Thinclients on shared workspaces

Iron Contributor

We have multiple clients that work in the healthcare sector.

Is there any user friendly method to have a kiosk-like mode when people just fill in their creds (2 times no problem) and can log on to their desktop?

Right now we see that thinclients with the Remote Desktop App need to subscribe to the web feed with their user, when another user comes in, they need to reregister their web feed again etc etc.

This makes switching users quite the hassle.

 

We are using Windows 10 IoT Enterprise clients, ofcourse the HTML5 client would be a good solution but we see that thinclients struggle to keep up with performance on HTML5, therefore we can only use the Remote Desktop App.

 

Anyone?

14 Replies

@knowlite : Quick question back to you. Is the ask for:

  1. Easier logoff of existing user, or
  2. Easier logon for new user

 

Also, are there any other actions the user takes to "claim" the kiosk like some sort of badge in?

Hi Christian,
We would like a solution for WVD similar to the RDS thinclients in use today.
This means that the thinclient is user independant (no login needed) and that the user needs to login on the WVD environment (just like the WVD webclient).

 

Right now we have the following issues:
a. Using HTML5 client, the login process is pretty similar but thinclients struggle with HTML5 performance because the client has such low system resources (even the latest Dell/HP Win 10 IoT Enterprise ones)

b. Using the Remote Desktop App, a user needs to register to the web feed every time, which is cumbersome. This can be resolved with domain joining the client but this does not help users forgetting to log out twice (once from WVD, once from thinclient).

I hope my explanation is a bit more clear now.

@knowlite : Yes, the explanation helps! If I'm understanding you correctly, the web client sign in and sign out experience is easy, since the user just needs to log out in the top right corner or close the browser completely. However, the performance isn't optimal and you'd like that same ease of experience for the desktop client.

 

I'm not sure if we have anything right now to address that, but I've forwarded this thread internally to the appropriate folks to see if they have anything to comment.

Thanks, much appreciated!
I know that W10 IoT Enterprise clients together with WVD are a rather new solution so I suppose more solutions will become available in the coming months. I've read that Igel is developing a Linux thinclient for WVD, which may offer a resolution for our issue.

@knowlite Sorry for the dumb question but I have been struggling with even getting the WVD Remote Desktop client to run on Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC in kiosk mode. Do you mind me asking how you got that working?

What problem do you get? What exactly do you want to do?

@knowlite I was having a really hard time getting the modern RDS client even installed because the LTSC version does not have the Microsoft Store it as all. I found this from GitHub that allowed me to install the Microsoft Store on it, then I was able to download the modern RDS client and use PowerShell to set it in Kiosk mode. All is good now.

 

https://github.com/kkkgo/LTSC-Add-MicrosoftStore

Don't need the store, you can download the app directly from https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/connect-windows-7-and-10

@knowlite Yeah, I did that but the kiosk mode would not see it and allow me to use it as the app. How did you work around that? The modern RDS client should work just as well I would think.

We used the W10 IoT Ent thinclients, turned off write filter and used the WVD client without kiosk mode. When using the write filter the thinclients write cache gets filled up quickly.

@knowliteYeah, I am using HP T520 thin clients and I installed the Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC on one for a POC. I like the idea of having it in Kiosk mode so that the only thing someone has to log into is their VDI session. Plus it keeps people from being able to fiddle with the OS. 

Exactly the same idea as I had: Thinclients managed through Intune, kiosk mode with just the WVD client and go! Unfortunately I was not succesful in doing this...
When searching for alternatives I strubled on Igel, which announced having a new release of their os, incorporating the new RDP client developed together with MS. This should work out of the box in a kiosk way. Haven't had time to test this, doing some other projects atm.

Hi @knowlite,

 

If you still need help on this, here is how it could look on a IGEL OS endpoint (Thin Client).

  1. IGEL OS endpoint boots, automatically starts the WVD client and ask for credentials
  2. User Fred logs in and reconnects to his running desktop automatically
  3. User Fred disconnects session
  4. IGEL OS endpoints automatically restarts the WVD client and waits for next user
  5. User Fred2 logs in and gets automatically connected to his desktop (reconnected)
    I recorded a video on this scenario which you can find here: https://youtu.be/JRCNEKbV-SE
    If you need assistance or have any questions, reach out to me!
    Best
    Fred

This is an older thread but we are facing the same issue.

 

A lot of our clients have flexible workplaces and can choose where to work today at the office. 

As we are re-using their former Windows 10 desktops they don't unsubscribe from the feed after work (I know they should but they don't), and the next person has to unsubscribe and subscribe again. Then login again into the assigned WVD (AVD) Session Host.

 

It would be great if there is some kind of solution like the one @Brattstig posted for Windows 10 clients with the Remote Desktop client for AVD installed.

 

Any thoughts how to do this?

Richard