Why ist Citrix Receiver so slow at Parallels Windows?

J

JorgW3

Bit poster
Hello...

I had to set up a Windows Boot Camp partition on a computer in order to be able to use it with a customer using Citrix Receiver. The performance of the Citrix Windows session is also excellent under Boot Camp. However, the constant restart for macOS / Bootcamp gets on your nuts ...

So I tried the whole thing with Parallels and a Windows VM.

So under Parallels a Windows VM and within this VM I then start the Citrix Receiver which shows me a Windows environment in the Citrix browser window. Logically think so far.

If I now want to work under Citrix Windows, this is simply not possible. Everything stops. If I click on the Windows icon, it takes 3-4 seconds for the start menu to pop up, if I want to scroll down the app list, it takes 5-6 seconds for it to scroll down. When I click on the Excel app icon I have to wait forever until the click arrives in the Citrix Windows environment.

Now you could say - yes - performance in Parallels Windows is worse than Bootcamp Windows.
No!


1. The Windows under Parallels boots on this iMac (which has a very good configuration) within 10 seconds. Then Windows 10 is ready to start under Parallels. All menus work without delay. Any clicks on programs or something will react immediately, like working with a real Windows on an installed SSD.

2. I also installed Visual Studio Enterprise on this Windows within Parallels. When I start an app debugging and the Android Simulator - it all happens as under Bootcamp. Without any delay. We sometimes have really heavy app projects and we can work with Parallels Windows almost like a real Windows. Nothing jerks, nothing stalls.

Not even if we start a VM with Parallels Windows and then start another (Android) VM (nested VM) under Visual Studio. It doesn't even blink.


Long story. It's not because of the "bad" Parallels Windows VM performance. Significantly more power-hungry tasks do their jobs without delay.

But why is the Citrix Windows browser window stuck within Parallels?
Can there be any network settings?
Does anyone have a tip ready?
 
Best answer
G
WilliamG17 said:
Have run into this in the past a number of times. Best way to fix is to disable Hardware Acceleration in the Citrix Workspace App:

https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX238334

From the article - set this in the Registry:

Registry Path : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Citrix\ICA Client\Graphics Engine
Name: HWacceleration
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 0
Click to expand...
I can definitely confirm that this solution works seamlessly on Parallels with Windows 11 on MacBook Pro M1.
Many thanks to WilliamG17 for providing such an effective fix!
Additionally, if the registry path doesn't exist, simply create it.
Sort by date Sort by votes
Hi! I found solution. Environment: parallels 16.1, windows 10 x32, Citrix workstation app. I had strange lags in Citrix. I realized that the lags are due to the video. If I disabled the video card in the system settings, then citrix started to work better. After I try disable h\w acceleration in regedit, but it didn't`t help. After I install Direct X SDK (I use DXSDK_Jun10.exe). Start - Microsoft DirectX SDK (June 2010) - DirectX Control Panel - tab Direct3D 9 - enable "Software Only".
It worked fine! (Also it helped on VM Fusion)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hi AndrejS2,
can you explain a little more regarding "I realized that the lags are due to the video. If I disabled the video card in the system settings" ?
Do you mean the video settings on the mac, parallels, windows or cirtix?

Thanks :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thank you for posting a solution.
Disabling video HW acceleration fixed two problems for me:
  • Unreadable text in Citrix due to black boxes appearing and disappearing anywhere in the Windows session.
  • Sluggishness, everything was VERY slow.
Hoping for a fix in the next version of Parallels, maybe a switch in the VM settings to be able to turn off and on HW acceleration without having to install 1GB of developer tools.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
AndrejS2 said:
Hi! I found solution. Environment: parallels 16.1, windows 10 x32, Citrix workstation app. I had strange lags in Citrix. I realized that the lags are due to the video. If I disabled the video card in the system settings, then citrix started to work better. After I try disable h\w acceleration in regedit, but it didn't`t help. After I install Direct X SDK (I use DXSDK_Jun10.exe). Start - Microsoft DirectX SDK (June 2010) - DirectX Control Panel - tab Direct3D 9 - enable "Software Only".
It worked fine! (Also it helped on VM Fusion)
Click to expand...
Registered here just to thank you, you are my hero!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
This seems to be app dependent on my Mac in VM mode only (not booting directly into Windows from Boot Camp).

