Upgrading from XenDesktop 5.6 VDA to XenDesktop/XenApp 7.5 VDA

You may run into a little bit of a challenge upgrading a Windows 7 system from the XenDesktop 5.6 VDA (I was using 5.6.200.9 on this particular machine) to the latest XenDesktop/XenApp 7.5 VDA (7.5.0.4523). If you uninstall the 5.6 VDA, reboot, then try to install the 7.5 VDA expecting a clean install, it will fail and you’ll get the always wonderful and completely generic "InstallFailure 1603" error message:

When you View error details, you'll see something like this: *Error Id: XDMI:CFF2362A Exception: Citrix.MetaInstaller.MetaInstallerException Installation of MSI File 'BrokerAgent_x64.msi' failed with code 'InstallFailure' (1603).

at Citrix.MetaInstaller.Msi.InstallProduct(InstallationContext context, String msiPath, String parameters)

at Citrix.MetaInstaller.MsiComponent.Install(InstallationContext context)

at Citrix.MetaInstaller.InstallationManager.InstallComponent(IInstallableComponent component, InstallationContext installContext)*

Apparently this is an issue related to .NET changes by Microsoft. Even if you uninstall and re-install each .NET version manually, the install will fail. I'm aware of at least 4 incidents lodged with Citrix Support on this issue since 7.5 was released so not everyone may be impacted. It's been kicked up to development and I'm sure a fix is forthcoming.

In the meantime, it was suggested to re-image the system. That's not going to fly with me. I tried several things to fix this and here is what finally worked for me:

1. Completely uninstall the "half-way" installed XenDesktop/XenApp 7.5 VDA

2. Uninstall any other Citrix components from previous VDAs if anything is left over (the only thing I left was Receiver)

3. Download and run CCleaner - http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

4. Click Registry on the side and hit "Scan for Issues". You'll notice a ton of Citrix related stuff left in the registry. Click "Fix selected issues" then reboot.

5. Once it's back up, do step 4 again and you might still notice a few things picked up by the scan. Fix and reboot yet again if you do see anything.

6. Once it's back up, intstall the 7.5 VDA and it should complete installation and register with the Delivery Controller

Hope this helps you out. I expect the next VDA version to resolve this issue and hopefully this workaround will hold you over till then.