What’s new history

We move sections about earlier Workspace Environment Management (WEM) service releases from What’s new to this article.

December 2020

Enhancements to memory management

This release includes enhancements to the memory management feature. The feature now provides you with two extra options to perform memory management:

• Do Not Optimize When Total Available Memory Exceeds (MB). This option lets you specify a threshold below which WEM optimizes memory usage for idle applications.
• Enable Memory Usage Limit for Specific Processes. This option lets you limit the memory usage of processes by setting upper limits for the memory they can consume.

For more information, see Memory Management.

Administration console

The user interface of the administration console has changed:

• The System Optimization > Memory Management > Memory Management tab introduces a Do Not Optimize When Total Available Memory Exceeds (MB) option. Use that option to specify a threshold limit below which WEM optimizes memory usage for idle applications.
• In System Optimization > Memory Management, there is a new Memory Usage Limit tab. The tab lets you configure memory usage limits for specific processes.

Fixes

• Changes to Profile Management settings you make through the administration console might fail to take effect until you restart the Citrix Profile Management service on the target machines. [WEM-6047]

• After you upgrade the WEM agent to version 1912, the memory consumption of Citrix WEM Agent Host Service might exceed 2G. If debug mode is enabled, you can see that the following messages appear many times in the Citrix WEM Agent Host Service Debug.log file:

  • Adding history entry to the DB writer queue
  • Initializing process limitation thread for process [WEM-9432, CVADHELP-15147]

• After you upgrade the WEM agent to version 2005, Citrix WEM Agent Host Service might consume between 10% and 30% of the total CPU resources, affecting the user experience. [WEM-9902, WEMHELP-47]

• After you select a registry file in the Import from Registry File window, the Manage tab displays a black screen if you press ESC to exit the window and then click Yes. [WEM-10103]

• When you attempt to edit an exception for an application security rule on the Exceptions tab of the Edit Rule window, the administration console might exit unexpectedly. The following message appears:

  • Connection to the management console closed

  The issue occurs when you edit an exception before performing any Add Rule actions. [WEM-10612]

• Attempts to migrate your on-premises WEM 2009 database to the WEM service might fail. [WEM-10848]

November 2020

Privilege elevation (preview)

This release introduces the privilege elevation feature. The feature lets you elevate the privileges of non-administrative users to an administrator level necessary for some executables. As a result, those users can start those executables as if they are members of the administrators group.

The feature enables you to implement rule-based privilege elevation for specific executables. The following rule types are available:

• Path. Applies the rule to an executable according to the executable file path.
• Publisher. Applies the rule according to publisher information.
• Hash. Applies the rule to identical executables as specified.

You can configure how a rule behaves according to the type of the operating system. You can also configure whether a rule takes effect at a particular time or within a particular time range. You assign a rule on a per user or per user group basis. For more information, see Privilege elevation.

Support for deleting all values under a registry key

Previously, when editing Group Policy settings, you had only the following actions: Set value, Delete value, Create key, and Delete key. WEM service now provides an additional action that lets you delete all values under a registry key:

• Delete all values. Use this option when you want to purge all values for a registry key in a GPO. When selected, the Value, Type, and Data fields are grayed out. For more information, see Edit Group Policy settings.

Administration console

The user interface of the administration console has changed:

• In Security, there is a new Privilege Elevation pane. In the pane, there is a Privilege Elevation tab for controlling whether to enable the feature and to apply global settings. Below the pane, there is an Executable Rules pane. In the pane, there is a Privilege Elevation tab for configuring rule-based privilege elevation.

Fixes

• Attempts to use the WEM administration console to manage your deployments might fail. The WEM agents might fail to synchronize with the WEM service. The issue occurs because of a deadlock in the SQL database. [WEM-10345, CVADHELP-16081]

October 2020

Optimized WEM agent startup

Previously, the WEM agent startup workflow had the following issues:

• The agent did not refresh the Citrix Cloud Connector settings after startup. As a result, the Cloud Connector settings deployed to the agent through group policies did not work as expected.

• In a non-persistent environment, when the agent cache file resided in the base image, the agent could experience cache synchronization issues. As a result, WEM settings might not have gotten applied properly.

Starting with this release, the agent refreshes Cloud Connector settings after startup, just like it refreshes other settings. To ensure that the agent cache is up to date, the agent automatically recreates the cache in non-persistent environments. For more information, see Agent startup behaviors.

For information about how to make the WEM agent work optimally, see Prerequisites and recommendations.

New agent cache utility options

This release adds the following agent cache utility options:

• -RefreshSettings or -S: Refreshes agent host settings.

• -Reinitialize or -I: Reinitializes the agent cache when used together with the -RefreshCache option.

For more information, see Agent cache utility options.

Citrix optimizer

Citrix optimizer now provides you with an additional option that enables WEM to automatically select templates for your OSs:

• Automatically Select Templates to Use. If you are unsure which template to use, use this option to let WEM select the best match for each OS. You can also apply this option to custom templates with different name formats by using the Enable Automatic Selection of Templates Starting with Prefixes option.

For more information, see Citrix optimizer.

