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Table Of Contents
Setting Up Remote Desktop Services
Hosts 8
Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) hosts provide desktop sessions and applications that users can
access from client devices. If you plan to create RDS desktop pools or application pools, you must first set
up RDS hosts.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“Remote Desktop Services Hosts,” on page 95
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“Install Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2008 R2,” on page 97
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“Install Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2,” on page 97
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“Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2,” on page 98
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“Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2,” on page 98
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“Restrict Users to a Single Session,” on page 99
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“Install Horizon Agent on a Remote Desktop Services Host,” on page 99
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“Enable Time Zone Redirection for RDS Desktop and Application Sessions,” on page 102
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“Enable Windows Basic Theme for Applications,” on page 102
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“Configure Group Policy to Start Runonce.exe,” on page 103
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“RDS Host Performance Options,” on page 103
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“Configuring 3D Graphics for RDS Hosts,” on page 104
Remote Desktop Services Hosts
An RDS host is a server computer that hosts applications and desktop sessions for remote access. An RDS
host can be a virtual machine or a physical server.
An RDS host has the Microsoft Remote Desktop Services role, the Microsoft Remote Desktop Session Host
service, and Horizon Agent installed. Remote Desktop Services was previously known as Terminal Services.
The Remote Desktop Session Host service allows a server to host applications and remote desktop sessions.
With Horizon Agent installed on an RDS host, users can connect to applications and desktop sessions by
using the display protocol PCoIP or Blast Extreme. Both protocols provide an optimized user experience for
the delivery of remote content, including images, audio and video.
The performance of an RDS host depends on many factors. For information on how to tune the performance
of different versions of Windows Server, see
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/hardware/gg463392.aspx.
Horizon 7 supports at most one desktop session and one application session per user on an RDS host.
VMware, Inc.
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