I use two enterprise apps under the same Citrix Receiver 4.9x install. I am currently forced to use a very old (now deprecated) version of Citrix Receiver because one of the apps I use (Infinitt) freezes under newer versions of Citrix, regardless of weather I am using a PC or Mac. One app works normally in Parallels (Infinitt, https://www.infinittna.com/). However the main EHR app I use (Epic, https://www.epic.com/) runs about 4X slower in Windows 10 as a Parallels VM. Usable in a pinch in Parallels, but I just boot to Windows in the Boot Camp startup if I need to use Epic extensively.

Citrix is definitely a problem in certain environments. Not just Parallels. Although new versions of Citrix should be backward compatible, as I pointed out with Infinitt, it doesn't always work that way in practice. If your apps are compatible, you may wish to try the Citrix Workspace App (the replacement for Receiver; https://www.citrix.com/downloads/?=source). Otherwise Parallels and Citrix will need to get together to try to troubleshoot the problems with slow performance of some apps running under Citrix.
Click to expand...

The solution for me was to install the Citrix Workspace App. I recommend it to anyone who has a similar problem. It is only necessary that your programs are compatible with this solution.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Another solution - works for me on Parallels Desktop 16 + BigSur
1. Turn off VM.
2. Open terminal window and find out VM ID:
prlctl list --all
You will find something like
UUID STATUS IP_ADDR NAME
{69e7e93c-db19-46b4-bdca-a844651aed06} stopped - Red Hat Enterprise Linux
{cd66c0b7-4e4e-41ca-969b-577df7413ea9} stopped - Windows 10
3. Turn off 3d acceleration
prlctl set <UUID> --3d-accelerate=off
In my example:
prlctl set cd66c0b7-4e4e-41ca-969b-577df7413ea9 --3d-accelerate=off
4. Start VM and check.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
MIDIPanic said:
This seems to be app dependent on my Mac in VM mode only (not booting directly into Windows from Boot Camp).

I use two enterprise apps under the same Citrix Receiver 4.9x install. I am currently forced to use a very old (now deprecated) version of Citrix Receiver because one of the apps I use (Infinitt) freezes under newer versions of Citrix, regardless of weather I am using a PC or Mac. One app works normally in Parallels (Infinitt, https://www.infinittna.com/). However the main EHR app I use (Epic, https://www.epic.com/) runs about 4X slower in Windows 10 as a Parallels VM. Usable in a pinch in Parallels, but I just boot to Windows in the Boot Camp startup if I need to use Epic extensively.

Citrix is definitely a problem in certain environments. Not just Parallels. Although new versions of Citrix should be backward compatible, as I pointed out with Infinitt, it doesn't always work that way in practice. If your apps are compatible, you may wish to try the Citrix Workspace App (the replacement for Receiver; https://www.citrix.com/downloads/). Otherwise Parallels and Citrix will need to get together to try to troubleshoot the problems with slow performance of some apps running under Citrix.
Click to expand...

This is funny because I experienced this issue while taking Epic training and was about to post about it when I found this thread
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
RomanS7 said:
Another solution - works for me on Parallels Desktop 16 + BigSur
1. Turn off VM.
2. Open terminal window and find out VM ID:
prlctl list --all
You will find something like
UUID STATUS IP_ADDR NAME
{69e7e93c-db19-46b4-bdca-a844651aed06} stopped - Red Hat Enterprise Linux
{cd66c0b7-4e4e-41ca-969b-577df7413ea9} stopped - Windows 10
3. Turn off 3d acceleration
prlctl set <UUID> --3d-accelerate=off
In my example:
prlctl set cd66c0b7-4e4e-41ca-969b-577df7413ea9 --3d-accelerate=off
4. Start VM and check.
Click to expand...
Thanks! This worked for me. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
RomanS7 said:
Another solution - works for me on Parallels Desktop 16 + BigSur
1. Turn off VM.
2. Open terminal window and find out VM ID:
prlctl list --all
You will find something like
UUID STATUS IP_ADDR NAME
{69e7e93c-db19-46b4-bdca-a844651aed06} stopped - Red Hat Enterprise Linux
{cd66c0b7-4e4e-41ca-969b-577df7413ea9} stopped - Windows 10
3. Turn off 3d acceleration
prlctl set <UUID> --3d-accelerate=off
In my example:
prlctl set cd66c0b7-4e4e-41ca-969b-577df7413ea9 --3d-accelerate=off
4. Start VM and check.
Click to expand...

