Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Identity pool of Hybrid Azure Active Directory joined machine identity

Note:

Since July 2023, Microsoft has renamed Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) to Microsoft Entra ID. In this document, any reference to Azure Active Directory, Azure AD, or AAD now refers to Microsoft Entra ID.

This article describes how to create identity pool of:

  • Hybrid Azure Active Directory (AD) joined catalogs
  • Hybrid Azure AD joined catalogs enrolled in Microsoft Intune

For information on requirements, limitations, and considerations, see Hybrid Azure Active Directory joined.

Create Hybrid Azure Active Directory (AD) joined catalogs

Use Web Studio

The following information is a supplement to the guidance in Create machine catalogs.

On the Machine Identities page of the catalog creation wizard:

  • Select Hybrid Azure Active Directory joined. The created machines are owned by an organization and are signed into with an Active Directory account that belongs to that organization.

  • To enroll the created machines into Microsoft Intune (including Configuration Manager) for device management, select Enroll the machines in Microsoft Intune with Configuration Manager. To avoid errors during catalog creation, ensure that the master image meets the following requirements:

    • Has VDA version 2405 or later installed.
    • Has the Configuration Manager client installed with the site code unassigned. For more information, see this Microsoft article.

Note:

If you select Hybrid Azure Active Directory joined as the identity type, each machine in the catalog must have a corresponding AD computer account.

Use PowerShell

The following are PowerShell steps equivalent to operations in Web Studio. For information on how to create a catalog using the Remote PowerShell SDK, see https://developer-docs.citrix.com/projects/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops-sdk/en/latest/creating-a-catalog/.

The difference between on-premises AD joined catalogs and hybrid Azure AD joined ones lies in the creation of the identity pool and the machine accounts.

To create an identity pool along with the accounts for hybrid Azure AD joined catalogs:

New-AcctIdentityPool -AllowUnicode -IdentityType "HybridAzureAD" -Domain "corp.local" -IdentityPoolName "HybridAADJoinedCatalog" -NamingScheme "HybridAAD-VM-##" -NamingSchemeType "Numeric" -OU "CN=AADComputers,DC=corp,DC=local" -Scope @() -ZoneUid "81291221-d2f2-49d2-ab12-bae5bbd0df05"
New-AcctIdentity -IdentityPoolName "HybridAADJoinedCatalog" -Count 10 -ADUserName "corp\admin1" -ADPassword $password
Set-AcctAdAccountUserCert -IdentityPoolName "HybridAADJoinedCatalog" -All -ADUserName "corp\admin1" -ADPassword $password
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Note:

$password is the matching password for an AD user account with Write Permissions.

All other commands used to create hybrid Azure AD joined catalogs are the same as for traditional on-premises AD joined catalogs.

View the status of the hybrid Azure AD join process

In the Web Studio, the status of the hybrid Azure AD join process is visible when hybrid Azure AD joined machines in a delivery group are in a powered-on state. To view the status, use Search to identify those machines and then for each check Machine Identity on the Details tab in the lower pane. The following information can appear in Machine Identity:

  • Hybrid Azure AD joined
  • Not yet joined to Azure AD

Note:

  • You might experience delayed hybrid Azure AD join when the machine initially powers on. This is caused by the default machine identity sync interval (30 minutes of Azure AD Connect). The machine is in hybrid Azure AD joined state only after the machine identities are synced to Azure AD through Azure AD Connect.
  • If machines fail to be in hybrid Azure AD joined state, they are not registered with the Delivery Controller. Their registration status appears as Initialization.

Also, using the Web Studio, you can learn why machines are unavailable. To do that, click a machine on the Search node, check Registration on the Details tab in the lower pane, and then read the tooltip for additional information.

Troubleshoot

If machines fail to be hybrid Azure AD joined, do the following:

  • Check if the machine account has been synced to Azure AD through the Microsoft Azure AD portal. If synced, Not yet joined to Azure AD appears, indicating pending registration status.

    To sync machine accounts to Azure AD, make sure:

    • The machine account is in the OU that is configured to be synced with Azure AD. Machine accounts without the userCertificate attribute are not synced to Azure AD even they are in the OU that is configured to be synced.
    • The attribute userCertificate populates in the machine account. Use Active Directory Explorer to view the attribute.
    • Azure AD Connect must have been synced at least once after the machine account is created. If not, manually run the Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta command in the PowerShell console of the Azure AD Connect machine to trigger an immediate sync.
  • Check if the Citrix managed device key pair for hybrid Azure AD join is correctly pushed to the machine by querying the value of DeviceKeyPairRestored under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix.

