Deploying Microsoft RemoteFX for Personal Virtual Desktops Step-by-Step Guide

Transcription

1 Deploying Microsoft RemoteFX for Personal Virtual Desktops Step-by-Step Guide Microsoft Corporation Published: June 2010 Abstract This step-by-step guide walks you through the process of setting up a working personal virtual desktop using RemoteFX in a test environment.

2 Copyright Information This document supports a preliminary release of a software product that may be changed substantially prior to final commercial release, and is the confidential and proprietary information of Microsoft Corporation. It is disclosed pursuant to a non-disclosure agreement between the recipient and Microsoft. This document is provided for informational purposes only and Microsoft makes no warranties, either express or implied, in this document. Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to change without notice. The entire risk of the use or the results from the use of this document remains with the user. Unless otherwise noted, the companies, organizations, products, domain names, addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted in examples herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, and Active Directory, RemoteApp, Windows, and Windows Server are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

3 Contents Deploying Microsoft RemoteFX for Personal Virtual Desktops Step-by-Step Guide... 5 About this guide... 5 Related Documents... 5 Prerequisites... 6 Technology review... 6 Scenario: Deploying RemoteFX for a personal virtual desktop in a test environment... 6 Step 1: Setting up the Contoso Domain... 8 Configure the RD Virtualization Host server (RDVH-SRV) Configure the RD Connection Broker server (RDCB-SRV) Configure the RD Web Access server (RDWA-SRV) Step 2: Installing and Configuring the Virtual Machine Install the personal virtual desktop computer (PVD1-CLNT) Configure the virtual machine for Remote Desktop Services Step 3: Configuring the Personal Virtual Desktop Step 4: Installing and Configuring RemoteFX Step 5: Verifying RemoteFX for Personal Virtual Desktops Functionality Step 6: Configuring RemoteFX for an Optimal Experience Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions Frequently Asked Questions Why is the virtual machine connection console disconnected when RemoteFX is enabled? 26 How can I tell whether my GPU has sufficient video memory? How can I tell whether my Remote Desktop session is using RemoteFX? Are multiple GPUs supported on a single RemoteFX server? Troubleshooting An error occurred while attempting to start the selected virtual machine(s): Failed to Power on with Error Unspecified error An error occurred while attempting to start the selected virtual machine(s): Microsoft Synthetic 3D Display Controller failed to power on An error occurred while attempting to start the selected virtual machine(s) Unable to remote into the virtual machine once the Virtual GPU is installed: Connection was denied because the user account is not authorized for remote login Performance using my RemoteFX virtual desktop is slow I see artifacts on my RemoteFX-enabled virtual desktop My RemoteFX-enabled session falls back to a single monitor session... 28

4 An event is logged for RemoteFX-enabled virtual machines: Using CPU to compress because of insufficient GPU resources... 29

5 Deploying Microsoft RemoteFX for Personal Virtual Desktops Step-by-Step Guide About this guide This documentation is preliminary and subject to change. This step-by-step guide walks you through the process of setting up a working personal virtual desktop using RemoteFX in a test environment. During this process, you will create a test deployment that includes the following components: A Remote Desktop Virtualization Host (RD Virtualization Host) server using RemoteFX A Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker) server A Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) server in redirection mode A Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access) server A virtual machine configured as a personal virtual desktop This guide assumes that you previously completed the steps in the Installing Remote Desktop Session Host Step-by-Step Guide ( and that you have already deployed the following components: An RD Session Host server A Remote Desktop Connection client computer An Active Directory Domain Services domain controller As you complete the steps in this guide, you will: Set up the necessary servers in the CONTOSO domain. Install and configure the virtual machine to be used as a personal virtual desktop. Configure the personal virtual desktop. Install and configure RemoteFX. Verify that the personal virtual desktop is functioning correctly. Configure RemoteFX for an optimal experience. The goal of a personal virtual desktop is to provide a user with a virtual desktop that is assigned to only that user. Related Documents The following documents can assist you in configuring RemoteFX : Hardware requirements for RemoteFX ( Online help for configuring RemoteFX ( Online help for configuring the RemoteFX 3D video adapter ( 5

