Wierd Citrix

[JamesNash]

Hi Everyone,

As much as I love Citrix there are some weird things that happen sometimes and that’s why I’m here,...

We are publishing approx 30 applications over 3 Citrix servers. Every time we setup a new user on a machine that already has a Citrix client installed, we need to publish ms word for the user to use as the first login, otherwise the user is unable to login into his required application. Basically when the user tries to open an application for the first time, he/she is denied access and no error message is given but if they run ms word over citrix before trying there application, Citrix authenticates them and they go straight in...

We have tried...
New client
Old client
Reinstalling the client
A fresh machine without a previously installed client

What I would like to know is what actually happens? What sort of authentication is used and why does it need to use a simple word application before the client can use his/her needed application?

Thanks to all...

james.

 

[BeerGood]

You don't mention what version of Citrix or client you're using or what o/s your workstations are running or how you're launching your apps etc but my guess would be that you are trying to run published applications that appear as links on the user's desktop. My guess is also that the published Word application is available for anonymous users, which allows the new user to connect without any issues. At that moment the links on the user's desktop pointing to the published applications that do need authentication are updated for the current user so then they work.

Give the PNA client (as opposed to standard PN client) a try (requires an NFuse server) if you find this to be a nuisance - this refreshes everything as soon as it starts up.

Cheers

 

[CitrixEngineer]

In answer to what actually happens, Citrix replaces Microsoft's Graphical Identification and Authentication (GINA) module msgina.dll with its own - ctxgina.dll, but the authentication process for Published Applications is the same as for any other method of accessing ICA connections (via the standard Microsoft authentication process winlogon.exe, loading up csrss.exe and the user's evnironment). The replacement GINA simply ensures that an ICA connection is made instead of an RDP connection.

More information can be found in the CCIA Course material.


I hope this helps