- Citrix Receiver (13.7) is a separate program, and it is installed. Oh, btw, Firefox always had the problem that Linux does not have a central certificate store, so I had to make a symlink from Firefox' certificate store into the cert store of Citrix Receiver, but then it worked.
- When I go to my company's Citrix login page I can login and start a session. Firefox will ask if I want to save the launch.ica file or if I want to open it using the 'Citrix Reciever Engine'. When choosing the latter it just brings me into a Citrix session. So, it works, even without the plugin.
If you have issues opening a Citrix connection under Firefox you may need to set the Citrix Receiver plugin to 'Always Activate' under the Firefox Add-ons Manager plugin settings. Perl-file-mimeinfo may be required to correctly interpret the.ica file mimeinfo and open it as per the setup in wfica.desktop.
What is Citrix Receiver?
Citrix Receiver is a client software that is used to remotely connect to Virtual Desktop applications. It is available for most any platform but these instructions are for Windows or Mac OS.
Click the appropriate platform if you are on a mobile device: iOS, or Android.
Citrix Receiver Exe File
Features of the Citrix Receiver
The user experience when connected to a Virtual Desktop application is designed to be as similar as possible to using an application that is installed on your local computer. Among the local resources you will have access to in the remote session are:
- Your Home Drive (H:): The H: drive that is mapped when you log into any computer on campus will be accessible from Virtual Desktop. In fact, when opening or saving a document in a Virtual Desktop application, your Documents, Desktop and other Windows profile folders are stored in your Home Drive or your H: drive.
- Local drives. These include hard disk drives, thumb drives and most USB devices that are physically attached to your local computer. They typically appear in the remote session as 'Local Disk (C: on {computername}' where {computername} is the name of your local computer. For example, if you have a document saved on the hard drive of your computer, which is called 'MyLaptop', you can open it in a Virtual Desktop application by clicking File | Open and browsing to 'Local Disk (C: on MyLaptop)'.
- Network drives. Any network drives (other than your H: drive) that you get when you log into Windows when you're on campus will show up in Virtual Desktop sessions. Citrix Receiver also recreates any other manually-created network drive mappings that are connected on your client computer when you log in.
- Audio. Sound from the remote application will play on the speakers that are connected to the computer you are connecting from.
- Printers. Citrix Receiver automatically creates (redirects) printer objects for your local printers so you can print to your local printer from a remote Virtual Desktop application.
How Do I Install Citrix Receiver on Windows or Mac OS?
Note: The Virtual Desktop website is designed to detect whether you have a current version of Citrix Receiver installed. It is also configured to launch applications directly when you click on an application icon (as opposed to having to download a file and then open the file to launch an application). Unfortunately, recent changes in support in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have caused one or both of these features to stop functioning unless you are running the most current version of Citrix Receiver.
If you experience any issues, especially with applications not launching automatically when you click an application icon, please upgrade to the newest version of Citrix Receiver by following the instructions below.
If you get any errors during the installation, please uninstall any old versions of Citrix Receiver and try again.
- To download the most current version of Citrix Receiver, browse to https://receiver.citrix.com. The webpage will automatically detect your platform and offer an appropriate download link for Citrix Receiver. As the above note says, you may wish to uninstall legacy clients from Windows before running the Citrix Receiver installer but this isn't always necessary.
- When the Citrix Receiver installer has downloaded, open it.
- Click Start and go through the installation wizard. After installation, you will be given the option to 'Add an Account'. This means you will be activating Citrix Receiver so you can open connections to Virtual Desktop applications without even having to open a browser. For more information, click here.
- Once installed, you should be able to launch connections to Virtual Desktop applications.
- Your browser may ask you to click Continue to confirm that Citrix Receiver is installed. Do so if prompted.
Now you're ready to log into Virtual Desktop and launch applications. For instructions on how to log in and use the Virtual Desktop service, see this article.
Citrix Web Plugin is an online plugin offered by Citrix that enables users to access remotely published desktops and applications from a web browser. Users that are running Microsoft Windows can quickly access VDI networks using web browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. Designed to work with virtual desktops, this web plugin allows Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly Citrix XenApp) users to open applications, manage them, and define settings. Citrix Web Plugin makes it easy to access published desktops. As you access the virtual web interface, application icons are automatically generated, and drives and printers are mapped to the VD session. Windows automatically detect whether your system has a web plugin installed. If it doesn’t locate the plugin, it offers a link to download the file.
