Features in Technical Preview

Features in the Technical Preview are available to use in non-production or limited production environments, and to give customers an opportunity to share feedback. Citrix does not accept support cases for features in technical preview but welcomes feedback for improving them. Citrix might act on feedback based on its severity, criticality, and importance.

List of features in Technical Preview

The following table lists the features in the technical preview. To provide feedback for any of these features, fill out the feedback form.

Title	Available from version	Feedback form (click the icon)
Enhanced Desktop Viewer toolbar	2402
Customize toolbar	2402
Sustainability initiative from Citrix Workspace app	2402
Include system audio while screen sharing	2402
Improve audio performance during audio loss	2311
Improved loading experience for shared user mode	2311
Fast smart card	2311
App Protection compatibility with HDX optimization for Microsoft Teams	2311
Hardware acceleration support for optimized Microsoft Teams	2305
Support for Service continuity with Citrix Workspace Web Extension for Google Chrome	2109
Global App Config Service	2109

Enhanced Desktop Viewer toolbar

The Citrix Workspace app for Linux provides an enhanced Desktop Viewer toolbar.

The new toolbar provides the following options:

• Show or hide toolbar - Click this button to show or hide the Desktop Viewer toolbar
• Shortcuts - Click this button to access the shortcuts. The available shortcut is Ctrl+Alt+Del.
• Devices - Click this button to access the options in the Devices section.
• Preferences - Click this button to access the options in the Preferences section.
• Minimize - Click this button to minimize the virtual session.
• Fullscreen - Click this button to access the virtual session in fullscreen.
• Disconnect / Sign out - Click this button to sign out or to disconnect from a virtual session.

You can float or rotate the toolbar as per your preference across the screen. By default, the old toolbar is available. To activate the new toolbar, do the following:

1. Navigate to the $HOME/.ICAClient/wfclient.ini file.

2. Go to the [WFClient] section and add the following entry:

   ToolbarVersion=1
   <!--NeedCopy-->
   

   

Customize toolbar

Previously, you could completely disable the Desktop Viewer toolbar. However, you couldn’t enable or disable a few options on the toolbar. Starting with the 2402 release, you can customize the Citrix Workspace app toolbar by adding and removing options on the toolbar.

To hide Devices option on the toolbar, do the following:

1. Navigate to the $HOME/.ICAClient/wfclient.ini file.

2. Go to the [WFClient] section and add the following entry as required to hide the options on the toolbar:

   DevicesButtonVisible=False
   <!--NeedCopy-->
   

Similarly, based on your requirements, you can set the following parameters to:

• False - hides the toolbar option
• True - shows the toolbar option

Sustainability initiative from Citrix Workspace app

From the Citrix Workspace app 2402 version onwards, when you click disconnect, sign out, or close a virtual desktop, the following prompt is displayed.

This feature might help conserve energy if you sign out from VMs when not required.

You can either Sign Out or Disconnect from the session.

Include system audio while screen sharing

Previously, the Include computer sound button wasn’t enabled during screen sharing or app sharing. Starting with Citrix Workspace app version 2402, the Include computer sound button is enabled and you can use the system audio while sharing the screen. This feature allows you to share the audio playing on the VDA with users in a meeting or call.

Note:

This feature is available only after the roll-out of an update from Microsoft Teams. For information on ETA, go to the Microsoft site and search for Microsoft 365 roadmap. When the update is rolled-out by Microsoft, you can check CTX253754 for the documentation update and the announcement.

This feature is disabled by default. To enable this feature, do the following on the client:

1. Navigate the /var/.config/citrix/hdx_rtc_engine/config.json file.

2. Add the following:

   {
   
   "ms_teams_share_system_audio": "true"
   
   }
   <!--NeedCopy-->
   

3. Navigate to config/module.ini under the directory where Citrix Workspace app is installed. The default directory is: /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/.

4. Append the following key to the “[ClientAudio]” section:

   EnableAudioListener=TRUE
   <!--NeedCopy-->
   

To disable this feature, set the preceding parameters as follows:

ms_teams_share_system_audio": "false"
EnableAudioListener=FALSE"
<!--NeedCopy-->

Known limitation:

When you share with RAVE and BCR redirected apps or tabs, the audio from these apps or tabs might not be shared.

Known issue:

When you share a screen including computer sound, if multiple audio output devices are playing sound, one or more receivers might notice sound artifacts. [HDX-58342]

Improve audio performance during audio loss

With this release, the audio quality during poor network conditions is improved. For this improvement, the Adaptive Audio and Medium Quality Audio codecs detect the data loss and the out-of-order data transmissions. And then, reorder and reconstruct the lost audio while using the loss tolerant mode (EDT lossy) or UDP audio. By default, this enhancement is disabled.

To enable this enhancement, do the following:

1. Navigate to the /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/config/module.ini configuration file and edit it.

2. Enable jitter buffer as follows:

   JitterBufferEnabled=TRUE
   <!--NeedCopy-->
   

3. Enable PLC as follows:

   PacketLossConcealmentEnabled=TRUE
   <!--NeedCopy-->
   

4. Enable Loss tolerant mode for audio or UDP audio feature.

Improved loading experience for shared user mode

The time taken to load the store is reduced and thus the loading experience for the shared user mode is improved.

Note:

This feature is applicable only on StoreFront stores.

This feature is disabled by default. To enable this feature, do the following:

1. Navigate to the AuthManConfig.xml configuration file.
2. Set the following entry as True:

<key>KioskSFUIEnhanced</key>
<value>True</value>
<!--NeedCopy-->

Fast smart card

Fast smart card is an improvement over the existing HDX PC/SC‑based smart card redirection. It improves performance when smart cards are used in high‑latency WAN environments.

