OAS HIGHLIGHTS - CITRIX'S NEW AND ENHANCED FEATURES FOR JULY 2025

22 Jul

July 2025: New and Enhanced Features - Courtesy Citrix.com

Support for Non-Persistent MCS Machine Catalogs in Amazon WorkSpaces Core

MCS now integrates with Amazon WorkSpaces Core, enabling the creation of non-persistent MCS machine catalogs within the customer's AWS account. For a comparative analysis of this integration versus MCS for AWS EC2 and Quick Deploy for Amazon WorkSpaces Core, as well as guidance on setting up the resource location.

Please refer to the AWS virtualization environments documentation.

This feature, offers:

Customization of Desktop Icons through Studio

Studio now allows for the customization of desktop icons across various platforms. Previously, all desktops utilized a default icon, which could not be modified within Studio. which facilitates:

Upload icons for desktops or applications.
Change icons for individual desktops.
Select from a range of built-in icons for your chosen desktops.

For further details, see the sections on Create Delivery Groups and Manage Delivery Groups.

Enhanced Access Policy Control in Studio

Citrix has introduced more granular control over access policies within delivery groups. Previously, access policies could only be applied to specific users via PowerShell or REST APIs. This enhancement now enables direct configuration in Studio, providing greater flexibility in defining varying access conditions for different users or groups.

For additional information, refer to the Configure User Scope for an Access Policy documentation.

Moreover, compatibility between Studio and the PowerShell or REST API approach has been improved. Previously, configuring access policies with user scopes via PowerShell or REST APIs would block the Users and Access Policies pages in Studio.

Now, Studio fully supports these configurations, offering clear information or user interface guidance as necessary.

System Proxy Options for Citrix Cloud Connectors

Organizations can redirect GCP API internet traffic through Citrix Cloud Connectors using a system proxy, facilitating the routing of all external traffic through a non-transparent proxy.

To implement this, configure the host connection with the custom property, Use System Proxy For Hypervisor Traffic On Connectors.

For instructions on enabling the proxy, consult the documentation on using a system proxy for Redirected Azure GCP Traffic.

Sharing Encrypted Prepared Images Across Subscriptions and Tenants in Azure

Azure Compute Gallery (ACG) images can now be encrypted with a Disk Encryption Set (DES), allowing for the sharing of encrypted prepared images across subscriptions and tenants.

This feature enables the creation of a machine catalog in the resource where the encrypted prepared image is shared.

For comprehensive guidance, see the documentation on Sharing Encrypted Prepared Images Across Regions, Subscriptions, and Tenants.

Adding Notes When Assigning Prepared Images

Companies can now add custom notes via Studio and PowerShell while creating or updating an MCS catalog with a prepared image.
MCS maintains a record of all assignments of prepared images, allowing you to:
Retrieve the assignment history for all prepared images in a catalog.
Easily revert a machine catalog to a previously assigned prepared image using the "Use Previous Image Assignment for Quick Rollback" action. Simply select a version from the history list for a swift and informed rollback.

For more information, see the documentation on updating a machine catalog with a different prepared image.

This feature is applicable in both Azure and VMware environments. For further guidance, refer to:

Azure Arc Onboarding Across All On-Premises Hypervisors

Azure Arc allows organizations to manage resources, such as VMs, hosted anywhere as if they were operating within Azure.

With Azure Arc, businesses can utilize Azure services like Azure Monitor for comprehensive visibility and proactive management of resources. This feature enables Azure Arc onboarding for an MCS machine catalog using PowerShell commands.
Once onboarded, VMs can be managed from the Azure portal to perform tasks such as power management, adding or removing extensions, assigning policies, and enabling Azure Monitor on Arc-enabled VMs through built-in Azure policy.
Currently, this feature is compatible with all Citrix on-premises hypervisors, including VMware, Nutanix, and SCVMM.

For more details, see the documentation on Onboarding VMs to Azure Arc.

Migration from Unmanaged to Managed Disks in Azure

As of September 30, 2025, Azure will officially retire unmanaged disks (i.e., VHDs). Post this date, Azure VMs utilizing unmanaged disks will no longer be operational.

This feature facilitates the migration of MCS-provisioned Azure VMs from unmanaged to managed disks through Citrix, applicable to both persistent and non-persistent machine catalogs, and supporting both on-demand and legacy VMs.
This ensures seamless integration with Azure’s updated disk management standards and prevents service disruptions due to the retirement of unmanaged disks.

