Just reporting on a small issue I had with a machine and brand new Citrix Receiver 4.4 install. Clicking on a published application or desktop resulted in nothing happening. Seemed like the launch.ica file just wasn’t calling Citrix Receiver properly to start the connecting process.
IE wasn’t asking me to save or open launch.ica, this was differrent.
After a Citrix Receiver cleanup and reinstall the same problem remained. I checked the .ica file extension to see what program was associated with it but everything looked OK.
Clutching at straws I decided to manually associate .ica files with the Citrix Connection Manager.
This file by default is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\ICA Client\wfcrun32.exe.
Once set, ICA files mysteriously started to launch. Something to look out for!
To set the association, you can choose default applications by file type within Windows or download the ICA file by following the steps located at https://jgspiers.com/capturing-analyzing-launch-ica/.
itadmin
July 21, 2016Life saver….THANKS !!!!
it
December 7, 2016This works !!
Bob
September 12, 2019this doesn’t work. Any suggestions?
Faiz
May 4, 2020Life saver. All other info including on Citrix unhelpful. Been trying for few hours but this sorted in under 10 seconds. Thanks.
RB
September 14, 2017Same Here Thanks so Much !!!!
Anonymous
April 12, 2020This really works! thank you for your help!
Guilherme
July 30, 2020Life saver ยฒ
sreeni
March 30, 2021it worked, thanks a lot
George Spiers
December 7, 2016Glad to hear!
GS
Charchika
October 13, 2017It worked! Thankyou so much.
Chandra
February 15, 2021not working for me please help
Trentan
January 9, 2017Amazing, thank you so much!
Ruben
January 10, 2017Thank you for the not so obvious solution!
R.G.
January 28, 2017Thanks a lot.
J
January 31, 2017This has worked. I’m an hour and a half late for logging into work now and you saved me, thanks!
Vishwa
March 8, 2017Brilliant, it worked !
JrSysAdmin
March 15, 2017This worked for me as well. Thank you very much! I owe you a drink, if you drink. This wasn’t an issue months ago with many users. I wonder if an IE update caused this. User also got an reimaged computer recently.
George Spiers
March 15, 2017Thanks, I do enjoy the odd beer or two! I think it may be due to updates although to be fair I haven’t experienced it in a long time.
Alex Meadows
June 15, 2017Worked for me too. Thank you!
Shan
July 29, 2017Omg this saved my life, thank you
George Spiers
July 31, 2017Glad it was of help ๐
Anastasia
August 22, 2017Thanks a lot, you are the best
Chelsea
August 26, 2017How did you download connection manager? I’ve downloaded the receiver latest version but have been searching for hours and don’t know where to get citrix xonnection manager! It’s not in my program files!
George Spiers
August 26, 2017Connection Manager is part of the install of Citrix Receiver. The file you are looking for is wfcrun32.exe, which is typically on 64bit systems located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\ICA Client\.
Anonymous
April 21, 2020Awesome!Thanks
subhash
September 7, 2017what will happen if i add citrix authentication manager as default program instead of citrix connection manager?? i did that then i am not able to launch the application.
subhash
September 7, 2017I added the citrix authentication manager as default program. when i click the application icon, nothing it’s showing.
What should i do now to launch the application through citrix receiver??
George Spiers
September 7, 2017You need to change the default association for ICA files to “Citrix Connection Manager” and not Citrix Authentication Manager.
Anonymous
February 6, 2019while setting default couldn’t find citrix connection manager, only citrix is found
George Spiers
February 7, 2019Maybe your Receiver/Workspace app is corrupt. If you are sure it is not there, perform a uninstall and reinstall.
Manny
September 25, 2017thank you, lifesaver indeed
Alex
September 27, 2017Worked for me, thank you
VM
November 5, 2017Worked Great. Thanks!
Debu
December 21, 2017Thanks a lot bud..i couldn’t take a work from home cz of this. Exactly when wfh is required d most during this holiday mode. ๐ Cheers
Justin
January 4, 2018When i tried running with wfcrun , its giving me ‘unable to parse command line’ error..I am stuck.
George Spiers
January 4, 2018Update to the latest version of Citrix Receiver and if that fails, perform a reinstall using the Citrix Receiver Cleanup Tool to first perform an uninstall -> https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX137494
Adi
April 6, 2018Why it ask me to create a Citrix login to download this Cleanup Tool? It shouldn’t have to. I don’t want to create a new Citrix account unnecessarily, I just want to work…
George Spiers
April 11, 2018When you install Citrix Receiver a copy of the Receiver Cleanup Utility can be found under %ProgramData%\Citrix\Citrix Receiver 4.x
Anonymous
October 28, 2021Running Citrix Receiver Cleanup Tool helps!! Thank you so much!
