{"id":1620,"date":"2017-02-21T13:55:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-21T13:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/neu.koetzingit.de\/citrix-director-interactive-session-und-wie-man-die-zeit-reduziert\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T13:32:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T13:32:50","slug":"citrix-director-interactive-session-und-wie-man-die-zeit-reduziert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.koetzingit.de\/en\/citrix-director-interactive-session-und-wie-man-die-zeit-reduziert\/","title":{"rendered":"Citrix Director: Interactive Sessions and How to Shorten Their Duration"},"content":{"rendered":"

D<\/span>the interactive session<\/strong>\u00a0According to Citrix Director, this is likely the part of the login process that takes the most time. What exactly is the interactive session, and how can it be shortened? For many customers and users, the duration of the login process is a key factor and the reason they want to minimize it. This is nothing new, and I have written and spoken extensively about Windows login in the past because it is a critical issue when a user\u2019s PC is replaced with a thin client.<\/p>\n

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Before we get into the details, we need to talk about the registration process in general. What is the beginning and what is the end of the entire process? This is exactly why you get different results with different programs. If you use ControlUp, you can certainly go up to 20 seconds faster<\/strong> Logins appear differently in Citrix Director! This is simply because ControlUp uses a different endpoint than Citrix Director. That doesn\u2019t mean Citrix is wrong and ControlUp is right; it just means that both define the end of the login process differently. Personally, I agree more with ControlUp than with Citrix, and here\u2019s why:\u00a0<\/p>\n

In accordance with this Citrix Blog,<\/a> registration ends when the Windows Explorer reports \u201eInput Idle\u201c status<\/strong>. In my opinion, this is precisely the problem. Applications are automatically launched via the Windows RUN key and other methods, and very often through Windows Explorer. This extends the login time because Windows Explorer does not enter idle mode, even though users can already see the desktop and are ready to start working. Customers who launch additional programs for their users during login should expect a longer duration for the interactive session. This can certainly lead to 40\u201360 seconds total duration<\/strong> for logging in. Anyone using a different program, such as the Logon Simulator, will be able to log in quickly, since the program Citrix ICO Login Message<\/strong> is used instead of the Explorer Idle status.
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What can be done to shorten the duration of the interactive session?<\/span><\/h3>\n

First, if you are using Windows Server 2012 or later, you should set the following registry value via Group Policy.<\/p>\n

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Serialize <\/code>
StartupDelayInMSec REG_DWORD = 0x00000000 <\/code>Read the explanation of the key in\u00a0this Microsoft blog<\/a><\/p>\n

This registry value can certainly extend the duration of the interactive session by several seconds<\/strong> reduce!<\/p>\n

The Citrix blog mentioned earlier explains that the Explorer Idle status is comparable to Event 1000 (Desktop Ready) reported by Citrix User Profile Manager. This information will come in handy later when using Microsoft Procmon (this is the simplest method; I also use Microsoft WPA for this).<\/p>\n

Isolate a server, log in as an administrator, and start Procmon. Now log in using a standard user account or an account that takes a particularly long time to log in. When you're done, stop Procmon. Now search the event log for the UPM ID 1000<\/strong>. Use the time from the Event Log as a starting point in Procmon. Then check the duration of the interactive session in Director; that is the time period you should go back to in Procmon.<\/p>\n

Let's say the UPM Event 1000 occurs at 8:00:00 and, according to Director, the interactive session lasts 20 seconds. Then, in Procmon, look at the trace from 7:59:40 to 8:00:00. Which applications, scripts, etc., were launched during this time period? If you don\u2019t need any of them, disable or remove the call, or optimize the script, etc. On my system, I found that the Minimum duration of the interactive session: 6 seconds<\/strong> This is the time required for essential system processes such as the Citrix Seamless and Graphics Engine, Microsoft Windows Desktop Manager, and so on. This can only be improved with faster systems (in terms of the number and performance of CPUs, as well as SSDs).<\/p>\n

The closer they get to the minimum time for the interactive session, the less their times differ from those of other programs. In my case, it takes 11 seconds with the Logon Simulator and 12 seconds in Citrix Director.<\/p>\n

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See the relationship between total duration and interactive sessions<\/span><\/h3>\n

I recently set up a VDA server based on Windows Server 2016 running XenDesktop 7.12. The main goal was to observe the impact on interactive sessions when I make changes to the system as I described earlier. Okay, I also performed standard optimization, just as I do with every system.<\/p>\n

Take a look at the following screenshot, which I took from Citrix Director over a period of time (the last seven days). It always shows the the same non-administrative user,<\/strong> which has always also dealt with the the same VDA server<\/strong> connects (just to keep it constant)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/td>\n\"Director\u00a0<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\n\n

Please note that these figures are from my lab environment, and you cannot and should not use them to compare with your system. The point here is to highlight the importance of the interactive session if you want to reduce the login time in Citrix Director.<\/p>\n

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Take another look at the image on the left. The left column shows the total time, and the right column shows the time required for the interactive session; both are in seconds. The relationship between the interactive session and the total login duration is clearly visible. Note also that the shorter the interactive session, the less impact it has on the total time.<\/p>\n

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To be clear: client printers, client drives, all Citrix and Microsoft Group Policies, etc.\u00a0remained unchanged throughout<\/strong>. The last two logins were performed in quick succession, and the reduced time is due to server- and client-side Cache Functions<\/strong>. See the image below for more details<\/p>\n

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One more thing. To reduce the duration of the interactive session from 11 seconds after 7.5 seconds<\/strong> is more difficult and time-consuming than the first 20 seconds.<\/p>\n

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A short video on logging in to Server 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n