To proof the capability of XenApp to deliver 3D rendered applications, we build a very basic PoC. We took a used Lenovo ThinkCentre Tower PC with an Intel Core i5 and 4GB RAM and bought a used Nvidia Quadro 2000 for it. It is important to use a Quadro card, because this makes the driver installation much easier. We tried other cards in the first place, but it was just way too much work to get drivers for a Windows Server installation to work properly. Continue reading “Basic XenApp HDX 3D Pro Proof of Concept – What I missed”
Category: Microsoft
HowTo: Monitoring if a specific user is logged on with Zabbix
Sometimes you face the problem, that a software vendor depends on logged on user sessions, instead of windows services. We had the case, that a partner constantly complained, that we logged of his service user. To have a history about the logged on state, I added a Zabbix item through the possibility to add custom UserParameter. The CMD line utility qwinsta is able to check if a specific user is logged on.
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HowTo fix Windows Update on a fresh Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 installation
A common problem on fresh Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 installations is, that the Windows Update Agent is way to old to contact Microsoft for updates. After quite a bit research and help from my twitter colleague René Bigler I found the necessary updates to fix this issue.
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Windows Server 2008 R2 – Update cleanup with cleanmgr.exe
After many years with with Windows Server 2008 R2, we received over 200 different Windows Updates. The c:\ partition grows year after year. Among other things, Windows Updates creates uninstall information for every installed update. So if you ever needed, you could revert a single update. There are systems where this is crucial, but there are also many Windows Servers, where we know that this will never be necessary. In this case, you have the ability to use cleanmgr.exe to remove the following things automatically:
- Downloaded Program Files
- Internet Cache Files
- Offline Pages Files
- Previous Installations
- Recycle Bin
- Service Pack Cleanup
- Temporary Setup Files
- Thumbnail Cache
- Update Cleanup
- Upgrade Discarded Files
- Windows Upgrade Log Files
The trouble is, that these options are only available, if you install the Desktop Experience feature. And we all know that we don’t want that on each and every system.
But there is a solution, although it’s unsupported. This description, although thoroughly tested, is provided as-is, and I grant no warranty. Continue reading “Windows Server 2008 R2 – Update cleanup with cleanmgr.exe”
Update 20.09.2016: Citrix Receiver: Desktop und Applikationen verschwommen bei hoher Auflösung und DPI Skalierung
Bei uns in der Firma wurden die ersten Arbeitsplätze mit 27″ 2560×1440 Monitoren ausgestattet. Einigen Kollegen war der Text zu klein bei dieser hohen Auflösung, so dass wir die DPI Skalierung auf 125% oder gar 150% gestellt haben. So weit so gut. Leider greift die Skalierung auch für den Citrix Desktop Viewer, so dass der veröffentlichte Desktop mit einer manipulierten Auflösung startet. Das liegt unter anderem daran, dass der Citrix Receiver “not DPI aware” ist. Diese veränderte Auflösung hat zur Folge, dass das Bild unscharf bzw. “blurry” ist. Das ist natürlich kein Zustand mit dem man gerne längere Zeit arbeitet.
Eine kurze Recherche brachte dann zwei Artikel zum Vorschein, die beide 50% der Lösung lieferten. Zusammen ergab sich dann ein brauchbarer Workaround.
Das ganze gilt für XenApp und XenDesktop ab Version 7.6 und höher mit Server 2012 R2 RDSH Workern.
Continue reading “Update 20.09.2016: Citrix Receiver: Desktop und Applikationen verschwommen bei hoher Auflösung und DPI Skalierung”