Support for the Windows 10 2004 template

WEM adds support for the Windows 10 2004 template introduced in Citrix optimizer. You can now use WEM to perform template-based system optimizations for Windows 10 2004 machines. For information about using Citrix optimizer, see Citrix optimizer.

Support for optimizing multi-session OS machines

Multi-session OS machines run multiple sessions from a single machine to deliver desktops and applications to users. A disconnected session remains active and its applications continue to run. The disconnected session can consume resources needed for connected desktops and applications that run on the same machine. With this feature, you can now optimize multi-session OS machines where disconnected sessions are present. The feature improves the user experience of connected sessions by limiting the number of resources disconnected sessions can consume. For more information, see Multi-session Optimization.

Profile container insights

WEM service now lets you monitor profile containers for Profile Management and FSLogix. The feature provides insight into the basic usage data of the profile containers, the status of sessions using the profile containers, the issues detected, and more. With this feature, you can stay on top of space usage for profile containers and identify problems that prevent profile containers from working. For more information, see Profile Container Insights.

Multiple selection support for action groups

Previously, when adding actions to an action group, you moved each action present in the Available pane to the Configured pane one by one. You can now move multiple actions in a single step. For more information about action groups, see Action Groups.

Profile Management

WEM service now supports all versions of Profile Management through 2009. The following new options are now available on the Administration Console > Policies and Profiles > Citrix Profile Management Settings > Profile Container Settings tab:

• Enable Folder Exclusions for Profile Container (option for excluding the listed folders from the profile container)
• Enable Folder Inclusions for Profile Container (option for keeping the listed folders in the profile container when their parent folders are excluded)

For more information, see Profile Container Settings.

Administration console

The administration console user interface has changed:

• In Administration Console > Policies and Profiles > Citrix Profile Management Settings, there is a new Profile Container Settings tab for you to configure Profile Management profile container settings.
• The Enable Profile Container option now moves to the Profile Container Settings tab. Previously, the option was present on the Synchronization tab.

Fixes

• The WEM administration console might fail to display the changes you made to the working directory for an installed application the next time you edit the application. [WEM-10007, CVADHELP-15695]

• In non-persistent environments, changes you make through the administration console might fail to take effect on the agent hosts. The issue occurs because the agent cache file in the base image might cause cache synchronization problems. As a workaround, users need to first delete the cache on their agent hosts and then refresh the cache manually to synchronize the cache with the infrastructure services.

  The recommended best practice is to use a persistent location for the agent cache. If the agent cache resides in a non-persistent location, take these steps before sealing the base image:

  1. Stop Citrix WEM Agent Host Service.
  2. Delete these agent local database files: LocalAgentCache.db and LocalAgentDatabase.db. [WEM-10082]

• The following options are not mutually exclusive. However, the administration console does not allow you to configure them at the same time.

  • Hide Specified Drives from Explorer and Restrict Specified Drives from Explorer (on the Policies and Profiles > Environmental Settings > Windows Explorer tab) [WEM-10172, WEMHELP-52]

• On a published desktop, the WEM agent might exit unexpectedly. The issue occurs if you use the transformer feature and enable the Lock Alt-Tab option. The issue can also occur in environments where an application uses keyboard hooks. [WEM-10215, WEMHELP-50]

• If you use the automatic agent upgrade feature to upgrade the WEM agent, the Netlogon service might fail to start after the upgrade completes. You need to restart the machine or start the Netlogon service manually. [WEM-10235, WEMHELP-49]

September 2020

Support for automatically assigning the next available drive letter to a network drive

This release adds support for automatically assigning the next available drive letter to a network drive. When assigning a network drive, select the asterisk (*) character instead of a specific letter to let WEM automatically assign the next available drive letter. For more information, see Assignments.

Wake up agents

This release introduces the Wake on LAN feature, which lets you remotely turn on agent hosts. WEM automatically selects agents that reside on the same subnet as the target agents and uses those agents as Wake on LAN messengers. This feature requires hardware compatible with Wake on LAN. To use this feature, verify that the target machines satisfy the hardware requirements and relevant BIOS settings are configured. For more information, see Wake on LAN.

WEM agent (advanced notice)

Microsoft Sync Framework 2.1 will reach End of Life on January 12, 2021. WEM will retire the associated legacy agent cache sync service and switch to using the latest agent cache sync service to keep the agent cache in sync with the WEM service database. The latest agent cache sync service relies on Dotmim.Sync, an open-source sync framework. How does this change impact you?

• If you use WEM agent version 1911 or later, this change does not require action on your part.
• If you use WEM agent version earlier than 1911, upgrade the agent to 1911.

This change is scheduled to be rolled out in December 2020.

Fixes

• If you delete exceptions for a packaged rule, those exceptions reappear. [WEM-10022]

• If you add only one exception for a packaged rule, the Remove button on the Edit Rule > Exceptions tab is grayed out the next time you return to that tab. You can no longer delete that exception. [WEM-10023]

August 2020

Support for editing Group Policy settings

Previously, you could change only the name and description for a GPO after importing your GPO settings. WEM service now lets you edit registry operations associated with a GPO. You can also add new registry operations to a GPO if needed. Currently, WEM service supports adding and editing only Group Policy settings that are associated with the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hives. For more information, see Edit Group Policy settings.

