Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops – Commonly used PowerShell commands

Here’s a cheat sheet with some common commands used in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop deployments, along with their explanations:

Remember to be careful with the SET, Remove, New, Add PowerShell commands as they can make undesirable changes if you don’t know what you are doing. Always start with a Get 🙂

Of course, start with the below command to load all the Citrix PS modules first

asnp citrix*

I would suggest you run the below commands as per your requirement and then select the specific parameters to fine tune the results.

For eg, if I need to find all the machines in a CVAD (XenApp) farm, I would just run the command Get-BrokerMachine and then look at the specific information that I want to filter the results on. The below filter would come in very handy when you want to look for specific info.

Get-BrokerMachine | Select-Object -Property MachineName

Now if you want to also see the Machine catalog names alongside the VM name, then try the below

Get-BrokerMachine | Select-Object -Property MachineName, CatalogName

You can also pipe the results into a CSV or text file depending on your needs. For that,

Get-BrokerMachine | Select-Object -Property MachineName, CatalogName | Export-Csv C:\temp\Machinename.csv

This should get you started. Hope this helps!

Command	Explanation
Broker PowerShell commands
Get-BrokerApplication	Returns a list of published applications.
Get-BrokerCatalog	Returns a list of catalogs containing desktops.
Get-BrokerDesktop	Returns a list of desktops.
Get-BrokerMachine	Returns a list of machines in the site.
Get-BrokerSite	Returns the configuration for the site.
New-BrokerDesktopGroup	Creates a new desktop group.
New-BrokerIcon	Creates a new published application icon.
New-BrokerMachineCatalog	Creates a new machine catalog.
Remove-BrokerApplication	Removes a published application.
Remove-BrokerDesktop	Removes a desktop.
Remove-BrokerMachine	Removes a machine.
Set-BrokerAccessPolicyRule	Modifies an access policy rule.
Set-BrokerCatalogPowerAction	Configures power management settings for a catalog.
Set-BrokerDesktopGroup	Modifies a desktop group.
Set-BrokerIcon	Modifies a published application icon.
Set-BrokerMachine	Modifies a machine.
Citrix Studio commands
Add-BrokerEntitlementPolicyRule	Adds an entitlement policy rule.
Add-BrokerMachine	Adds a machine to the site.
Add-BrokerTag	Adds a tag to a machine or catalog.
Export-BrokerDesktopGroup	Exports a desktop group configuration to a file.
Get-BrokerEntitlementPolicyRule	Returns a list of entitlement policy rules.
Get-BrokerEntitlementPolicyRuleFilter	Returns a list of entitlement policy rule filters.
Get-BrokerHostingPowerAction	Returns a list of power management settings for machines.
Get-BrokerMachineConfiguration	Returns the configuration for a machine.
Import-BrokerDesktopGroup	Imports a desktop group configuration from a file.
Remove-BrokerEntitlementPolicyRule	Removes an entitlement policy rule.
Remove-BrokerMachineTag	Removes a tag from a machine or catalog.
Set-BrokerDesktop	Modifies a desktop.
Set-BrokerEntitlementPolicyRule	Modifies an entitlement policy rule.
Set-BrokerTag	Modifies a tag.
Test-BrokerCatalog	Tests the connection to a catalog.

Let’s look at some PowerShell commands to manage DDCs and Storefronts

Command	Explanation
Delivery Controller commands
Get-BrokerController	Returns the configuration for a Delivery Controller.
Set-BrokerController	Modifies the configuration for a Delivery Controller.
Get-BrokerDesktopSession	Returns a list of active sessions for a desktop.
Get-BrokerSessionPolicy	Returns a list of session policy settings.
Set-BrokerSessionPolicy	Modifies session policy settings.
Get-BrokerTagRestriction	Returns a list of tag restrictions.
Set-BrokerTagRestriction	Modifies tag restrictions.
Get-BrokerUser	Returns information about a user.
Get-BrokerUserSession	Returns a list of active sessions for a user.
Get-BrokerUserTag	Returns a list of tags assigned to a user.
Set-BrokerUserTag	Modifies the tags assigned to a user.
Add-BrokerMachineCatalogTagRestriction	Adds a tag restriction to a machine catalog.
Remove-BrokerMachineCatalogTagRestriction	Removes a tag restriction from a machine catalog.
Add-BrokerDesktopGroupUser	Adds a user to a desktop group.
Remove-BrokerDesktopGroupUser	Removes a user from a desktop group.
Get-BrokerDesktopGroupMember	Returns a list of members of a desktop group.
Get-BrokerLogonData	Returns logon data for a user.
Get-BrokerSiteAggregationState	Returns the aggregation state of the site.
Start-BrokerRebalance	Starts the rebalance process for a machine catalog.
Stop-BrokerRebalance	Stops the rebalance process for a machine catalog.
Citrix StoreFront commands
Add-STFAppGroupMember	Adds a published application to an application group.
Add-STFAppStore	Adds a Citrix StoreFront store to a Citrix Receiver client.
Get-STFAppStore	Returns a list of Citrix StoreFront stores.
Get-STFAppSubscription	Returns a list of subscribed applications.
Remove-STFAppGroupMember	Removes a published application from an application group.
Remove-STFAppStore	Removes a Citrix StoreFront store from a Citrix Receiver client.
Set-STFAppStore	Modifies the configuration for a Citrix StoreFront store.

