Change VLAN assigned to a Citrix XenDesktop/XenApp 7.x Hosting Resource

I created a hosting resource in Citrix Studio, then needed to change the VLAN I associated with it. This apparently can't be done from within Studio, but can be done with a PowerShell command. Here is what I did to change the assigned VLAN:

First, I created a new resource with the correct network VLAN so I could have it for reference.

From the Citrix Delivery Controller server, I ran PowerShell as Administrator, then typed the following commands:

Add-PSSnapin *Citrix*
Get-Item 'XDHyp:\HostingUnits\NAMEOFCORRECTRESOURCE'

This gave me information about the new, correct resource I created. I copied the value of the "NetworkPath" for the resource, then ran the following command on the resource I wanted to change:

Set-Item 'XDHyp:\HostingUnits\NAMEOFRESOURCE' -NetworkPath 'PASTEPATHHERE'

That's all I had to do! New VMs created using that resource are now using the new VLAN.

Toolbar missing in Raspberry Pi desktop environment

I recently discovered the amazing device called Raspberry Pi. It has been very frustrating but fun to set up. After updating some of the packages, my bottom toolbar disappeared and I had no idea how to get it back. Finally I found a solution that worked for me. Just run this command in a terminal session:

cp -rp /etc/xdg/lxpanel/profile/LXDE/* ~/.config/lxpanel/LXDE/

Reboot, then you should have your toolbar back! Here is the original location where I found this solution: http://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=17732

Error 25703 When Installing or Uninstalling Citrix XenApp 6.5 Components

I recently needed to uninstall Citrix XenApp 6.5 from a server, but the uninstall failed with this error:

Error 25703. An error occurred while plugging XML into Internet Information Server. Setup cannot copy files to your IIS Scripts directory. Please make sure that your IIS installation is correct.

The only Citrix tool I know of that can configure XML is the command line tool "ctxxmlss.exe", so I ran that with the "/u" parameter, which basically disables XML and unregisters it. As soon as I did that I tried uninstalling the hotfix again, and it worked!

Of course, if your Citrix XenApp farm relies on XML, you will need to reconfigure it after you install or uninstall whatever you need to.

Custom Errors in SharePoint 2010

I was getting errors in SharePoint 2010 when trying to run an audit report, but the error message was not helpful. It told me I needed to turn off custom errors in the web.config file, but didn't tell me where that file was located. Fortunately, with the help of the Internet and a blog article by Greg Galipeau, I found the answer.

The file is located here on the web front end servers: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\web.config

I made the change, ran iisreset /noforce, and SharePoint errors were suddenly much more descriptive.

Enable Seamless Windows in XenApp 6.5 To Use Custom Window Color Scheme

After migrating an application from XenApp 5 on Windows Server 2003 to XenApp 6.5 on Windows Server 2008 R2, I got complaints from end users that the color scheme for their application on the new servers was hurting their eyes.

It turned out that the default grey color used by Server 2008 is lighter than in 2003, and it strained the eyes of the users and made it more difficult to see objects, such as text boxes, on the screen. After finding documentation on Citrix.com about a registry entry called SeamlessFlags, I added the value that is supposed to allow synchronizing of the system colors with the colors in the Citrix session, but it did not work. I actually found two separate Citrix KB articles with conflicting values. One said to use a hex value of 0x10 and another said 16 in decimal. Neither one worked.

I then downloaded a utility from Citrix called FarmTWIHelper, which is a GUI that helps configure the Seamless flag settings. I set the "Enable Color Sync" value, which added a value to the registry of 10 in hex and 16 in decimal, like I tried before. This still did not work.

I ended up playing with different settings and setting the decimal value to 10 (a in hex) finally worked, although I'm not sure why:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\wfshell\TWI]

"SeamlessFlags"=dword:0000000a

Now I use a group policy to set the color values in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors. The only problem I am still having is getting the custom colors to apply on a user's first logon. Currently, the user gets the default colors first, but the custom colors on all future logons.

References:
Seamless Configuration Settings
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX101644

Case Study: Troubleshooting Seamless Flag - Custom Application
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX127043

FarmTWIHelper - Seamless Configuration Helper Tool
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX115146

How to create a "New Document" link for SharePoint 2010 document libraries

I needed to create a link on a SharePoint site that users could click on to launch a document template that is associated with a document library. This would be much easier than using the "Documents" tab and then clicking the "New Document" button.

Thankfully, Srini Sistla posted instructions on how to create new document shortcuts for Word 2010, Excel 2010, and PowerPoint 2010 on his blog: http://www.srinisistla.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=214

It worked great for me and I was able to put a shortcut on our team sites home page to allow users to open a new Word document template without going to the document library first. This definitely saves time and makes it easier to create documents.

Increase Session Graphics Memory Limit

I recently found out that the maximum memory limit for Session Graphics in Citrix XenApp 5 on Windows Server 2003 can be increased above the 8 MB limit that is seen in the Delivery Services Console. Here is a link to the Citrix document explaining how to increase the limit: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX114497

Basically, all you need to do is change the value "MaxLVBMem" located at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\Wds\icawd\thin16" to a higher number. I used the decimal value of 16777216 and this allowed 16-bit color for applications at much higher screen resolutions than before.

After making the change, you must also change the permissions on the "thin16" key to deny "set value" access to the SYSTEM account. This prevents the SYSTEM account from changing the value back to a lower limit.