This post originally appeared on the RES blog before the company was acquired by Ivanti in July 2017.

In some scenarios, RES Subscriber is used to lock down a workstation. This is done by simply defining the RES Subscriber as the shell, and then launching a remote desktop. The advantage of this is that the computer then behaves like a thin client with minimal maintenance required.

In the past, when using the Citrix Web Interface with the legacy Receiver, it was relatively easy to create the launch command line. It was even possible for administrators to generate custom ICA files. There were many different methods that could be used to launch a Citrix published desktop. However, when using Citrix Receiver 4.x with Citrix StoreFront, it may become a little more complex. The following example may help explain this new process.

 
In this scenario, I’m using RES Subscriber for VDX, Citrix XenApp 7.5, Citrix Receiver 4.1.2.3, and Citrix StoreFront 2.5.

  1. The following configurations need to be done:
    Install Citrix Receiver 4.x and define the StoreFront configuration via a Domain Policy
  2. Make sure a Citrix published Desktop is available for the users
  3. Install and configure the RES Subscriber for VDX

Citrix Receiver 4.x Installation and configuration

We need to install Citrix Receiver with SSON, define the StoreFront store in the Citrix policy and then enable passthrough-authentication.
The following article perfectly describes this process: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX133855

Citrix Desktop application

A Citrix published desktop is required. Depending on the version of Citrix XenDesktop/XenApp that is used, this is performed differently.
In Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop 7.x, this one will be created automatically. In most situations, this is the one that I use. By default, this Desktop will be launched when authenticating in Citrix Receiver, but it can be switched off: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX139058.
By default, this session will not be launched full screen. Use this article to launch it in Full Screen mode: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX139762

RES Subscriber installation and configuration

The installation of the RES Subscriber for VDX will speak for itself. The are two methods to configure the RES Subscriber:

  1. Edit Subscriber.ini, normally found in “%Program Files%\RES Software\VDX Plugin\Subscriber”
  2. Launch “.\Subscriber.exe /Config”, to do it the GUI way

How to determine the launch command?

  1. Logon to a computer where the Citrix Receiver 4.x is installed and configured
  2. Open Citrix Receiver and subscribe to the published desktop, which is named “my place” in this example:
  3. Close the Citrix Receiver
  4. Open “%localappdata%\Citrix\SelfService” and locate the xxx_Cache.xml file:
  5. Find the Desktop application, which in this example is ‘My Place’, and copy the LaunchCommandLine:
  6. Edit either the Subscriber.ini or the RES Subscriber for VDX Configuration Launch button command line. Use: 
    "C:\Program Files\Citrix\SelfServicePlugin\SelfService.exe"
"LaunchCommandLine"

    like:

    or

    And that’s all you have to do. Now that the trick is revealed, it wasn’t so bad, right?