Microsoft Secure Tech Accelerator
Apr 03 2024, 07:00 AM - 11:00 AM (PDT)
Microsoft Tech Community
RemoteFX Features for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
Published Sep 07 2018 09:15 PM 11.4K Views
First published on CloudBlogs on Nov, 26 2012

Hi, I’m Shanmugam Kulandaivel, a senior program manager on the Remote Desktop Virtualization team. As most of you know, both the Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 operating systems are available in multiple editions. I’d like to use this blog post to provide details on the features of Microsoft RemoteFX® that are supported in each edition of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

Before I provide the details, I’d like to start with a summary:

  • Client computers (the endpoint PC that you are accessing the remote computer from) running any edition of Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 support all RemoteFX features, including the ability to connect to RemoteApp, redirect USB devices by using RemoteFX USB Redirection, and support WAN networks.
  • Remote computers (the virtual machine or desktop you are accessing) running Windows 8 Enterprise provide the best user experience and support all management features. Therefore, Windows 8 Enterprise is the only supported edition for use with Windows Server 2012 virtual desktop collections (VDI).

With that summary in mind, let’s first look at the features that Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 editions support when running on client computers, and then we’ll look at the features that Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 support when running on remote computers.

RemoteFX features on client computers

Client computer refers to the computer that the user is physically logged on to. Users use Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) on the client computer to connect to remote computers. The following table lists the features that are supported on client computers running any one of the different editions of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

Operating systems for client computers

Feature

Windows 8

Windows RT

Windows 8 Pro

Windows 8 Enterprise

Windows Server 2012

Windows 7 Enterprise with RDP 8.0 Update

Ability to connect to remote computers

a

a

a

a

a

a

Ability to use RemoteApp

a

a

a

a

a

a

RemoteFX Multi-Touch

a

a

a

Version history
Last update:
‎Sep 07 2018 09:15 PM