Administration console

The administration console user interface has changed:

• In System Optimization, there is a new Multi-session Optimization pane. In the pane, there is a new Multi-session Optimization tab for you to configure settings designed to optimize multi-session OS machines with disconnected sessions.

• In Monitoring, there is a new Profile Container Insights pane. The pane contains two tabs. The Summary tab includes two pie charts, providing a summary that shows the status of profile containers. The Profile Container Status tab displays a list of status records for profile containers.

• In Advanced Settings > Configuration, there is a new Wake on LAN tab for you to enable Wake on LAN for agents.

Fixes

• When editing a default packaged rule, you are prompted to provide valid values on the Publisher tab of the Edit Rule window, with the OK button grayed out. However, the OK button remains grayed out even if you provide valid values on the Publisher tab later. [WEM-9498]

• After you successfully add an application to the administration console, the application might fail to appear on the application list in the Select an Application window. You open the Select an Application window after clicking Browse in the New Application window. [WEM-9684]

July 2020

Enablement of EU-based instances

The WEM service is available globally. Initially, it had only US-based instances. Starting with this release, the WEM service has both US-based and EU-based instances.

Fixes

• When you finish importing your Group Policy settings into WEM, the following message might appear even if you are the only administrator that is using the administration console:

  • Configuration Change Update: An administrator has made configuration-related changes. Click OK to reflect the changes in the current administration console. [WEM-9234]

• Some of the action items you selected in the Restore wizard might be cleared if you click the Previous button to return to the previous pages. The issue occurs when you use the Restore wizard to restore a zip backup of your GPOs converted using the Migrate wizard. [WEM-9281]

• In the Citrix optimizer’s New Custom Template window, if you move a group from Configured to Available and then switch to a different template by using the Template Name option, the group might carry over to the template you switched to. [WEM-9301]

• You might continue to receive notifications about upcoming upgrades to your Workspace Environment Management service even if you unsubscribe to those notifications. [WEM-9592]

June 2020

Support for the Windows 10 1909 template

WEM adds support for the Windows 10 1909 template introduced in Citrix optimizer. You can now use WEM to perform template-based system optimizations for Windows 10 1909 machines. For information about using Citrix optimizer, see Citrix optimizer.

Fixes

• In the Profile Management Health Status column, the icon appears as an error (red X icon) even if Profile Management is configured correctly. [WEM-8056]

• After you finish importing Group Policy settings, the administration console might exit unexpectedly when you click Finish to exit the Import Group Policy Settings wizard. [WEM-8651]

May 2020

Enhancements to Group Policy Object (GPO) migration

This release makes further enhancements to GPO migration. Different from the Migrate wizard, which lets you migrate only Group Policy Preferences (GPP), you can now also import Group Policy settings (registry-based settings) into WEM. After importing the settings, you can have an itemized view of the settings associated with each GPO before you decide which GPO to assign. You can assign the GPO to different AD groups. To import Group Policy settings, navigate to Administration Console > Actions > Group Policy Settings, select Enable Group Policy Settings Processing, and then click Import to open the import wizard. For more information, see Group Policy Settings.

Support for customizing an administrator’s access to WEM service (preview)

You can now customize an administrator’s access to WEM service. This feature allows you to define access permissions of existing administrators or administrators you invite in a way that aligns with their role in your organization.

For existing administrators

Configure custom access for the administrators. For instructions, see Modify administrator permissions in the Citrix Cloud documentation. The wemNew option controls whether to allow access.

For new administrators you invite

Configure custom access for administrators you want to invite. For instructions, see Invite new administrators in the Citrix Cloud documentation. The wemNew option controls whether to allow access.

Tool to obtain information for executable files

WEM service now provides you with a tool named AppInfoViewer to obtain the following information and more from executable files: publisher, path, and hash. The tool can be useful if you want to provide relevant information for applications to be configured in the management console. For example, you can use the tool to extract relevant information from applications when using the application security feature. The tool is located in the agent installation folder.

Administration console

The administration console user interface has changed:

• In Actions, there is a new Group Policy Settings pane. In the pane, there is a Group Policy Settings tab for you to configure Group Policy settings.

