Last updated:
In a current Citrix Virtual Apps setup on Windows Server 2025, I encountered some interesting behavior:
The user closes the published application normally, but the Citrix session does not log off.
Sometimes the session remains active for another 1–2 minutes.
So I investigated more closely what was still preventing logoff.
The actual application had already exited, but several processes continued running inside the user session. One stood out:
ShellAppRuntime.exe
The decisive test:
Terminate ShellAppRuntime.exe → the session logs off immediately.
That at least gave me a concrete lead.
🔍 Where did I look?
For seamless/published application issues, it is worth checking:
HKEY_USERS\<User-SID>\Software\CitrixVolatile\Seamless\Sessions\<Session-ID>\
This shows which processes still play a role within the seamless session.
That is much more useful than randomly terminating processes in Task Manager.
This becomes particularly interesting on Windows Server 2025: the behavior can also be observed with different VDA versions. On comparable Server 2022 systems, logoff occurs within a few seconds.
This is particularly inconvenient in combination with FSLogix or profile containers:
Published app closed
→ Session remains active
→ Profile container remains mounted
→ User starts the next application
→ VHDX may still be locked
I have therefore added a new test for Windows Server 2025 Citrix environments:
Check not only that a published application launches correctly, but also that the session actually ends cleanly after the application is closed.
Whether ShellAppRuntime.exe itself is the underlying cause or merely a symptom of deeper Windows Server 2025 behavior requires further investigation.
But for troubleshooting, the registry path was the decisive clue to understanding why logoff does not occur.
🔎 Finding from the field: closing an app does not automatically mean the session has ended.
