XenApp and XenDesktop

Enhanced desktop experience policy setting

The Enhanced Desktop Experience policy setting sessions running on server operating systems to look like local Windows 7 desktops, providing users with an enhanced desktop experience.

By default, this setting is allowed.

If a user profile with Windows Classic theme already exists on the virtual desktop, enabling this policy does not provide an enhanced desktop experience for that user. If a user with a Windows 7 theme user profile logs on to a virtual desktop running Windows Server 2012 for which this policy is either not configured or disabled, that user sees an error message indicating failure to apply the theme.

In both cases, resetting the user profile resolves the issue.

If the policy changes from enabled to disabled on a virtual desktop with active user sessions, the look and feel of those sessions is inconsistent with both the Windows 7 and Windows Classic desktop experience. To avoid this, ensure you restart the virtual desktop after changing this policy setting. You must also delete any roaming profiles on the virtual desktop. Citrix also recommends deleting any other user profiles on the virtual desktop to avoid inconsistencies between profiles.

If you are using roaming user profiles in your environment, ensure the Enhanced Desktop Experience feature is enabled or disabled for all virtual desktops that share a profile.

Citrix does not recommend sharing roaming profiles between virtual desktops running server operating systems and client operating systems. Profiles for client and server operating systems differ and sharing roaming profiles across both types can lead to inconsistencies in profile properties when a user moves between the two.

Enhanced desktop experience policy setting

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