Summary
This article describes how to troubleshoot client clipboard issues.
Overall Limitations
As of MetaFrame XP Service Pack 2 and MetaFrame 1.8 Service Pack 3, ICA connections support or do not support the following functions:
1. Copy and paste of files between local workstation and sessions or between two unique sessions is not supported.
2. Drag and drop of either text or files between local workstation and sessions or between two unique sessions is not supported.
3. Copy and paste of text between local workstation and sessions or between two unique sessions is supported.
4. Copy and paste of files between two shared sessions is supported.
General Troubleshooting Steps
1. Start Citrix Connection Configuration (Use Windows Terminal Services Configuration in Windows 2003 or later)
a. Highlight the ICA-TCP port and go to Connection > Edit.
b. Click the Client Settings tab.
c. In the Client Mapping Overrides section on the right, check to see if Disable Client Clipboard Mapping is checked. If it is and you want the clipboard to map, uncheck the checkbox. If the checkbox is not checked, go to Step 2.
2. If you look at a user’s session in Citrix Server Administration or Terminal Server Administration, is Wfshell.exe running? If not, run regedt32.
Caution! This procedure requires you to edit the registry. Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Citrix cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. Back up the registry before you edit it.
Go to this registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWinLogon
In the Value of AppSetup, is Cmstart.exe present? If not add it.
appsetup: REG_SZ: cmstart.exe
Cmstart.exe is a process that runs when you log on to the MetaFrame server. It is associated with Wfshell.exe. In addition, only for Window NT 4.0 Terminal Servers, ensure the USERINIT string value contains wfshell.exe.
3. Verify wfshell.exe is running as a process under the session.
See CTX103602 – Session sharing and cut and paste fails on Windows 2003 Server and Feature Release 3..
4. Verify that the registry includes a subkey under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlCitrixWfshell named Virtual Clipboard and the subkey has two values: DllName and NotifyEvent, both of type REG_SZ and respective entries of Vclipbd.dll and WfshellVclipbdNotify.
5. Verify Vclipbd.dll is on the system drive.
6. For Windows 2003, does 840872 apply?
7. Does CTX104631 – How to Repair Clipboard Functionality fix the issue?
8. Does CTX106677 – Userdump.exe May Affect Certain Virtual Channels for Non-administrator User Accounts fix the issue?
9. Does the default.ica or template.ica file within the Web Interface site contain the entry ClipboardAllowed= On or Off within the [WfClient] or [<App Server>] section (no entry defined defaults to Clipboard being allowed)?
General Clipboard Contention Issues
The open clipboard call failed due to contention with Wfshell, a Citrix utility that enables cut and paste operations amongst the client and server. This problem was reproduced using Microsoft Excel 97 but was also present with other applications.
It is now possible to configure the server in such a way that if an open clipboard call fails, the system retries to open the clipboard a specified number of times or until the open is successful. It is also possible to configure a delay in milliseconds between each clipboard open retry. The following procedure describes how to enable this feature for a given application:
1. Create the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrent VersionTerminal ServerCompatibilityApplications{app name}
where {app name} is the name of the application without the extension.
2. Add the following registry values to the above registry key:
OpenClipboardRetries: REG_DWORD: 0x20
OpenClipboardDelayInMilliSecs: REG_DWORD: 0x50
Flags: REG_DWORD: {num}
where {num} is the application type. Possible values are:
DOS application 0x1
OS/2 application 0x2
Windows 16-bit application 0x4
Windows 32-bit application 0x8
Win16 and Win32 applications 0xC
Any version 0xF
When testing Excel 97, the above settings worked well for Excel (32 retries with a 256 millisecond delay between each). If applications on the ICA Client device and the MetaFrame server are actively accessing the clipboard simultaneously, it may be necessary to increase the settings for "OpenClipboardRetries" and "OpenClipboardDelayInMilliSecs."
