Using BarTender With Remote Desktop Services and Citrix XenApp
Overview
This article explains how to use BarTender with Windows Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and Citrix XenApp. It discusses printing and licensing challenges in these two environments for each of the BarTender editions.
For more information on using BarTender with remote desktop services and Citrix Xenapp, refer to the Citrix and Remote Desktop section of our Printer-Based Licensing technical document.
Applicable to
BarTender 2019 and later
RDS and Citrix
Information
For BarTender 2019 and later, you will be able to launch several BarTender sessions over Citrix and Remote Desktop Services. BarTender allows unlimited users to run the BarTender application. Therefore, it can be run simultaneously in any number of user sessions. Instead of user-based licensing, the Automation editions are licensed by the number of printers that are actively used.
Remote Services/Citrix XenApp
Remote Desktop Services
Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as Terminal Services) is a Windows Server feature that enables a client computer to connect to the server in such a way that the client’s keyboard, mouse, and monitor become, in effect, directly connected to the server machine. For more information on Remote Desktop Services, search Remote Desktop Services or Terminal Services on the Microsoft website: www.microsoft.com.
Citrix XenApp
Citrix XenApp (formerly known as Citrix MetaFrame Server) is a thin client product that is built on top of Remote Desktop Services, allowing users to connect to corporate applications. For more information, refer to the Citrix website: www.citrix.com.
Printer Redirection
Remote Desktop Services provides printer redirection, which sends print jobs from a server to printers installed locally on a client computer. There is a brief discussion of this in the Client Print Queues section of this document, below.
For more information on printer redirection, search for Remote Desktop Services or Terminal Services with Printer Redirection at www.microsoft.com to find knowledge base articles, FAQs, and other types of documentation on this feature.
Printing
When a user logs into a Remote Desktop Services session, the list of printers available to them comes from two sources: the printer drivers installed on the server, and the printer drivers installed on the client. The drivers that are installed on the server are referred to as server print queues, while the drivers that are installed on the client are called client print queues.
Server Print Queues
If a printer is attached directly to the server or is connected to the server via TCP/IP, the printer driver can be installed on the server. This creates a server print queue, which effectively makes the printer available in all remote desktop sessions.
Client Print Queues
Client print queues are created by printer redirection, a feature available with both Remote Desktop Services and Citrix XenApp. Printer redirection routes printed output from a remote desktop session to a printer available on the client computer, creating an automatic client print queue. A matching printer driver is installed on the server, all print code is generated on the server and the resulting print code is redirected to the printer available on the client computer.
When a client logs into a remote desktop session, the server will attempt to create print queues for each of the printers that are installed on the client. A client print queue can also be used for printers that are on the server’s local network, in order to make the printer available only to a particular user’s sessions.
Universal Printer Drivers
Universal printer drivers allow you to print to almost any printer, regardless of make or model. By installing a single universal driver, you eliminate the hassle of installing multiple printer-specific drivers on the server.
In Citrix XenApp, client print queues can be automatically created using the Citrix Universal Printer or Citrix Universal Printer Drivers. The Citrix Universal printer is an auto-generated printer object that replaces all printers appearing in the user’s session. This installed printer can be used to print to almost any printer that you want to use.
The Citrix Universal Printer Drivers are generic printer drivers that can be used to print to most printers. Rather than adding a single printer object as with the Citrix Universal Printer, a single driver is installed. You can then create multiple automatic print queues using the universal printer driver.
The universal printer driver for Remote Desktop Services is called Remote Desktop Easy Print. The Easy Print driver provides support for multiple models of printers, without needing to install multiple drivers on the terminal server.
Installing Printer Drivers on the Server
If the server has local access to the driver that is installed on the client, the client’s driver is automatically used. If the server does not have access to the driver, then you will need to install a printer driver on the server that has the same name as the driver on the client machine. Once this is done, the print queue will be created automatically each time the client logs in.
Use the following instructions to manually install your printer:
Windows Server 2008 R2 - 2022
- From the Administrative Tools menu, select Print Management.
- Expand the Print Servers node
- Right-click on Drivers and select Add Driver from the context menu.
- Follow the instructions to install the printer driver.
Printer Licensing With Client Print Queues
Seagull License Server (SLS) identifies unique printers by processing information received from the printer itself. For locally installed printers, this information includes the printer model and port. For network printers, this includes the printer’s IP address and TCP port.
However, in Citrix and Remote Desktop Services environments, SLS is unable to retrieve some of this information from the server, including the port or IP address. If the printer is using a universal driver, it is not even possible to obtain the printer model of the printer in use. Without this information, when a printer is used from multiple clients, SLS may not recognize it as a single printer. This will cause the printer to be listed in SLS multiple times, effectively reducing the number of printers available in your license.
Seagull License Server Remote Assistant
Seagull License Server Remote Assistant is a software utility that should be installed on remote clients to prevent Seagull License Server from over-counting printers when using Citrix or Remote Desktop Services environments. When installed, Seagull License Server Remote Assistant obtains detailed information directly from the printers installed on the client computer. Each time a print request is initiated from a client, SLS will request this information from the Remote Assistant. Using the additional print information, SLS can accurately differentiate between printers based on printer model, port, and IP address.
Installing the Seagull License Server Remote Assistant
To install Seagull License Server Remote Assistant on client computers, download and run the installer package from our website.
In addition to running the installer package, users can install Seagull License Server Remote Assistant on computers in their network with minimal to no user interface using the Silent Install command line. The Silent Install command line can be used to install Seagull License Server Remote Assistant on multiple computers across the network.
Printer Licensing Issues When Using the Remote Assistant
BarTender relies on Seagull's own virtual channel BTVC__1 (7 characters long) to query printer info. If the channel is not allowed then printer port will be AUTOnn.
- For 32bit BarTender:
BTVC__1,C:\Program Files (x86)\Seagull\BarTender 2021\BarTend.exe - For 64bit BarTender:
BTVC__1,C:\Program Files\Seagull\BarTender 2021\BarTend.exe
Starting with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7 2109, virtual channel allow lists are enabled by default. As a result, only Citrix virtual channels are allowed to open in virtual apps and desktops sessions. If there is a need to use custom virtual channels, whether homegrown or from a third party, these need to be explicitly added to the allow list.
In order to add the "BTVC__1" virtual channel to the Citrix Virtual channel allow list policy settings, follow the guidelines provided in the section Adding virtual channels to the allow list from this external article: Virtual channel security.
Command Line Installation
To install Seagull License Server Remote Assistant from the command line:
- Open the Run text box:
- In Windows 10, type Run into the Windows menu Search field and select the desktop app Run from the results.
- In earlier editions of Windows, select the Windows Start button and select the Run option.
- In the Run text box, type cmd.
- Click OK to open the Command prompt.
- Enter the desired command parameters using the syntax below:
Example Installation Scripts
To install Seagull License Server Remote Assistant while monitoring the installation process:
To install Seagull License Server Remote Assistant only for a Remote Desktop Services environment, even if Citrix is installed:
To install Seagull License Server Remote Assistant only for a Citrix environment:
