How to enable PenPower in Citrix XenDesktop 5.x

I believe this is not a problem in western countries as people do not need such device in writing.

However, writing Chinese can be a hard challenge for Chinese people if they do not know Chinese input method like "Quick" or "ChangJie".


Therefore, they use a device like PenPower to write Chinese.  People will also expect they can do this same thing in virtual desktops e.g. Citrix XenDesktop

This article will show you how you can enable PenPower or similar device in Citrix XenDesktop 5.x.

PenPower junior series is used in this demonstration.

Requirement:

1. Your Citrix XenDesktop is up and running
2. PenPower software is installed in virtual desktop e.g. Windows 7
3. Your client device can recognize the PenPower USB device .

Tasks:

Find out vendor id(VID) and product id (PID)

XenDesktop recognizes USB device by VID and PID. You need to define them in both virtual desktop and Citrix client.

You can find out by plugging it into your Windows PC. In device manager, you can find it like following

VID is 1267, PID is 0701

Server Side Configuration:
In User HDX policy in Desktop Studio, edit "Unfiltered" policy

Click "Add" to edit both rules:

Example after configuration:

Client side configuration:

In order to make the USB device appears in virtual desktop, your client device must be able to recognize the PenPower USB device.

We then use Microsoft group policy (GPO) to allow Citrix client to redirect the PenPower device to virtual desktop.

In GPO editor, import Citrix adm file  (icaclient_usb.adm) located at:

In the Active Directory / local GPO applying to your Citrix client :

Notes: Local GPO is used here as the client is not joined any domain.

Edit "USB Device Rules":

Enter the VID and PID  and click "OK"

Notes: reboot your device to confirm your Windows update the GPO properly.

Now, You can try to log on virtual desktops. You will see the PenPower device appears in your Desktop viewer.

 

Select the PenPower device "ELAN TouchPad" like following:

When you run the PenPower software, you can write Chinese words as usual using PenPower.

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