Tech Paper: Citrix Workspace app for ChromeOS Troubleshooting Guide

Overview

This article provides guidelines for troubleshooting Citrix Workspace app (CWA) issues on ChromeOS. Besides the prerequisites for CWA, the article discusses general troubleshooting guidelines, log collection, and information that the frontline support team must gather before the issue is escalated. Citrix and Google have both published articles on this topic. The purpose of this article is to provide all the information in one place.

Note:

This article is intended for Citrix administrators and technical teams only. Non-admin users must contact their company’s Help Desk/IT support team and can refer to CTX297149 for more information.

General

Citrix Workspace app for ChromeOS is a native Chrome packaged app that lets you access Citrix-hosted Workspace applications and virtual desktops from Chrome devices. It’s available from the Chrome Web Store. This tech paper covers the following:

• Prerequisites/System Requirements for Installing Citrix Workspace app on a ChromeOS device.
• CWA for ChromeOS Release Notes and Known issues for each version.
• Configuring various features
• Troubleshooting
• Support articles for CWA for ChromeOS

Prerequisites/System Requirements

Review the following Citrix Documentation ChromeOS

• Users' devices require the latest Google Chrome operating system (OS) to access desktops and apps using the Citrix Workspace app.
• Citrix recommends you use the Citrix Workspace app with releases from the Google ChromeOS Stable channel. The Citrix Workspace app for ChromeOS is supported only on ChromeOS (including ChromeOS Flex).

Hardware Requirements

All devices must meet the minimum hardware requirements for ChromeOS to run CWA for ChromeOS.

Supportability and Feature Matrix

Citrix Workspace app for ChromeOS supports access to desktops and applications through the following versions of StoreFront. Note: Stores must be accessed through Citrix Receiver for Web sites.

• StoreFront 2.5 and later
• Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 1912 and later The Citrix Workspace app feature matrix provides the most up-to-date availability of the features across different platforms.

Release Notes, Fixed and Known Issues

With each Citrix Workspace app for ChromeOS version, release notes, and the fixed and known issues are updated within the Citrix Workspace app product documentation.

Configuration

All generally available (GA) features that can be configured for several use cases can be found here.

Configuration Utility

The Configuration Utility is a UI-based configuration webpage that helps administrators customize Citrix Workspace app for ChromeOS and HTML5 for their enterprise. It is also compatible with Citrix Receiver for Chrome and HTML5.

Troubleshooting

Depending on the issue found, different logs help investigate the issue. It is recommended that users report issues with all logs to speed up the investigation. Contact your local IT team for help with troubleshooting issues with Citrix on ChromeOS.

Also, it is essential to provide the following information to the Citrix tech support team:

• ChromeOS version
• CWA version:
• Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops – On-premises/Citrix Cloud
• Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) version

Note

Starting with the CWA for ChromeOS version 2207 and later, the console logs are a part of the client logs. Hence, collecting the client logs alone can suffice.

Support Article References

• Enabling And Adding USB Devices With Receiver For Chrome
• Not able to print using generic USB redirection from ChromeOS
• How to customize file upload and download using Workspace app for HTML5 and Chrome
• How To Configure single sign-on for Receiver for Chrome
• Connection failures because of SSL certificate errors with Citrix Workspace app for Chrome / Citrix Receiver for Chrome
• After upgrading CWA Chrome to version 2203, when a USB device is added to the session, the device is unavailable. Message "device is already in use in other session"
• Videos played are laggy in Citrix session when using Workspace app for Chrome
• Receiver for Chrome Error: Invalid command line arguments: Unable to open the file as it has an unsupported extension
• How to create shortcuts to published apps and Desktops with Workspace app for Chrome

Microsoft Teams Optimization

In addition to providing end users with performance benefits, Microsoft Teams optimization ensures cost savings as the content is "offloaded" to the devices of the users.

All the information related to Optimization for Microsoft Teams by Citrix is documented here.

Microsoft Teams Optimization Prerequisites/Requirements

For the current system requirements to run Microsoft Teams Optimization for ChromeOS, visit here.

• Use the latest version of the Citrix Workspace app for ChromeOS running on the latest version of ChromeOS.
• For hardware, use processors that perform at par or better than Intel i3, 2.4Ghz quad-core CPU that supports 720p HD resolution.

