For those enthusiastic Citrix customers who embraced early releases of XenApp and XenDesktop 7.x (XenDesktop 7.0 being the first iteration) who used App-V, it’s likely you have been relying on the App-V Full Infrastructure. Most early versions of XenApp and XenDesktop 7.x only supported the use of the Publishing Servers with a feature to connect Citrix Studio to your App-V infrastructure. This let you discover the App-V applications in the console when adding them via the Start Menu and deploying them as published applications. While this feature still exists in Citrix Studio today, the App-V Full Infrastructure is on borrowed time, as Microsoft announced App-V’s end of life, including in a note on the Getting started with App-V for Windows client page that “Application Virtualization will be end of life in April 2026”, meaning you need to start planning your migration path.
Path of Least Resistance for App-V’s End of Life
Cloudpager supports modern provisioning of App-V applications to Citrix desktops and for published applications. You can take your existing .appv packages and upload them to Cloudpager with a simple drag and drop. You can then use our Workpods feature to logically group applications together and dynamically deploy them to your desktop users. If you would like to publish the applications to Citrix Storefront or Workspaces, you can add these applications in Citrix Studio with a few basic parameters. When users launch the published applications, they will be virtualized on-demand in that user session.
The other benefit of moving your App-V packages to Cloudpager is that they are automatically optimized upon upload, eliminating the need for Connection Groups, removing the need for RunVirtual, providing enhanced application usage reporting, the ability to automate software license enforcement, centralize selective mounting of applications for your larger applications, and more! Better yet, it ensures your App-V applications will be able to seamlessly run across all modern Windows desktop environments beyond App-V’s estimated End of Life in 2026.
Alternatively, you can deploy your App-V applications to your Citrix VDAs without the optimization feature enabled. In this case, you will continue using your native App-V packages with the added benefit of managing them from a cloud-native modern provisioning solution.
Modern Provisioning for Hybrid Citrix Environments
With Citrix now offering hybrid licensing, which entitles customers to use both the traditional on-premises Citrix stack and cloud services (e.g., Citrix DaaS). These hybrid environments can make it difficult to efficiently manage your PVS or MCS provisioning images on-premises and in the cloud in an agile fashion. It’s critical to adopt a solution that enables you to seamlessly deploy applications to any Citrix VDA, no matter where it is located.
Born in the cloud and delivered as a fully managed SaaS solution, Cloudpager can deliver applications to any Windows machine, regardless of where it is located or what network it is connected to. Cloudpager operates over HTTPS with minimal firewall configuration so it can slot into your existing Citrix infrastructure and bring immediate value.
Conclusion
If you are using the App-V Full Infrastructure in your Citrix environment, you need a plan for App-V’s end of life, which Microsoft states will be April 14, 2026. The App-V Full Infrastructure has not had any new features or active development in years. It is in your best interest to plan your migration sooner rather than later. Waiting until 2026 to see what happens could cost you your job.
Fortunately, Cloudpager offers you a way to instantly modernize your existing App-V packages and deploy them without the App-V Full Infrastructure – while adding the benefits of a true modern provisioning solution.
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