If you need a quick and dirty way to give a user the permission to start a VM without giving them access to the Azure Portal, Azure Automation Webhooks might help. You basically create a PowerShell script that starts the VM and then you configure the Webhook. The Webhook contains an URL which triggers the exceution of that script. Note that everyone with the URI is able to start the VM, which is not optimal.

Once you have created the Automation Account (easy), configure a new Runbook that starts the VM:

Disable-AzContextAutosave -Scope Process

$subscriptionID = Get-AutomationVariable -Name 'SubscriptionID'

Connect-AzAccount -Identity

Select-AzSubscription $SubscriptionId

Start-AzVM -ResourceGroupName "rgname" -name "vmname"

Configure the WebHook. You will get an URI. Save that URI somewhere, since you cannot view it after being created.

Afterwards, a user can run this line to start the VM:

Invoke-WebRequest -URI "https://xxxx.webhook.webhook.azure-automation.net/XXX" -Method POST -UseBasicParsing

Note: the automation account needs to have Virtual Machine Contributor rights on the resource group or subscription to start the VM.

References:

https://learnwithlenny.azurewebsites.net/2022/11/04/starting-an-azure-vm-using-webhook-powershell-exe/

If you are having issues with some users having freeze issues and high response time in Citrix Director, this registry key might help you. It happens in conjunction with dedicated GPUs on notebooks. The key disabled GPU acceleration for Citrix Workspace App.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Citrix\ICA Client\Graphics Engine] “HWacceleration”=dword:00000000

References:

https://support.citrix.com/s/article/CTX297140-screen-freezes-and-takes-a-few-seconds-to-return-to-normal-apps-also-flicker-when-open?language=en_US

Roughly a year ago I had an issue with grey screen on Windows Server 2022 with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. A script helped clear out some registry key but there seem to still be problems with sessions with grey screens. Check out my post from last year: https://www.ajni.it/2023/03/citrix-virtual-apps-and-desktops-2203-grey-screen-connectionfailure-in-eventviewer/

There is a new fix that seems to be better and does not clear any registry keys. Instead it activates Citrix Universal DLL Injection. After upgrading the VDA, make sure this value is set:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CtxUvi]
“UviEnabled”=dword:00000001

This helped in my environment.

References:

https://discussions.citrix.com/topic/412451-just-grey-screen-instead-of-published-desktop/page/7/?sortby=votes

As a normal user without admin rights, you can theoretically kill the Windows Guest OS (for example if you are connected through Citrix or Remote Desktop Services) by safely removing the VMXNET3 adapter on the bottom right. This is very bad and is apparently “by design”.

To hide the icon proceed as folow:

With the VM powered off, click Edit Settings > Options > General and configuration parameters. Add row and then type devices.hotplug. As a value insert FALSE. You can then power on your machine.

References:

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/ESXi-Discussions/Remove-quot-Safely-Remove-Hardware-quot-icon-in-a-Windows-guest/td-p/2495345

Updating VMware Tools on a Citrix Provisioning Master Image used to be very time consuming. Nowadays it has gotten a little better, but you still have to do a few extra steps because of the vmxnet3 network adapter. Here are the steps that I took when upgrading to the newest Vmware Tools that came with ESXi 8.0 update.

• Start the Master VM
• Once booted up, add a new E1000E network card
• Check in device manager if the E1000E/Intel network card can be seen
• Shutdown VM
• In the Provisioning console, change the mac address of the target device to that of the E1000E network card
• Disconnect vmxnet3 NIC (uncheck connect on power on)
• Start Master VM. Beware that the E1000E NIC is emulated and is painfully slow. I had instances where it took 15 minutes to boot up!
• Once booted up, start VMware Tools upgrade through Vcenter (interactive)
• Visual C++ Redistributable might be installed, you might need to reboot
• Let boot
• Start Vmware Tools upgrade again (interactive)
• Run the installer
• Shutdown VM
• Disconnect E1000E NIC (uncheck connect on power on)
• Connect vmxnet3 NIC (check connect on power on)
• Boot
• Once booted, fully remove E1000E fully
• In device manager, show hidden devices and delete the greyed out Intel NIC

This time there are no references. I had to try and error myself.