External keyboard not recognized on virtual desktop

[toru takayanagi]

Hello.
Please answer my question.
When launching a virtual desktop from Citrix login, the external keyboard (USB or bluetooth) is frequently not recognized.
I have no problem using the keyboard outside of the virtual desktop.
Please let me know the cause.
PC: surface laptop4, surface laptop5, surface pro8
Keyboard: any type

[Robert Young1709152714]

2 hours ago, toru takayanagi said:

Hello.
Please answer my question.
When launching a virtual desktop from Citrix login, the external keyboard (USB or bluetooth) is frequently not recognized.
I have no problem using the keyboard outside of the virtual desktop.
Please let me know the cause.
PC: surface laptop4, surface laptop5, surface pro8
Keyboard: any type

Hi Toru Takayanagi, 

A few tests and questions below to narrow this down. 

Are you perhaps redirecting the external keyboard devices with USB redirection ? There policies to force redirect USB devices.  Are any of those enabled for users ? 
Keyboards should not be redirected in this way so I would recommend disabling as a test. 

I noticed also the devices mentioned are all surface Pro. Are they using touch screen and external keyboards together ? 

Perhaps the touch keyboard is interfering with the external one. Would try toggling this policy to see does it make a difference. https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX217420/on-mobile-device-onscreen-keyboard-does-not-appear-in-icahdx-session-automatically

And with the tablet mode disabled as a test. https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/devices/mobile-devices.html#:~:text=The feature is enabled by,settings to disable the feature. 

 

Are these users using the full Citrix Workspace app on the surface or are they using HTML5 CWA through a browser ? 

Does the issue happen when moving from docked to undocked ? We fixed a bunch of issues around this in 1909 releases as the surface dock was a particular type of USB hub. 

 

[toru takayanagi]

Thank you for your response.
I have a new understanding of what is happening.
1. with the DISPLAY closed on the Surfacelaptop, connect an external keyboard and use the extended DISPLAY
2. when the tablet and keyboad are disconnected on the Surface pro and an external keyboad is connected, or when an extended DISPLAY is connected

In the above cases, keyboad does not work on citrix virtual desktop.
However, most external keyboads can be used by pressing the keyboad symbol at the top of the virtual desktop as shown in the attachment.

However, some keyboads cannot be used and I am having trouble.
The cause is 

[toru takayanagi]

Could you please tell me how to change the policy so that the keyboard symbol at the top of the virtual desktop is always pressed?
If so, what are the other effects of this policy?

[toru takayanagi]

Keyboard is not usable in the following situations.
Cannot be used for operations within the Citrix virtual desktop (Edge URL input is possible).
It is not usable when both the PC and the extended display are being used.
It cannot be used when the PC is closed (it can be used when the PC is open).
It is not usable when the keyboard is removed from the main unit of PC (e.g. Surface Pro) and only an external keyboard is used.
The keyboard cannot be used regardless of whether it is a USB keyboard, a wireless keyboard, or a Bluetooth keyboard.

Keyboard can be used in the following situations.
When the main unit of the PC + extended display is open and the main unit keyboard becomes usable, the keyboard can be used.
When the expansion display is removed, both the PC keyboard and the external keyboard can be used.

When the keyboard is not usable, the external keyboard can be used by pressing the software keyboard button displayed at the top of the screen (however, it may not be usable in some cases and is never stable).

[Robert Young1709152714]

Hi Toru.

Thanks for the extra info. Is there a reason you are using the HTML5 Workspace App ? 

I would recommend installing the Workspace App for windows native client and launching your citrix session there. 

https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app/citrix-workspace-app-feature-matrix.html

https://www.citrix.com/downloads/workspace-app/windows/workspace-app-for-windows-latest.html

 

I will check for reported issues similar to the above with HTML5 Workspace App. 

[Robert Young1709152714]

If Workspace App for windows is not a viable option I believe the underlying issue is the detection of Tablet mode on the HTML5 workspace app and the Surface tablets. 

I would recommend making this setting change to see is it suitable for your needs. This setting would be global for all. 

 

Please disable tablet mode by setting "detectTabletMode" to "false" in configuration.js file on storefront server.
The configuration.js file is usually located in C:\program Files\<look for citrix folder>\HTML5Client.
To disable it, edit the configuration.js file as given below.
'touch' :

{ 'defaultMode' : 'panning', 'detectTabletMode' : false }

Restart storefront services to make the changes effective.