Microsoft replaces the old RDC client

Lounge (Discussions)
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Hello friends,

Maybe some of you already knew it, but I came across this:

Microsoft releases new Windows remote desktop app for PCs and mobile devices | ZDNET

This new app is called Windows, well Microsoft is MIcrosoft :upside_down_face:.

Those of you should read this entirely before installing the new app, here is an extract:

If you already have the previous version, installing the new app wipes out the old one.
<...>
After you launch the app, any connections you created under the previous version should be migrated with all their settings intact.

You see the should in the second sentence, I guess that means backup before you go thought the process.

The new app looks promising with the new functionalities.

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I'd recommend using JumpDesktop instead. It's an amazing and very inexpensive (no subscription) tool. I've been using it with clients for years.

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I've used "Remotix" (now called Acronis Cyber Protect Connect) for Many years. It is basically everything that TeamViewer is, plus more, for 10% (Annual $40 or $80 commercial use) of what the pro version of TeamViewer costs. A site license, is less expensive than a single Teamviewer Pro desktop.

Some key features: does not have to use VNC or RDP - both extremely high profile attack vectors - and instead use their fast NEAR codec. When I shut off RDP on a FMS machine, and moved to NEAR, the 10,000+ attack probes on the machine daily (all blocked by the firewall), went to <100.....logs are so much smaller now.

No firewall config required, as it used 443 as the port, which is almost always open. The agent software is free and can be installed on as many Windows, Macs, or Linux boxes as you want. They have a free Remotix HUB, which is a web-based client management tool that provides extensive statistics and control, as well as warning, for all machines with an agent installed where your account is defined as a trusted user.

The Desktop console is robust, and includes view, control or file transfer capabilities, shows current status for all clients, and allows grouping controls (I have a couple hundred machines that I have remote access to. There is a chat client, so support can be done remotely, it allows concurrent access to a desktop, even on Windows, and on a Mac or Linux box, can access in a separate concurrent session, independent of the local user.

There is an iOS version of the console, so even when not in the office, I can offer remote support for clients from an iPad or iPhone.

This is a pro tool, scalable to large corporate use, and well worth the money, IMHO

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  • 1 for Jump Desktop. Very stable. Interacting with the remote desktop is a lot like interacting with the local desktop. I know that's what they all promise on the box but Jump Desktop does a nice job.
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Thanks to all for suggesting alternatives. I would like to hear from those who have used/tested the successor, that it Windows App - such a terrible name.

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This is interesting. I’ve used Anydesk as TeamViewer replacement but it is not as good as TeamViewer because lack of easy installable support agent for remote computer. Will try this. TeamViewer is just too expensive for my usage.

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Plus with JD, it's super simple to share files, change resolution, have multiple different RDP connections open at the same time...etc...

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Right. mstsc was free, the new Microsoft is as well. I have used it for so many years to connect to servers in Canada and USA. The only thing that is horrible is that if you connect to a server/computer whose monitor is higher res than yours, it will mangle the icons on the desktop. The MAC version was much better than the Windows version

@AndyHibbs what is your opinion about the replacement app ?

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Thanks @planteg. We've long experience of using the Mac version of Remote Desktop since the demise of Citrix XenApp Fundamentals which we used to stream FileMaker Pro from cloud servers to macOS since 2011.

First to emphasise how good Jump Desktop is. We manage 20+ Windows servers, both on the cloud and on clients sites and for this, there is nothing as good for macOS. We protect all our servers by requiring SSH connections for full RDP sessions and the built in SSH tuneels makes this a breeze. It does fall behind Remote Desktop/Windows App in workspaces where it still provides an MDI rather than SDI type environment (think FileMaker 15 compared to 16 onwards). However, in every other way, it beats the Microsoft product for RDP Windows support and access (and supports VNC as well).

Equally, the vast majority of our clients use Remote Desktop and now the Windows App for streaming FileMaker Pro as a workspace from Windows RemoteApp servers.

