on both x32 & x64. What’s different in the XA6 policy are the new Wow6432Node settings.
Don’t know whether you are aware but for systems running AppSense Environment Manager v8.2 and up, the AEDebug registry key removal to disable Dr Watson will stop AppSense Environment Manager from working. See my blog post on it at http://appsensebigot.blogspot.com/2012/02/appsense-user-virtualization-service.html. A lot of Citrix/RDS users use AppSense so thought it might be worth pointing out.
Thanks James, good to know
We are on Terminal Services on Windows 2003 R2, with Citrix Presentation Server for Windows 4.5.6 and Citrix XenApp – Administration 4.7.0.0 and use Group Policy and have Terminal Services user profiles.
We are upgrading from Office XP to Office 2010. I am having some users test Office 2010 and find that if they customize their Office 2010 settings they do not stick after log off from their Citrix session.
Is there a GPO or registry entry that may work for this problem?
Thanks!
Sounds strange. Does the same happen if you logon with a clean profile?
I’m looking for a way to be able to use terminal session targeting for ICA-TCP. I was hoping to use 1 GPO for printer deployment for Windows, View and Xenapp. I have 10 locations and to target each user to a printer thru a security group/ou is a pain. Also we have alot of travel inside the company and item level targeting with terminal session would be great if it would allow me to target ICA-TCP, not just RDP-TCP, because that does not help me one bit when it come to Xenapp. Is there a solution to this? Running Xenapp 4.5 on W2K3 servers.
I’m not aware of a solution for this. That being said, it’s not recommended publishing printers through GPO because it will slow down your login time. On XA45 you could target IP addresses instead of AD Groups, but that will make problems for the traveling users.
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