Citrix Receiver 4.x and Lync 2013 – Windows key combination passthrough issue

Recent customer (Gemeenschappelijk Diensten Centrum in Zoetermeer) requirements brought us to the world of Microsoft Lync 2013 and Citrix Receiver 4.x.  They wanted Lync 2013 in their current VDI environment with support for automatic location detection and voice support. The Current VDI deployment was based on XenApp and Receiver 3.4. This receiver has no support for Lync 2013 and a logical step was to move to Receiver 4.x which has support for Lync 2013 (CTX138408). The access devices used in this deployment are based on Windows 7 but I have also tested this setup on Windows 8.1.

Installing Lync for VDI comes down to the following steps:

1. Install the Microsoft RDP hotfixes for Windows 7
   a. Windows6.1-KB2574819.msu
   b. Windows6.1-KB2592687.msu
2. Install the Citrix Receiver 4.x
3. Install the Microsoft Lync 2013 VDI plugin (make sure bit versions are the same between Receiver and Lync plugin)
4. Make sure the following reg keys are configuredtoenabletheVDI plugintocontacttheLync servers:

   [HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftOffice15.0Lync]
   "ConfigurationMode"=dword:00000001"
   "ServerAddressInternal"="lyncsrv2013.lync.local"
   "ServerAddressExternal"="external.lync.something"

After the setup Microsoft Lync 2013 will work like a charm (Microsoft Lync 2013 becomes location aware based on the device location, the local audio device and webcam become available in the Lync client).

My tests are based on a Citrix XenApp 6.0 and 6.5 published desktop. We deliver that desktop using the Citrix web interface 5.4. The Citrix web interface is configured to redirect Windows key combinations to the published desktop:

Now the issue arrises: When we hit a Windows key combination like the windows key it brings up the local start menu (or tiles menu on Windows 8) and the start menu on the published desktop.

When troubleshooting, I ran into to this Citrix Discussions thread and found out I was not the only one. I have been  working with Citrix support to pinpoint what was causing this issue and now we have found the cause:

When the Lync 2013 client is not installed everything works as expected. When the Lync 2013 client is installed the Windows key combinations break! Citrix acknowlegded that this is a bug and when I get a fix I will update this post. 

Note: the issues does not appear when the desktop viewer is used!

Update:   Citrix Support confirmed to us that the Lync plugin is causing the issue. Microsoft has the issue under investigation. http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX138408

Update (March 2014): Microsoft confirmed to Citrix support that this is a Lync issue and this will be solved in a patch following the SP1 release for Microsoft Office 2013 (released feb 2014).

Final update (June 2014): Microsoft released a hotfix http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2880980 that fixes the issue. Install instructions are in the KB article