Citrix Blog Post Cookbook to Upgrade from Receiver 3.4 for Windows to Receiver 4.2.100 and Citrix Article CTX135933 Upgrading to Citrix Receiver for Windows contains step-by-step procedure to use Group Policy to uninstall Receiver Enterprise 3.4 and install/configure Workspace app or Receiver 4.x. Citrix Workspace (previously Citrix Receiver) is the required to connect to the EPIC EMR once a device is securely connected behind either the Pulse Secure VPN/Cisco AnyConnect VPN services offers secure access to healthcare information.
You may have noticed that Citrix is in the process of implementing changes announced at Synergy 2018 to unify its product portfolio. Some of these changes are cosmetic, affecting names only, but others contain functional changes. In particular, the new Citrix Workspace App will eventually replace the Receiver, ShareFile (now Citrix Content Management), and XenMobile (now Citrix Endpoint Management) clients, and will provide users with consolidated access to virtual apps and desktops, SaaS and mobile apps, shared content, and secure browsing within the Citrix Workspace ecosystem.
You may have also noticed Receiver has started to update itself to Workspace App on various devices. The user experience is similar to Receiver, should be familiar to users, and is compatible with all currently supported versions of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenApp and XenDesktop) and Citrix Gateway (formerly NetScaler Gateway), but most firms would like to control this behavior. There isn’t much you can do about mobile devices, or home PCs and Macs, but on firm-owned PCs, Receiver updates can be controlled via command line at installation, and via Group Policy after installation.
Most firms choose to disable Receiver updates, then push out an updated version after it is thoroughly tested. That’s the approach Kraft Kennedy recommends, but other options exist including the ability to limit updates to the Long Term Servicing Release (“LTSR”). Currently, that would limit update to Receiver 4.9.
Helpful links:
Solution
While Citrix is actively working on new technology that will replace our dependency on NPAPI plugins, there are some workarounds that can be taken in the short term.
Use one of the following workarounds to fix the issue:
Workaround 1
Use a different Citrix Receiver supported web browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari to connect.
Workaround 2
Re-Enable NPAPI within the Chrome address bar
Re-Enable NPAPI
As stated here, NPAPI can still be enabled in Chrome by advanced users and enterprises after April 2015 when it is disabled by default. However, this will only work until September 2015 when Google Chrome will completely disable NPAPI.
Important Note - Consult the security specialist of your organization before change:
To re-enable the NPAPI plugin in Chrome:
- Type chrome://flags/#enable-npapi in your browser’s address bar.
- Click Enable.
- Quit Chrome (close all open windows) and restart the browser.
- Use Task Manager to verify there are no running Chrome.exe processes listed. If there are any still running end those tasks before logging on.
- Go back to your website and logon. The applications should now launch normally.
Customize Receiver for Web
Citrix Workspace Replace Receiver Lock
If you do not want to or cannot disable Chrome auto update or re-enable NPAPI Plugin, you can do a number of customization to Receiver for Web to reduce the disruption.
Note: All the customization code in this article is applicable to StoreFront 2.6.
Disable client download prompt for Chrome
If you insert the following code into custom.script.js in the contrib folder under the Receiver for Web site, Chrome users will never be prompted to install Citrix Receiver:
Provide a permanent link for downloading Receiver in Chrome
The preceding code snippet helps you disable the Receiver install prompt for Chrome. However, you might still want your users to be able to download and install Receiver if needed. Apply the following code snippet in custom.script.js will add a link to the user menu to download Receiver for Chrome browser:
You have to also add the following strings to custom.wrstrings.en.js and a localized version for every language you need to support to custom.wrstrings.<language>.js:
The resultant UI looks similar to the following:
Enable Workspace Control For Chrome On Windows
Workspace control is disabled on Windows if Receiver for Web cannot detect whether the browser is running in an ICA session (pass-through mode). This is to avoid disconnecting the session running the browser itself. If you can ensure that this never happens, that is, Chrome is never used in the double-hop deployment to access applications/desktops in the second-hop sharing the same XenApp/XenDesktop farms/sites, you can apply the following code snippet to custom.script.js in the contrib folder under the Receiver for Web site to enable workspace control for Chrome.Enable Chrome To Open ICA file Automatically
After the ICA file is saved, users can open the action menu for the ICA file at the bottom of the browser and select Always open files of this type. After that, launch will be automatically activated when the user clicks an application/desktop icon to launch.Disclaimer
What Is Citrix Workspace