Lifecycle Milestones for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Last updated: October 17, 2017

For each major release of a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops product or component, customers will receive a minimum lifecycle of four years.

The total lifecycle will consist of a mainstream maintenance phase for at least the first three years followed by an extended maintenance phase. After these two phases, customers have the option to purchase an additional phase via the Extended Support Program. The end of this extended support phase is intended to align with the Extended Support end date for the corresponding Microsoft Server OS. The specific dates for each major release of the product are posted within the Product Matrix Table or Legacy Product Matrix Table. For quick reference, those dates are replicated below.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Product Releases

The table below lists the currently maintained major versions of the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops product along with their minimum lifecycle dates:

Product Releases Version GA Date* EOM Date* EOL Date* EOES**
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 5.x 17-Dec-10 17-Dec-14 17-Jan-15 14-Jan-20
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 4.x 16-Nov-09 16-Nov-13 16-May-14 14-Jul-15

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Component Releases

The table below lists the currently maintained major versions of the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops components along with their minimum lifecycle dates:

Product Releases Version GA Date* EOM Date* EOL Date* EOES**
XenClient 5.x 12-Dec-12 12-Dec-15 12-Dec-16 N/A
XenClient 4.x 29-Jun-12 29-Jun-14 29-Jun-15 N/A
Citrix Hypervisor 6.x 26-Sep-11 30-Sep-16 26-Jun-18 N/A
Citrix Virtual Apps for Windows 2003 (including R2) 5.x 3-Sep-08 30-Sep-12 31-Mar-13 14-Jul-16
Citrix Virtual Apps for Windows 2008 5.x 3-Sep-08 13-Jul-14 13-Jan-15 14-Jan-20
Citrix Virtual Apps for Windows Server 2008 R2 6.0 24-Mar-10 24-Feb-16 24-Aug-16 14-Jan-20
Citrix Virtual Apps for Windows Server 2008 R2 6.5 24-Aug-11 **31-Dec-17 or 24-Feb-16 **30-Jun-18 or 24-Aug-16 14-Jan-20
Citrix Virtual Apps for UNIX 4.x 27-Apr-05 30-Sep-16
 31-Dec-16 N/A
Single Sign-on 5.x 24-Aug-11 **31-Dec-17 or 24-Feb-16 **30-Jun-18 or 24-Aug-16 N/A
Single Sign-on 4.x 15-Jun-05 24-Aug-15 24-Feb-16 N/A
Web Interface 5.4 2-Jun-08 **31-Dec-17 or 24-Feb-16 **30-Jun-18 or 24-Aug-16 14-Jan-20
Merchandising Server 2.x 26-Aug-10 26-Aug-14 26-Aug-15 N/A

* Lifecycle Phases: GA (General Availability), EOM (End of Maintenance), EOL (End of Life). For definitions of these terms, click here. EOES (End of Extended Support): This milestone signifies when a specific product release will no longer be covered under the Extended Support Program. Refer to the Software Support Programs page for details on all programs, including the Extended Support Program.

** For customers that remain current in the Software Maintenance or Subscription Advantage and Technical Support programs, the longer term dates are applicable.

Guidance on Components

  1. The Desktop Controller, Studio, Director, Virtual Desktop Agent, Provisioning Services, Machine Creation Services, Profile Management, and Personal vDisk are considered core components that will be maintained and supported according to the lifecycle dates for the product as described in the table at the top of the page. During the Extended Support phase, Citrix will continue to support the most current version of the Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) for each of the valid VDA/OS combinations until the corresponding Desktop or Server OS reaches the Microsoft Extended Support end date.
  2. For each major release of a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops component listed in the table directly above, customers will receive a minimum lifecycle of four years. The total lifecycle will consist of a mainstream maintenance phase for at least the first three years followed by an extended maintenance phase for the remainder of the lifecycle.
  3. Some of the components listed above include lower level components. As examples, Citrix Virtual Apps includes Application Streaming, SmartAuditor, Secure Gateway etc.; Citrix Hypervisor includes StorageLink, Workload Balancing etc. For lifecycle guidance on these lower level components, refer to the lifecycle policies of the corresponding standalone product.
  4. Appliance-based components (e.g. Citrix Gateway and Citrix SD-WAN) are available for sale separately and will be maintained and supported according to the lifecycle dates for the standalone product as posted within the Product Matrix Table or Legacy Product Matrix Table.
  5. For detailed information on Citrix Receiver milestones, please see Lifecycle Milestones for Citrix Receiver.
  6. Any components not covered above are maintained and supported as described by the lifecycle page for non-sale products.


Note: These lifecycle guidelines were introduced in July 2010 and are only applicable to XenDesktop 4.x and XenDesktop 5.x. These guidelines will not be retroactively applied to earlier versions of the product or components.

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