Fixes

• Attempts to reconnect to a disconnected session where the WEM agent is running might fail with the following error message: Only a single agent instance can be run within a session. [WEM-7283, CVADHELP-14078]

• Attempts to start an application from the My Applications icon list in the agent UI might fail. The issue occurs with application shortcuts that are created using StoreFront URLs. [WEM-7578, CVADHELP-14171]

• Agents might fail to synchronize with the WEM service in Citrix Cloud. The issue occurs when you configure an HTTPS proxy to define how agents communicate with the service. [WEM-7579, CVADHELP-14168]

• In the management console (Manage tab), an exception error might occur when you press the Esc key to exit a window. As a result, the management console becomes unresponsive and then exits unexpectedly. For example, the issue can occur if you press the Esc key to exit the Migrate wizard and then click Yes. [WEM-7784]

• Attempts to use the Restore wizard to restore actions to a different configuration set might fail when the actions contain action groups. The issue occurs if an action group with the same name exists in that configuration set. [WEM-8051]

• In Transformer (kiosk) mode, and with Enable Window Mode enabled, the WEM agent might exit unexpectedly. [WEM-8119]

• If you assign an application and enable Pin To TaskBar for it, the application is successfully assigned to the agent host, but its shortcut might not be pinned to the taskbar. The issue occurs if the Use Cache to Accelerate Actions Processing option on the Administration Console > Advanced Settings > Configuration > Agent Options tab is enabled. [WEM-8448, CVADHELP-14593]

• On the agent host, WEM might fail to map some network printers for a user. [WEM-8510, UCOHELP-27409]

April 2020

Profile Management

WEM service now supports all versions of Citrix Profile Management through 2003. The following option is now available in the administration console:

• Enable multi-session write-back for FSLogix Profile Container. Available on the Advanced Settings tab, this option lets Profile Management save changes in multi-session scenarios for FSLogix Profile Container.

For more information, see Citrix Profile Management Settings.

Fixes

• On the agent host, attempts to start a published application as an application shortcut might fail. The issue occurs with application shortcuts that are created using StoreFront URLs. [WEM-7348, CVADHELP-14061]

February 2020

Optimized action processing

Starting with this release, WEM supports processing actions without retrieving settings from the infrastructure services. There is a new “Use Cache to Accelerate Actions Processing” option on the Administration Console > Advanced Settings > Configuration > Agent Options tab. The option enables the WEM agent to process actions by using the agent local cache. As a result, the agent no longer needs to communicate with the infrastructure services when processing actions. For more information, see Agent Options.

Optimized logon performance

In earlier releases, WEM delayed user logons until the processing of user Group Policy settings completed. Starting with this release, WEM no longer delays logons, and user Group Policy settings are processed in the background by default. For information about configuring this behavior, see System settings.

Optimized file type associations

In previous releases, file type associations other than those for text (.txt) files did not work consistently. Starting with this release, file type associations that you configure become default associations automatically. This enhancement lets you more effectively manage user environments. In addition, you now have more flexibility in configuring file type associations. In the New File Association window, you no longer have to fill out the following fields: Action, Target application, and Command. You can leave the fields empty as long as you can provide the correct ProgID. For more information, see File Associations.

External task

This release includes enhancements to the external task feature. The feature now provides you with two additional options to control when to run external tasks:

• Logoff. This option lets you specify whether to run external tasks when users log off.
• Reconnect. This option lets you specify whether to run external tasks when a user reconnects to a machine on which the agent is running. This option is not applicable to scenarios where the WEM agent is installed on a physical Windows device.

The logoff option can be useful in scenarios where you want to purge the user environment on logoff. For more information, see External Tasks.

Fixes

• Registry entries might not take effect if you assign them to a user or user group through an action group. However, they do take effect if you assign them directly. The issue occurs when you assign registry entries to be created in one of the following locations:
  • %ComputerName%\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies
  • %ComputerName%\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies [WEM-5253]
• Workspace agent refreshes might take a long time to complete. The issue occurs when the current user belongs to many user groups and there are action groups or many actions for the agent to process. [WEM-6582]

January 2020

Citrix optimizer

Citrix optimizer is now available in Workspace Environment Management (WEM). You can use the feature to optimize user environments for better performance. Citrix optimizer runs a quick scan of user environments and then applies template-based optimization recommendations. You can optimize user environments in two ways:

• You can use built-in templates to perform optimizations. To do so, select a template applicable to the operating system.
• Alternatively, you can create your own custom templates with specific optimizations you want and then add them to WEM.

For more information, see Citrix optimizer.

Automatic agent upgrade

This release introduces the automatic agent upgrade feature, which lets you schedule automatic upgrades for the Workspace Environment Management (WEM) agent. This feature facilitates regular agent upgrades without the need to roll out agent upgrades manually. The feature also provides flexibility in upgrading your WEM agents:

• You can specify a time period for which you want WEM to automatically roll out the upgrade to all agent machines in a configuration set.
• Alternatively, you can choose to enable users to upgrade the agent manually.

For more information, see Agent upgrade.

Administration console

The user interface of the administration console has changed:

• In System Optimization, there is a new Citrix Optimizer pane. In the pane, there is a Citrix Optimizer tab for configuring optimization-related settings.
• In the Advanced Settings > Configuration pane, there is a new Agent Upgrade tab. The tab lets you configure settings associated with the agent upgrade.

