1. XenApp
XenApp 6.5 – Published application shortcut data is not in ICO format
Problem
Recently when publishing out an application I encountered an error when
choosing the shortcut image that the Data is not in ICO format. This means that
the shortcut icon is in a format not supported by XenApp.
This error prevented the application from being published as you could not
complete the setup due to this error or chose a different image for the published
application shortcut.
Resolution
To resolve this issue you need to copy the image out of the shortcut file and save
it as a format that is supported by XenApp. This can be completed by carrying out
the following:
1. Download and install the trial version of IcoFix from http://icofx.ro/
2. Launch IcoFix, Select File – Open and browse to the .exe that is causing the
problem
3. Select the Icon Image you want to use with the published application and
extract this from the exe
1. Save the image as a .ico file
2. You then need to publish out Notepad from XenApp but providing the
display name as the desired application name
3. When you come to choose the shortcut icon for the Notepad published
application select the .ico file you have just saved
4. Publish the application
5. Edit to the application properties, select location and change the .exe to
point to the intended executable for the published application
6. Test the application

2. 2)After launching a published application, the Citrix Receiver progress bar
disappears after the “negotiating capabilities” phase, after several seconds
(depends on the environment logon speed) the published application is opened.
The issue is reproducible consistently but seems to affect only certain published
applications.
This issue is caused by a bug in the Citrix Receiver 3.x client, the issue is triggered
when the published application ‘Display Name’ is different from the ‘Application
Name’. For example, the issue will be triggered using the following published
application properties:
1. Display Name – Internet Explorer Test
2. Application Name – Internet Explorer Test_1
Citrix is aware of this issue and already have a private fix for Citrix Receiver 3.4. To
obtain this fix, please contact Citrix Support and mention service request #
61033997.
Update – Citrix included a fix for this issue in Receiver for Windows 3.4
Cumulative Update 3:
“Application launches fail if there is a mismatch between the application name
and the display name of the published application”
[#LA3891]
• http://forums.citrix.com/thread.jspa?threadID=315391&tstart=0
• http://forums.citrix.com/thread.jspa?threadID=311777&tstart=0
XenApp slow logon troubleshooting and optimisation
I have spent about 3 days trying to troubleshoot a customer’s XenApp slow logon
so I thought I would document what I went through. In the end I got the launch
time of notepad down to about 18 seconds for a XenApp 6 server with 2 CPUs, 4
GB RAM, virtualised on vShere 5

3. Step 1: Service Packs and Hotfixes
First of all I would check that you are up to date on OS and XenApp hotfixes.
See Citrix’s guide to recommended hotfixes for XenApp 6 and Windows 2008 R2
CTX129229
Use Thomas Koetzing’s Update Script to download and install XenApp hotfixes.
Also check if you have these Microsoft Hotfixes installed.
KB973772
KB977346
KB2409711
KB977346
At time of writing Citrix are working on a hotfix to resolve an issue whereby
CitrixCseEngine.exe causes a 50% CPU spike at logon. CitrixCseEngine is the Citrix
group policy engine responsible for processing Citrix Policies held in Active
Directory Group Policy Objects.
This hotfix will get rid of one of the CPU spikes; the other is just down to the
normal processing of the logon.
There is also a hotfix for a known issue of XenApp slow logons when using Read-
Only Domain Controllers. See CTX133873 for details.
Once you have all hotfixes up to date move onto the next step.
Step 2: Optimisation
I start off by putting in place all the best practise recommendations and then, if
the logon is still slow, move onto troubleshooting further. You may not want to do
it like this or you may not be able to, therefore move onto Step 3.

4. Citrix have a very good PDF called “Optimization Guide: User Logon” which will
help you understand the logon process, where delays can occur, and how to
tackle them. It’s a very good place to start.
Some people also have a Windows Security Dialog box that pops up with a
disclaimer at logon. This should be disabled for published applications as it slows
down the logon due to the fact the user has to click on it before the app will
continue to launch.
You can either display it on the users Windows Client OS or on your XenApp
Published Desktop servers when the user log on for the first time, on your Access
Gateway before they log on remotely, or if you have thin clients, many of them
allow you to display a disclaimer to the user before launching a published
application or desktop.
In a GPO applied to your Workstations or XenApp Desktop servers
Computer ConfigurationPoliciesWindows SettingsSecurity SettingsLocal
PoliciesSecurity Options Interactive logon: Message text for users attempting to
log on
Computer ConfigurationPoliciesWindows SettingsSecurity SettingsLocal
PoliciesSecurity Options Interactive logon: Message title for users attempting to
log on
Incidentally, if you have a higher up GPO which is configuring the logon message
and you want to block it on your XenApp servers you can do this by ticking Define
this policy setting in the template and not entering any text as per the screenshot
below.

5. Step 3: Troubleshooting
Environment Debug Logging has been removed in Windows 2008, it is still
possible to turn it on some Group Policy debug logging. This blog post explains
how. It will give you a log with timings that should indicate where a delay is
occurring in the Group Policy processing. This report is useful if you don’t have
Edgesight but the Edgesight report which Citrix mention in their optimisation
guide gives much better information in my opinion.
There is a very useful free tool called Policy Reporter which formats the
Userenv.log into a much more easily readable format. You can download the tool
from the SysPro website

6. If you’ve got this far and still not seeing much improvement or not found out
where your delay is then you have to do some good old fashioned hard work. Get
a stop watch or timer and a published app; notepad.exe is good as it is quick to
launch once logon has occurred so won’t skew your logon timings.
Disable one thing at a time and then see how much quicker the logon is
afterwards. Remember to work methodologically and record the results in a
spread sheet otherwise you will lose track of what you’re doing.
Taking a leaf from Citrix’s “Optimization Guide: User Logon”
I would try:
 Removing or blocking as many GPOs as possible.
 Removing or disabling your logon script. Also check no one has snuck anything
into usrlogon.cmd on the XenApp server
 Disable Citrix Client Drive Mapping
 Disable Citrix Client Printer Mapping
 Disable Roaming Profiles
 Check there are no dodgy entries in DNS or in your hosts file on the XenApp
server