6 What s New in RemoteFX ( Deploying a Single RemoteFX Server Step-by-Step Guide ( Deploying RemoteFX for Virtual Desktop Pools Step-by-Step Guide ( Configuring USB Device Redirection with RemoteFX Step-by-Step Guide ( Prerequisites When implementing RemoteFX, the following things should be considered: The RemoteFX server and the RemoteFX-enabled virtual desktop must meet the RemoteFX hardware requirements. For more information about the hardware requirements when deploying RemoteFX, see the Windows Server 2008 Technical Library ( Ensure that Hyper-threading is enabled in the BIOS of the RD Virtualization Host server. Per the Windows 7 requirements, if you are using an x86-based virtual machine, you must configure at least 1024 megabytes of RAM. If you are using an x64-based virtual machine, you must configure at least 2048 megabytes of RAM. Ensure that you are running the matching build of Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 on the RemoteFX server, Windows 7 with SP1 on the virtual machine, and Windows 7 with SP1 on the client computer. Ensure that there is a LAN connection between the client and the RD Virtualization Host server. Ensure that Windows Aero is enabled on the RemoteFX-enabled virtual machines. Technology review Included as part of the RD Virtualization Host role service, RemoteFX enables the delivery of a full Windows client user experience to a full range of client devices including rich clients, thin clients, and ultra thin clients. RemoteFX delivers a rich user experience for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) by rendering content on the server by using graphics processing units (GPUs) that are present on the server and share across multiple virtual desktops. The RemoteFX experience renders a range of content including DirectX and all types of multimedia and is optimized for LAN-based networks. Scenario: Deploying RemoteFX for a personal virtual desktop in a test environment We recommend that you first use the steps provided in this guide in a test lab environment. Stepby-step guides are not necessarily meant to be used to deploy Windows Server features without additional deployment documentation and should be used with discretion as a stand-alone document. 6

7 Upon completion of this step-by-step guide, you will have a personal virtual desktop with RemoteFX assigned to a user account that can connect by using RD Web Access. You can then test and verify this functionality by connecting to the personal virtual desktop from RD Web Access as a standard user. The test environment described in this guide includes seven computers connected to a private network using the following operating systems, applications, and services: Computer name Operating system Applications and services CONTOSO-DC Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), DNS RDSH-SRV Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 RD Session Host CONTOSO-CLNT Windows 7 with SP1 Remote Desktop Connection RDVH-SRV RDCB-SRV RDWA-SRV Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 RD Virtualization Host, RemoteFX, Hyper-V RD Connection Broker RD Web Access PVD1-CLNT Windows 7 with SP1 Virtual machine The computers form a private network and are connected through a common hub or Layer 2 switch. This step-by-step exercise uses private addresses throughout the test lab configuration. The private network ID /24 is used for the network. The domain controller is named CONTOSO-DC for the domain named contoso.com. The following figure shows the configuration of the test environment. 7

8 Step 1: Setting up the Contoso Domain This documentation is preliminary and subject to change. To prepare your personal virtual desktop using RemoteFX test environment in the CONTOSO domain, you must complete the following tasks: Configure the Remote Desktop Virtualization Host (RD Virtualization Host) server (RDVH- SRV) Configure the Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker) server (RDCB- SRV) Configure the Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access) server (RDWA-SRV) Use the following table as a reference when setting up the appropriate computer names, operating systems, and network settings that are required to complete the steps in this guide. Important Before you configure your computers with static Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, we recommend that you first complete Windows product activation while each of your computers still has Internet connectivity. You should also install any available critical security updates from Windows Update ( Computer name Operating system IP settings DNS settings requirement CONTOSO-DC Windows Server 2008 R2 IP address: Configured by DNS server role Subnet mask:

9 Computer name Operating system requirement IP settings DNS settings Default gateway: RDSH-SRV Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 IP address: Subnet mask: Preferred: Default gateway: CONTOSO-CLNT Windows 7 with SP1 IP address: Subnet mask: Default gateway: Preferred: RDVH-SRV Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 IP address: Subnet mask: Preferred: Default gateway: RDCB-SRV Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 IP address: Subnet mask: Preferred: Default gateway: RDWA-SRV Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 IP address: Subnet mask: Preferred: Default gateway:

10 Configure the RD Virtualization Host server (RDVH-SRV) To configure the RD Virtualization Host server, you must: Install Windows Server 2008 R2with SP1. Add the Hyper-V server role. Configure TCP/IP properties. Join RDVH-SRV to the contoso.com domain. Install the graphics card driver. First, install Windows Server 2008 R2with SP1 on a stand-alone server. To install Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 1. Start your computer by using the Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 product DVD. Note You can also install Windows Server 2008 R2 and then upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 by using the Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 update package. 2. When prompted to select the operating system you want to install, click Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation), and then click Next. Note Using RemoteFX with Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 Standard and Hyper-V editions are also supported. 3. When prompted for a computer name, type RDVH-SRV. 4. Follow the rest of the instructions that appear on your screen to finish the installation. Next, add the Hyper-V server role. To add the Hyper-V server role 1. Log on to RDVH-SRV with the RDVH-SRV\Administrator account. 2. Open Server Manager. To open Server Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager. 3. Under Roles Summary, click Add Roles. 4. On the Before You Begin page of the Add Roles Wizard, click Next. 5. On the Select Server Roles page, select the Hyper-V check box, and then click Next. 6. On the Introduction to Hyper-V page, click Next. 7. On the Create Virtual Networks page, click Next. 8. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, click Install. 9. When the installation finishes, click Close. 10. Click Yes to restart the computer. The computer may restart twice. This is expected behavior. 10

