Using a Raspberry Pi as a Thin Client for RDP/RemoteFX/VMWare View or Citrix

There is a cool project by Gibbio at blogger that uses Debian Linux as a base turn the Raspberry Pi into a thin client that works with RDP, VMWare View, Citrix, OpenNX, and Spice.  After imaging your SD card you can plug and go. I've tested it with RDP complete with RemoteFX, and it works well with a few caveats which I'll note below.

Requirements

• Raspberry Pi Rev B with a network connection, monitor, kb, etc.
• A SD card at least 2GB in size. The faster the better. 

Let's Set it Up

1. Insert the SD card to a workstation to image it. On that workstation: 
2. Download the ISO. Links here.
3. Unpack the ISO to a temporary directory. 
4. If you're on Linux, skip to step 6. Download DD for windows from here.
5. Unpack DD to a working directory and make note of where it is; we'll be using it in a moment. 
6. Insert your SD card and wipe out all partitions on it. I'll assume you know how for Linux; in Windows use Diskpart: Diskpart (Enter), List Disk (Enter), Select Disk X (Enter), List Partition (Enter), Select Partition X (Enter), Delete Partition (Enter). Repeat list, select, delete for each partition on the SD card then Exit (Enter). Make sure you don't execute this sequence on any other drives or you will loose all your data!
7. Image the drive using DD: dd bs=1M if=c:\temp\RPi-TC_ARMv6j_r1.img od=d: WHERE: c:\temp\RPi... = the image location and od=d: references the location of the SD card. Update: If you have issues with dd, give Roadkill's disk imager a try. 
8. Remove the SD card (properly) and insert it into the Raspberry Pi
9. Start it the Pi. 

 

Using RDP

Once the Pi Boots (Note that boot animation) you'll see a bunch of icons on the desktop. To connect to an RDP session, do the following:

1. Double click on X2Go Client 
2. Click the "New Session" button in the upper left corner. 
3. Name the session, enter the host (make sure the host name corresponds to the cert CN)
4. Enter your login as domain\username
5. Change "Session Type" to "Connect to Windows terminal server" and check the "Direct RDP Connection"
6. Click the "Settings" tab and change the Display to the desired resolution. (Fullscreen works) Note that I haven't been able to get xfreerdp to work yet but rdesktop is working. 
7. Click "OK"
8. Click the newly created session and then enter in your password. 
9. Enjoy your RDP session! If you selected Fullscreen, note that the kb combo to go back to a window is CTRL+ALT+ENTER

RDP Notes: 

• As of now it seems that NLA is not supported, though I'm looking into it. To disable NLA uncheck the box labled "Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication" in the "Remote" tab of the advanced system properties dialog of the machine you're connecting to.
• RemoteFX works, but it is actually slower than standard RDP. I'm looking into this too.
• Audio redirection, clipboard, multitouch, and USB passthrough don't seem to work. Guess what, I'm looking into that. 

Misc Notes:

• I haven't tried the other clients yet, though I can report success using the VMWare view client direct from a friend. 
• The Raspberry Pi has issues with some mice. If your mouse seems unresponsive try a different model. 
• The newest build uses a tweaked kernel. Though I haven't needed to, you can switch back to the standard Raspberry Pi kernel by changing the line kernel=kernel.img to kernel=kernel-std.img in /boot/config.txt and rebooting. Debian comes with Vi and Nano that you can use to modify it.

Overall this is a interesting project that has been alot of fun to play around with. As always if you have any questions or comments throw them in the comments section!

Update: I'm getting quite a few hits on this one and I just want to underscore before it is proposed in production at your company that it's not quite ready for prime time yet due to the issues listed above. I look forward to helping drive it there though; I intend on updating as I drive towards tweaking RDP to be perform better.

And more importantly, there is a new build posted here! Note Remmina isn't working yet but Gibbio is working on it.

Update 6/27:  Gibbio has posted a new build that looks quite interesting. Among other things he has provided the XFCE desktop environment.