Siva
January 8, 2018Thank you!!!
Gabriel
January 17, 2018Thanks man!
it helped a lot
GG
January 24, 2018I can’t find the Citrix Connection Manager under the default Application next to .ica file.
What should I do?
Not familiar with computer set up and need help please.
George Spiers
January 24, 2018You should reach out to your technical department/Citrix team for assistance if you are not sure on following the above steps.
Glenn
March 8, 2018I can’t even get the Citrix Receiver app to run at all, either automatically or manually. So there is no Citrix icon in the task bar. Any known issues with that? Tried fresh uninstall/reinstall with restarts all the way. It does not run. Windows 10.
Glenn
March 8, 2018Please ignore previous. Required manual End Task of multiple running versions before one good one could start, now have icon. Thanks.
jay
March 10, 2018Thanks Man , it worked ๐
i also had an error +DVCRenderingAdapter.dll failed to register. HRESULT -2147319780. Contact your support personnel… got rid of it by installing Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2015.
zarky
April 17, 2018Thanks! Couldn’t install the Citrix Client.. installing “Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2015” fixed the exact same error for me too. Works now ๐
Anonymous
April 4, 2018Thanks its working……..much appreciated bro…
Ronald
April 14, 2018Citrix uninstall via cleanup utility did the trick for me
Anonymous
May 13, 2018Life saver! Thank you!
Anonymous
May 15, 2018Great! Thanks you
Mike C
May 22, 2018Tried it but still not getting anything ๐ Any other suggestions? I am new to Citrix, I have had others look at it and they could not figure it out as well. Thanks!
Mike
May 22, 2018Tried it but still not getting anything ๐ Any other suggestions? I am new to Citrix, I have had others look at it and they could not figure it out as well. Thanks!
George Spiers
May 22, 2018When you right-click a launch.ica file and click properties, what program is it set to open with?
Mike C
May 22, 2018It opens with Citrix Connection Manager
Mike
May 22, 2018It says it opens with the Citrix Connection Manager.
George Spiers
May 22, 2018So when you click to launch a desktop or application, and you download the ICA file, what happens when you click to run it?
Mike
May 22, 2018Nothing at all. I click it and nothing comes up
George Spiers
May 23, 2018Strange, update to latest version of Receiver or run the cleanup tool and install again.
If that still does not work try a different user account on the same machine (generating a new profile is the aim).
Mike
May 23, 2018I ended up downloading the 4.8 version(I was using 4.11) it now it is working as expected. Even though others here are using 4.11 and it is working for them. Thank you!
Carolina
May 22, 2018Hola que tal, mepude loguear bien con citrix, veo las aplicaciones, pero cuando quiero ingresar, descarga el archivo launcher y no se con que programa abrirlo.Probe con internet explorer, con Citrix received y no pude.
George Spiers
May 23, 2018Citrix Connection Manager is what you open it with.
JW
June 7, 2018Thank you thank you thank you
PB
June 11, 2018Been fighting this for half an hour… time to get down to really basics… and your post saved me some unnecessary time of trial and error for sure.
Arun
June 16, 2018Thanks it worked like a magic
got a great relief
Anonymous
June 25, 2018It worked ๐
Anonymous
July 7, 2018Thanks it worked…\but its a strange thing how the things are associated with connection manager instead of \receiver
Anonymous
September 3, 2018Thanks so much. this worked perfect for me as well. life saver.
Aneesh
September 20, 2018Awesome it worked, you saved my day
Anonymous
September 20, 2018Thanks a Ton
mikhail
September 20, 2018Thx. From Russia with Love)
Snehal
September 24, 2018Thank you so much
Leonardo SO
November 2, 2018A help that really worked, I was looking for the CitrixConnectionMananger executable, but it was not actually in Windows if it was called wfcrun32.exe.
Thank you.
