Acrobat Standard 7 on Citrix giving users a blank blue screen

[KingCronos]

We are running Citrix Metaframe XPa Server (Version 1.0 and build 1494,
with service pack4 and hotfix XE104W2KR02) across our organization and
our operating system is Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4. Acrobat
Standard version 7 is installed on one of our 2 pass-through servers
and is a published application.

We have had a long running problem with Acrobat Standard 7. After users
have finished using it, they cannot exit it properly. Instead of the
published application logging off it just seems to disconnect, and the
sessions lies idle on the server. When users try and open it up again,
the session window opens up as a completely blank blue screen and they
can do nothing with it. Sometimes users cannot even log off their
Windows sessions as their Acrobat version has not closed.

I have scoured google groups and Citrix forums for an answer, and among
the few instances of others reporting the problem, the only time anyone
reported it fixed is when they upgraded Citrix to version 4!

Has anyone seen this, and does any of the gurus here know how to fix
it?

Thanks.

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

From http://ts.veranoest.net/ts_faq.htm

Q. My session doesn't logoff when I quit my starting or published
application

A. If you define a Starting application, either in Terminal
Services Configuration, a GPO or in your RDP client, your session
should be automatically logged off when you quit the application.
Sometimes, this doesn't happen and you are left with a session
which only shows the desktop background, without the possibility to
log off the session manually. The cause for this problem is a
process which is still running in your session, preventing it from
closing and logging off. The same can happen after quitting a
Citrix published application.

To solve the problem, open a second connection to the Terminal
Server and check in Task manager which process is keeping the
session from closing. Some anti-virus applications are known to
cause this behaviour.
If you can't avoid running the process, you can use a work-around
to log off your session.

Create a batch file, containing something like this:
cd <path_to_the_folder_containing_your_application>
start /wait <application_executable>
logoff

Now define this batch file as the starting application.
Or use the following vb script to launch your application, and
define the vb script as the starting application.

Dim objWshShell, objExec, strAppExe

strAppExe = "<path_to_the_folder_containing_your_application>
\<application_executable>"
Set objWshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objExec = objWshShell.Exec(strAppExe)
Do While objExec.Status = 0
WScript.Sleep 500
Loop
Set objExec = objWshSHell.Exec("logoff")

For a different solution to the problem, and a list of known
processes which cause this behaviour, check:
CTX891671 - Graceful Logoff from a Published Application Keeps
Sessions in Active State
http://knowledgebase.citrix.com/kb/entry.jspa?externalID=CTX891671
_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
___ please respond in newsgroup, NOT by private email ___

Post by KingCronos
We are running Citrix Metaframe XPa Server (Version 1.0 and
build 1494, with service pack4 and hotfix XE104W2KR02) across
our organization and our operating system is Windows 2000 Server
Service Pack 4. Acrobat Standard version 7 is installed on one
of our 2 pass-through servers and is a published application.
We have had a long running problem with Acrobat Standard 7.
After users have finished using it, they cannot exit it
properly. Instead of the published application logging off it
just seems to disconnect, and the sessions lies idle on the
server. When users try and open it up again, the session window
opens up as a completely blank blue screen and they can do
nothing with it. Sometimes users cannot even log off their
Windows sessions as their Acrobat version has not closed.
I have scoured google groups and Citrix forums for an answer,
and among the few instances of others reporting the problem, the
only time anyone reported it fixed is when they upgraded Citrix
to version 4!
Has anyone seen this, and does any of the gurus here know how to
fix it?
Thanks.

[KingCronos]

Thank-you so much for the Citrix article Vera. I applied it yesterday,
and informed some users. I will monitor for the next few days to see
what happens, but it has not recurred yet.

Post by Vera Noest [MVP]
From http://ts.veranoest.net/ts_faq.htm
Q. My session doesn't logoff when I quit my starting or published
application
A. If you define a Starting application, either in Terminal
Services Configuration, a GPO or in your RDP client, your session
should be automatically logged off when you quit the application.
Sometimes, this doesn't happen and you are left with a session
which only shows the desktop background, without the possibility to
log off the session manually. The cause for this problem is a
process which is still running in your session, preventing it from
closing and logging off. The same can happen after quitting a
Citrix published application.
To solve the problem, open a second connection to the Terminal
Server and check in Task manager which process is keeping the
session from closing. Some anti-virus applications are known to
cause this behaviour.
If you can't avoid running the process, you can use a work-around
to log off your session.
cd <path_to_the_folder_containing_your_application>
start /wait <application_executable>
logoff
Now define this batch file as the starting application.
Or use the following vb script to launch your application, and
define the vb script as the starting application.
Dim objWshShell, objExec, strAppExe
strAppExe = "<path_to_the_folder_containing_your_application>
\<application_executable>"
Set objWshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objExec = objWshShell.Exec(strAppExe)
Do While objExec.Status = 0
WScript.Sleep 500
Loop
Set objExec = objWshSHell.Exec("logoff")
For a different solution to the problem, and a list of known
CTX891671 - Graceful Logoff from a Published Application Keeps
Sessions in Active State
http://knowledgebase.citrix.com/kb/entry.jspa?externalID=CTX891671
_________________________________________________________
Vera Noest
MCSE, CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
TS troubleshooting: http://ts.veranoest.net
___ please respond in newsgroup, NOT by private email ___

Post by KingCronos
We are running Citrix Metaframe XPa Server (Version 1.0 and
build 1494, with service pack4 and hotfix XE104W2KR02) across
our organization and our operating system is Windows 2000 Server
Service Pack 4. Acrobat Standard version 7 is installed on one
of our 2 pass-through servers and is a published application.
We have had a long running problem with Acrobat Standard 7.
After users have finished using it, they cannot exit it
properly. Instead of the published application logging off it
just seems to disconnect, and the sessions lies idle on the
server. When users try and open it up again, the session window
opens up as a completely blank blue screen and they can do
nothing with it. Sometimes users cannot even log off their
Windows sessions as their Acrobat version has not closed.
I have scoured google groups and Citrix forums for an answer,
and among the few instances of others reporting the problem, the
only time anyone reported it fixed is when they upgraded Citrix
to version 4!
Has anyone seen this, and does any of the gurus here know how to
fix it?
Thanks.