Update 7/1: The newest build works fine with xfreerdp which seems to perform a bit better than rdesktop. To use it, either launch from a terminal or create a shortcut with the following syntax:

xfreerdp /v:server.domain.ext /u:UserName /p:Password /d:DOMAIN /f /cert-ignore

Where: /v: is the target machine, /u: is the username to use, /p:is that user's password, /d:is the domain in which the user resides, /f is for fullscreen mode (if desired) and /cert-ignore is to ignore an untrusted cert, which is likely if you're using the default self-signed certs. For the rest of the options, see the wiki page.

Links: Olivier Muret: French Raspberry Pi RDP Writeup

Thanks for reading!

What is RemoteFX on Windows 2012 Hyper-V and Deploying a Win 8 Virtual Desktop

Updated 2/3/2017 for Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10!

RemoteFX is Microsoft's advanced desktop RDP solution based on technology acquired from Calista Technologies. It allows for the following functionality above and beyond standard RDP:

This Article Written in RemoteFX. It's... amazing?

Server 2008r2 Based:

• Virtualized 3d GPU: you can split a single GPU into multiple virtual GPUs for VDI VMs. This allows for 3d accelerated apps to run in the RDP session.
• RemoteFX Codec: A more advanced version of the RDP compression scheme that allows for more efficient streaming of both video and audio. While it works fine for text, you can always get groceries in a Yugo. 
• USB Device redirection: Now you can finally use your USB Scan Toaster on your remote desktop!

Server 2012 Additions: 

• Multi-Touch: Multi-Touch support through RDP. Needs a compatible client! (RDP 8.0, etc.)
• Adaptive Graphics: Different compression codecs depending on the content (dynamically on a given screen) among other enhancements. 
• Media Redirection API: Used primarily to facilitate rendering audio and video of VOIP clients local to the client. (Only Lync right now) 
• WAN Enhancements: Support UDP; tweaks to lower bandwidth requirements for both remote and WiFi scenarios.  
• GPU Changes: Support either a software-emulated GPU or a real hardware GPU. DX11 support added. 

Server 2016 Additions: 

• OpenGL/CL Support: Now supports hardware-accelerated OpenGL (^4.4) and CL (^1.1)... CAD/Lightwave/Photoshop users rejoice!
• vRAM Assignment Enhancements: Decouple vRAM amount from monitors and resolution, increased dedicated vRAM per host capability to 1GB from 256MB. 
• Better Performance: More FPS=smoother performance. Noticeable in my case, videos now watchable through RemoteFX without the audio issues that sometimes accompanied the prior version. 
• Generation 2 VM Support: Allows for use of the new VM platform and all the associated features. 
• ... and more, see the reference links at the bottom of this article.

Hardware Requirements:

Full MSFT Article , RDS Blog reqs link

• The standard HyperV Requirements
• SLAT Enabled CPU; EPT on Intel, NPT/RVI on AMD
• DX11 (WDDM 1.2) Compatible GPU; All made for purpose DX11 GPUs from NVIDIA and AMD work, and for testing I've been using a consumer grade NVIDIA 650 in my lab without issue.

Software Requirements:

• Server: Server 2012/2016 (core preferred, see next section)
• Client: Windows 8/10 Enterprise, and Enterprise only. Pro won't work. Additionally, I found that re-keying a Win8 Pro to Enterprise install will not work either. While it will report that all is well, and it will install the RemoteFX graphics adapter, when you try to connect it will report "error during licensing protocol" in the final stage of connection negotiation.

Setup

Assumptions

• You have a fully functional HyperV Host that meets the hardware requirements listed above.
• You're using server core. You can do this on standard, but you should be using core for performance and patching (or lack thereof) reasons. The commands I relay assume core. 

