The default browser for Windows 10 is the new Edge browser. As it stands, Edge does not support ActiveX Control or any other form of browser extensions. This makes it impossible for Citrix Receiver for Web to detect whether the native Receiver is installed and smoothly invoke the native Receiver to launch applications.
If you have read my previous blog about how StoreFront 3.0 supports Google Chrome without NPAPI, you may ask why we cannot use the same technology i.e. URI handler to support Edge. URI handler is, indeed, supported by Edge to invoke a native program. Unlike Chrome, however, Edge does not provide an option for the user to ask the browser to remember their choice in the invocation prompt as shown below.
Had we adopted this technology for Edge, users would be prompted with this dialog every time they tried to launch an application, which (and I’m sure you’ll agree with me) would not result in a good user experience. With this limitation, we have taken a number of steps to mitigate the usability shortcoming.
Receiver for Windows Installation and Launch
When Receiver for Web detects that it is accessed from Edge, it does not prompt the user to install native Receiver. Instead, a download link is provided in the user dropdown menu to download native Receiver.
Once selected, the Receiver download screen is displayed and the user can download and install native Receiver.
After the user selects the checkbox to agree with the license agreement and clicks the Download button, the user is brought back to the main screen where applications and desktops are shown.
After Receiver for Windows is successfully installed, the user can select an application to launch. If the Receiver for Web site is not a trusted site, the user will be prompted to open the .ica file.
As you may have noticed, there is no option in the UI to make Edge always open .ica file. If this occurs, it means that the Receiver for Web site is not trusted. You can add the Receiver for Web site to the Trusted Sites or Intranet Sites. This can be done using Group Policy for domain-joined client machines. Once you have done this and restarted Edge, applications should be launched without any further prompt. (Update: as of January 2017, this workaround no longer works as Edge locks down further. Users will be prompted to open the ICA file even the Receiver for Web site is a Trusted or Intranet site).
If you are manually adding the Receiver for Web site to the Trusted or Intranet Sites, there is no obvious way to do it in Edge itself. You have to do it via Windows Settings. First, select Settings from the Start menu.
Type in “Internet Options” in the search box on the pop-up window.
Select Internet Options in the search result. You will get the familiar Internet Options window.
Receiver for HTML5
If you configure the Receiver for Web site to use Receiver for HTML5 as a fallback for launching applications, users will get Receiver for HTML5 by default as Receiver for Web cannot detect whether the native Receiver is installed. In this case, a menu item is introduced for the user to select which receiver to use for launching applications.
Once you select Change Receiver from the menu, Receiver for Web will tell you what version of Receiver you are using and enable you to select which Receiver to use. Please note that Receiver for Windows is referred to as “full version” in the UI and Receiver for HTML5 is referred to as “light version”.
