Thursday, December 6, 2012

RemoteApp using Windows 8 Hyper-V and a virtual Windows 8


Tweak the virtual machine that is going to host the remote apps


Enable Remote Desktop

    1. Winkey + f, click on "settings" to search for settings
    2. Type "remote" as search term
    3. Click "Allow Remote Access To Your Computer" in search result
    4. The System Properties Panels shows: set radio button  for "Allow remote connections to this computer"
    5. Click on "Ok" to close panel.

Enable RemoteApp (by allowing all applications to start via RDP)

    1. Run regedit: win-key + R and type "regedit" (should start elevated)
    2. Navigate to: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\TSAppAllowList]
    3. Change value for "fDisabledAllowList" to "1" (this is default set to "0")
Restart the machine (the virtual one)

Creating a RemoteApp-RDP file

Create basic RDP file / settings

  1. Start RDP client (win-key + r, type "MSTSC" and press enter)
  2. Set basic settings (like hostname / IP, allow me to save credentials)
  3. Click "Show Options" to show more advanced options.
  4. Click "Save As..." and save RDP file to easy location (desktop?)
  5. Open RDP file from step 4 in a text editor
  6. Add the following settings (at the end of the file and without quotes):
    1. "disableremoteappcapscheck:i:1"
    2. "remoteapplicationprogram:s:notepad"

      *Option 2 is the application the start remotely, if app is not in search path of machine you need to provide complete path to exe.
  7. Change to following settings (without quotes):
    1. set value for "remoteapplicationmode:i:"  to "1"
    2. set value for "alternate shell:s:" to "rdpinit.exe" 

Double click RDP file just created and application should start as remote app (seamless integration within your own desktop)




Sunday, June 10, 2012

Remote Desktop (MSTSC.EXE) on Windows Hyper-V 2012 aka effective use of your 1 machine Hyper-V server/client testlab

What I did:

-Copied the following files from \Windows\System32 on my x64 Windows 8 machine:
    • mstsc.exe
    • mstscax.dll
    • d2d1.dll
    • d3d11.dll
    • msacm32.dll
    • dxgi.dll
    • en-US\mstsc.exe.mui
    • en-US\mstscax.dll.mui

-Created folder structure on USB stick (folder for exe and dll files and sub folder for MUI files with name en-US.

I was able to run MSTSC without moving these files to there "original" location on the Windows Hyper-V 2012  Server.


Hyper-V Server 2012 and remote hyper-v management in a workgroup (on windows 8 client)


For the Windows Hyper-V Server 2012 (=core)

  1. Enable remote config (sconfig.cmd option 4)
  2. Add a local administrator  (sconfig.cmd option 3)
    1. with same username and password as you are using on the Windows 8 Client 
    2. with other username and password (on client you need to use 

      cmdkey /add:<ServerName> /user:<UserName> /pass:<password>
       
       
For other remote admin like Event Viewer, Volume Management etc. some firewall rules need to be enabled:


netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Administration" new enable=yes
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="File and Printer Sharing" new enable=yes
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Service Management" new enable=yes
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Performance Logs and Alerts" new enable=yes
Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Event Log Management" new enable=yes
Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Scheduled Tasks Management" new enable=yes
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Volume Management" new enable=yes
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Desktop" new enable=yes
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Windows Firewall Remote Management" new enable =yes
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="windows management instrumentation (wmi)" new enable =yes
sc config vds start= auto
net start vds


(for readonly remote device manager I enabled GPO "Allow remote access to the Plug and Play interface", but still got an error trying to open a remote device manager)

For the Windows 8 Client

  1. Install Hyper-V Client Tools using "Turn Windows Feature on or off" (win-Q, search on "control panel", etc.)
  2. Start component services config (win-Q, search on "DCOMCNFG", right click and select "Run as administrator"
  3. Select "Console Root > Component Services > Computers > My Computer"
  4. Right click and select properties
  5. Select the tab "COM Security"
  6. Click on "Edit Limits" for the Access Permissions
  7. Allow remote access by setting the checkmark for the "ANONYMOUS LOGON"
For other remote admin like Event Viewer, Volume Management etc. you also need to open firewall on client using script above.

Tested this on the RC version of both server and client.