MSIX Filetype Association

Today I received a message from Richard regarding File Associations and MSIX packages. Great question, lets figure it out.

Hi Stephan,

I created an MSIX app attach for Workspace App and deployed/attached it to my WvD servers.

The Workspace app is visible/available when i login to WvD , i can launch the Citrix Workspace app so it is working. But….. if I connect to a citrix storefront server I get a .ICA file from the server but seems there is no extention relationship with the Workspace App……. and if i search for an app to my computer to open the ICA file the Workspace app does not appear in the available App list??

Richard

So its true that by default an MSIX package doesn’t have file associations by default. In this case installing Citrix workspace using my previous article won’t allow you to open .ica files. Furthermore, you wont be able to associate Workspace with any file extension.

.ica file association with Citrix workspace

So how to fix this? In order to associate your MSIX packages with file extensions you will need to edit the MSIX so called Manifest file. The Manifest file can be edited during the creation of the MSIX package, or you can edit your existing package. When you choose to edit the existing package you will see the option under Package information.

By opening the file you will see an XML file containing information about your package. In order to create file associations such as .ica association you will need to add additional information. Microsoft has created some documentation on how to do this. In our case this means adding the following config in the <Applications> section. Copy the xml code and paste it just before </Application>.

[cc lang=”xml”]




.ica




[/cc]

so it looks like this:

MSIX Manifest file

If you would redeploy your Citrix Workplace, you now should be able to open the .ica file.

Final result

Of course this will work for any file type associations that you would want to make in combination with any application you would want to use.