Upgrade VDAs

Introduction

Citrix maintains all the Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) components in your deployment, except VDAs.

Before beginning a VDA upgrade:

• Review this entire article, so you know what to expect.
• Review the Lifecycle policy for Citrix DaaS.

To upgrade a VDA, download a VDA installer and run it on the machine or image. You can use the installer’s graphical or command-line interface. For guidance, see:

• VDA installers
• Install VDAs using the graphical interface
• Install VDAs using the command line

If the VDA was originally installed using VDAWorkstationCoreSetup.exe:

• You retain that configuration if you upgrade the VDA with the latest version of the same installer.
• If you run VDAWorkstationSetup.exe on that machine, you can enable the features that are not supported in VDAWorkstationCoreSetup.exe. Keep in mind that some of those features might be enabled by default in the VDAWorkstationSetup.exe installer. You can also install Citrix Workspace app.

Note:

When upgrading a VDA to version 7.17 or a later supported version, a machine restart occurs during the upgrade process. This restart cannot be avoided. The upgrade resumes automatically after the restart (unless you specify /noresume on the command line).

After you upgrade VDAs, update the images and catalogs that use that VDA.

Upgrade VDAs using the Full Configuration interface

Using the Full Configuration interface, you can upgrade VDAs on a per-catalog or a per-machine basis. You can upgrade them immediately or at a scheduled time.

Prerequisites:

• Control plane: Citrix DaaS
• VDA type: Single-session or multi-session OS VDA
• VDA version: 2109 or later, or 2203 LTSR or later
• Provisioning type: MCS-provisioned persistent machines, or machines not created using MCS (for example, physical machines)
• The VDAs must have the VDA Upgrade Agent installed

A general workflow to upgrade VDAs using the Full Configuration interface is as follows:

1. Enable VDA upgrade for a catalog.

   • You can enable VDA upgrade when creating a catalog.
   • You can enable VDA upgrade when editing a catalog.

2. Upgrade VDAs on a per-catalog or a per-machine basis. For more information, see Configure auto-upgrade for VDAs.

If the VDA has Personal vDisk installed

If the Personal vDisk (PvD) component was ever installed on a VDA, that VDA cannot be upgraded to version 1912 LTSR or later until you remove that component.

This instruction applies even if you never used PvD. Here’s how the PvD component might have been installed in earlier versions:

• In the VDA installer’s graphical interface, PvD was an option on the Additional Components page. The 7.15 LTSR and earlier 7.x releases enabled this option by default. So, if you accepted the defaults (or explicitly enabled the option in any release), PvD was installed.
• On the command line, the /baseimage option installed PvD. If you specified this option, or used a script that contained this option, PvD was installed.

What to do

If the VDA installer does not detect the PvD component in the currently installed VDA, the upgrade proceeds as usual.

If the installer detects the PvD component in the currently installed VDA:

• Graphical interface: The upgrade pauses. A message asks if you want the unsupported component removed automatically. When you click OK, the component is removed automatically and the upgrade proceeds.

• CLI: The command fails if the installer detects the PvD component. To avoid command failure, include the following option in the command: /remove_pvd_ack.

If you want to continue using PvD on your Windows 7 or Windows 10 (1607 and earlier, without updates) machines, VDA 7.15 LTSR is the latest supported version.

Earlier operating systems

The System requirements article lists the supported Windows operating systems for current release VDAs.

• For LTSR VDAs, see the system requirements article for your LTSR version.
• For Linux VDAs, see the Linux Virtual Delivery Agent documentation.

For Windows machines with OSs that are no longer supported for installation of the latest VDA (such as Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2), you have several options.

• Windows 7 is supported in an Azure Virtual Desktop environment.

• For non-WVD environments:

  • Reimage the machine to a supported Windows version, and then install the new VDA.
  • If reimaging the machine is not an option but you want to upgrade the OS, uninstall the VDA before upgrading the OS. Otherwise, the VDA will be in an unsupported state. After upgrading the OS, install the new VDA.
  • To continue using machines with an OS that is no longer supported, XenApp and XenDesktop 7.15 LTSR is the most current supported VDA version for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
    • If the machine has version 7.15 LTSR installed (and you try to install a newer version), a message informs you that you’re using the latest supported version.
    • If the machine has a version earlier than 7.15 LTSR installed, a message guides you to CTX139030 for information. You can download 7.15 LTSR VDAs from the Citrix website.