Expanding on our Windows Virtual Desktop compatibility, Remote Desktop Commander 4.8 introduced a number of robust capabilities. Let’s drill into those features – and some others – in detail . . . 

Import Hosts and Host Pools Automatically Inside Remote Desktop Commander Using the WVD Broker

How is this for easy? . . . If you want to manage WVD hosts, you only need to launch a simple dialog, enter in your tenant name and WVD admin credentials, and choose the WVD Management Mode (Internal/External) you want to use.

Remote Desktop Commander will then dynamically query the WVD brokers to auto-generate all your host pools and associated hosts in the left hand tree view for you!

But wait, there’s more . . .

Dual WVD Management Modes – Internal and External

When you set up a link to the WVD Broker above, you specify whether or not you want Remote Desktop Commander Lite to operate in Internal or External WVD Management Mode.

Internal Mode

This mode gives you the most feature-rich Windows Virtual Desktop management experience. In this scenario, you have installed Remote Desktop Commander Lite on a VM inside the Azure VNet hosting your WVD host pools, as a WVD RemoteApp or on a management VM you will access securely via Azure Bastion. This mode gives you all of the legacy, on-premises Remote Desktop Services management features, including the ability to shadow sessions and provide remote assistance with our Premium Management Features license, query performance counters related to user experience and connection quality, RDP via admin sessions into WVD hosts to do other management tasks, etc, etc.

External Mode

External mode gives you a less feature-rich WVD management experience, but does not require Remote Desktop Commander Lite to be deployed inside the Azure VNet with your hosts. You can install it on your own local computer, and still do basic session management tasks like logging off, disconnecting, and messaging users.

Similarly, you can import your hosts from host pools directly into the Remote Desktop Commander Suite’s Add/Manage Servers area, which makes adding in your WVD session hosts for monitoring a snap.

Delegate Out Windows Virtual Desktop Management Tasks To Support Desk Staff Using Our WVD Management Delegation Wizard

With Version 4.8, we expanded our Premium Management Features solution to include a delegation of administration wizard for WVD. This enables you to delegate rights – including shadowing – to support team members who need to manage your WVD deployment. Yes, that’s right, with our Premium Management Features tool, you can shadow Windows Virtual Desktop sessions without difficulty, and you can limit what your support desk technicians can do on your WVD hosts.

The WVD Management Delegation Wizard allows you to unify management permissions across all hosts in your WVD host pools, plus allows you to assign specific WVD access rights like “RDS Reader” and “RDS Contributor” to one or more users. It also allows you to set shadowing policies on each host.

Get A Handle On User Experience By Monitoring the User Input Delay Counters Live or Historically

In Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10, Microsoft introduced the new User Input Delay counter. This performance counter tells you how long user input (e.g. keyboard clicks and mouse clicks) sits in the input queue on a RDS or WVD host, until it is received for processing by an application’s message queue. Latency may look fine, but if User Input Delay starts increasing because a session host is under load, that could be a sign that user experience is degrading to the point where you want to add more hosts or increase the VM instance size of your hosts.

An easy way to approach this? Profile User Input Delay in real time using our free Remote Desktop Commander Lite client, and if you are a Remote Desktop Commander Suite customer, leverage the “User Experience” reports that show you how User Input Delay looked over time in their sessions. (Just remember: In order to use this counter, your RDS or WVD hosts must be running Windows Server 2019 or Windows 10.)

Where To Next?

If you’re interested in any of the above capabilities, we’re happy to help steer you in the right direction: Request a web demo with an RDPSoft solutions expert to explore these features in depth.

Updated: December 2020.