Forum Discussion

ClayFrie's avatar
ClayFrie
Copper Contributor
Jun 01, 2026

Remote desktop app hangs when opening a new process

I have a windows remote desktop server, windows server 2022.  We have a few programs we allow access to people published as remote apps.  One of the programs exports to Excel by opening excel, creates the workbook/worksheet, but the window does not show and the program hangs waiting for excel to close. The user can't see excel and therefore can't close excel so they are stuck.  as an admin, I can connect to the remote desktop server and end task on their excel instance and then they can continue working.

 

Is there a way to allow the excel window to show when opened by a remote app?

 

We prefer to only allow our users access to the one app they need to run instead of a desktop.

 

remoteapp
windows server

2 Replies

  • Jamony's avatar
    Jamony
    MCT
    Jul 07, 2026

    Hi, published RemoteApps can get awkward when the application launches a child process like Excel, especially if that child window is not being surfaced correctly to the user session.

     

    I would test:

     

    1. Publish Excel temporarily and confirm it opens normally by itself.

    2. Run the same export inside a full desktop RDP session to see whether the Excel window appears there.

    3. Check whether Excel is launching hidden, waiting on a dialog, or blocked by first-run prompts.

    4. Disable Office first-run/privacy prompts for the RDS users through policy.

    5. Make sure the app is not launching Excel under a different user context.

     

    If it works in full desktop but not RemoteApp, the fix is usually around how the child process/window is launched or how Office first-run prompts are handled.

  • lkadirozcan's avatar
    lkadirozcan
    Brass Contributor
    Jun 01, 2026

    Hi ClayFrie,

    This sounds like a RemoteApp limitation rather than an Excel issue itself.

    When an application is published as a RemoteApp, any child processes it launches do not always behave the same way they would in a full remote desktop session. I've seen cases where an application starts Excel successfully, but the Excel window never gets presented to the user, causing the parent application to wait indefinitely for Excel to close.

    A few questions:

    • Does Excel appear in the user's session when viewed through Task Manager or Remote Desktop Services Manager?
    • Is Excel also published as a RemoteApp, or only the primary application?
    • Does the export work correctly if the same user is given a full remote desktop session instead of the published app?

    If it works in a full desktop session but not as a RemoteApp, that would point strongly toward a RemoteApp window-handling issue. You might also try publishing Excel as a RemoteApp to see whether that allows the spawned Excel window to be presented correctly.

    I'm curious whether others running Server 2022 RemoteApp have seen the same behavior with Office applications.