Fixes

• Attempts to import registry files might fail with the following error message: Error “Import from Registry file” - Import Completed with Errors. The issue occurs when a registry file to be imported contains two or more values that have the same name. [WEM-6232]

• You might encounter the following action group issues:

  • Attempts to unassign an action group might fail with the following error message: “Error while unassigning the selected item: The specified item is not already assigned.” The issue occurs when you unassign an action group that was imported from a different configuration set.
  • Attempts to rename an action group might fail with the following error message: “Action Group name cannot be same as existing one.” The issue occurs if you change the name of the action group and later rename it to the original name. [WEM-6250]

• The administration console might exit unexpectedly when you scroll down the assignment list in the Edit Rule window of the Administration Console > Security pane. The issue occurs when you assign the same rule to multiple users and/or user groups. [WEM-6502]

December 2019

Replacing Microsoft SQL Server Compact (SQL CE) with SQLite

The Workspace Environment Management (WEM) agent can work in offline mode. In earlier releases, the agent relied on Microsoft SQL Server Compact to synchronize with SQL Server to facilitate offline mode. Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 Service Pack 2 is the last version that supports this functionality. Versions 4.0 and later do not support synchronization with SQL Server. However, SQL Server Compact 3.5 Service Pack 2 reached End of Life (EOL) in 2018. Starting with this release, the agent relies on SQLite for offline mode to work.

How this change impacts you

If you do not want to use Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 Service Pack 2, upgrade to the latest agent version. For information about upgrading the agent, see Upgrade.

If you choose not to upgrade to this agent version, this replacement does not require action on your part.

Workspace Environment Management agent

Starting with this release, the Workspace Environment Management (WEM) agent no longer supports Microsoft .NET Framework versions 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, and 4.7.

If you install or upgrade the agent to the latest version

The WEM agent installer automatically installs .NET Framework 4.7.1 if it is not already installed or if the installed version is older than version 4.7.1. After the installation completes successfully, you are prompted to restart your machine. Run the agent installer again after the restart.

If you choose not to upgrade the agent

You do not need to upgrade to .NET Framework version 4.7.1 or later. The previous version of the WEM agent supports .NET Framework 4.5.2 and later.

Option to reset actions

Starting with this release, WEM supports resetting assigned actions (purging action-related registry entries in the user environment). The feature also provides the flexibility to reset assigned actions. You can reset all assigned actions by using the administration console or let users decide what to reset in their environment. The feature might be useful in scenarios where actions you assign to users or user groups do not take effect. For more information, see Advanced settings.

Administration console

The administration console user interface has changed:

• The Advanced Settings > UI Agent Personalization > UI Agent Options tab introduces an “Allow Users to Reset Actions” option. Use that option to control whether to let current users specify what actions to reset in their environment.

Fixes

• The Restore wizard might take a long time to load the Active Directory (AD) objects after you select Machines as the type of AD objects you want to restore and click Next. The issue occurs when there are many OUs (for example, 4,000). [WEM-5169]

• The Use Cache Even When Online option on the Administration Console > Advanced Settings > Configuration > Agent Options tab might not work. [WEM-6118]

October 2019

Support for exporting and importing configuration sets

Starting with this release, Workspace Environment Management (WEM) service supports exporting and importing configuration sets using the administration console. To export configuration sets, use the Backup wizard, where the Configuration set option is available on the Select what to back up page. To import configuration sets, use the Restore wizard, where the Configuration set option is available on the Select what to restore page. You can export and import only one configuration set at a time. For more information, see Ribbon.

Support for importing registry files

Starting with this release, you can import registry files that contain your registry settings to the Workspace Environment Management service. For more information, see Import registry files.

Fixes

• After you migrate your on-premises WEM database to the WEM service, you must reinstall the WEM service agent even if the latest version is installed on your machine. This is necessary because the agent cache cannot synchronize with the WEM service database unless you reinstall the WEM service agent. [WEM-2396]

• In Transformer (kiosk) mode, and with Log Off Screen Redirection enabled, WEM might fail to redirect the user to the logon page after logging off. [WEM-3133]

• When you enable the process launcher on the Administration Console > Transformer Settings > Advanced > Process Launcher tab to launch the Windows built-in application (for example, calc.exe) as entered in the process command line field, the agent host might keep opening the application after you refresh Citrix WEM Agent. [WEM-3262]

September 2019

Agent proxy configuration

This release adds support for configuring an HTTPS proxy for the Workspace Environment Management (WEM) agent to communicate with Citrix Cloud using Group Policy. As a result, you no longer need to configure the Citrix WEM Agent Service.exe.config (formerly Norskale Agent Host Service.exe.config) file. Instead, you can simply specify a proxy server for the agent to communicate with Citrix Cloud using the Agent proxy configuration policy. Doing so simplifies the agent proxy configuration. For details, see Step 3: Configure group policies (optional).

Profile Management

Workspace Environment Management now supports all versions of Profile Management through 1909. The following new options are now available on the tabs in the Administration Console > Policies and Profiles > Citrix Profile Management Settings pane:

• Migrate user store. Available on the Main Citrix Profile Management Settings tab, this option lets you migrate your user store without losing any data.
• Automatic migration of existing application profiles. Available on the Profile Handling tab, this option lets you automatically migrate existing application profiles.
• Outlook search index database – backup and restore. Available on the Advanced Settings tab, this option ensures the stability of the Enable search index roaming for Outlook feature.

For more information, see Citrix Profile Management Settings.

