XenApp and XenDesktop

Universal Windows Platform Apps

XenApp and XenDesktop supports the use of Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps with VDAs on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 machines. For information about UWP apps, see the following Microsoft documentation:

The term Universal Apps is used throughout this article to refer to UWP apps.

Requirements and limitations

Universal Apps are supported for VDAs on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 machines.

VDAs must be minimum version 7.11.

The following XenApp and XenDesktop features are either not supported or limited when using Universal Apps:

  • File type association is not supported.
  • Local App Access is not supported.
  • Dynamic preview: If apps running in the session overlap, the preview shows the default icon. The Win32 APIs used for Dynamic Preview are not supported in Universal Apps.
  • Action Center remoting: Universal Apps can use the Action Center for displaying the messages in the session. Redirect these messages to the endpoint to display them to the user.

Launching Universal apps and non-Universal apps from same server is not supported for Windows 10 VDAs. For Windows Server 2016, Universal apps and non-Universal apps should be in separate Delivery Groups or Application Groups.

All Universal Apps installed on the machine are enumerated; therefore, Citrix recommends disabling user access to the Windows Store. This prevents the Universal Apps installed by one user from being accessed by a different user.

During sideloading, the Universal App is installed on the machine and is available for use for other users. When any other user launches the app, the app is installed. The OS then updates its AppX database to indicate “as installed” for the user launching the app.

Graceful logoffs from a published Universal App that was launched in a seamless or fixed window might result in the session not closing, and the user being logged off. In such cases, several processes remaining in the session prevent the session from closing properly. To resolve this, determine which process is preventing the session from closing, and then add it to the “LogoffCheckSysModules” registry key value, following the guidance in CTX891671.

Application Display Names and Descriptions for Universal Apps might not have correct names. Edit and correct these properties when adding the applications to the Delivery Group.

Check the Known issues article for any additional issues.

Currently, several Universal Apps have white icons with transparency enabled, which results in the icon not being visible against the white background of the StoreFront display. To avoid this issue, you can change the background. For example, on the StoreFront machine, edit the file C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\StoreWeb\custom\style.css. At the end of the file, add .storeapp-icon {background-image: radial-gradient( circle at top right, yellow, red ); }. The graphic below illustrates the before-and-after for this example.

UWA

On Windows Server 2016, the Server Manager might also launch when a Univeral App is launched. To prevent this from occurring, you can disable Server Manager from auto-starting during logon with the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ServerManager\DoNotOpenServerManagerAtLogon registry key. For details, see https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/rmilne/2014/05/30/how-to-hide-server-manager-at-logon/.

Install and publish Universal Apps

Support for Universal Apps is enabled by default.

To disable the use of Universal Apps on a VDA, add the registry setting EnableUWASeamlessSupport in HKLM\Software\Citrix\VirtualDesktopAgent\FeatureToggle and set to 0.

To install one or more Universal Apps on VDAs (or a master image), use one of the following methods:

To add (publish) one or more Universal Apps in XenApp or XenDesktop:

After the Universal Apps are installed on the machine, add the Universal Apps to a Delivery Group or Application Group. You can do this when you create a group, or later. On the Applications page of the wizard, select the From Start menu source.

Delivery group image

When the applications list appears, select the check boxes of the Universal Apps you want to publish. Then click Next.

Uninstall Universal Apps

When you uninstall a Universal App with a command such as Remove-AppXPackage, the item is uninstalled only for administrators. To remove the app from the machines of users who may have launched and used the app, you must run the removal command on each machine. You cannot uninstall the AppX package from all users’ machines with one command.

Universal Windows Platform Apps