Graphics and display

Pinning multi-monitor screen layout

Starting with Version 2103, you can save the selection for multi-monitor screen layout. The layout is how a desktop session is displayed. Pinning helps to relaunch a session with the selected layout, resulting in an optimized user experience.

As a prerequisite, you must enable this feature in the AuthManConfig.xml file. Navigate to $ICAROOT/config/AuthManConfig.xml and add the following entries:

     <key>ScreenPinEnabled</key>
     <value>true</value>
<!--NeedCopy-->

Only after adding the preceding key, you can see the Screen Layout option in the App indicator icon. For more information about the app indicator icon, see App indicator icon.

To select the screen layout, click the app indicator icon in the taskbar, and select Screen Layout. The Screen Layout dialog appears.

Alternately, you can launch the Screen Layout dialog by pressing Ctrl+m keys when on the self-service window.

Select a virtual desktop from the drop-down menu. The layout selection is applied only to the desktop that you select.

Select one or more tiles to form a rectangular selection for the layout. The session then appears as per the layout selection.

Limitations:

• Enabling screen pinning disables the save layout feature in a session.
• This feature is applicable only on desktops that are marked as favorite.

Screen pinning in custom web stores

Starting with Citrix Workspace app version 2309, the screen pinning in custom web stores allows you to save the selection for multi-monitor screen layout in custom web stores.

As a prerequisite, you must enable this feature in the AuthManConfig.xml file. Navigate to $ICAROOT/config/AuthManConfig.xml and add the following entries:

<key>ScreenPinEnabled</key>
<value>true</value>
<!--NeedCopy-->

Only after adding the preceding key, you can see the Screen Layout option in the Citrix Workspace app menu.

To select the screen layout, select Screen Layout in the Citrix Workspace app menu. The Screen Layout dialog box appears.

Select a virtual desktop from the drop-down menu. The layout selection is applied only to the desktop that you select.

Select one or more tiles to form a rectangular selection for the layout. The session then appears as per the layout selection.

Limitations:

• Enabling screen pinning disables the save layout feature in a session.
• This feature is applicable only on desktops that are marked as favorite.

Support for DPI matching

The display resolution and DPI scale values set in the Citrix Workspace app match to the corresponding values in the virtual apps and desktops session. You can set the required scale value in the Linux client, and the scaling of the VDA session is updated automatically.

DPI scaling is mostly used with large-size and high-resolution monitors. This feature helps to display the following in a size that can be viewed comfortably:

• Applications
• Text
• Images
• Other graphical elements

Note:

The DPI matching feature supports only GNOME, KDE, and Xfce desktop environments.

This feature is disabled by default. You can enable this feature using the command-line interface or GUI.

Command-line interface

1. Navigate to the $HOME/.ICAClient/wfclient.ini configuration file.

2. Go to the [WFClient] section and set the following entry:

   DPIMatchingEnabled=TRUE
   <!--NeedCopy-->
   

GUI

1. Go to Menu > Preferences. The Citrix Workspace‑Preferences dialog appears.

   

2. Navigate to General tab.
3. Select the Enable and match client DPI scale settings checkbox.
4. Click OK.

Note:

The updated DPI scale settings take effect after you reconnect to Citrix Workspace app.

Limitation:

The DPI matching feature doesn’t support the following:

• Fractional scaling on the client side.
• Desktop session that is extended to more than one monitor and when those monitors have different DPIs configured.

Multi-monitor layout persistence

This feature retains the session monitor layout information across endpoints. The sessions appear on the same monitor as configured.

Prerequisite:

This feature requires the following:

• StoreFront v3.15 or later.

• If .ICAClient is already present in the home folder of the current user:

  Delete the All_Regions.ini file

  or

  To retain the All_Regions.ini file, add the following lines at the end of the [Client Engine\Application Launching] section:

  SubscriptionUrl=

  PreferredWindowsBounds=

  PreferredMonitors=

  PreferredWindowState=

  SaveMultiMonitorPref=

If the .ICAClient folder is not present then it indicates a fresh install of the Citrix Workspace app. In that case, the default setting for the feature is retained.

Use cases

• Launch a session on any monitor in windowed mode and save the setting. When you relaunch the session, it appears in the same mode, on the same monitor, and in the same position.
• Launch a session on any monitor in full-screen mode and save the setting. When you relaunch the session, it appears in full-screen mode on the same monitor.
• Stretch and span a session in windowed mode across multiple monitors and then switch to full-screen mode. The session continues in full-screen across all monitors. When you relaunch the session, it appears in full-screen mode, spanning across all monitors.

Notes:

• The layout is overwritten with every save, and the layout is saved only on the active StoreFront.
• f you launch extra desktop sessions from the same StoreFront on different monitors, saving the layout in one session saves the layout information of all the sessions.

