Where’s the twist you ask? We’re getting there… There is a PowerShell script component to Intune, but it’s hardly worth mentioning simply because it’s too simple and can’t perform any sort of state-based actions such as running a script until it succeeds.
Some of us have chosen to build simple MSI packages with nested installers while others are using DevOps tools such as Azure Automation with NuGet and Chocolatey Obviously the DevOps world is a bit of a departure from Intune for software delivery but. And MSI installers must be simple, i.e., don’t even try to use a complex set of source files that need to be transferred to the client.
Intune plays an important role within a cloud-first strategy, nonetheless, one of the common complaints I hear from IT Professionals is that it lacks support for legacy software installers over the Mobile Device Management protocol. Many businesses don’t want to support Configuration Manager anymore and are already pushing the limits of a cloud-first solution. If you’ve been in a similar situation, I have a feeling you’d point out that we could add Configuration Manager to support application deployment…but…you knew there was a ‘but’ coming. Instead, we are forced to use Intune to customize the generic Windows configuration on the device to suit our needs and that includes software we typically put in the image. I recently discussed the new MSIX installer format and it might help fix some of these API issues with its package support framework, but the technology is still in beta so I doubt we will see any innovations in Citrix Receiver’s near future that overcome the shortcomings in the Windows Store version.Īs a result, organizations are looking for solutions outside of the Windows Store.Īs the Citrix Receiver story plays out for many businesses and the desktop client remains the preferred method, Windows AutoPilot throws a wrench into application deployment because we can no longer build custom images with system software embedded in it. Proximity/Contactless card (Fast Connect).
To be fair, that isn’t entirely a problem with Citrix because the Windows 10 APIs were designed from a clean slate and don’t offer the same API surface area by design.ĭownstream from Microsoft’s design decisions, the modern Citrix Receiver is restricted from offering features we’ve come to expect in the desktop client: Naturally, this leads to questions about installing the Citrix Receiver client.Ĭitrix does have a modern Citrix Receiver in the Windows Store, but it lacks some of the functionality found in the legacy desktop client. The majority of enterprise customers I consult with use Citrix for their virtual desktop infrastructure, which can vary in size, but is usually present when more than a thousand employees and contractors make up the organization. For IT Professionals, that means we need to anticipate and prepare to host applications and sometimes entire desktops when our users need remote access to their applications and data. We also need to take seriously the fact that, end-users are increasingly opting for mobile work-anywhere computing devices. This use case illustrates some of the emerging nuances of deploying a modern desktop environment. The usual culprits are security, remote access, and application compatibility that add this requirement to the vision. So here we’re are, hurtling through 2018, and one of the big trends I’m noticing is that businesses are eager to adopt Citrix Receiver for their modern desktop architecture. In this quagmire, IT Professionals are wading hip-deep into some unusual solutions to navigate the murky waters. Simple things, such as deploying system software to end-user devices, unsurprisingly comes face-to-face with a new set of constraints as businesses juggle multiple generations of software and deployment methodologies. Source Files (123 KB) What is The Problem?
In the rest of this post, I’ll explain the Citrix Receiver use case in more detail and walk you through the steps.
While reading Aaron Parker’s PowerShell method, I learned that you could download the latest Citrix Receiver installer using a static URL.
For a good introduction on how to use the MSI installer with nested installers, check out How to deploy the Citrix Receiver for Windows 10 via Microsoft Intune. I prepared a boilerplate MSI installer you can download from GitHub or you can download the source files and dissect the methodology further.
One of the projects I’m working on needed a solution to install Citrix Receiver into their desktop environment and, based on the frequency of that work, I thought it would be useful to share how I approached the problem and help you try this technique for yourself. This post will shed some light on how you can reliably install the Citrix Receiver client across your desktop environment with our old friend, the MSI wrapper.