Keyboard shortcut to toggle OUT of a Citrix Workspace Desktop Viewer session

Question

Background

I'm using the Desktop Viewer functionality in Citrix Workspace (version 20.2.0.25(2002)) to access my work computer from my home computer.

Request

I would like to be able to toggle out of my (full-screen) remote session back to my local desktop more easily.

Currently I can only accomplish this via the control bar at the top of the remote session screen which is starting to feel tedious.

Alt+Tab doesn't work, because it only toggles the applications within the remote session when the session is open.

Whether toggling is accomplished via getting Alt+Tab to work as desired, a hotkey that just minimizes the session window, or some other method doesn't matter to me.

What I've Tried

There are many questions online addressing how to enable Alt+Tab within the remote session, but not disable it. Naturally I've tried to do the reverse of these instructions but no luck. They typically suggest setting TransparentKeyPassthrough=Remote in the registry of the local machine, so I figured mine should have Remote already and I would just need to clear it or replace it with something else, but mine is a null value.

I've gone through all options within Citrix Workspace and the Remote session Preferences but there's nothing about enabling/disabling/setting hotkeys.

I tried the "Disable Hotkeys through the ICACLIENT.ADM Template" of this Citrix Support page, but was unable to locate the icaclient template file they refer to.

I've contacted my company's help desk but they don't know of any solutions.

Answer 1

You can access the citrix menu as described here:

As an accessibility feature of the Desktop Viewer, pressing CTRL+ALT+BREAK displays the Desktop Viewer toolbar buttons in a pop-up window.

So the shortcut for toggling out of the viewer session would be:

CTRL + ALT + BREAK, CURSOR-DOWN, ENTER

Answer 2

I had the same problem and solved it with an Autohotkey script. Autohotkey can intercept keypresses even when citrix has focus. This script will allow you to get out of your citrix session with Ctrl-F1.

^F1::
WinMinimize, A
return

If you have not used Autohotkey before: Download Autohotkey, install it, save the code above in a file named citrix.ahk, double-click that file. The hotkey is now active and the script is visible as a H icon in your taskbar. See here if you want to bind a different key.

Answer 3

I have a method for this that involves editing the registry on your local machine. It definitely counts as 'some other method' - essentially, it sets up a keyboard shortcut that (I think) passes the Win-key keystroke to your local machine. This opens your local start menu on top of Citrix - and from there you can Alt+Tab locally as normal.

Citrix has multiple entries in different parts of the registry, and also some settings that you can change with the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit). Unfortunately, the only one I've found that helps is 'Hotkey13', which is only available in the registry.

I've changed multiple things, but I believe the minimal necessary steps are this:

• open regedit, and navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Citrix\ICA Client\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Client Engine\Hot Keys\
• ensure the value of AllowHotkey is set to 1
• set the value of Hotkey13Shift; I've used Shift, if I recall correctly it accepts Ctrl and Alt and some combinations joined by +
• set the value of Hotkey13Char; I've used F1, and think it accepts all Fx keys and possibly some others
• restart Citrix, reconnect to your remote desktop, and test your chosen combination

Now, to access my local machine from within a Citrix session I press Shift+F1 to open my local Start menu and give focus to my local machine, and then while it is open Alt+Tab or anything else acts locally.

A screenshot of regedit highlighting Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Citrix\ICA Client\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Client Engine\Hot Keys\Hotkey13Shift