Prepare the Host

1. Patch it up; make sure you're fully up to date. 
2. Install the graphics drivers for your GPU on the host. This may pose some issues on server core, but fortunately I've got a guide for NVIDIA GPUs to help. The procedure is most likely similar for AMD GPUs. Bounce the host after driver install regardless of if it tells you to do so or not. 
3. Install the Remote Desktop Virtualization Host feature. Either use the server manager remotely to do so, or execute the following directly on the Hyper-V host: "Install-WindowsFeature –name RDS-Virtualization -source j:\sources\sxs" where J: is the DVD-ROM or image with the 2012 install bits. You can use other sources if desired, for more information see this post.
4. Reboot the server. 
5. Enable the Adapter for use with the Hyper-V host by opening the Hyper-V management console, right click the server->Hyper-V Settings....
6. Select "Physical GPUs"
7. If configured correctly, you should see your adapter listed. Check the "Use this GPU with RemoteFX" box and click "OK". 

Alternatively for steps 5 through 7 you can use the following powershell cmdlets: 

• Get-VMRemoteFXPhysicalVideoAdapter
• Enable-VMRemoteFXPhysicalVideoAdapter

Setup The VM

1. As noted above, only Win 8 (7 if you want, update + 10) Enterprise will work. Use a template or build from scratch. There are no special needs at build time. 
2. Enable RDP on the Win8 VM
3. Install the VM Integration services & shut down the VM
4. Add a 3D Adapter to the VM by opening the Hyper-V management console, right click the VM->Settings
5. Under "Add Hardware" select "RemoteFX 3D Video Adapter", click "Add", select the max resolution and # of monitors you plan on using via RDP, and select "OK"
6. Start up the VM. You now will need to logon via RDP, as the Hyper-V remoting will be locked out. The machine should notify of new hardware being installed that requires a reboot. If it does not, re-install the integration services. Reboot the VM. 
7. To ensure the VM is operating with the adapter open device manager and look under "Display Adapters". You should see "Microsoft RemoteFX Graphics Device - WDDM"

Alternative Powershell Command:

• Add-VMRemoteFx3dVideoAdapter

Configuration

Note that unlike the previous version of RDP, you don't need to select your connection speed on RDS 8.0. So that said, the only configuration you really need in 8.0 can be done via GPO.

Adjust Settings via GPO

Primer: Modifying GPO settings.

Microsoft makes some RemoteFX settings "Tweakable" via GPO. These settings can be found here:

Computer Configuration->Policies->Administrative Templates->Windows Components->Remote Desktop Services->
  Remote Desktop Connection Client->RemoteFX USB Device Redirection
     -Allow RDP redirection of other supported RemoteFX USB devices from this computer
  Remote Desktop Session Host->Remote Session Environment
     -Configure compression for RemoteFX data
     -Configure image quality for RemoteFX Adaptive Graphics
     -Enable RemoteFX encoding for RemoteFX clients designed for WindowServer 2008r2 SP1
     -Configure RemoteFX Adaptive Graphics (Tweak if using only on a LAN)
     RemoteFX for Windows Server 2008 R2
        -Configure RemoteFX (this just allows for disabling RemoteFX via GPO)
        -Optimize visual experience when using RemoteFX (Tweak this one if using only on a LAN)
        -Optimize visual experience for Remote Desktop Service Sessions (Change to "Text" if you setup RemoteFX so Bobby can do his spreadsheets. Why did you setup RemoteFX again?)

Troubleshooting

 

Sound isn't working on the youtubes! : Seems like flash doesn't work correctly with audio redirection. HTML5 works though! Switch to the HTML 5 beta by going here.

Seems Slow: Make sure your color depth is set to 32bit. Based on my testing it seems that the codec favors full 32 bit color.

