How to enable Alt + Tab in citrix remote desktop/receiver

I was recently frustrated by my remote working provision where I couldn’t use common Windows shortcuts such as the Winkey-D to minimize all open windows or alt+tab to cycle between windows.

Fortuantly there is a workaround for this, simple edit this:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE\Citrix\ICAClient\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Virtual Channels\Keyboard\TransparentKeyPassthrough
or in Windows 7 x64
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Citrix\ICAClient\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Virtual Channels\Keyboard\TransparentKeyPassthrough

Set the value to be Remote and restart your connection

49 Responses

  1. THANK YOU for posting this! I’ve always wanted to be able to do this in my Citrix sessions and considered it to be somewhat limiting in productivity without being able to do so. I actually applied this to a Windows 8 system, using the registry key setting for Win7 x64 in your post. Thanks again. πŸ™‚

  2. Hi,

    I have citrix version as mentioned below and Alt +Tab and PRint Scrn both are not working. Tried everything but nothing is working. Please let me know the solution.

    ICA Client Version:11.2.0.31560

  3. Hi,

    Thanks for the registry entry. I tried setting it to “Remote” on my Windows 8 system exactly as described, and now my alt-tab is simply ignored when I am full-screen’ed in a Citrix session. I guess disabling it is less annoying than having it flip back to local apps, but, any suggestions to get alt-tab properly passed through to the remote Citrix session would be greatly appreciated.

    Also, my local taskbar is showing up if I move my mouse into its area, even if I am full screen’ed into my Citrix session. This is also annoying; I had to move my local taskbar to left of my screen as a workaround to allow me to access my Citrix session’s taskbar. πŸ™

    Any idea how to fix above two issues?

    Thanks,
    Steve

      1. This worked for me.. (windows 8.1 64bit):

        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\ICA Client\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Virtual Channels\Keyboard

        “TransparentKeyPassthrough”=”Remote”

          1. there are 2 links. the second worked for me.
            everyone here were using mouse from last 5 years and I showed them the way using this :B and all are happy now

  4. Yes it worked for me. I did this settings or in Windows 7 x64
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Citrix\ICAClient\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Virtual Channels\Keyboard\TransparentKeyPassthrough

  5. Thanks for the post, My scenario is quit different. I am launching Citrix session from Laptop. I have doe the registry settings as mentioned but still ALT+TAB not working in VM.
    Same has tried on desktop & it works. So, I have done same settings on 5 more laptops but for laptops, this registry setting is not working at all.
    Please suggest..
    Thanks.

  6. Just to update, I have Citrix receiver 13.4 installed, however have tried with multiple receiver versions, but issue is not getting resolved,.

  7. Or you could just go in to the “options” tab of the RDP window (mstsc.exe) and click on the “resources” tab and change the keyboard setting per your convenience. Saves the registry hack trouble πŸ™‚

  8. Thanks! this work great with the latest release (as of March 2015).
    @Gaurav: These changes apply to your HOME pc – the one you are connecting from, you should have rights to that one. If not try the suggestion made by Tushar.
    @Tushar: That doesn’t seem to work for us. I think the RDP is running on a server reached only after we connect through citrix.

    1. Actually, this could have been just my PCE problem. Fixed it by disabling a global hotkey combination starting with Ctrl+C in one of my local applications.

  9. i know it sounds silly but where do i enter the; HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Citrix\ICAClient\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Virtual Channels\Keyboard\TransparentKeyPassthrough

    for windows 7 64, i tried in the cmd however did not recognise it

    Thanks

  10. I’m in the registry and do not see the subsection “Citrix” underneath the software section. I have already downloaded Citrix and currently have a remote desktop running. Please help.

  11. Fantastic – Win7 solution works on Win10 x64 like a charm. This alone enables me to work remotely – Alt-Tab and winkey shortcuts are too important in my workflow. Thanks!

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