For further information, see the documentation on migrating from unmanaged to managed disks.

Image Management with Azure Confidential VMs

This feature allows for the preparation and manage images compatible with Azure Confidential VMs, ensuring that VMs provisioned from such MCS machine catalogs are encrypted in memory and protected during operation.

For more information, please see the documentation on Image Management.

Studio Offline Mode

Studio is now accessible in offline mode on all MANAGE nodes, with the exception of Quick Deploy. In instances where the DaaS control plane is unavailable, Studio will utilize cached data to maintain viewability of key information, thereby enhancing user experience during outages or connection issues.

Machine Hardware View in the Search Node

A dedicated hardware view is now available in the Search node for machines provisioned using Machine Creation Services (MCS). This feature enhances visibility into machine hardware details and simplifies the management of MCS-provisioned machines.

Key benefits include:

Viewing detailed hardware configurations, including machine size, operating system, license type, security settings, networking, image and template, and disk settings.

More information Monitoring MCS = provision machines in Search - Hardware view

Easily locating machines through hardware filters and search functionality.

At present, the Hardware view is accessible for MCS-provisioned machines across various platforms, including VMware, XenServer, SCVMM/Hyper-V, Nutanix PC, Azure, Azure Arc, Azure Local, AWS EC2, and GCP.

It is important to note that OpenShift and Amazon WorkSpaces Core currently display only basic hardware information in column format.

For further details, please refer to the section "Monitor MCS-provisioned machines" in the Hardware view under the Search menu.

The update includes several key features for managing Azure AD and Citrix environments:

Azure AD Security Groups: Service accounts can now manage dynamic security groups for VMs, enhancing security and simplifying the process without user interaction.
Catalog Migration: Migrate existing MCS provisioned catalogs to prepared image machine catalogs, applicable to Azure and VMware environments. Reversion to legacy catalogs post-migration is not possible.
NVMe v6 SKUs: Users can store ephemeral OS disks on NVMe Disks using Studio.
System Proxy for Azure API Traffic: Redirect Azure API internet traffic through a system proxy on Citrix Cloud Connectors.
System Proxy for GCP API Traffic: Similar redirection capability for GCP API traffic through Citrix Cloud Connectors.
Pending HA State: The duration for determining the need for LHC mode has been extended from 60 to 90 seconds.

For detailed guidance, refer to the respective documentation links provided.

Studio Updates:

Support for Managing Azure AD Security Groups with Service Accounts:

Studio now enables the use of Azure AD service accounts to configure and manage dynamic security groups for virtual machines (VMs). Previously, this process required manual credential entry.
This update streamlines the management of security groups by allowing the use of a pre-configured service account, thereby enhancing security and simplifying operations.

For further details, please refer to the sections on Azure AD service accounts and creating a Microsoft Azure catalog.

Migration of Existing MCS-Provisioned Catalogs to Prepared Image Machine Catalogs:

This feature allows the conversion of existing Machine Creation Services (MCS) catalogs, provisioned from a master image to catalogs utilizing a prepared image.

Note that once migrated, reverting to the legacy catalog is not possible.

This feature currently supports Azure and VMware virtualization environments.

For migration steps, please consult the documentation on migrating existing MCS-provisioned catalogs to prepared image machine catalogs.

Display of NVMe v6 SKUs for Ephemeral OS Disk Usage:

You can now store an ephemeral OS disk on an NVMe disk using Studio.

For additional information, see the section on Azure ephemeral disks.

System Proxy Option for Citrix Cloud Connectors with Redirected Azure API Traffic:

This feature enables the redirection of Azure API internet traffic through a system proxy on Citrix Cloud Connectors, allowing all external traffic to be routed through a non-transparent proxy.

For more details, please refer to the guide on creating a service principal and connection using Studio.

System Proxy Option for Citrix Cloud Connectors with Redirected GCP API Traffic:

Similar to the Azure functionality, this feature allows the redirection of Google Cloud Platform (GCP) API internet traffic through a system proxy on Citrix Cloud Connectors.

For further information, consult the section on adding a connection.

Updated Duration of Pending HA State:

The duration for which Cloud Connectors remain in the Pending High Availability (HA) state, while determining the necessity to enter Local Host Cache (LHC) mode, has been extended from 60 seconds to 90 seconds.

For more on LHC states, see the documentation on Local Host Cache states.

For a full breakdown of Citrix new features and enhancements for 2025 - Click here

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