    Verify that the value is 1. If not, possible reasons are:

    • IdentityType of the identity pool associated with the provisioning scheme is not set to HybridAzureAD. You can verify this by running Get-AcctIdentityPool.
    • The machine is not provisioned using the same provisioning scheme of the machine catalog.
    • The machine is not joined to the local domain. Local domain joined is a prerequisite of the hybrid Azure AD join.
  • Check diagnostic messages by running the dsregcmd /status /debug command on the MCS-provisioned machine.

    • If hybrid Azure AD join is successful, AzureAdJoined and DomainJoined are YES in the output of the command line.

    • If not, refer to the Microsoft documentation to troubleshoot the issues: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/devices/troubleshoot-hybrid-join-windows-current.

    • If you get the error message Server Message: The user certificate is not found on the device with id: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx, then run the following PowerShell command to repair the user certificate:

       Repair-AcctIdentity -IdentityAccountName TEST\VM1 -Target UserCertificate
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      For more information about the user certificate issue, see CTX566696.

Create Hybrid Azure AD joined catalogs enrolled in Microsoft Intune

You can create co-management enabled catalogs for Hybrid Azure AD joined catalogs enrolled in Microsoft Intune for persistent single and multi-session VMs. You can create co-management enabled catalogs using both Studio and PowerShell.

Use Web Studio

The following information is a supplement to the guidance in Create machine catalogs.

In the Machine Catalog Setup wizard:

  • On the Machine Identities page, select Hybrid Azure Active Directory joined and then Enroll the machines in Microsoft Intune with Configuration Manager. Using this action, Configuration Manager and Microsoft Intune (that is, co-managed) manages the VMs.

Use PowerShell

The following are the PowerShell steps equivalent to steps in Studio.

To enroll machines in Microsoft Intune with Configuration Manager using the Remote PowerShell SDK, use the DeviceManagementType parameter in New-AcctIdentityPool. This feature requires that the catalog is Hybrid Azure AD joined and that Azure AD possesses the correct Microsoft Intune license.

The difference between Hybrid Azure AD joined catalogs and co-management enabled ones lies in the creation of the identity pool. For example:

New-AcctIdentityPool -AllowUnicode -DeviceManagementType "IntuneWithSCCM" IdentityType="HybridAzureAD" -IdentityPoolName "CoManagedCatalog" -NamingScheme "CoManaged-VM-##" -NamingSchemeType "Numeric" -Scope @() -ZoneUid "81291221-d2f2-49d2-ab12-bae5bbd0df05"
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Troubleshoot

If machines fail to enroll in Microsoft Intune or fail to reach co-management state, do the following:

  • Check Intune license

    Check if your Azure AD tenant is assigned with the appropriate Intune license. See Microsoft Intune licensing for license requirements of Microsoft Intune.

  • Check Hybrid Azure AD join status

    Check if the MCS-provisioned machines are Hybrid Azure AD joined. The machines are not eligible for co-management if not Hybrid Azure AD joined. See Troubleshoot to troubleshoot Hybrid Azure AD join issues.

  • Check co-management eligibility

    • Check if the MCS-provisioned machines are correctly assigned with the expected Configuration Manager site. To get the assigned site, run the following PowerShell command on the affected machines.

       (New-Object -ComObject "Microsoft.SMS.Client").GetAssignedSite()
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    • If no site is assigned to the VM, use the following command to check if the Configuration Manager site can be automatically discovered.

       (New-Object -ComObject "Microsoft.SMS.Client").AutoDiscoverSite()
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    • Ensure that boundaries and boundary groups are well configured in your Configuration Manager environment if no site code can be discovered. See Considerations for details.

    • Check C:\Windows\CCM\Logs\ClientLocation.log for any Configuration Manager client site assignment issues.

    • Check the co-management states of the machines. Open the Configuration Manager control panel on the affected machines and go to the General tab. The value of Co-management property must be Enabled. If not, check logs under C:\Windows\CCM\Logs\CoManagementHandler.log.

  • Check Intune enrollment

    Machines might fail to enroll in Microsoft Intune even if all prerequisites are satisfied. Check Windows event logs under Application and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider for Intune enrollment issues.

Identity pool of Hybrid Azure Active Directory joined machine identity