Fast smart cards are supported on Windows VDA only.

To enable fast smart card sign in on Citrix Workspace app:

Fast smart card sign-in is enabled by default on the VDA and disabled by default on Citrix Workspace app. To enable the fast smart card feature, do the following:

1. Navigate to the [SmartCard] section in the /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/config/module.ini configuration file.

2. Add the following entry:

   SmartCardCryptographicRedirection=On
   <!--NeedCopy-->
   

To disable fast smart card sign in on Citrix Workspace app:

To disable fast smart card sign-in on Citrix Workspace app, remove the SmartCardCryptographicRedirection parameter from the [SmartCard] section in the /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/config/module.ini configuration file.

Specify the PKCS11 module based on ATR

With this release, a new configuration file scardConfig.json is introduced. This file is to specify the Public-Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS) 11 module based on the Answer to Reset (ATR) of the smart card when using the fast smart card feature. The scardConfig.json file already includes entries for the popular cards and the default is the OpenSC PKCS11 library. The DefaultPKCS11Lib option in the file specifies the default PKCS11 module to be used if the ATR for a card doesn’t match any entry in the file.

To add an entry for your smart card, modify the scardConfig.json file present inside the config directory within the installation directory.

Note:

If you fail to open a session through SSO with SmartCard enabled after enabling the fast smart card feature, verify that you have specified the correct PKCS11 module.

Limitations:

• The only double-hop scenarios that fast smart card supports are ICA > ICA with fast smart card enabled on both hops. Because the fast smart card doesn’t support ICA > RDP double-hop scenarios, those scenarios don’t work.
• Fast smart card feature doesn’t support Cryptography Next Generation. Hence, the fast smart card doesn’t support Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) smart cards.
• Fast smart card supports only read-only key container operations.
• Fast smart card doesn’t support changing the smart card PIN.

Known issue:

You might fail to authenticate to Citrix Workspace app using the Gemalto card on Red Hat8. As a workaround, do one of the following:

Update scardConfig.json:

1. Navigate to the /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/config/scardConfig.json configuration file.
2. Change DefaultPKCS11Lib to DefaultPKCS11Lib": "/lib/pkcs11/libeToken.so

Or,

Update the value of SmartCardCryptographicRedirection:

1. Navigate to the [SmartCard] section in the /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/config/module.ini configuration file.

2. Add the following entry:

   SmartCardCryptographicRedirection=Off
   <!--NeedCopy-->
   

App Protection compatibility with HDX optimization for Microsoft Teams

Optimized Microsoft Teams supports screen sharing when Citrix Workspace app is enabled with App Protection in the Desktop Viewer mode only. When you click Share content in Microsoft Teams, the screen picker provides the following options:

• Window option to share any open app - This option is displayed only if the VDA version is 2109 or later.
• Desktop option to share the contents on your VDA desktop.

Note:

For Citrix Workspace app for Linux, the Desktop share option is disabled by default.

To enable the Desktop share option, add the UseGbufferScreenSharing parameter in your config.json file as follows:

mkdir -p /var/.config/citrix/hdx_rtc_engine

vim /var/.config/citrix/hdx_rtc_engine/config.json

{

      "UseGbufferScreenSharing":1

}
<!--NeedCopy-->

Optimized Microsoft Teams enabled with App Protection also supports the Citrix virtual monitor layout which allows you to share each virtual monitor individually.

Limitations:

• Optimized Microsoft Teams enabled with App Protection doesn’t support screen sharing on Published Desktops enabled with Local App Access (LAA).
• Client-rendered content such as Browser content using BCR can’t be captured or shared. If you try to screen capture, it’s displayed as a black screen.

Hardware acceleration support for optimized Microsoft Teams

Citrix Workspace app for Linux provides an improved performance experience for Microsoft Teams video calls.

Earlier only the CPU was used for encoding purposes. With this release, the GPU can also be used to encode the outgoing video frames and thus reduce CPU usage. This feature is of benefit when you use a thin client with limited CPU resources and a spare GPU.

Prerequisite:

Ensure you have the latest GPU driver. If not, install the latest GPU driver using the following command:

```
sudo apt install va-driver-all
<!--NeedCopy--> ```

This feature is disabled by default. To enable this feature, do the following:

1. Navigate to /var/.config/citrix/hdx_rtc_engine/config.json file.

2. Set the following configuration:

   { "VideoHwEncode": 1, }
   <!--NeedCopy-->
   

Support for Service continuity with Citrix Workspace Web Extension for Google Chrome

Support for service continuity with the Citrix Workspace Web Extension for Google Chrome is in a public technical preview. You can use the Workspace Web Extension for Google Chrome with Citrix Workspace app for Linux 2109. This extension is available at the Google Chrome web store. The Workspace app communicates with the Citrix Workspace Web extension using the native messaging host protocol for the browser extension. Together, the Workspace app and the Workspace Web extension use Workspace connection leases to give browser users access to their apps and desktops during outages. For more information, see Service continuity.

Global App Config Service

The new Global App Configuration Service for Citrix Workspace allows a Citrix administrator to deliver Workspace service URLs through a centrally managed service.

As a prerequisite, you must enable this feature in the AuthManConfig.xml file. Navigate to $ICAROOT/config/AuthManConfig.xml and add the following entries:

     <key>AppConfigEnabled</key>
     <value>true</value>
<!--NeedCopy-->

For more information on Workspace service URLs settings, see the Global App Configuration Service documentation.

Note:

• Citrix Workspace app for Linux uses the Global App Configuration Service only to deliver Workspace service URLs.

Technical Preview to General Availability (GA)