Configure Microsoft Teams Optimization

The following document contains the steps to configure Microsoft Teams optimization with ChromeOS.

By default, Microsoft Teams Optimization is enabled in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and Citrix DaaS via Citrix Policy.

If you enable the policy and the Citrix Workspace app version is supported, the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Citrix\HDXMediaStream\MSTeamsRedirSupport registry key is set to 1 automatically on the VDA. Microsoft Teams reads the key to load in VDI mode.

Note:

New features in optimized Microsoft Teams require collaboration between Microsoft and Citrix. If you find a feature you need to miss within Microsoft Teams when using optimization, do raise a feature request (RFE) via your Citrix Sales Engineer or Account manager.

Microsoft Teams Optimization Troubleshooting

Based on the issue found, different logs help investigate the issue. To speed up the investigation, you can report issues with all the logs.

• Troubleshooting HDX Optimization for Microsoft Teams: https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX253754/troubleshooting-hdx-optimization-for-microsoft-teams
• Client logs: https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-chrome/troubleshoot.html#client-logs
• Microsoft Teams optimization logs/webRTC logs : https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-chrome/troubleshoot.html#microsoft-teams-optimization-logs
• CDF traces: https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX111961/cdfcontrol
• ChromeOS logs: Logs from chrome://webrtc-internals
• Citrix Workspace app version: There are many places where this is displayed. chrome://extensions → Citrix Workspace app.
• ChromeOS version: You can find this in About ChromeOS in the settings app on Chromebooks
• Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops – On-premises/Citrix Cloud?
• Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) version -?
• Audio devices make and model?

For the most up-to-date feature matrix and version support, visit here

Citrix KB Articles to troubleshoot various MTOP issues

• Incoming audio issue on Microsoft Teams optimization for CWA ChromeOS
• Troubleshooting for Microsoft Teams optimization – Citrix Workspace app for ChromeOS
• Microsoft Teams calls do not connect with older versions of Citrix Workspace app for ChromeOS

Smart Card Redirection Troubleshooting

Smart card redirection requires 2 Chrome extensions Smart Card Connector app and CACKey middleware app) to be installed. Follow the following documents for configuring the smart card.

https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-chrome/authenticate.html https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7014520?hl=en

Refer to this list to check smartcard compatibility.

Also, ensure the smartcard reader and the smartcard vendor type are supported by the Smart Card Connector app & CACKey middleware app.

Do not use USB redirection for smart cards but for the virtual channel.

To enable the channel in the CWA configuration, include the following in the JSON:

"engine_settings": { "vc_channel": { "CTXSCRD": true } }

You can also add a policy to the Smart Card Connector in Google Admin to prevent ‘Allow access’ pop-ups from occurring when CACKey and Citrix Workspace try to access the Smart Card Connector app: {"force_allowed_client_app_ids":{"Value":["lpimdiknnpijeigckalekdccibdmeojg","haiffjcadagjlijoggckpgfnoeiflnem"]}}

Citrix Workspace app Update Guidelines

In this section, we are updating CWA for ChromeOS version 22.12.0.8 (December ’22 release) to 23.4.0.12 (April ‘23 release), but the principle applies to any specific version.

1. Log in to Google Admin Console and check the version of the Citrix Workspace app for ChromeOS currently installed on ChromeOS devices in the OU.

   

Note:

As a Chrome Enterprise admin, you can pin the version of a Citrix Workspace app to control when they are updated to a newer version.

1. Log in to a ChromeOS device in that OU and validate the CWA version:

   

2. Select the version that you want to update (in this case, version 23.4.0.12).

   

3. Click OK on the warning and save the changes.

   

   

4. Verify that the new version is updated in the admin console.

   

5. The new version (in this case, 23.4.0.12) should be available for update for all the devices in the OU on the next login or reboot.

   

Note:

In line with the best practice to have 5% of ChromeOS devices on the Beta channel ChromeOS release best practices - Chrome Enterprise and Education Help, we recommend testing any new version of the CWA with the same cohort of devices. This is due to the close interaction with the OS of many of the CWA features.