Configure Remote Desktop Web Connection Behavior

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

Remote Desktop Web Connection enables a user to connect to the desktop of a remote computer from the RD Web Access Web site. To connect to a remote computer, the following conditions must be true:

  • The remote computer must be configured to accept Remote Desktop connections.

  • The user must be a member of the Remote Desktop Users group on the remote computer.

A user can access Remote Desktop Web Connection by clicking the Remote Desktop tab on the RD Web Access page. As an administrator, you can configure whether the Remote Desktop tab is available to users. Additionally, you can configure settings such as the RD Gateway server to use, and the default device and resource redirection options.

Membership in the local Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477.

To configure Remote Desktop Web Connection behavior

  1. On the RD Web Access server, start Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. To do this, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

  2. In the left pane, expand the server name, expand Sites, expand Default Web Site, expand RDWeb, and then click Pages.

  3. In the middle pane, under ASP.NET, double-click Application Settings.

  4. To change Remote Desktop Web Connection settings, modify the values in the Application Settings pane.

    • To configure a default RD Gateway server, double-click DefaultTSGateway, enter the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the server in the Value box (for example, server1.contoso.com), and then click OK.

    • To specify the RD Gateway authentication method, double-click GatewayCredentialsSource, type the number that corresponds to the desired authentication method in the Value box, and then click OK. The possible values include:

      0 = Ask for password (NTLM)

      1 = Smart card

      4 = Allow user to select later

    • To configure whether the Remote Desktop tab appears on the RD Web Access Web page, double-click ShowDesktops. In the Value box, type true to show the Remote Desktop tab, or type false to hide the Remote Desktop tab. When you are finished, click OK.

    • To configure default device and resource redirection settings, double-click the setting that you want to modify (xClipboard, xDriveRedirection, xPnPRedirection, xPortRedirection, or xPrinterRedirection). In the Value box, type true to enable the redirection setting by default, or type false to disable the redirection setting by default, and then click OK.

  5. When you are finished, close IIS Manager.

    Your changes should take effect immediately on the RD Web Access Web site. If the Web page is open, refresh the page to view the changes.

Note

You can also configure these settings by modifying the %windir%\Web\RDWeb\Pages\Web.config file directly by using a text editor such as Notepad.

Additional references