FAQ (By me of myself @ least, and by frequently I mean once until I answered them)

• Q: Should I want to, what can I use to benchmark this thing?  A: PassMark works great; I must admit that watching DX11 accelerated 3d benchmarks through an RDP session is kind of cool. :) 
• Q: Does RemoteFX work through an RDP gateway? What versions? A: Yup, it works through a gateway running on 2008, 2008R2, or 2012.
• Q: Is GPU performance good enough to run intensive applications or GPU computation tasks? A: In most cases, no. The RemoteFX solution virtualizes the GPU and exposes it as a Microsoft "GPU", essentially translating all requests through a proxy driver. While that solution allows for splitting the GPU across multiple VMs, it also makes for reduced functionality/performance of the card since the OS isn't exposed directly to the native driver. Additionally, framerate is limited by the RDP protocol itself.
• Q: Does RemoteFX support accelerated OpenGL? A: No, it is done in software.
• Q: Can RemoteFX do GPU direct passthrough? A: No, only Xenserver Enterprise or higher can do that right now. 
• Q: How do I know how much memory on my GPU is being used by my VMs? A: You can find the answer on the Hyper-V/Physical GPUs page for each server. The memory stats are listed right under GPU Details->Summary. 
• Q: Can I deploy RemoteFX in a VDI environment? A: Yeah, though note your max simultaneous RemoteFX sessions will be limited by available GPU memory. (See above post) Fortunately for you, I have a guide on how to setup Hyper-V based VDI!
• Q: Will this VMWare tweak help up the framerate on Hyper-V/RemoteFX? A: In my testing, it did not. I suspect this is because the HyperV NICs probably don't support interrupt coalescing. It looks like one could enable interrupt coalescing on the host with the following instructions and perhaps that would change the answer depending on how the packets are handled from the RemoteFX machine. 

References

Microsoft: What is RemoteFX?
RDS Blog: RemoteFX Features for Windows 8 and 2012
Technet: Frequently Asked Questions and Troubleshooting Tips
RDS Blog: Your desktop will be a rich DX11-based experience, and your virtual GPU should be too
My Crazy Adventures with RemoteFX, Part 1

2016 Updates

Enterprise Mobility and Security Blog: RemoteFX vGPU Updates in Windows Server Next
Technet: Experience guide for Enabling OpenGL Support for vGPU in Server 2016

Questions/Concerns? Contact me or leave a comment!

Server 2012 Hyper-V + RDP + RemoteFX = a Delicious "Sangwich" of Cheap VDI

Oh man. Microsoft has done well on this; VDI/RDP/HyperV/RemoteFX have come together very nicely in 2012. The incremental improvements over the last 4 or so years to RDP, Hyper-V, and RemoteFX have made a great platform for cost effective VDI. This article will outline setting this entire environment up on one Server 2012 Datacenter box, but this could be scaled to as many machines as you need. (Add VMM for management in a large deployment) In this article I'll be walking through a basic setup of a Hyper-V Virtualization Host, Connection Broker, Web Access, a pool, the whole 9.

Assumptions:

• You have at least one 2012 Hyper-V host setup.
• You've got at least one 2012 server ready to go as the other roles. This can be a VM. 
• You've got a sangwich. You'll need one, this is a bit of a lengthy install. 

Starting in seemingly reverse order will make this while thing easier; you'll see why.

Create an Template/Image to use For VDI

BTW, more template info here.

1. Create a Virtual Desktop template by making a new VM with (generally) default settings. Insert the ISO and install the OS and make sure your product key is applicable to be in a your target VDI environment  (i.e. MAK with a SA or KMS as applicable) 
2. After installing the OS, execute sysprep or something similar. On windows 8, that will be located under %SystemRoot%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe. Make sure you generalize and restore to OOB Experience; select shutdown when complete. 

Install Remote Desktop Services Components

1. Prior to starting the RDS installation, you need to add all servers involved in your deployment to server manager to enable them as options during deployment. To do so, click "Add Servers To Manage" from the start screen of server manager and add any servers that will be part of the setup. (Hyper-V host, RDS Connection Broker, Session Host, etc.) 
2. After adding the server(s) in question, start the RDS deployment by clicking "Manage->Add Roles and Features" from within server manager. 
3. Proceed to the "Installation Type" and select "Remote Desktop Services installation" and click "Next".  

4. On "Deployment Type" select "Standard deployment" and click "Next". Unless you've been through this before, I don't recommend Quick Start as it skips some things you should know. 
5. On "Deployment Scenario" we'll be going through "Virtual machine-based desktop deployment". Select it and click "Next". Note that both options here have their uses, we're just covering VDI because it's a newer option. For more information on the differences, see this blog post by Yung Chou. 