The upgrade from Remote Desktop to Windows App results in some helpdesk calls, as Microsoft (or the App Store) silently replaces Remote Desktop with Windows App, hence any shortcuts in the Dock just disappear. We've had to create a single page PDF to email to our clients showing them how to find the Windows App in Applications and drag it to the dock. I've no experience as to whether a desktop shortcut would any differently. However, after that we've had no operational problems, with Windows App.

Let's be very clear, this is just a rebranding, this is not a completely new app and is simply the next version of what Remote Desktop would have been. We've found no nasty surprises.

One thing to watch out for as FileMaker developers, and as we use workspaces (i.e. just FileMaker) and not the full RDP Windows Explorer environment, we've always had problems matching our UK keyboards (Jump Desktop supports virtually all international keyboards) to a point we add a custom keyboard to each Windows RemoteApp server. This is unnecessary for our FileMaker users by changing the keyboard mode from Scancode to Unicode and it works fine after that. Unless, as a developer, you're used to being able to find table occurrences by typing the first few letters of a TO name, or typing immediately in a script with out using the space bar to add new script step, in which case we have to revert to Scancode.

I'm probably the wrong person to fully comment on using the full RDP control of a Windows server/PC, as for this we simply turn to Jump Desktop. But in terms of the move from Remote Desktop to Windows App, other than the background replacement of the former to the latter, this is just a rebrand and we don't believe there are any nasty surprises.

What I would say is that Microsoft are very progressive with this app. We've been on the beta program for years and the Mac team there used to have access to FileMaker on one of our cloud servers to fix FileMaker related problems we reported. We lost that communication when Microsoft moved from the HockeyApp platform to their current one. However, I reported a problem with their latest beta release yesterday on the feedback website, had an engineer confirm that they had replicated this and had a fix for it, which has been released today and it has fixed it.

Regards
Andy

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Thanks for all the insight on JUMP. One of my developers was happy using that before joining, and moving to Remotix.

I see that Jump Desktop now has their own FLUID protocol (similar to the Remotix NEAR protocol). That should alleviate some of the overhead (and security concerns) of securing VNC or RDP, either of which are always in the top 5 malware attack vectors. Nice that JUMP apparently has all the securing setup / config stuff packaged as part of the product +++

I don't see a LINUX agent in JD? Do you know if that is planned? With a number of my client's FMS on LINUX, this is somewhat of a requirement.

I think I'll stick with Remotix however. At less than half the cost, for an arguably more capable product, I don't see the advantage of JD.

I also have some very large clients - hundreds/thousands of desktops with remote access - that HAD the site license for $1k annually, but I can't find that option on their site now that Acronis has acquired Remotix [GRRRR!!!!]..... Per seat licenses only (I hate that trend in limiting software licensing options). They did add a (very limited) free tier however but bumped the personal and Pro licenses up $5, and the iOS desktop remains at $15

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After reading this I tested Jump for a remote session Mac to Mac via VPN and I was really dissapointed by the performance compared to Apple Remote Access. At least for this use case I'll stick with ARA
2 Cents from Holger

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I bought a new Macbook Pro M4 a few weeks ago and and the same time Ms released windows.app. Initially I suffered major problems with the M4 but not with my 'old' M1 MBP ... same MacOS- and same windows.app-version.

Unfortunate was that I only discovered that being at a customers site and only having the new (of coarse) M4 with me :frowning: Of the 15 windows servers there I could only reach 3 ..... the rest refused connection with 0x0001 or something error. Couldn't find any usefull help and regretted buying the new M4

A couple of weeks ago (not sure how many, maybe 4 of 5) MacOS was updated to 15.3.1 and the problems vanished like snow for the sun. Now windows.app is as stable and eassy to use as RDP.

There's only one drawback in this new version and that is that the connections have such big icons now instead having an nice top down list of text. Getting a quick overview of 30 or 40 rdp server is a lot harder now. Besides that little thing, the app works reliable an fast.