Workspace Environment Management service upgrade notifications

This release introduces an email notification service that lets you get notifications about upcoming upgrades to your Workspace Environment Management (WEM) service. By default, you get notification emails when Citrix provides upgrades to your WEM service. You can choose to unsubscribe if you do not want to receive such emails in the future. To do so, go to the WEM service Utilities tab and then click Unsubscribe in the Service Upgrade Notifications section.

Administration console

An “Auto Prevent CPU Spikes” option is provided on the System Optimization > CPU Management > CPU Management Settings tab. You can use this option to automatically reduce the CPU priority of processes that overload your CPU. For more information, see CPU Management.

Support for migrating Group Policy Objects (GPOs)

Starting with this release, you can migrate a zip backup of your GPOs to Workspace Environment Management (WEM). To do so, click Migrate in the ribbon of the WEM administration console. The Migrate wizard provides the flexibility to migrate your GPOs. You can select Overwrite mode or Convert mode for your migration. The Overwrite mode overwrites existing WEM settings (GPOs) when there are conflicts. The Convert mode converts your GPOs to XML files. Then you can manually import the XML files to WEM using the Restore wizard. Doing so gives you granular control over settings to be imported. For more information, see Ribbon.

Fixes

• On the Active Directory Objects tab of the administration console, using Add Object and Check Name to search and add objects allows only one object to be added at a time. You must close and then reopen the Select Computers or Groups dialog to add another object. (The on-premises version of Workspace Environment Management allows multiple objects to be identified and added without closing the dialog each time.) [WEM-1620]

• The Workspace Environment Management administration console might unexpectedly exit if you edit the application security rules. The issue occurs when there is a long list of users and user groups present in the Edit Rule window and you scroll down to view them. [WEM-4960, LD1818]

• When you log on to a Workspace Environment Management agent machine, the logon process might take longer to complete. The issue occurs because the Workspace Environment Management agent logon service (Citrix.Wem.Agent.LogonService.exe) delays the logon process for several seconds even though the Endpoint Management group policy processing is disabled. [WEM-5237]

July 2019

Workspace Environment Management agent installer

This release provides a brand-new, unified Workspace Environment Management (WEM) agent installer. The installer bundles the WEM on-premises and service agents into a single executable. It eliminates the need to configure the ADMX templates and edit group policies. You can choose to install the agent interactively or using the command line. For more information, see Install and configure.

Support for exporting and importing Active Directory (AD) objects

As of this release, Workspace Environment Management service adds support for exporting and importing AD objects using the administration console. To export AD objects, use the Backup wizard, where the Active Directory (AD) objects option is provided on the Select what to back up page. To import AD objects, use the Restore wizard, where the Active Directory (AD) objects option is provided on the Select what to restore page. You can specify which type of AD objects to back up and restore. For more information, see Ribbon.

VMware Persona settings deprecation

Support for VMware Persona settings has been deprecated. All VMware Persona settings content will be removed from the documentation in the next release.

Fixes

• The agent splash screen can persist for a long time when there is a large amount of data associated with user statistics. [WEM-4674, LD1167]

• You might find that there are two Citrix Components nodes in the left pane of the Group Policy Management Console. [WEM-5012]

June 2019

Action groups

The action groups feature has been added to the administration console Actions pane. This functionality lets you configure a group of actions that you want to assign to a user or user group. For more information, see Action Groups.

Administration console

The administration console user interface has changed:

• In Actions, there is a new Action Groups pane. In the Actions > Action Groups pane, there is a new Action Group List tab for configuring a group of actions that you want to assign to a user or user group.

Fixes

• The Windows theme of the agent host might revert to the default if you use GPO to customize your Windows theme. The issue occurs when you enable the WEM agent to process environmental settings without selecting Set Specific Theme File and Set Background Color on the Policies and Profiles > Environmental Settings > Start Menu tab of the administration console. As a result, the WEM agent deletes the registry settings associated with the Windows theme. [WEM-4044, LD1246]

• The Windows desktop background of the agent host might revert to the default if you use GPO to customize your Windows desktop background. The issue occurs when you enable the WEM agent to process environmental settings without selecting Set Specific Theme File and Set Background Color on the Policies and Profiles > Environmental Settings > Start Menu tab of the administration console. As a result, the WEM agent deletes the registry settings associated with the Windows desktop background. [WEM-4217, LD1408]

May 2019

Support for communications over TLS 1.2

Workspace Environment Management (WEM) service secures communications by utilizing the Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 protocol. TLS 1.2 provides a higher level of security than earlier TLS versions.

How this change impacts you

To enable TLS 1.2, you must use the latest version of the WEM service agent. The latest WEM service agent allows only TLS 1.2 communications.

What to do

If you want to enable only TLS 1.2, upgrade your agent to the latest version. For information about upgrading the WEM service agent, see Upgrade.