Save layout

To enable the save layout feature:

1. Install the StoreFront 3.15 or later version (equal or greater than v3.15.0.12) on a compatible Delivery Controller (DDC).
2. Download the build of Citrix Workspace app 1808 or later for Linux from the Downloads page and then install it on your Linux machine.
3. Set the ICAROOT environment variable to the install location.
4. Check whether the All_Regions.ini file is present in the .ICAClient folder. If so, delete it.
5. In the $ICAROOT/config/All_Regions.ini file, look for the field – SaveMultiMonitorPref. By default, the value of this field is “true” (meaning this feature is turned on). To toggle off this feature, set this field to false. If you update the value of SaveMultiMonitorPref, you must delete the All_Regions.ini file present in the .ICAClient folder to prevent value mismatches and a possible profile lockdown. Set or unset the SaveMultiMonitorPref flag before launching sessions.
6. Launch a new desktop session.

7. Click Save Layout on the Desktop Viewer toolbar to save the current session layout. A notification appears at the bottom right of the screen, indicating success. When you click Save layout, the icon grays out. This color change indicates that saving is in progress. When the layout is saved the icon appears normal.

8. Disconnect or log off from the session. Relaunch the session. The session appears in the same mode, on the same monitor, and in the same position.

Limitations and unsupported scenarios:

• Saving a layout for windowed mode session spanning across multiple monitors is not supported due to limitations with the Linux Display manager.
• Saving session information across monitors with varied resolution is not supported in this release and might result in unpredictable behavior.
• Customers deployments with extra StoreFront

Using Citrix Virtual Desktops on dual monitor

1. Select the Desktop Viewer and click the down arrow.
2. Select Window.
3. Drag the Citrix Virtual Desktops screen between the two monitors. Verify that about half the screen is present in each monitor.

4. From the Citrix Virtual Desktop toolbar, select Full-screen.

   The screen extends to both the monitors.

Enhancement to multiple monitors

When using multiple monitors, if you dock or undock your primary endpoint machine from a docking station, the session extends to the monitors automatically with the updated layout. Also, when you start a session with multiple monitors, the session is extended to those monitors. If you add or remove monitors, the session is adapted to the newly available screens.

Note:

This feature supports a primary monitor and one secondary monitor only.

By default, this feature is disabled.

Perform the following to enable this feature:

1. Navigate to the $HOME/.ICAClient/wfclient.ini folder.
2. Go to the [WFClient] section.

3. Add the following entry:

   MultiMonitorPnPEnabled=True
   <!--NeedCopy-->
   

Note:

If you are using the 4K resolution monitor, during the multi-monitor plug and play, set MonitorLayoutEventTimeout=4 on the $HOME/.ICAClient/wfclient.ini file in the [WFClient] section.

Limitation:

• When you change the monitor layout on your local machine after a session is started, the monitor layout inside the session might not change accordingly. [HDX-58023]

Fixed issue:

• When you manually switch the session from Window mode to Full-screen mode and then connect a second monitor, the session might fail to display correctly on the second monitor. [HDX-55370]

ICA-to-X proxy

You can use a workstation running Citrix Workspace app as a server and redirect the output to another X11-capable device. You might want to do this task to deliver Microsoft Windows applications to X terminals or to UNIX workstations for which Citrix Workspace app isn’t available.

Note:

Citrix Workspace app software is available for many X devices, and installing the software on these devices is the preferred solution in these cases. Running Citrix Workspace app in this way, as an ICA-to-X proxy, is also referred to as server-side ICA.

When you run Citrix Workspace app, you can think of it as an ICA-to-X11 converter that directs the X11 output to your local Linux desktop. However, you can redirect the output to another X11 display. You can run extra copies of Citrix Workspace app simultaneously on one system. In this case, each Citrix Workspace app sends its output to a different device.

This graphic shows a system with Citrix Workspace app for Linux set up as an ICA-to-X proxy:

To set up this type of system, you need a Linux server to act as the ICA-to-X11 proxy:

• If you have X terminals already, you can run Citrix Workspace app on the Linux server that usually supplies the X applications to the X terminals.
• If you want to deploy UNIX workstations for which Citrix Workspace app isn’t available, you need an extra server to act as the proxy. This server can be a PC running Linux.

Applications are supplied to the final device using X11, using the capabilities of the ICA protocol. By default, you can use drive mapping only to access the drives on the proxy. This setting isn’t a problem if you’re using X terminals (which usually do not have local drives). If you’re delivering applications to other UNIX workstations, you can either:

• NFS mounts the local UNIX workstation on the workstation acting as the proxy, then point a client drive map at the NFS mount point on the proxy.
• Use an NFS-to-SMB proxy such as SAMBA, or an NFS client on the server such as Microsoft Services for UNIX.

Some features aren’t passed to the final device:

• USB redirection
• Smart card redirection
• COM port redirection
• Audio isn’t delivered to the X11 device, even if the server acting as a proxy supports audio.
• Client printers aren’t passed through to the X11 device. You access the UNIX printer from the server manually using LPD printing, or use a network printer.
• Redirection of multimedia input isn’t supported. Because it requires a webcam on the machine that runs Citrix Workspace app, where the server acts as a proxy. However, redirection of multimedia output supports when GStreamer installed on the server acting as a proxy (untested).