Challenges with Citrix Web Plugin
The cost and complexity in deployment and management of the infrastructure is a vital issue. Additionally, confusion arises from multiple products having similar names. For example, Citrix Receiver is the primary client component that facilitates connections between client devices and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop resources. Citrix Online Plug-in provides access to virtual desktops and hosted applications from remote devices.
Citrix Online Plug-in–Web is a client component that allows access to Citrix Virtual Apps/Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop resources through a web browser. The plugin requires the prior installation of NET 2.0. Without it, users will constantly receive warning messages every time an application is opened.
You have to use the command CitrixOnlinePluginFull.exe ADDLOCAL=”ICA_Client,Flash,USB” to install the web-plugin component that supports just USB and Flash.To install the same with support for USB, Flash, and XenDesktop, use the command CitrixOnlinePluginFull.exe ADDLOCAL=”ICA_Client,Flash,USB,DeskstopViewer”. End-users are confused with these multiple products and versions, resulting in more IT support requirements.
There are issues with the applications not launching after upgrading to IE9 or higher. When you upgrade to Windows 8.1 or higher, you need to update the Citrix Receiver versions. To access resources using a web browser, you need the Citrix Online Plug-in–Web, Citrix Receiver, and Citrix Virtual Apps.
Security Vulnerabilities of Citrix Web Plugin
Citrix Web Plugin is strewn with numerous security vulnerabilities that make it a shaky solution when it comes to remote access of published desktops and applications. The vulnerabilities
which have affected the Citrix Web Plugin and their details are given below:
CVE-2009-3936
This unspecified vulnerability was also identified back in 2009 and it allows remote attackers to
bypass authentication using a crafted certificate by impersonating the SSL/TLS server.
Citrix Receiver Firefox Addon
CTX125976
This vulnerability was identified in the ICA Client ActiveX Object (ICO) component of the Citrix
Online Plug-in for Windows. It could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on behalf of the
currently logged in user. This vulnerability exists in all versions of Online Plug-In for Windows.
Up to version 12.0.3.
CVE-2010-2990
This is yet another serious vulnerability in Citrix Online Plug-in which can allow remote
attackers to execute arbitrary code using a crafted .ICA file, an HTML document, or crafted type
field in an ICA graphics packet. This issue has complete confidentiality, integrity, and availability
impact.
CVE-2010-2991
This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute code or cause a denial of service via a
crafted HTML document that triggers .ICA file reading.
How Parallels RAS Leverages HTML5 Technology?
HTML5 eliminates most limitations of HTML4 while bringing new, innovative features. With HTML5, you don’t need plugins such as Java and Flash to add images and media to the webpages, with less dependency on scripts. HTML5 comes new markup tags, is device independent, and with HTML5 browsers, web pages consume less bandwidth and load faster.
Parallels Remote Application Server leverages this HTML5 technology to provide quick and productive access to corporate resources from any HTML5-enabled browser. You don’t need to install client software or a plugin on the client device. With Parallels RAS as a single package, you can remotely publish desktops and applications, and provide access to resources from any device, anytime, and from anywhere. Parallels RAS is easy to deploy and use, requiring only a fraction of time and cost for Citrix virtual solutions.
Parallels RAS makes the migration process easier with a free migration tool that automates most of Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly Citrix XenApp) use case scenarios. The migration tool extracts settings from Citrix XenApp 6.x into a file that can be imported from Parallels RAS Console.
References
Citrix Web Plugin | https://www.citrix.com/downloads/vdi-in-a-box/legacy-client-software/online-plug-in-for-windows-121.htmlcitrix.com
Brian Madden | http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/brianmadden/archive/2009/05/19/what-s-the-difference-between-the-quot-ica-client-quot-the-quot-xenapp-plug-in-quot-and-the-quot-citrix-receiver-quot-a-guide-to-citrix-s-client-names-and-variants.aspx
Citrix Receiver Firefox Ubuntu
Citrix Web Plugin | http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-html5-and-how-does-it-change-the-way-i-browse-makeuseof-explains
Citrix Receiver Web
Should I Remote It? | http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/Citrix-XenApp-Web-Plugin-15173-program.aspx
Firefox Citrix Receiver Issues
Citrix Web Plugin not working on Windows 8.1 | https://discussions.citrix.com/topic/339178-citrix-online-plugin-full-not-working-on-windows-81/