RDV Team: Resolution and Scaling Level Updates in RDP 8.1

A new blog post was posted yesterday by David Bélanger, a program manager on the Remote Desktop team. He discusses the improvements made to dynamically update the resolution and scaling level from the local system to the remote session and how this impacts your remote desktop experience.

Some of the topics are Dynamic resolution update, Dynamic scaling level update, Multi-Monitor and RemoteApp programs on high DPI devices.

The blog post is a great summary of the improvements in 8.1!

“…Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 provide improved remote desktop and RemoteApp experiences by dynamically updating the remote resolution and remote scale factor based on changes made locally (on the client PC), without the need to reconnect to the session. These features are enabled by default if both the client and the host are running Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2. Dynamically updating the remote resolution is also available on Windows 7 clients connecting to Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2 hosts with the Remote Desktop Protocol 8.1 Update for Windows 7 SP1 installed on the client…"

For the full article see: Resolution and Scaling Level Updates in RDP 8.1

KB: Users who have the remote audio setting enabled cause the RD Session Host Servers to hang intermittently in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Microsoft has released a new KB article (2895698) regarding a serious issue when using the remote audio setting on a Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RDSG farm! The RD Session Host could in the scenario described below. A hotfix is provided to fix the issue.

“…Consider the following scenario:

• You set up a Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker) and create a load-balanced Remote Desktop (RD) Session Host server farm. The servers in the farm are installed with Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
• You configure Audio and Video Playback on the RD Session Host Servers.
• Users connect to the RD Session Host Servers and have the remote audio setting enabled.

In this situation, the RD Session Host Servers hang intermittently..”

Source & download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2895698/en-us?sd=rss

KB: RD Virtualization Host crashes when you use patch schedule to update personal virtual desktop on Windows Server 2012

Microsoft has released a new Kb Article (2896325) regarding an issue when setting up a patch schedule on VM-Based Desktop Deployments in Windows Server 2012, in which case the Remote Desktop Virtualization Host Agent service might terminate unexpectedly.

“…Consider the following scenario:

• You have computers that run Windows Server 2012.
• You deploy Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) in your environment.
• You install and configure the Remote Desktop Virtualization Host (RD Virtualization Host), the Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker), and the Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access) role services on the computer(s).
• You create a patch schedule for a personal virtual desktop.

In this situation, the Remote Desktop Virtualization Host Agent service might terminate unexpectedly…”

Source & download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2896325/en-us?sd=rss

Availability of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Patent License for RDP 8.0.

Just announced on the Microsoft RDV team blog:

“…Microsoft is pleased to announce the availability of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Patent License for RDP 8.0.

Today, partners are developing a variety of different solutions that utilize RDP. Examples of these solutions include:

• Non-Windows thin client devices
• RDP client and server software
• Third-party collaboration software that consumes the RDP stream

Documentation describing the RDP feature set is available for free on the Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN) website.

Microsoft requires RDP implementers to obtain a patent license for RDP and recently made it easier to obtain the required patent license by using a fixed fee agreement. Pursuant to the fixed fee agreement, an RDP implementer receives a patent license to use the RDP 8.0 feature set to interact with the appropriately licensed Windows Remote Desktop clients and servers and any new versions of the RDP feature set released during the term of the agreement.

As an RDP implementer, you will enjoy:

Free documentation support via community forums

Invitations to protocol PlugFest events

Message Analyzer tool, a protocol analyzer that allows you to capture, view, and analyze network traffic

Test suites: Microsoft has begun releasing test suites for different protocols and will continue to roll them out over time

Reference source code: An optional addendum to the RDP license enables access to:

• RDP 7.1 reference sources
• RDP 8.0 progressive Codec and Clear Codec reference sources…”

Source and more info: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2013/12/11/remote-desktop-protocol-licensing-available-for-rdp-8-0.aspx

RemoteFX vGPU Improvements in Windows Server 2012 R2

The Microsoft RDV team have published a new blog post on RemoteFX vGPU improvements in the R2 release of Windows Server 2012.

The blog post covers the following four improvements in great detail

1. Improving DirectX API coverage

2. Support for higher monitor resolutions and higher default monitor resolutions

3. Exposing higher VRAM to RemoteFX vGPU-enabled virtual machines

4. Higher scale by leveraging NUMA in Windows Server 2012 R2

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2013/12/04/remotefx-vgpu-improvements-in-windows-server-2012-r2.aspx