6. Based on our choices, it should notify you that RD Connection Broker, RD Web Access, and RD Virtualization Host will be installed. Review and click "Next". 
7. You will be prompted to select a machine from your pool to host the RD Connection Broker role. Select the host(s) you would like for this role, move them to the right plane, and then click "Next". The Connection Broker distributes load across multiple hosts (if applicable) and maintains session information to ensure users are directed to the proper session or virtual desktop. For more information, see this TechNet article. This role can be hosted by a virtual machine. 
8. Now you'll be prompted to select the RD Web Access server. In smaller deployments it is very common to place this on the same server as the RD Connection Broker. In larger environments you'll need to take external connection needs and security into account. Either click "Install the RD Web Access role service on the RD Connection Broker server" or select the server(s) you do want and click "Next". This role can also be hosted by a virtual machine. 
9. Time to select virtualization host(s). This role cannot be hosted by a virtual machine for obvious reasons. Select the machne(s), move them over, and click "Next". 
10. You'll be presented with the confirmation screen; review the information and click "Deploy" to create the whole setup. 
11. The progress of each role installation will be displayed; do not be suprised if this takes some time. 

Setup a VDI Collection

1. In server manager, click "Remote Desktop Services" and then click "3> Create Virtual Desktop Collections" 

2. Click "Next" to bypass the before you begin section and then give your collection an appropriate name and click "Next" again. 
3. Select the type of collection you want, Pooled virtual desktops or Personal virtual desktops. There is a lot that goes into this decision, but as a rule of thumb you can think of it like this: Pooled virtual desktops = many (users) to one relationship and Personal virtual desktops=one to one relationship. For my lab I'll be doing Personal virtual desktops, so please note that the options listed after this may be slightly different should you want Pooled. Unless you know you want otherwise leave "Automatically create and manage virtual desktops" checked and click "Next".
4. When prompted with "Virtual Desktop Template" select the template we created in the first step and click "Next". 
5. (This step unnecessary for pooled desktops) In most cases, you'll want to leave "Enable automatic user assignment" selected because that will give the requesting user access to a newly provisioned VD. If you desire, select "Add the user account to the local administrators group on the virtual desktop" and click "Next". 

6. For "Virtual Desktop Settings" you should provide your Sysprep answer file; this will contain all the provisioning settings for your company. Since this is a lab setup in my case, I'll be selecting "Provide unattended installation settings". Click "Next".
7. You need to know where you want to place automatically created VDI objects in Active Directory. After making that determination you'll need to paste in the path to the OU. Then, we'll need to generate a powershell script and execute it on a machine that has the Active Directory management tools installed on it. First things first, navigate to a machine with the Active Directory management tools installed and logon as an account with appropriate domain privs. On that machine:
8. Open Active Directory Administrative Center and navigate to where you would like the VDI machines go to; create the OU if necessary and double click to go into it. Select the navigation plane (next to the arrow keys on the top) and it will give the DN. Copy and paste this DN to specify in setup. 
9. Switch back to the RDS server. Set the time zone and then select "Specify the distinguished name of the organizational unit" and paste in our DN from the other server; DO NOT click Next yet. 
10. After pasting the DN in, click the "Generate script" at the bottom of the window and copy all the contents of the script.

11. Switch back to the AD server and open notepad. Copy the script into notepad and save it to a temporary location, i.e. C:\temp\Grant-RDSRights.ps1.
12. (Still on AD server) Open Powershell as an administrator. If needed, execute "Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted" to allow script execution. 
13. (Still on AD server) Execute the script you just saved. If your rights are correct you will get a success message. 

