System requirements

Introduction

System requirements for components that are not covered here (such as Citrix Workspace app and Citrix Provisioning) are described in their respective documentation.

Specific recommendations for sizing VMs that deliver desktops and applications cannot be provided because of the complex and dynamic nature of hardware offerings. Every deployment has unique needs. Generally, sizing a VM is based on the hardware and not the user workloads (except for RAM; you need more RAM for applications that consume more.) The Citrix Tech Zone contains the latest guidance on VDA sizing.

Remember: In a Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) deployment, you don’t need to install or manage the core components (Delivery Controllers, the site database, or management and monitoring consoles). For Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) installation guidance, see:

• Install VDAs
• Install VDAs using the command line.

Cloud Connectors

For details, see Cloud Connector Technical Details.

VDAs in an Azure environment

Supported operating systems:

• Windows 11 multi-session
• Windows 11 single-session
• Windows 10 multi-session
• Windows 10 single-session
• Windows 7 single-session
• Windows Server 2022 (requires minimum VDA 2106)
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2012 R2

All VDAs that haven’t reached end of life are supported for use with Citrix DaaS. For LTSR VDAs, we recommend using them with the latest Cumulative Update. For more information about the lifecycle of VDAs, see Citrix Product Matrix.

Windows 7 is supported only with VDA 7.15 CU5 (or later CUs).

Windows Server 2012 R2 is supported only with VDA 7.15 CU5 (and later CUs) or VDA 1912 (and later CUs).

Windows Server requires Microsoft RDS licensing.

For information about Azure Virtual Desktop, see the Microsoft documentation.

VDA for single-session OS

The following information applies to the latest VDA release.

Supported operating systems:

• Windows 11
• Windows 10
  • For edition support, see CTX224843. That article also contains links to Citrix known issues with the supported Windows versions.
  • Desktop composition redirection and legacy graphics mode are not supported on Windows 10.

Requirements:

• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8 is installed automatically, if it (or a later version) is not already installed.

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable.

  • If the machine contains an earlier version of that runtime (such as 2015-2017), the Citrix installer upgrades it.
  • If the machine contains a version earlier than 2015, Citrix installs the newer version in parallel.

Remote PC Access uses this VDA, which you install on physical office PCs. This VDA supports Secure Boot for Citrix Virtual Desktops Remote PC Access.

Several multimedia acceleration features (such as HDX MediaStream Windows Media Redirection) require that Microsoft Media Foundation be installed on the machine on which you install the VDA. If the machine does not have Media Foundation installed, the multimedia acceleration features are not installed and do not work. Do not remove Media Foundation from the machine after installing the Citrix software. Otherwise, users cannot log on to the machine. On most supported Windows desktop OS editions, Media Foundation support is already installed and cannot be removed. However, N editions do not include certain media-related technologies. You can obtain that software from Microsoft or a third party.

More information:

• For Linux VDA information, see the Linux Virtual Delivery Agent product documentation.

• To use the server VDI feature, you can use the command line interface to install a single-session VDA on a supported Windows Server machine. See Server VDI for guidance.

• For information about installing a VDA on a Windows 7 machine, see Earlier operating systems.

• See also VDAs in an Azure Virtual Desktop environment.

VDA for multi-session OS

The following information applies to the latest VDA release.

Supported operating systems:

• Windows Server 2022 (requires minimum VDA 2106)
• Windows Server 2019, Standard and Datacenter Editions
• Windows Server 2016, Standard and Datacenter Editions

The installer automatically deploys the following requirements:

• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8 is installed automatically, if it (or a later version) is not already installed.

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable.

  • If the machine contains an earlier version of that runtime (such as 2015-2017), the Citrix installer upgrades it.
  • If the machine contains a version earlier than 2015, Citrix installs the newer version in parallel.

The installer automatically installs and enables Remote Desktop Services role services, if they are not already installed and enabled. This triggers a restart.

Several multimedia acceleration features (such as HDX MediaStream Windows Media Redirection) require that the Microsoft Media Foundation be installed on the machine on which you install the VDA. If the machine does not have Media Foundation installed, the multimedia acceleration features are not installed and do not work. Do not remove Media Foundation from the machine after installing the Citrix software. Otherwise, users cannot log on to the machine. On most Windows Server versions, the Media Foundation feature is installed through the Server Manager. However, N editions do not include certain media-related technologies. You can obtain that software from Microsoft or a third party.