11 Next, configure TCP/IP properties so that RDVH-SRV has an IPv4 static IP address of To configure TCP/IP properties 1. Log on to RDVH-SRV with the RDVH-SRV\Administrator account. 2. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet, click Network and Sharing Center, click Change adapter settings, right-click Local Area Connection, and then click Properties. 3. On the Networking tab, select the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) check box, and then click Properties. 4. Click Use the following IP address. In the IP address box, type In the Subnet mask box, type In the Default gateway box, type Important This IP address should be assigned to the virtual network adapter. 5. Click Use the following DNS server addresses. In the Preferred DNS server box, type Click OK, and then close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box. Next, join RDVH-SRV to the contoso.com domain. To join RDVH-SRV to the contoso.com domain 1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties. 2. Under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings, click Change settings. 3. On the Computer Name tab, click Change. 4. In the Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box, under Member of, click Domain, and then type contoso.com. 5. Click More, and in the Primary DNS suffix of this computer box, type contoso.com. 6. Click OK, and then click OK again. 7. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears prompting you for administrative credentials, provide the credentials for CONTOSO\Administrator, and then click OK. 8. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears welcoming you to the contoso.com domain, click OK. 9. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears telling you that the computer must be restarted, click OK, and then click Close. 10. Click Restart Now. Finally, install the graphics card driver by using a driver supplied by the graphics card manufacturer. To install the graphics card driver 1. Download the latest graphics card driver installation file from the manufacturers Web site. 11

12 2. Install the driver on to the RD Virtualization Host server and then restart the computer. Important Ensure that you download and install the latest driver for the graphics card that is installed in the RemoteFX server. Do not rely on the graphics card driver that is included with Windows Server 2008 R2. Configure the RD Connection Broker server (RDCB-SRV) To configure the RD Connection Broker server, you must: Install Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1. Configure TCP/IP properties. Join RDCB-SRV to the contoso.com domain. Install the RD Connection Broker role service. First, install Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 on a stand-alone server. To install Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 1. Start your computer by using the Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 product DVD. Note You can also install Windows Server 2008 R2 and then upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 by using the Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 update package. 2. When prompted to select the operating system you want to install, click Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation), and then click Next. 3. When prompted for a computer name, type RDCB-SRV. 4. Follow the rest of the instructions that appear on your screen to finish the installation. Next, configure TCP/IP properties so that RDCB-SRV has a static IP address of In addition, configure the DNS server by using the IP address of CONTOSO-DC ( ). To configure TCP/IP properties 1. Log on to RDCB-SRV with the RDCB-SRV\Administrator account or another user account in the local Administrators group. 2. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet, click Network and Sharing Center, click Change adapter settings, right-click Local Area Connection, and then click Properties. 3. On the Networking tab, select the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) check box, and then click Properties. 4. Click Use the following IP address. In the IP address box, type In the Subnet mask box, type In the Default gateway box, type Click Use the following DNS server addresses. In the Preferred DNS server box, type 12

13 Click OK, and then close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box. Next, join RDCB-SRV to the contoso.com domain. To join RDCB-SRV to the contoso.com domain 1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties. 2. Under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings, click Change settings. 3. On the Computer Name tab, click Change. 4. In the Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box, under Member of, click Domain, and then type contoso.com. 5. Click More, and in the Primary DNS suffix of this computer box, type contoso.com. 6. Click OK, and then click OK again. 7. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears prompting you for administrative credentials, provide the credentials for CONTOSO\Administrator, and then click OK. 8. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears welcoming you to the contoso.com domain, click OK. 9. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears telling you that the computer must be restarted, click OK, and then click Close. 10. Click Restart Now. Finally, install the RD Connection Broker role service by using Server Manager. To install the RD Connection Broker role service 1. Log on to RDCB-SRV as CONTOSO\Administrator. 2. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager. 3. Under the Roles Summary heading, click Add Roles. 4. On the Before You Begin page, click Next. 5. On the Select Server Roles page, click the Remote Desktop Services check box, and then click Next. 6. On the Remote Desktop Services page, click Next. 7. On the Select Role Services page, select the Remote Desktop Connection Broker check box, and then click Next. 8. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, click Install. 9. After the installation is complete, click Close. Configure the RD Web Access server (RDWA-SRV) To configure the RD Web Access server, you must: Install Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1. 13