Anonymous
November 24, 2018Helped me as well. Thank you
LACIE
January 4, 2019THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Anonymous
January 7, 2019Thank youuuuuu soooooo much
Mark
January 8, 2019I am experiencing an issue that I have seen others allude to but haven’t really been able to resolve. When I try to launch a Citrix app it just spins and then nothing. No .ica file, no app. I have tried multiple versions of the Receiver, from the latest to pretty old version. This issue seems to be exclusive to Windows 10 but not all systems experience the issue. My main work PC can’t launch and Citrix apps. On my work laptop if I use Chrome it will download the .ica file that I can open and launch the app. My home PC (non domain joined) works identically to my domain joined work laptop. I have tried the file association trick and I have run the cleanup util several times but no luck. Has anyone seen and resolved this issue? I’m not the only one in our environment experiencing it but Windows 10 is still scarce.
George Spiers
January 9, 2019Have you tried Chrome on your main work PC? It sounds odd that the ICA file is not even downloading. Have you any proxy servers, antivirus or web filtering software on the main PC (that isn’t on the domain laptop) that could be temporarily disabled to rule those out? Also, you should try logging on as a test user to your main PC (a user domain test user who has not logged on before) to rule it out being a profile issue.
Mark
January 9, 2019Yes, I have tried Chrome – it spins for a couple seconds then nothing. Firefox too. It’s like Chrome is trying to open the file with the default app and not giving me the option to do anything else with it. I’ve been all through the Chrome settings trying to figure out how to tell it not to do that but so far no luck.
There is no proxy for the work systems – they connect directly to the Storefront server, and both are running identical copies of McAfee (McAfee at home too but a home product). I will try uninstalling it and seeing if that makes a difference but I’m not hopeful as I know the same policies are applied to both systems and one works while the other doesn’t. It’s odd – I’ve been poking at this issue off and on for a couple months now but really haven’t made any headway. Good suggestion on logging on with another user – I’ll try that.
MY
February 20, 2019I’ve solved a similar problem (Windows 10) by uninstalling all Citrix-related programs, deleting the Citrix folder at the Registry Editor, then reinstalling, following the advice on https://discussions.citrix.com/topic/386111-receiver-published-applications-and-desktops-wont-launch/
I think my problems were caused my some ill-advised update to related but non-essential Citrix software which messed up the Registry Editor.
Harshit
January 17, 2019Thanks man , you saved me from hours of trouble . Cant thank you enough
Nico
February 18, 2019Bro you are a life saver!!!! MY wife was hounding me about getting this fixed, I am so glad that you put this out here. I definitely owe you a drink for this one!!!
5h3h@n
March 28, 2019You are an amazing man ๐ Many thanks bro !!!!!
Rohit
April 29, 2019Hi I have changed my official laptop and have installed citrix workspace 1903, after that when i try to launch the .ica files it doesnot open. The files are getting downloaded successfully in my downloads and default application for .ica file is citrix workspace.
George Spiers
May 3, 2019The default application for .ica files must be “Citrix Connection Manager”. Likely this is not set.
Amauri
May 13, 2019Absolutely life saver! I searched and searched for a solution for this annoying problem for weeks. The helpdesk technicians at work couldn’t help me at all with this issue. It almost felt like some mumbo jumbo ritual I had to go through following their directions to fix the issue, first install citrix, then reboot, then use IE, if the blue Moon aligns with Mars in the third quadrant of the first day of summer you might be able to connect :)โฆ totally useless.
Anyway, thank you so much for documenting your findings so well. I really appreciated.
Jane
July 8, 2019Hi. Im desperate. I have uninstalled/reinstalled Citrix Receiver, ensured .ica default program is Citrix Receiver but still won’t open. This is only happening on my personal laptop (Win10), it works on my work PC (Win10) and laptop (Win7) with no issues.
George Spiers
July 9, 2019The default program needs to be Citrix Connection Manager. You could also try creating a new local user account and seeing it it works under that different profile.
Santosh
September 5, 2019I have same issue but while opening ICA file it creates a window for Preparing to install but after that not responding.
What is causing to stop and what is trying to install here.
Need help, please!!
George Spiers
September 6, 2019Run the Receiver cleanup tool and start again with a fresh install. Double-check the associations afterwards as per this guide.
Kevin
September 6, 2019I am trying to set up a new computer and when I go to associate .ica with Citrix, it shows Explorer and the Store with no options to change to another. It doesn’t have the option to search for other applications at the bottom of the list as it used to have. I can’t use the store because I have to use Receiver and if I go to the store it will push Workspace. I loaded Receiver and it used to be easy to find the wfcrun32.exe to associate but they hide all the former options from view. On another machine I had to disable the “S” option to download the Receiver, but I am stumped on this one to associate the .ica. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
George Spiers
September 29, 2019If you right-click on a .ica file and go to Properties, you should have a “Change” option which allows you to browse to the executable.