3. Restart the application for the new settings to take effect.
CTX101600 – Runtime Error 521: Unable to Open Clipboard
CTX102314 – Pasting into an ICA or RDP session may fail from workstations running Marimba
CTX108569 – Copy and Paste Fails in ICA with GE Centricity Physician Office EMR (Formerly Logician)
CTX112434 – You Cannot Copy Content From a Client Device and Paste it in a Published Application
How to Disable the Clipboard on a Per-Client Basis
CTX102977 – How to Disable the Clipboard on a Per-Client Basis
Explaining Print Screen Key Support
CTX103369 – Explaining Print Screen Key Support
How to add a Custom Clipboard Format to a MetaFrame Server
CTX112529 – The Paste as Hyperlink and Paste Link (under Paste Special) Options are Unavailable Between Published Office Applications and Local Office Applications
CTX112063 – You Cannot Copy and Paste HTML-formatted Text from a Local Application to a Published Microsoft Excel Application Using the Paste Special Feature
CTX112245 – Fonts Do Not Obey Proper Size or Spacing in Microsoft Office 2003 Applications
Certain applications introduce custom clipboard formats that cannot be copied from the local workstation and pasted into an ICA session. Additional testing showed that the same application will copy and paste properly into an RDP session. Citrix has added support for these custom clipboard formats.
The Hotfix requires the appropriate service pack level to be installed. From the ME183W011 Hotfix readme:
Provides a way to add custom clipboard formatting from the registry. Add the following registry value to add a custom clipboard format called "MyCustomFormat" to a supported ICA clipboard format.
Caution! This procedure requires you to edit the registry. Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Citrix cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. Back up the registry before you edit it.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentC
ontrolSetControlCitrixwfshellVirtual ClipboardAdditional FormatsMyFormat1 Name REG_SZ:MyCustomFormat
For example:
To add ETOS_Native as supported format, add the following to the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlCitrixwfshellVirtual ClipboardAdditional FormatsETOS_Native
ValueName:Name
Data Type:REG_SZ
Value: ETOS_Native
Another example is the “Paste Special” option within Microsoft Office.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlCitrixwfshellVirtual ClipboardAdditional Formats
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlCitrixwfshellVirtual ClipboardAdditional FormatsCF_HTML
"Name"="CF_HTML"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlCitrixwfshellVirtual ClipboardAdditional FormatsHTML Format
"Name"="HTML Format"
You need Hotfix MetaFrame 1. 8 for Windows 2000 SP3 and ME183W011; ME183T004 for MetaFrame 1.8 SP3 for TSE4.0 or MetaFrame XP SP2 for Windows 2000 and TSE 4.0.
Pasting Too Much Text from Macintosh Clipboard to Client Session Causes Macintosh Workstation to Lock Up
To increase the amount of memory allocated to the Citrix ICA Client:
1. Go to the binary file Citrix ICA Client within the finder. Make sure it is not an alias; an alias has an italicized name instead of normal text.
2. Highlight the icon.
3. Press the Command Key + I. This opens up the Information window for the binary (the Command Key is the one with the apple icon).
4. Depending on what system software you have loaded, you might have to choose a Memory sub-window.
5. Find the memory allocation fields, Minimum Size and Maximum Size, and change both of them to 8000K.
Pasting from Citrix Session to a local Macintosh Application Carries over a Null Character
Reproduction
1. Launch a published application, MS Word, from the Macintosh workstation.
2. Launch "Simple text" on the Macintosh Workstation
3. From the published application, Highlighted text (the word:"test1"), selected copy from toolbar.
4. On local Macintosh Workstation, Focus on the "Simple Text" window, From Toolbar selected paste. Observe, clipboard item is pasted locally(the word:"test1").
5. From the end of the pasted text, (the word:"test1"), in order to delete last character("1") you must use the delete key twice. The first to delete the "Null" character and the second to delete the character "1".
6. If steps 1 through 5 are used with another type of text engine on the Macintosh, Quark, the issue is not seen.
7. Customer had a script running on the workstation that strips off the extra characters.
Cause
The server is sending a trailing null character and our clipboard handling code passes this on to the Macintosh OS. This was introduced when Unicode clipboard support was added to the Client. Some applications running on the MAC strip the extra null character, e.g. Word, but others will not, e.g. SimpleText.
Resolution
If the latest Citrix ICA Client for Macintosh does not resolve this issue, contact Citrix Technical Support.
This document applies to:
- MetaFrame 1.8
- MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0 for Microsoft Windows 2000
- MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0 for Microsoft Windows 2003
- MetaFrame XP 1.0 for Microsoft NT 4.0 Server Terminal Server Edition
- MetaFrame XP 1.0 for Microsoft Windows 2000
- MetaFrame XP 1.0 for Microsoft Windows 2003
- Presentation Server 4.0 for Microsoft Windows 2000
- Presentation Server 4.0 for Microsoft Windows 2003
- Presentation Server 4.0 x64 Edition
- Presentation Server 4.5 for Windows Server 2003
- Presentation Server 4.5 for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
- XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2003 x86