14 Configure TCP/IP properties. Join RDWA-SRV to the contoso.com domain. Install the RD Web Access role service. First, install Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 on a stand-alone server. To install Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 1. Start your computer by using the Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 product DVD. Note You can also install Windows Server 2008 R2 and then upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 by using the Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 update package. 2. When prompted to select the operating system you want to install, click Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation), and then click Next. 3. When prompted for a computer name, type RDWA-SRV. 4. Follow the rest of the instructions that appear on your screen to finish the installation. Next, configure TCP/IP properties so that RDWA-SRV has an IPv4 static IP address of To configure TCP/IP properties 1. Log on to RDWA-SRV with the RDWA-SRV\Administrator account. 2. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet, click Network and Sharing Center, click Change adapter settings, right-click Local Area Connection, and then click Properties. 3. On the Networking tab, select the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) check box, and then click Properties. 4. Click Use the following IP address. In the IP address box, type In the Subnet mask box, type In the Default gateway box, type Click Use the following DNS server addresses. In the Preferred DNS server box, type Click OK, and then close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box. Next, join RDWA-SRV to the contoso.com domain. To join RDWA-SRV to the contoso.com domain 1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties. 2. Under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings, click Change settings. 3. On the Computer Name tab, click Change. 4. In the Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box, under Member of, click Domain, and then type contoso.com. 5. Click More, and in the Primary DNS suffix of this computer box, type contoso.com. 14

15 6. Click OK, and then click OK again. 7. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears prompting you for administrative credentials, provide the credentials for CONTOSO\Administrator, and then click OK. 8. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears welcoming you to the contoso.com domain, click OK. 9. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears telling you that the computer must be restarted, click OK, and then click Close. 10. Click Restart Now. Finally, install the RD Web Access role service by using Server Manager. To install the RD Web Access role service 1. Log on to RDWA-SRV as CONTOSO\Administrator. 2. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager. 3. Under the Roles Summary heading, click Add Roles. 4. On the Before You Begin page, click Next. 5. On the Select Server Roles page, select the Remote Desktop Services check box, and then click Next. 6. On the Remote Desktop Services page, click Next. 7. On the Select Role Services page, select the Remote Desktop Web Access check box. 8. Review the information about adding Web Server (IIS) and the Remote Server Administration Tools, click Add Required Role Services, and then click Next. 9. On the Web Server (IIS) page, click Next. 10. On the Select Role Services page, click Next. 11. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, click Install. 12. After the installation is complete, click Close. Step 2: Installing and Configuring the Virtual Machine This documentation is preliminary and subject to change. In this step, you will install and configure the virtual machine that will be used as a personal virtual desktop. Use the following table as a reference when setting up the appropriate computer name, operating system, and network settings that are required to complete the steps in this guide. 15

16 Computer name Operating system requirement IP settings DNS settings PVD1-CLNT Windows 7 with SP1 IP address: Subnet mask: Default gateway: Preferred: Install the personal virtual desktop computer (PVD1-CLNT) To configure the virtual machine that will be used as a personal virtual desktop, you must install Windows 7 with SP1 on the virtual machine, configure TCP/IP properties, and then join the virtual machine to the contoso.com domain. To install Windows 7 with SP1 on a virtual machine 1. Log on to RDVH-SRV as CONTOSO\Administrator. 2. Insert the Windows 7 with SP1 DVD into the DVD drive on the RDVH-SRV server. 3. Open Hyper-V Manager. To open Hyper-V Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager. 4. Right-click RDVH-SRV, point to New, and then click Virtual Machine. 5. On the Before You Begin page, click Next. 6. In the Name box, type pvd1-clnt.contoso.com and then click Next. 7. On the Assign Memory page, in the Memory box, type 1024 if you are using a 32-bit version of Windows 7 with SP1. If you are using a 64-bit version of Windows 7 with SP1, type Click Next. 9. On the Configure Networking page, in the Connection box, select the virtual network that contains the other machines in the contoso.com domain, and then click Next. 10. On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, in the Name box, type pvd1- clnt.contoso.com, in the Size box, type 30 and then click Next. 11. On the Installation Options page, click Install an operating system from a boot CD/DVD-ROM drive. 12. In the Physical CD/DVD drive box, select the DVD drive that contains the Windows 7 with SP1 DVD, and then click Next. 13. On the Completing the New Virtual Machine Wizard page, review the installation options, and then click Finish. 16

17 14. In the Virtual Machines area, right-click pvd1-clnt.contoso.com, and then click Connect. 15. On the Action menu, click Start to start the installation of Windows 7 with SP During the installation of the virtual machine, specify pvd1-clnt as the name of the computer. Next, configure TCP/IP properties so that PVD1-CLNT has a static IP address of In addition, configure the DNS server of CONTOSO-DC ( ). To configure TCP/IP properties 1. Log on to PVD1-CLNT as a member of the local Administrators group. 2. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet, and then click Network and Sharing Center. 3. Click Change adapter settings, right-click Local Area Connection, and then click Properties. 4. On the Networking tab, click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), and then click Properties. 5. Click Use the following IP address. In the IP address box, type In the Subnet mask box, type In the Default gateway box, type Click Use the following DNS server addresses. In the Preferred DNS server box, type Click OK, and then close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box. Finally, join PVD1-CLNT to the contoso.com domain. To join PVD1-CLNT to the contoso.com domain 1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties. 2. Under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings, click Change settings. 3. On the Computer Name tab, click Change. 4. In the Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box, under Member of, click Domain, and then type contoso.com. 5. Click More, and in the Primary DNS suffix of this computer box, type contoso.com. 6. Click OK, and then click OK again. 7. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears prompting you for administrative credentials, provide the CONTOSO\Administrator credentials, and then click OK. 8. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears welcoming you to the contoso.com domain, click OK. 9. When a Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box appears telling you that the computer must be restarted, click OK, and then click Close. 10. Click Restart Now. 17