Joanne Kilkeary
September 4, 2021This one little suggestion just saved me after getting completed frustrated with 3 hours of playing with my new computer. Citrix Connection Manager wasn’t showing up as an app in settings. But when I tried your above suggestion to someone else from 2019, there it was and now it’s working perfectly. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was ready to give up! So glad I came across this thread and kept reading down looking for some morsel of advice that would help me! ๐
Kevin
October 7, 2019The change property is no longer available in Win 10 1809, and THAT is the problem for Citrix Receiver or Workspace users. The only option is Microsoft Store which most companies will not download from. This MUST be fixed!
George Spiers
October 9, 2019I see the Change option, but using Windows 10 1903. If I can get hold of an 1809 machine will check there but it should not have been removed.
NK Gilbert
November 4, 2019At last a solution that actually works! Many thanks
Anonymous
November 9, 2019It worked. Thanks..a lot.
Anonymous
November 18, 2019you sir are a fine gentleman. Thank you.
Anonymous
December 3, 2019Life saver. it worked. aawwooo
Santiago
March 18, 2020It worked.
Many thanks.-
Anonymous
March 30, 2020Thanks a lot, it’s working..
Theva
April 25, 2020Brilliant ! you are a Life Saver Man . Thanks a lot its working
Ijaz
May 1, 2020Thanks a lot.
Siddhant Singh
June 7, 2020Thanks a ton! Really, I was so frustrated before when I was unable to login to citrix. You solved it.
Nikko
June 15, 2020Very helpful. Thank you!
Anonymous
June 21, 2020Thank you for your help… it worked.. awesome…
Anonymous
July 16, 2020life saver!!! I have been trying for a whole day!
IKR
July 25, 2020When I try to launch my ctirix application, I frequently get plugin-container.exe application error The exception Breakpoint 0x80000003… Any thoughts on this please ?
AR
August 4, 2020I think we checked 75 different sites then I stumbled across this using Duck Duck Go search. Holy WIN! Thank you
JB
August 7, 2020For what it’s worth, even though this thread is specifically about Citrix Receiver and not Citrix Workspace, this still applies.
I had the same issue where ICA files simply wouldn’t open. The same executable in the post exists in Citrix Workspace. I had to change the file association for ICA files so that they pointed to the above executable and also checked the “Always open this file type” in the new Microsoft Edge browser.
Works like a charm.
Milos
June 3, 2021Thanks, I can confirm this for Workspace.
Vald
August 28, 2020Thanks man. this is very useful
clyde
October 19, 2020I have the same problem, but on the Mac….any ideas on how to fix the equivalent? hoping someone can help me ! thanks
clyde
October 19, 2020ame problem, but on the Mac….any ideas on how to fix the equivalent? hoping someone can help me !
Alex
November 11, 2020Thanks a lot! it really worked!! I couldn’t find this info anywhere
Usha
December 4, 2020thanks a lot for sharing. really worked. Was struggling with this issue from last 4 days. Now worked. Thanks once again.
Pete
May 31, 2021Thank you thank you – been messing about for an hour trying to work out why it wouldn’t open.
Michael
June 17, 2021for some reason in choose a default app per file type, Citrix Connection Manager isn’t an option. It just shows Citrix Workspace and when I click on it it’s not one of the apps to associate.
Any ideas? I’ve uninstalled/restarted and installed/restarted numerous times.
Thanks in advance!
M
June 17, 2021For some reason in choose a default app per file type, Citrix Connection Manager isn’t an option. It just shows Citrix Workspace and when I click on it it’s not one of the apps to associate.
Any ideas? I’ve uninstalled/restarted and installed/restarted numerous times.
Thanks in advance!
Hazi
July 6, 2021Thanks for the help
Lakesh
August 12, 2021Worked perfectly on virtual desktop!
Andrey
August 17, 2021THANKS YOU!!! Its really work! You best of the best, ัะตััะฝะพ! )))
Anonymous
June 13, 2022Completely agree with all the comments. This was the simplest fix after scouring through the net for hours. Thank you ๐
Ely
August 15, 2023Thank you so much. Spent a whole day figuring out what was wrong, this helped immediately!
Achraf
January 17, 2024Thank you so much ! you are a life saver.
DmiDerka
January 19, 2024Thank you so much!!! I’ve struggled with this issue for so long. You are amazing!
Anonymous
September 13, 2024Thanks a lot Spiers…