KB40102 - Pulse Secure Application Launcher (PSAL) to deliver & launch Pulse client applications without the use of Activex & Java

This article describes how Pulse Secure Application Launcher (PSAL) delivers and launches Pulse client applications without the use of ActiveX and Java.

Starting in 8.2R1, due to the end of ActiveX and Java support on many browsers, an alternate solution is provided called Pulse Secure Application Launcher (PSAL).

Pulse Secure Application Launcher allows installation and launch of below components :
Pulse Client
Host Checker
Terminal services
Network Connect
WSAM
HOB applet (Premier Java RDP applet; 8.3R3 and later)
JSAM (8.3R3 and later)
 
This application uses a custom URL, pulsesecure://, to deliver and launch client applications. The custom URL, when invoked, will automatically trigger the new application – Pulse Secure Application Launcher.

Note:  During the initial release in 8.2R1, the solution works for Chrome and Edge browser on Windows and Safari on macOS.  In 8.2R5, full support for Firefox was added for Windows.

Note: Enhanced PSAL support for Mac was added in PCS 9.0R3 which adds support for launching JSAM; Premier Java RDP Applet and other client modules.

For a new user, launching the Pulse client for the first time, it involves following steps:

• Installing Pulse Client using Pulse Secure Application Launcher for the first time.
• Launching Pulse Client using Pulse Secure Application Launcher.

Installing Pulse Client using Pulse Secure Application Launcher for the first time using Chrome (Windows):

To install Pulse Client for the first time:

1. Login to the PCS server using the user name and password given by the administrator.
2. The browser will show a warning message as shown in the figure below. Select Remember my choice for all links of this type, and click Launch Application.

3. In the warning message box that appears, click Yes to allow Pulse Secure to contact the server. If you do not want this prompt to appear in future, click Always.

 

4. The Pulse Application Launcher installs setup client module. The Pulse Application Launcher installs setup client module.

5. In the warning message box that appears, click Yes to download, install and/or execute software from the server.

Note:  For the security reasons, if the user does not respond to the above mentioned warning messages for 
more than two minutes, the following error message will be displayed. In such situation, user has to click 
the Start button again to launch the Pulse Secure client.

6. Windows starts downloading the Pulse Secure software

 

7. For the prompts that appear next, select the options appropriately and complete the installation process.

The Pulse Application Launcher and Pulse Secure Setup Client will be shown in the installed programs list.

 

Installing Pulse Client using Pulse Secure Application Launcher for the first time using Safari (macOS):

1. Login to the PCS server using the user name and password given by the administrator.
2. The browser will show a warning message as shown in the figure below. Select Remember my choice for all links of this type, and click Launch Application.

3. In the warning message box that appears, click Yes to allow Pulse Secure to contact the server. If you do not want this prompt to appear in future, click Always.

4. ​A setup control warning will appear to install the Pulse Secure component.  In the following example, Host Checker is being installed.

5. The following Pulse Secure component will be installed and launch.