18 Configure the virtual machine for Remote Desktop Services After the virtual machine is installed and configured for the contoso.com domain, you must configure it to work with Remote Desktop Services. You can either configure the virtual machine by using the script found on the Script Center ( or manually configuring the personal virtual desktop. If you configured the personal virtual desktop by using the script, you can skip to the section named Step 3: Configuring the Personal Virtual Desktop of this document. If you want manually configure the personal virtual desktop, do the following steps: Enable Remote Desktop. Add the user accounts that will be using this virtual machine to the local Remote Desktop Users security group. Allow Remote RPC. Create a firewall exception to allow Remote Services Management. Add permissions to the RDP protocol. First, you must enable Remote Desktop. To enable Remote Desktop 1. Log on to PVD1-CLNT as a member of the local Administrators group. 2. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties. 3. Click Remote settings. 4. Under Remote Desktop, click Allow connections only from computers using Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (more secure), and then click OK. Next, add the user accounts that will be using this virtual machine to the local Remote Desktop Users security group on PVD1-CLNT. In this guide, we will add Morgan Skinner. To add Morgan Skinner to the local Remote Desktop Users group 1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. 2. Click System and Security, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. 3. Expand Local Users and Groups, and then click Groups. 4. Right-click Remote Desktop Users, and then click Add to Group. 5. Click Add, and in the Select Users, Computers, Service Accounts, or Groups dialog box, type contoso\mskinner and then click OK. 6. Close the Remote Desktop Users Properties dialog box. Important 18

19 All users who will be using RemoteFX on this virtual desktop must be a member of the Remote Desktop Users group, even user accounts who are a member of the local Administrators group. Next, allow Remote RPC on PVD1-CLNT. To allow Remote RPC for Remote Desktop Services 1. Log on to PVD1-CLNT as a member of the local Administrators group. 2. Click Start, and in the Search programs and files box, type regedit.exe and then press ENTER. Caution Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer. 3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer. 4. Double-click the AllowRemoteRPC registry entry. In the Value data box, type 1 and then click OK. 5. Close Registry Editor. Next, enable the Remote Service Management Windows Firewall exception. To enable the Remote Service Management Windows Firewall exception 1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click System and Security. 2. Under the Windows Firewall heading, click Allow a program through Windows Firewall. 3. Select the Remote Service Management check box, and then click OK. Finally, you must grant the RDVH-SRV computer account permissions to the RDP protocol on PVD1-CLNT and then restart the Remote Desktop Services service on PVD1-CLNT. The RDVH- SRV computer account needs the WINSTATION_QUERY, WINSTATION_LOGOFF, and WINSTATION_DISCONNECT permissions on PVD1-CLNT. To add RDP protocol permissions to a virtual machine 1. Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Accessories. 2. Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. 3. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Yes. 4. At the command prompt, type the following commands: wmic /node:localhost RDPERMISSIONS where TerminalName="RDP-Tcp" CALL AddAccount "contoso\rdvh-srv$",1 wmic /node:localhost RDACCOUNT where "(TerminalName='RDP-Tcp' or TerminalName='Console') and AccountName='contoso\\rdvh-srv$'" CALL 19

20 ModifyPermissions 0,1 wmic /node:localhost RDACCOUNT where "(TerminalName='RDP-Tcp' or TerminalName='Console') and AccountName='contoso\\rdvh-srv$'" CALL ModifyPermissions 2,1 wmic /node:localhost RDACCOUNT where "(TerminalName='RDP-Tcp' or TerminalName='Console') and AccountName='contoso\\rdvh-srv$'" CALL ModifyPermissions 9,1 Net stop termservice Net start termservice 5. Log off the PVD1-CLNT computer. This is required in order for Morgan Skinner to log on to the personal virtual desktop successfully. Step 3: Configuring the Personal Virtual Desktop This documentation is preliminary and subject to change. In this step, we will configure the personal virtual desktop. To do this, you should do the following: Add RDWA-SRV to the TS Web Access Computers security group on RDCB-SRV. Configure a source on Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access). Configure the personal virtual desktop on the Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker) server (RDCB-SRV). Assign a user account to the personal virtual desktop (PVD1-CLNT). First, add the computer account object of the RD Web Access server (RDWA-SRV) to the TS Web Access Computers security group on RDCB-SRV. To add RDWA-SRV to the TS Web Access Computers group on RDCB-SRV 1. Log on to RDCB-SRV as a member of the local Administrators group. 2. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Computer Management. 3. Expand Local Users and Groups, and then click Groups. 4. Right-click TS Web Access Computers, and then click Add to Group. 5. Click Add. 6. In the Select Users, Computers, Service Accounts, or Groups dialog box, click Object Types. 7. In the Object Types dialog box, select the Computers check box, and then click OK. 8. In the Enter the object names to select box, type rdwa-srv and then click OK. 9. Click OK to close the TS Web Access Computers dialog box. Next, configure a source on the RD Web Access server (RDWA-SRV). 20