14. Switch back to the RDS server and click "Next". If it doesn't work you may need to wait for the permissions to replicate. BUG WARNING: Ensure you do not have any "." characters in your DN. (I.E. in you OU names) If you do, this will not work. You will get the message "The RD Connection Broker server does not have access to add the virtual desktops to the Active Directory domain. Configure access by using the Active Directory page of Deployment Properties." despite the fact that permissions are in fact correct. (I wish I could bill someone for time wasted figuring that out) 
15. Select the Active Directory Group, # of initial virtual desktops, the machine prefix, and the machine suffix. I recommend making one AD group per collection to accurately track who has access to what. As for a machine prefix/suffix, pick something that will work for your organization. I use VDI- for a prefix. Click "Next". 
16. The "Virtual Desktop Allocation" screen will come up and allow you to distribute your VDI machines across multiple hosts if desired. Distribute accordingly and click "Next". 
17. For "Virtual Desktop Storage" select what type of storage you would like to utilize for these VDI machines. You have all your standard options here, including Cluster Shared Volumes. For more on CSVs, check this out. Select your desired disk location and hit "Next". 
18. The confirmation screen will come up; use this to review your settings and click "Create". 
19. This may take awhile depending on your disk configuration and it may even report to the window that it's not responding. Don't worry, it'll complete eventually. 

That does it! You've now got your stable of virtual machines ready to dole out to deserving employees. If you're particularly astute you will be able to convince management that there is a monthly cost for each desktop payable to your bank account.

Managing Your Collection

Adding a Desktop

1. Open Server Manager either on the RDS server or a machine with that server registered in its server manager. 
2. Click "Remote Desktop Services"
3. Under "Collections", click your collection name. 
4. Under "Virtual Desktops" on the right, click "Tasks->Add Virtual Desktop"
5. Specify how many virtual desktops you would like to add. 
6. Specify on which server you would like to add them.
7. Click "Create"
8. You will be notified when the creation request is complete. 

Assigning a Desktop

1. Open Server Manager either on the RDS server or a machine with that server registered in its server manager. 
2. Click "Remote Desktop Services"
3. Under "Collections", click your collection name. 
4. Right click on the VDI machine you would to assign and select "Assign Virtual Desktop". 
5. Specify a user to assign to and click "Assign". Note this user must be in the group you specified as the user group for this collection above. 

Configuring Licensing

This is a topic for a whole other article, but for now have a look a this Technet article and this one as well. 

Accessing Your Collection

There is enough here for another article, but to get you started: 

1. Using IE (preferably) navigate to https://your.rdweb.server/RDWeb 
2. You'll probably get a cert warning; you can fix that later by installing the proper web cert on your IIS server. 
3. Log in with your assigned user and double click on the collection you created. 

4. Enjoy your fresh install of Dos 5.0. (I'm assuming that's what you are using) 

Next up, RemoteFX. Update: RemoteFX Article here.

Installing nVidia Consumer Drivers on Server 2012 Core for RemoteFX

I'm wanting to establish Microsoft RemoteFX in my lab, and to do so, one needs a dedicated 3d accelerator. Obviously, nVidia didn't make the drivers with Server 2012 (now 2016 as well, see below) Core in mind. To accomplish this, we need do the following:

1> Download the newest drivers from nVidia. (Note the later half of these points will probably work on ATI cards as well, you just need to unpack the drivers)
2> Execute the driver setup directly on core server the and select a temporary directory. 
3> Hit "OK"; the installer will crash because it's uncomfortable in the lovely world of server core.
4> Navigate to the display.driver directory underneath the extracted files in the temporary directory you selected earlier. You should find the .inf files in this directory. For nVidia it is nv_disp.if. Update 5/3/2015: the .inf file is now nv_dispi.inf, thanks bearkiter.
5> From cmd.exe, execute "pnputil -i -a nv_disp.inf"
6> The screen will blank! Don't be afraid. After completion, you should see a screen that looks like the shot below. (yes the borders are gone)
7> Assuming it's OK to do so execute "Shutdown /r /t 0" to reboot the machine.

I'm working on another article to cover VDI/RemoteFX. Stay tuned. Update: Article here.

Update 2/3/2017: Confirmed working on Windows 2016! Consumer grade hardware works in the lab as well.