If Media Foundation is not present on the VDA, these multimedia features do not work:

• Flash Redirection
• Windows Media Redirection
• HTML5 Video Redirection
• HDX RealTime Webcam Redirection

More information:

• For Linux VDA information, see the Linux Virtual Delivery Agent articles.

• For information about installing a VDA on a Windows operating system that is no longer supported, see Earlier operating systems.

• See also VDAs in an Azure Virtual Desktop environment.

Hosts / virtualization resources

The following host/virtualization resources (listed alphabetically) are supported. Where applicable, the major.minor versions are supported, including updates to those versions. CTX131239 contains the most current hypervisor version information, plus links to known issues.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  • You can provision applications and desktops on supported Windows server operating systems.
  • The Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is not supported.

  For more information, see Amazon Web Services virtualization environments.

• Citrix Hypervisor (formerly XenServer)

  CTX131239 contains current version information, plus links to known issues.

  For more information, see Citrix Hypervisor virtualization environments.

• Google Cloud Platform

  For more information, see Google Cloud Platform virtualization environments and Deployment Guide.

• Microsoft Azure Resource Manager

  For more information, see Microsoft Azure Resource Manager virtualization environments.

• Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager

  Includes any version of Hyper-V that can register with the supported System Center Virtual Machine Manager versions.

  CTX131239 contains current version information, plus links to known issues.

  For more information, see Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager virtualization environments.

• Nutanix Acropolis

  CTX131239 contains current version information, plus links to known issues.

  For more information, see Nutanix virtualization environments.

• VMware Cloud on AWS

  CTX131239 contains current version information, plus links to known issues.

  For more information, see VMware cloud on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

• Azure VMware Solution (AVS)

  CTX131239 contains current version information, plus links to known issues.

  For more information, see Azure VMware Solution (AVS) integration.

• Google Cloud VMware Engine

  CTX131239 contains current version information, plus links to known issues.

  For more information, see Google Cloud VMware Engine.

• VMware vSphere(vCenter + ESXi)

  No support is provided for vSphere vCenter Linked Mode operation.

  CTX131239 contains current version information, plus links to known issues.

  For more information, see VMware virtualization environments.

Note:

You must not install the VDA software on any Citrix DDC or StoreFront server. The VDA must be a stand-alone system. Installing multiple components on a single VM is only permissible when developing a proof-of-concept or when publishing the Studio admin console to administrators only. In this case you must ensure non-admin users do not have access to DDC/StoreFront VMs.

Active Directory functional levels

The following functional levels for the Active Directory forest and domain are supported:

• Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows Server 2012
• Windows Server 2008 R2

For more information about Active Directory, see Active Directory.

HDX technologies

For specific HDX feature support and requirements, see HDX.

Universal Print Server

The Universal Print Server comprises client and server components. The UpsClient component is included in the VDA installation. You install the UpsServer component on each print server where shared printers reside that you want to provision with the Citrix Universal Print Driver in user sessions.

The UpsServer component is supported on:

• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2016

Requirements:

• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8 (minimum)

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable.

  • If the machine contains an earlier version of that runtime (such as 2015-2017), the Citrix installer upgrades it.
  • If the machine contains a version earlier than 2015, Citrix installs the newer version in parallel.

For multi-session VDAs, user authentication during printing operations requires the Universal Print Server to be joined to the same domain as the VDA.

Standalone client and server component packages are also available for download.

For more information, see Provision printers.

Service connectivity

See System and Connectivity Requirements for Internet connection information. That information includes requirements that are common to most Citrix Cloud services, plus requirements specific to Citrix DaaS.

Other

• The Microsoft Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is required if you store Citrix policy information in Active Directory rather than the site configuration database. The machine on which you install CitrixGroupPolicyManagement_x64.msi must have Visual Studio 2015 runtime installed. For more information, see the Microsoft documentation.

• This product supports PowerShell versions 3 through 5.

• For product components and features that you can install on Windows Servers, Server Core and Nano Server installations are not supported, unless noted.

• For details about resource limits in a deployment, see Limits.

• For supported StoreFront versions, see the StoreFront system requirements.

• For globalization information, see CTX119253.

• For information about ports that Citrix DaaS uses, see Communications Ports Used by Citrix Technologies.

• For information about requirements when using the Quick Deploy management interface, see Requirements.