21 To configure a source on RDWA-SRV 1. Log on to RDWA-SRV as a member of the local Administrators group. 2. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, point to Remote Desktop Services, and then click Remote Desktop Web Access Configuration. 3. Click Continue to this website (not recommended). Important This guide uses a self-signed certificate for the RD Web Access server. Selfsigned certificates are not recommended in a production environment. You should use a certificate that is trusted from a certification provider when deploying RD Web Access in a production environment. 4. In the Domain\user name box, type CONTOSO\Administrator. 5. In the Password box, type the password that you specified for CONTOSO\Administrator, and then click Sign in. 6. On the Configuration page, click An RD Connection Broker server. 7. In the Source name box, type rdcb-srv and then click OK. Next, configure the personal virtual desktop on the Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker) server (RDCB-SRV) and assign it to CONTOSO\mskinner. To configure the personal virtual desktop on RDCB-SRV 1. Log on to RDCB-SRV as CONTOSO\Administrator. 2. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, point to Remote Desktop Services, and then click Remote Desktop Connection Manager. 3. In the Actions pane, click Configure Virtual Desktops Wizard. 4. On the Before You Begin page, click Next. 5. On the Specify an RD Virtualization Host Server page, in the Server name box, type rdvh-srv, click Add, and then click Next. 6. On the Configure Redirection Settings page, in the Server name box, type rdsh-srv and then click Next. For more details on installing the RD Session Host role service, see Installing Remote Desktop Session Host Step-by-Step Guide ( 7. On the Specify an RD Web Access Server page, click Next. 8. On the Confirm Changes page, click Apply. 9. Ensure that the Assign personal virtual desktop check box is selected, and then click Finish. 10. On the Assign Personal Virtual Desktop page, click Select User. 11. In the Enter the object name to select box, type contoso\mskinner and then click OK. 12. In the Virtual machine box, click pvd1-clnt.contoso.com, and then click Next. 13. Confirm that the User name and Virtual machine boxes are correct, and then click 21

22 Assign. 14. Clear the Assign another virtual machine to another user check box, and then click Finish. Step 4: Installing and Configuring RemoteFX This documentation is preliminary and subject to change. In this step, you will do the following: Enable RemoteFX. Configure the custom RDP settings. Install the RemoteFX 3D video adapter on the personal virtual desktop. First, you must enable RemoteFX on the RDVH-SRV computer. To enable RemoteFX 1. Log on to RDVH-SRV as CONTOSO\Administrator. 2. Open Server Manager. To open Server Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager. 3. Under the Roles Summary heading, click Add Roles. 4. On the Before You Begin page of the Add Roles Wizard, click Next. 5. On the Select Server Roles page, select the Remote Desktop Services check box, and then click Next. 6. On the Introduction to Remote Desktop Services page, click Next. 7. On the Select Role Services page, select the RemoteFX check box. The Core Services check box will be automatically selected and installed when RemoteFX is installed. 8. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, verify that the RD Virtualization Host role service will be installed, and then click Install. 9. On the Installation Results page, you are prompted to restart the server to finish the installation process. Click Close, and then click Yes to restart the server. 10. After the server restarts and you log on to the computer as CONTOSO\Administrator, the remaining steps of the installation finish. When the Installation Results page appears, confirm that installation of the RD Virtualization Host role service succeeded, and then close Server Manager. Note You may see warnings on the Installation Results page. For the purposes of this guide, these warnings can be ignored. Next, you must configure the custom RDP settings for the virtual desktop pool to always use a LAN connection speed. 22