Profile Management

Workspace Environment Management service now supports all versions of Profile Management through 1903. The following new option is now available on the Administration Console > Policies and Profiles > Citrix Profile Management Settings > Synchronization tab:

• Enable Profile Container (option for eliminating the need to save a copy of the folders to the local profile)

Workspace Environment Management integration with Endpoint Management

This release includes the following enhancement to the Workspace Environment Management integration with Endpoint Management:

• The machines on which the WEM service agent is running are associated with a configuration set automatically. There is no need to manually add the machines (agent hosts) to a configuration set in the WEM service administration console. As a result, you can now directly configure WEM settings (group policies) using the Endpoint Management console after you install the service agent on the applicable machines. For more information, see Windows GPO Configuration device policy.

Administration console

An “Enable Notifications” option is provided on the Advanced Settings > Configuration > Agent Options tab. You can use this option to control whether the agent displays notification messages on the agent host when the connection to the infrastructure service is lost or restored.

Fixes

• When you click Apply Filter or Refresh Report on the Administration Console > Monitoring > User Trends > Devices Types tab, you might not be able to view the report. Instead, you are returned to the Administration Console > Actions > Applications > Application List tab. [WEM-3254]

• On Windows 10 version 1809 and Windows Server 2019, Workspace Environment Management fails to pin the applications to the task bar. [WEM-3257]

• After WEM upgrades to the latest version, if you still use the earlier versions of the agent, the agent fails to work properly in offline mode. This issue occurs because of the scope changes of the agent local cache file in the latest release. As a workaround, delete the old agent local cache file, and then restart the WEM Agent Host Service (Norskale Agent Host service). [WEM-3281]

• On the Security tab of the administration console, if you create an AppLocker rule for a file with an .exe or a .dll extension using a file hash condition, the rule does not work. This issue occurs because WEM calculates the hash code of that file incorrectly. [WEM-3580]

• On the Security tab of the administration console, if you create an AppLocker rule for a file using a publisher condition, the rule does not work. This issue occurs because WEM resolves the file name incorrectly. [WEM-3582]

• The Enable AutoEndTasks option on the Policies and Profiles > Environmental Settings > SBC / HVD Tuning tab of the administration console does not work. [WEM-3749, LD0876]

• If you click Add OU on the administration console, WEM might not display anything on the Organizational Units window. The issue occurs when a forest (current or trusted) contains many OUs. As a workaround, click Cancel and then click Add OU multiple times. [WEM-3818, UCOHELP-1211]

• The Application Security feature does not work on Windows servers that use non-English Windows operating systems. This issue occurs because WEM fails to start the Application Identity service in non-English language environments. [WEM-3957, LD1185]

April 2019

Fixes

• Attempts to migrate your WEM database into the WEM service can fail. The issue occurs when the entries in the VUEMTasksHistory table of your on-premises WEM database contain special characters. As a workaround, delete those entries from your on-premises WEM database, and then restart the migration process. [WEM-3817, UCOHELP-1567]

March 2019

Workspace Environment Management integration with Endpoint Management

As of this release, Workspace Environment Management service supports configuring group policies through the Endpoint Management console. To configure group policies from the Endpoint Management console, make sure that you are running the latest version of the Workspace Environment Management service agent. For more information about the integration, see Windows GPO Configuration device policy.

Fixes

The following issues have been fixed in the current release:

• With language packs installed, options in the Start menu > User Account menu might not be displayed in the language you selected. [WEM-1176, LC8811]

• Attempts to access the administration console from the Workspace Environment Management service Manage tab fail. As a workaround, refresh your browser window and try again. [WEM-2401]

• After your WEM service is upgraded to version 1811, the administration console might exit unexpectedly when you click OK if WEM does not display anything on the Organizational Units window. [WEM-3612, UCOHELP-655]

• Attempts to migrate your on-premises WEM database into the WEM service might fail after uploading your SQL file. The issue occurs because database creation in Azure times out. [WEM-3783, UCOHELP-983, UCOHELP-987]

February 2019

Database migration

A new process allows you to migrate an on-premises Workspace Environment Management database to the Workspace Environment Management service. The process is provided on the WEM service’s Utilities tab. For more information, see Migrate.

Administration console

The administration console user interface changes:

• An “Everyone” default group is provided on the Assignments > Action Assignment tab. To simplify assigning actions for all users in Active Directory, you can use the “Everyone” default group to assign the actions.

• A Profile Management health status column is provided on the Administration > Agents > Statistics tab. As of this release, Workspace Environment Management supports performing automated status checks on your agent hosts to determine whether Profile Management is configured optimally. You can view the status in the column.

Profile Management

As of this release, Workspace Environment Management service supports configuring all settings for Citrix Profile Management 1808. The following new options are now available in the administration console on the service’s Manage tab:

• Enable application profiler (option for defining application-based profile handling)
• Enable search index roaming for Microsoft Outlook users (option for improving the user experience when searching mail in Microsoft Outlook)
• Enable Large File Handling (option for eliminating the need to synchronize large files over the network)

New product names

If you’ve been a Citrix customer or partner for a while, you notice new names in our products and in this product documentation. If you’re new to this Citrix product, you might see different names for a product or component.

The new product and component names stem from the expanding Citrix portfolio and cloud strategy. Articles in this product documentation use the following names.

• Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops: Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops offers a virtual app and desktop solution, provided as a cloud service and as an on-premises product, giving employees the freedom to work from anywhere on any device while cutting IT costs. Deliver Windows, Linux, web, and SaaS applications or full virtual desktops from any cloud: public, on-premises or hybrid. Virtual Apps and Desktops was formerly XenApp and XenDesktop.

• Citrix Workspace app: The Citrix Workspace app incorporates existing Citrix Receiver technology and the other Citrix Workspace client technologies. It has been enhanced to deliver additional capabilities to provide end users with a unified, contextual experience where they can interact with all the work apps, files, and devices they must do their best work. For more information, see this blog post.

• Citrix Provisioning: The Citrix Provisioning is a solution for managing virtual machine images, combining previous technologies known as Machine Creation Services (MCS) and Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS). Citrix Provisioning was formerly Provisioning Services.

Here’s a quick recap:

Is	Was
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops	XenApp and XenDesktop
Citrix Workspace app	Citrix Receiver
Citrix Provisioning	Provisioning Services

Implementing this transition in our products and their documentation is an ongoing process.

• In-product content might still contain former names. For example, you might see instances of earlier names in console text, messages, and directory/file names.

• It is possible that some items (such as commands and MSIs) might continue to retain their former names to prevent breaking existing customer scripts.

• Related product documentation and other resources (such as videos and blog posts) that are linked from this product’s documentation might still contain former names.

Your patience during this transition is appreciated.

New product and component version numbers

In this release, product and component version numbers are displayed in the format: YYMM.c.m.b.

• YYMM = Year and month when the features are finalized. For example, if the features are finalized in August, a release in September 2018 appears as 1808.
• c = Citrix Cloud release number for the month.
• m = Maintenance version (if applicable).
• b = Build number. This field is shown only on the About page of the product, and in the OS’s feature for removing or changing programs.

For example, Workspace Environment Management service 1808.1.0.2 indicates that the released product with features finalized in August 2018 is associated with Citrix Cloud release 1 in that month, and is not a maintenance version. Some UI elements display only the version’s year and month, for example, Workspace Environment Management service 1808.

Fixes

The following issues have been fixed in the current release:

• In the Security tab, when you clear the option Process DLL Rules, the rule count reported next to the “DLL Rules” collection is set to zero, regardless of the actual number in the WEM database. [WEM-425]

• The Workspace Environment Management Agent Host screen capture feature allows end users to take screenshots of error messages in their environment. They can then send the screenshots to the administrator via Microsoft Outlook for support. However, when end users click the Send to Support button, the following error message appears: “Error encountered while sending email.” [WEM-1123]

• Attempts to upgrade the WEM database using the command line might fail. [WEM-1410]

• The on-premises version of WEM lets you use Active Directory security groups as containers for WEM agents. However, the WEM service does not support using Active Directory security groups as agent containers. The on-premises infrastructure service also supports using direct and indirect OUs as agent containers. For example, suppose WEM agent AGENT1 belongs to OU2, and OU2 belongs to OU1 (OU1>OU2>AGENT1). The on-premises infrastructure service recognizes AGENT1 as a member of both OU1 and OU2. However, the WEM service does not support indirect OUs. In the example above, the WEM service recognizes AGENT1 only as a member of OU2. [WEM-1619]

• In the WEM administration console’s Assignments section, when you use the Modeling wizard for a global view of WEM actions assigned to a specific user, the User Groups tab in the Actions Modeling wizard displays the groups to which the user belongs. However, in WEM service, the User Groups tab in the Actions Modeling wizard does not display the groups to which the user belongs. [WEM-1632]

• After you apply a percentage of the CPU’s processing power for a process on the System Optimization > CPU Management > CPU Clamping tab of the administration console for the first time and configure a different percentage for the same process later, the change does not take effect. [WEM-1993, LD0110]

• After you upgrade the WEM agent to Version 4.7, if you select Enable Intelligent CPU Optimization and/or Enable Intelligent I/O Optimization on the System Optimization > CPU Management > CPU Management Settings tab of the administration console, error messages about Error 87 frequently appear in Windows Event logs. This issue does not affect the user experience, thus you can dismiss these error messages. [WEM-2051]

• When the Citrix WEM agent starts, a Citrix WEM Agent Init file (.log) and a Citrix WEM Agent file (.log) are created separately in the root of the current user’s Users folder. However, while WEM agent switches from the Citrix WEM Agent Init file to the Citrix WEM Agent file, some logs might be missing. [WEM-2233]

August 2018

Agent

Agent group policy template: This template allows you to specify a list of Citrix Cloud Connectors. You must do this before you install the agent. See Install and configure.

Workspace Environment Management service agent: A service-specific agent is provided. The agent has the ability to connect to the Workspace Environment Management service. You must deploy Citrix Cloud Connector in your user domain before you install the agent. See Install and configure.

Administration console

Workspace Environment Management administration console: A web-based administration console is provided to manage your WEM installation from the service’s Manage tab using your web browser. This provides the same functionality as the on-prem version of the administration console.

Search index roaming for Microsoft Outlook users: A new option is provided to improve the user experience when searching mail in Microsoft Outlook. See Citrix Profile Management Settings.