This article describes how to change Virtual Desktop Agent (VDA) display adapters from WDDM to XPDM drivers.

Background

Beginning with version 5.5 of the XenDesktop VDA software, the legacy XPDM display drivers (pre-Vista) were updated to WDDM (post-Vista) drivers. For testing purposes, occasionally Citrix Technical Support Engineers might request you to change the display adapters within the VDA to use the older XPDM drivers instead of the newer WDDM drivers.

If you are using WDDM drivers, the Device Manager shows Citrix Display Driver (Citrix Systems – WDDM and Citrix Systems Inc. Display Mirror Driver under Display Adapters, as displayed in the following screen shot: 

Note: This is the opposite procedure to CTX137209 - How to Change VDA Display Adapters from XP Display Driver Model (XPDM) to Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM). That article changes the drivers from XPDM to WDDM.

Requirements

Virtual desktop with XenDesktop 5.5.100 or newer VDA software installed.

Access to a persistent desktop, such as a standard Virtual Machine, a master image (MCS), or vDisk set to private image mode (Provisioning Services 5.6) or a maintenance version (Provisioning Services 6.x).

Instructions

Complete the following procedure:

1. Right-click on Citrix Systems Inc. Display Mirror Driver and click Uninstall.

   

2. Click OK to uninstall the device.

   

3. Click Yes to restart.

   

4. Click Action, then Add legacy hardware.

   

5. Add Hardware Wizard opens. Click Next.

    

6. Select Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced) and click Next.

   

7. Choose the Display adapters category and click Next.

   

8. Choose Citrix Systems Inc. as the manufacturer, if not already selected (in the left pane). In the right pane, choose the latest version of the Citrix Systems Inc. Display Driver available (NOT the Display Mirror Driver). The version and date displayed might be different according to the version of VDA software you have installed.

   Following are the latest available Display Drivers:

• CTX138550 - Hotfix Rollup XD560VDAWX86400 (Version 5.6.400) - For Citrix XenDesktop Virtual Desktop Agent Core Services x86

• CTX138551 - Hotfix Rollup XD560VDAWX64400 (Version 5.6.400) - For Citrix XenDesktop Virtual Desktop Agent Core Services x64

For example, the 5.6.200 VDA software includes version 6.3.200.8 (11/12/2012).

9. Click Next to install the driver.

   

10. Wait for the driver to install.

    

11. Click Finish to complete the wizard.

     

12. Click Restart Later when prompted.

     

13. Right-click on the Citrix Display Driver (Citrix Systems – WDDM) driver and click Update Driver Software…:

     

14. The Update Driver Software window appears. Click Browse my computer for driver software.

     

15. Click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.

    

16. Select Standard VGA Graphics Adapter, and then click Next.

    

17. The driver software will install. 

    

18. When the Windows has successfully updated your driver software message appears, click Close.

    

19. Click Yes to restart the computer.

    

20. When the computer has restarted, open Device Manager > Display Adapters. The two drivers that should appear are the Citrix Systems Inc. Display Driver and the Standard VGA Graphics Adapter:

    

21. Connect to the Virtual Machine through XenDesktop and confirm that the display drivers show the same as in Step 20.

CTX137209 - How to Change VDA Display Adapters from XPDM to WDDM Drivers