23 To configure the custom RDP settings 1. Log on to RDCB-SRV as the CONTOSO\Administrator user account. 2. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, point to Remote Desktop Services, and then click Remote Desktop Connection Manager. 3. Expand RD Virtualization Host Servers. 4. Right-click Personal Virtual Desktops, and then click Properties. 5. Click the Custom RDP Settings tab. 6. In the Custom RDP settings box, type connection type:i:6 and then click OK. Instead of configuring the custom RDP settings, you can also give your users the option to configure their connection speed when logging on to the RD Web Access server. This is configured by editing the web.config file on the RDCB-SRV server. To show the connection speed check box 1. Log on to RDCB-SRV as the CONTOSO\Administrator user account. 2. Navigate to C:\Windows\Web\RDWeb\Pages. 3. Double-click the web.config file. 4. Under AppSettings, change the following settings to true. <add key="showoptimizeexperience" value="true" /> <add key="optimizeexperiencestate" value="true" /> 5. Save the file, and then close Notepad. Finally, install the 3D video adapter on the personal virtual desktop. To install the 3D video adapter 1. Shut down the PVD1-CLNT virtual desktop. 2. Open Hyper-V Manager. To open Hyper-V Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager. 3. Under Virtual Machines, right-click pvd1-clnt.contoso.com, and then click Settings. 4. Click Add Hardware. 5. In the Select the devices you want to add box, click Synthetic 3D Video Adapter, and then click Add. Important You can also choose the maximum number of monitor and maximum monitor resolution. For the purposes of this guide, we will use the default settings. For more information on the amount of dedicated video memory required for a maximum number of monitors and a maximum resolution, see the Hardware Requirements topic ( on the Windows Server 2008 R2 Technical Library. 23

24 6. Click OK to add the 3D Video Adapter. 7. Under Virtual Machines, right-click pvd1-clnt.contoso.com, and then click Start. 8. Under Virtual Machines, right-click pvd1-clnt.contoso.com, and then click Connect. 9. Log on to the PVD1-CLNT computer as a member of the local Administrators group. 10. The RemoteFX 3D Video Adapter driver will install. When you dialog box asking you to restart the computer appears, Restart Now. Important After the virtual machine restarts, you will see a black screen on the virtual machine console with the message Video Remoting was disconnected. The virtual machine is using the 3D video adaptor which is not supported by the Virtual Machine Connection console. This is expected. You will not be able to log into the virtual machine from the Virtual Machine Connection. You will be able to remote into the virtual machine using an account that is a part of the Remote Desktop Users group on the virtual machine. Step 5: Verifying RemoteFX for Personal Virtual Desktops Functionality This documentation is preliminary and subject to change. To verify the functionality of the personal virtual desktop deployment, you will log on as Morgan Skinner and connect to the personal virtual desktop with RemoteFX by using Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access). To connect to the personal virtual desktop 1. Log on to CONTOSO-CLNT as Morgan Skinner (CONTOSO\mskinner). 2. Click Start, point to All Programs, and then click Internet Explorer. 3. In the Address bar, type and then press ENTER. 4. Click Continue to this website (not recommended). Important This guide uses a self-signed certificate for the RD Web Access server. Selfsigned certificates are not recommended in a production environment. You should use a certificate that is trusted from a certification provider when deploying RD Web Access in a production environment. 5. In the Domain\user name box, type CONTOSO\mskinner. 6. In the Password box, type the password that you specified for Morgan Skinner, and then click Sign in. 24

25 Note In you receive a prompt asking you to install the Microsoft Remote Desktop Services Web Access Control, click Run Add-on, and then click Run. 7. Click My Desktop, and then click Connect. 8. When prompted, enter the credentials for Morgan Skinner, and then click OK. 9. As an optional step, verify that Event ID 2 in the Microsoft-Windows- RemoteDesktopServices-RdpCoreTS/Admin event source was written to the event log with the following text Remote Desktop Protocol will use RemoteFX module to connect to the client computer. RemoteFX module is being used based on the server configuration, client configuration, and network connection.. This event is written when a client is connected to the RDVH-SRV computer by using RemoteFX. You have successfully deployed and demonstrated the functionality of personal virtual desktops by using the simple scenario of connecting to a personal virtual desktop by using RD Web Access. You can also use this deployment to explore some of the additional capabilities of personal virtual desktops through additional configuration and testing. Step 6: Configuring RemoteFX for an Optimal Experience This documentation is preliminary and subject to change. In this step, you will do the following: Configure the experience index for connections using RemoteFX. Enable Windows Aero on the virtual desktop. First, set the experience index for connections using RemoteFX by using Local Group Policy Editor. To set the experience index for connections using RemoteFX 1. Log on to the PVD1-CLNT computer as a member of the local Administrators group. 2. Click Start, and in the Search programs and files box, type gpedit.msc and then press ENTER. 3. Navigate to Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop Services\Remote Desktop Session Host\Remote Session Environment. 4. Double-click Set experience index for connections when using RemoteFX. 5. Select the Enabled option. 6. In the Screen capture rate (frames per second) box, click Highest (best quality), and then click OK. 7. Restart the PVD1-CLNT computer. 25

