Profile Management

Enable UWP app roaming

With the Enable UWP apps roaming policy, you can let UWP (Universal Windows Platform) apps roam with users. As a result, users can access the same UWP apps from different devices.

Note:

This policy is compatible only with Windows 10 and is incompatible with other Windows versions or Windows Server versions.

How it works

When the Enable UWP apps roaming policy is enabled, Profile Management operates as follows:

  1. When a user starts the installation of a UWP app, Profile Management monitors the installation process.
  2. If it’s the initial installation of the app in your environment, Profile Management creates a VHDX disk in the {User_Store_File_Share_Path}\AppStore\ folder (referred to as UWP app container) and stores the app (except personal settings) in that disk. For subsequent installation of the same app, Profile Management doesn’t create an additional VHDX disk. Thus, each UWP app has a single VHDX disk within the UWP app container.
  3. Upon user logon to a machine, VHDX disks of the UWP apps installed by the user are attached. Upon user logoff, those disks are detached.

Important:

  • UWP app roaming applies only to UWP apps installed using per-user packages after the policy is enabled. In other words, if the policy is enabled after an app is installed, the app won’t benefit from roaming until it’s reinstalled using a per-user package.

  • All users share UWP VHDX disks.

Enable the UWP app roaming policy using a GPO

Detailed steps are as follows:

  1. Open the Group Policy Management Editor.
  2. Access Policies > Administrative Templates: Policy definitions (ADMX files) > Citrix Components > Profile Management > Advanced settings.
  3. Double-click the UWP apps roaming policy.
  4. In the policy window that appears, select Enabled, and then click OK.
  5. To provide a better logon and logoff experience for UWP roaming, enable the Accelerate folder mirroring policy as follows:
    1. Access Policies > Administrative Templates: Policy definitions (ADMX files) > Citrix Components > Profile Management > File system > Synchronization.
    2. Double-click the Accelerate folder mirroring policy.
    3. In the policy window that appears, select Enabled, and then click OK.

The configuration precedence is as follows:

  • If this setting isn’t configured using a GPO, Studio, or Workspace Experience Management (WEM), the value from the .ini file is used.
  • If this setting isn’t configured anywhere, this feature is disabled.

For your changes to take effect, run the gpupdate /force command from the command prompt as documented at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/gpupdate.

Enable UWP app roaming