How to configure the allowlist policy for Citrix virtual channels for Zoom

Citrix ICA policies allow you to specify whether or not apps can assign virtual channels to each other. To use Zoom Meeting in a VDI environment, you must open a virtual channel. To provide an optimized meeting and Zoom Phone experience, Zoom uses the virtual channel to connect to the Zoom VDI plugin on the thin client to connect with the Zoom VDI plugin on the thin client step.

Starting with Citrix VDA 2109, the default policy for the virtual channel allow list is Disabled instead of Enabled. This problem can also occur when you upgrade an existing installation in which the policy has not changed. A virtual channel can only be opened by Zoom if additional steps are taken.

This article will cover a number of topics including:

• Change Virtual Channel Allowlist Policy to Disabled
• How to add values ​​for Zoom VDI client installation when virtual channel allowlist is enabled

Prerequisites for configuring the Citrix Virtual Channel Allow List policy for Zoom

This article assumes that the reader understands how to use Citrix Studio and also has access and permissions to make the necessary changes.

How to change the virtual channel allow list policy to disabled

Luckily, there is an easy fix to ensure that Zoom can create and open a virtual channel to connect to your VDI plugin, and you can achieve this by setting the virtual channel allow list to “disabled”. set. The policy status can be changed to disabled if it was changed to enabled after the policy was updated to version 2109, or the policy can be edited to revert the status to disabled.

In Citrix Studio, you need to select the ICA Policies section and navigate to it from there. You need to find a convenient place in the Virtual Channel Allow List policy where you can update the policy and set it to disabled.

It is important to note that if users are able to download and install software themselves through their virtual desktops, we are proposing that the virtual channels allowlist be set to disabled. It is important to note that if you do not select the “all users” installation default during installation, you will not be able to create a policy exception that applies to a single user if the all users path (specified below) is not the set .

How to add values ​​for the Zoom VDI client to the virtual channel allow list

You must add the Zoom application to the list of applications allowed on these virtual channels if you want to keep the virtual channels policy configured to “enabled”.

1. By copying each channel exe file below into the virtual channel allow list policy in Citrix Studio, you can add the values ​​for the Zoom VDI client installation:
   • ZOOMHDX,C:Programs (x86)ZoomVDIbinZoom.exe,C:Programs (x86)ZoomVDIbinZoomVDITool.exe
   • ZOOMHDC,C:Program Files (x86)ZoomVDIbinZoom.exe
   • ZOOMHDA,C:Program Files (x86)ZoomVDIbinZoom.exe
   • ZOOMHDS,C:Programs (x86)ZoomVDIbinZoom.exe
   • ZOOMHDV,C:Program Files (x86)ZoomVDIbinZoom.exe
   • ZOOMPHX,C:Programs (x86)ZoomVDIbinZoom.exe
   • ZOOMAUS,C:Programs (x86)ZoomVDIbinZoom.exe,C:Programs (x86)ZoomVDIbinZoomVDITool.exe
2. The path to the Zoom.exe file, which you need to install ZoomVDI in your environment, can be changed from the default path C:/Program Files (x86)/ZoomVDI/bin/ to the path where you want to install Zoom.exe.
3. The changes take effect as soon as you restart the VDA environment.

For more information, see the Virtual Channel Allowlist Policy.