Disabling HTTPS redirection for Citrix VDI in a Box web access.

Update: 22/08/2012 For VDI in a Box 5.1

One of my dislikes for VDI in a Box is the SSL redirection that takes place as soon as you attempt to log in to the web access portal.

SSL redirection I can live with, but the self signed certificate in VDI in a box can’t even be trusted and added as a known host due to the spaces in the name.

So, if you are doing a proof of concept and like me, can’t be arsed fighting with certificate import on these devices, here’s a quick tip to flat out turn off the SSL redirection for desktop logins.

Fire up winscp, and log into the VDI in a box appliance.

Navigate to /home/kvm/kvm/install/servlet_container/webapps/dt/web-inf

take a copy of the web.xml (you’ll thank me if you balls this up)

edit the Web.xml file and remove the highlighted section below:

Save the file

Putty / SSH to the device and issue a “tc_start” to restart tomcat

Note: For VDI in a Box 5.1, I’ve found early copies of the appliance didnt contain this command. If tc_start is not available, reboot the virtual machine via the console or web gui.

Now browse to the http address, tada! No more silly ssl errors.

NOTE: the admin console will still redirect, if you wish to disable this too, remove the following if statement from /home/kvm/install/serlet_container/webapps/admin/index.jsp