Success for me as well. Best way to ask Parallels and/or Citrix to investigate and resolve...?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
RomanS7 said:
Another solution - works for me on Parallels Desktop 16 + BigSur
1. Turn off VM.
2. Open terminal window and find out VM ID:
prlctl list --all
You will find something like
UUID STATUS IP_ADDR NAME
{69e7e93c-db19-46b4-bdca-a844651aed06} stopped - Red Hat Enterprise Linux
{cd66c0b7-4e4e-41ca-969b-577df7413ea9} stopped - Windows 10
3. Turn off 3d acceleration
prlctl set <UUID> --3d-accelerate=off
In my example:
prlctl set cd66c0b7-4e4e-41ca-969b-577df7413ea9 --3d-accelerate=off
4. Start VM and check.
Click to expand...
This command dont work with Standard edition
"The command is available only in Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro or Business Edition"
Looks like customers support just does not exist, as i tried to ask support for workaround with all possible ways.
Also cant install dx sdk on new arm windows, is there any other way to turn off 3d accelerate or ask for refund?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
GennadyV1 said:
This command dont work with Standard edition
"The command is available only in Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro or Business Edition"
Looks like customers support just does not exist, as i tried to ask support for workaround with all possible ways.
Also cant install dx sdk on new arm windows, is there any other way to turn off 3d accelerate or ask for refund?
Click to expand...
Try to edit configuration file manually:

1. Open VM file in Finder with "Show Package Content"
2. Edit config.pvs file.
3. You should disable 3d acc.
Here is the part of my file for VM with disabled 3d acc:
<Video dyn_lists="" VideoMemorySize_patch="1">
<Enabled>1</Enabled>
<Type>0</Type>
<VideoMemorySize>0</VideoMemorySize>
<EnableDirectXShaders>1</EnableDirectXShaders>
<ScreenResolutions dyn_lists="ScreenResolution 0 DynamicResolution 0">
<Enabled>0</Enabled>
</ScreenResolutions>
<Enable3DAcceleration>0</Enable3DAcceleration>
<EnableVSync>1</EnableVSync>
<MaxDisplays>0</MaxDisplays>
<EnableHiResDrawing>1</EnableHiResDrawing>
<UseHiResInGuest>1</UseHiResInGuest>
<HostScaleFactor>2</HostScaleFactor>
<NativeScalingInGuest>0</NativeScalingInGuest>
<ApertureOnlyCapable>1</ApertureOnlyCapable>
</Video>

Also, FYI I have created a case to support (#2959378). Unfortunately support team unable to provide JIRA ID for me - so it is impossible to track, when the issue will be fixed.
Also, no ETA had been provided.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
GennadyV1 said:
This command dont work with Standard edition
"The command is available only in Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro or Business Edition"
Looks like customers support just does not exist, as i tried to ask support for workaround with all possible ways.
Also cant install dx sdk on new arm windows, is there any other way to turn off 3d accelerate or ask for refund?
Click to expand...
Workaround if you have error installing DX SDK on m1:
Uninstall all Microsoft Visual C++
Try to run DX SDK installer, it could fail again, go to installation folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft DirectX SDK (June 2010)\system\uninstall and run vc10redist_x86.
Try to install again
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
RomanS7 said:
Try to edit configuration file manually:

1. Open VM file in Finder with "Show Package Content"
2. Edit config.pvs file.
3. You should disable 3d acc.
Here is the part of my file for VM with disabled 3d acc:
<Video dyn_lists="" VideoMemorySize_patch="1">
<Enabled>1</Enabled>
<Type>0</Type>
<VideoMemorySize>0</VideoMemorySize>
<EnableDirectXShaders>1</EnableDirectXShaders>
<ScreenResolutions dyn_lists="ScreenResolution 0 DynamicResolution 0">
<Enabled>0</Enabled>
</ScreenResolutions>
<Enable3DAcceleration>0</Enable3DAcceleration>
<EnableVSync>1</EnableVSync>
<MaxDisplays>0</MaxDisplays>
<EnableHiResDrawing>1</EnableHiResDrawing>
<UseHiResInGuest>1</UseHiResInGuest>
<HostScaleFactor>2</HostScaleFactor>
<NativeScalingInGuest>0</NativeScalingInGuest>
<ApertureOnlyCapable>1</ApertureOnlyCapable>
</Video>

Also, FYI I have created a case to support (#2959378). Unfortunately support team unable to provide JIRA ID for me - so it is impossible to track, when the issue will be fixed.
Also, no ETA had been provided.
Click to expand...

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for this posting. I was really struggling with Citrix on a Parallels try-out. The app was so unresponsive that it was effectively unusable. This made it workable, and quite responsive. Thank you!!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top