Machine Catalog and Delivery group PowerShell Commands

Command	Explanation
Machine Catalog commands
New-BrokerMachineCatalog	Creates a new machine catalog.
Set-BrokerMachineCatalog	Modifies the configuration of a machine catalog.
Remove-BrokerMachineCatalog	Removes a machine catalog.
Add-BrokerMachine	Adds a machine to a machine catalog.
Remove-BrokerMachine	Removes a machine from a machine catalog.
Enable-BrokerMachine	Enables a machine in a machine catalog.
Disable-BrokerMachine	Disables a machine in a machine catalog.
Set-BrokerMachinePowerAction	Configures the power action settings for a machine catalog.
Get-BrokerMachine	Returns information about a machine.
Set-BrokerMachine	Modifies the configuration of a machine.
Delivery Group commands
New-BrokerDesktopGroup	Creates a new desktop group.
Set-BrokerDesktopGroup	Modifies the configuration of a desktop group.
Remove-BrokerDesktopGroup	Removes a desktop group.
Add-BrokerDesktopGroupMember	Adds a machine or user to a desktop group.
Remove-BrokerDesktopGroupMember	Removes a machine or user from a desktop group.
Get-BrokerDesktopGroup	Returns information about a desktop group.
Set-BrokerDesktopGroupPolicy	Modifies the policy settings for a desktop group.
Get-BrokerDesktopGroupPolicy	Returns the policy settings for a desktop group.
Get-BrokerApplication	Returns information about a published application.
New-BrokerApplication	Creates a new published application.
Set-BrokerApplication	Modifies the configuration of a published application.
Remove-BrokerApplication	Removes a published application.
Get-BrokerApplicationInstance	Returns information about a published application instance.
New-BrokerApplicationInstance	Creates a new published application instance.
Set-BrokerApplicationInstance	Modifies the configuration of a published application instance.
Remove-BrokerApplicationInstance	Removes a published application instance.

To find all the commands starting with a particular string or word, just type part of the PS cmdlet that you are looking for and press CTRL and SPACEBAR. This will invoke the IntelliSense help from within PowerShell. Eg below

Get-Broker

This way you can also see all the filters available for a PowerShell cmdlet

Another way of seeing the filters is by the use of Show-Command

Show-Command -Name <powershell command>

Doing so will invoke a GUI windows listing all the filters that you could use.

Now, how do you find the list of all the published applications in a farm along with who has got access to them.

Get-BrokerApplication | Select-Object Name, AssociatedUserFullNames, PublishedName | Format-Table

Here are ALL the switches that you can use for applications if you want to further fine-tune your results.

Parameters

AdminFolderName

AdminFolderUid

AllAssociatedDesktopGroupUUIDs

AllAssociatedDesktopGroupUids

ApplicationName

ApplicationType

AssociatedApplicationGroupUUIDs

AssociatedApplicationGroupUids

AssociatedDesktopGroupPriorities

AssociatedDesktopGroupUUIDs

AssociatedDesktopGroupUids

AssociatedUserFullNames

AssociatedUserNames

AssociatedUserSIDs

AssociatedUserUPNs

BrowserName

ClientFolder

CommandLineArguments

CommandLineExecutable

ConfigurationSlotUids

CpuPriorityLevel

Description

Enabled

HomeZoneName

HomeZoneOnly

HomeZoneUid

IconFromClient

IconUid

IgnoreUserHomeZone

LocalLaunchDisabled

MachineConfigurationNames

MachineConfigurationUids

MaxPerMachineInstances

MaxPerUserInstances

MaxTotalInstances

MetadataKeys

MetadataMap

Name

PublishedName

SecureCmdLineArgumentsEnabled

ShortcutAddedToDesktop

ShortcutAddedToStartMenu

StartMenuFolder

Tags

UUID

Uid

UserFilterEnabled

Visible

WaitForPrinterCreation

WorkingDirectory

I will keep updating the list as we go.

Note that this is just a selection of commands and their explanations, and there are many more available. It’s always a good idea to refer to official Citrix documentation and best practices when using these commands in production environments.