26 Important Due to a known issue, changing this group policy from the default value is a temporary step recommended for the optimal experience. The procedure above simplifies the process by informing you how to apply the group policy from within the virtual machine. However, the recommended way to apply group policy continues to be using Group Policy Management Console. Next, enable Windows Aero within the VD1-CLNT computer. To enable Windows Aero 1. Log on to PVD1-CLNT as a member of the local Administrators group. 2. Right-click on the desktop. 3. Click Personalize, and in the Change visuals and sounds on your computer box, select one of the themes shown under the Aero Themes heading. 4. Verify that window transparency is enabled, and then close the window. Important Due to a known issue when using Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 Beta build, you may see screen artifacts when Windows Aero is turned off. It is recommended that you always keep Windows Aero enabled in the RemoteFX-enabled virtual machine. Appendix A: Frequently Asked Questions This documentation is preliminary and subject to change. Frequently Asked Questions Why is the virtual machine connection console disconnected when RemoteFX is enabled? In Windows 7, 3D adapters are only accessible in the console session and not in the remote session. Due to this limitation, Remote Desktop Services is unable to serve a remote session that has access to the RemoteFX 3D adapter. To work around this issue, the console session is remoted to the user. Since two console sessions cannot exist, the virtual machine connection console is disconnected. If for some reason the system falls back to standard VGA, the virtual machine connection console is reconnected. If you need to access the virtual machine from the Virtual Machine Manager console, you can shut-down the virtual machine, remove the RemoteFX 3D adapter and restart the virtual machine. 26

27 How can I tell whether my GPU has sufficient video memory? You can verify whether your GPU card has sufficient video memory as follows: 1. Right click your desktop, and then click Screen Resolution. 2. Select Advanced Settings. The Adapter tab displays the Dedicated Video Memory. How can I tell whether my Remote Desktop session is using RemoteFX? There are several ways you can confirm that your Remote Desktop session is using RemoteFX: Check the event log inside the virtual machine. Event ID 2 in the Microsoft-Windows- RemoteDesktopServices-RdpCoreTS/Admin event source is written to the event log with the following text Remote Desktop Protocol will use RemoteFX module to connect to the client computer. RemoteFX module is being used based on the server configuration, client configuration, and network connection. If the Start Menu shows the Shut Down button, you are using RemoteFX. If you are not using RemoteFX, Log off will appear on the Start Menu. Are multiple GPUs supported on a single RemoteFX server? A maximum of 4 GPUs per server are supported on a single RemoteFX server. However, the GPUs in the server must be identical. Multiple GPUs from different vendors installed in the same RemoteFX server is not supported. Note Any GPUs with an XDDM driver must be disabled. This includes onboard management adapters used for KVM over IP. For Windows Server 2008 R2 during SP1 Beta, the onboard adapter must be disabled in the BIOS. Troubleshooting An error occurred while attempting to start the selected virtual machine(s): Failed to Power on with Error Unspecified error It is likely that you are attempting to start RemoteFX virtual machines on a server that does not have a SLAT-enabled processor. An error occurred while attempting to start the selected virtual machine(s): Microsoft Synthetic 3D Display Controller failed to power on. It is likely that you are attempting to start more virtual machines than your GPU can support. Look in the event log on the host and verify whether there is an event indicating the server has insufficient GPU resources to start the requested virtual machine. 27

28 An error occurred while attempting to start the selected virtual machine(s) If the virtual machine fails to start after enabling the RemoteFX 3D video adapter, ensure the following things: You have downloaded and installed a recommended version of the GPU latest driver from the GPU vendor s website. For a list of recommended GPU drivers, see this blog post ( You have disabled any GPUs with an XDDM driver. This includes onboard management adapters used for KVM over IP. For Windows Server 2008 R2 during SP1 beta, the onboard adapter must be disabled in the BIOS. Unable to remote into the virtual machine once the Virtual GPU is installed: Connection was denied because the user account is not authorized for remote login. All users (even users who are part of the Administrators group on the virtual machine) who need to remote into a virtual machine with a 3D video adapter need to be members of the Remote Desktop Users group. Performance using my RemoteFX virtual desktop is slow Ensure that Hyper-threading is enabled in the BIOS on your RD Virtualization Host server. RemoteFX is optimized for usage over a LAN connection. Ensure that you are using at least a 10 MBps connection with less than 20 milliseconds of latency between the client computer and the virtual machine. If your LAN connection is sufficient, verify that you have set the RemoteFX screen capture rate to the highest (best) value by using Group Policy. Finally, ensure that Windows Aero is configured on the RemoteFX-enabled virtual machines. There is a known issue in the Beta build of Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 where the performance may be poor in a RemoteFX session when Windows Aero is not enabled. I see artifacts on my RemoteFX-enabled virtual desktop Ensure that you have enabled the Windows Aero experience on the RemoteFX virtual machines. There is a known issue on the Beta build of Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 where you may see screen artifacts when Windows Aero is disabled. My RemoteFX-enabled session falls back to a single monitor session The RemoteFX 3D adapter supports a fixed set of resolutions. Your RemoteFX-enabled session may fall back to a single monitor session if one of the following things happens: If you request a resolution that is not supported, you will get a single monitor RemoteFXenabled session at a lower supported resolution. 28