To start Citrix Workspace app with server-side ICA from an X terminal or a UNIX workstation:

1. Use ssh or telnet to connect to the device acting as the proxy.

2. In a shell on the proxy device, set the DISPLAY environment variable to the local device. For example, in a C shell, type:

   setenv DISPLAY <local:0>

   Note:

   If you use the command ssh -X to connect to the device acting as the proxy, you do not need to set the DISPLAY environment variable.

3. At a command prompt on the local device, type xhost <proxy server name>

4. Verify whether Citrix Workspace app is installed in the default installation directory. If not installed, verify that the environment variable ICAROOT is set to point to the actual installation directory.

5. Locate the directory where Citrix Workspace app is installed. At a command prompt, type selfservice &.

Font

ClearType font smoothing

ClearType font smoothing improves the quality of displayed fonts beyond the available quality through:

• traditional font smoothing or,
• anti-aliasing.

ClearType font smoothing is also known as subpixel font rendering. You can turn this feature on or off.

You can also specify the type of smoothing by doing the following:

1. Navigate to the [WFClient] section of the appropriate configuration file.

2. Edit the following setting:

   FontSmoothingType=number

   Where the number can take one of the following values:

   Value	Behavior
   0	The local preference on the device is used. The FontSmoothingTypePref setting defines this value.
   1	No smoothing
   2	Standard smoothing
   3	ClearType (horizontal subpixel) smoothing

Both standard smoothing and ClearType smoothing can increase Citrix Workspace app’s bandwidth requirements.

Important:

The server can configure FontSmoothingType through the ICA file. This value takes precedence over the value set in [WFClient].

If the server sets the value to 0, the following setting in the [WFClient] determines the local preference: FontSmoothingTypePref=number

Where a number can take one of the following values:

Xcapture

The Citrix Workspace app package includes a helper application, Xcapture. This application assists the exchange of graphical data between the server clipboard and non-ICCCM-compliant X Window applications on the X desktop. Users can use Xcapture to:

• Capture dialog boxes or screen areas and copy them between the user device desktop (including non-ICCCM-compliant applications) and an application running in a connection window
• Copy graphics between a connection window and X graphics manipulation utilities xmag or xv

To start Xcapture from the command-line:

At the command prompt, type /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/util/xcapture and press ENTER (where /opt/Citrix/ICAClient is the directory in which you installed Citrix Workspace app).

To copy from the user device desktop:

1. From the Xcapture dialog box, click From Screen. The cursor changes to a crosshair.
2. Choose from the following tasks:
   • Select a window. Move the cursor over the window that you want to copy and click the middle mouse button.
   • Select a region. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to select the area you want to copy.
   • Cancel the selection. Click the right mouse button. While dragging, you can cancel the selection by clicking the right button before releasing the middle or left mouse button.
3. From the Xcapture dialog box, click To ICA. The Xcapture button changes color to show that it is processing the information.
4. When the transfer is complete, use the appropriate paste command in an application launched from the connection window.

To copy from xv to an application in a connection window:

1. From xv, copy the information.
2. From the Xcapture dialog box, click From XV and then click To ICA. The Xcapture button changes color to show that it is processing the information.
3. When the transfer is complete, use the appropriate paste command in an application launched from the connection window.

To copy from an application in the connection window to xv:

1. From the application in a connection window, copy the information.
2. From the Xcapture dialog box, click From ICA and then click To XV. The Xcapture button changes color to show that it is processing the information.
3. When the transfer is complete, paste the information into xv.

UI option to manage monitor plug and play feature

Previously, you had to enter MultiMonitorPnPEnabled=True in the [WFClient] section of the $HOME/.ICAClient/wfclient.ini file to enable the monitor plug and play feature.

Starting with the 2405 version, a new UI option, the Automatically extend desktop session to external monitors checkbox is available to enable or disable the monitor plug and play feature.

By default, the Automatically extend desktop session to external monitors checkbox is not selected. To select this option, do the following:

1. Click Desktop viewer > Preferences > General.

2. Select the Automatically extend desktop session to external monitors checkbox.

   

3. Click OK. The change will take effect from the next-time you open the desktop session.

Note:

If you have disabled the feature through All_Regions.ini per machine, the Automatically extend desktop session to external monitors checkbox isn’t visible.

Performance optimization for graphics

Citrix Workspace app 2408 version supports OpenGL library that improves the performance of graphics usage within an HDX session.

This feature is disabled by default. To enable this feature, do the following:

1. Navigate to the $HOME/.ICAClient/wfclient.ini file.
2. Go to the [Thinwire3.0] section and add the following entry:

  OpenGLEnabled=True
<!--NeedCopy-->

Note

• To enable this feature, the operating system must support OpenGL 4.6.
• This feature is not supported on Linux based on Arm64 architectures.
• This feature is applicable only for the virtual desktop session.