There are several good writeups of the HTML5 WebClient already, like Freek Berson’s: http://microsoftplatform.blogspot.com/2018/01/html5-client-for-microsoft-remote.html
This post will simply show the installation on a Windows Server 2019 Remote Desktop Services deployment.
The Microsoft guide for installing the client can be found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/remote/remote-desktop-services/clients/remote-desktop-web-client-admin
So lets start by following the guide on Windows Server 2019.
First of all, find the certificate that is used by your RD Connection Brokers and export this to a BASE64 encoded .cer file.
Open an elevated PowerShell prompt and update the PowerShellGet module as you would on Windows Server 2016:
Install-Module -Name PowerShellGet -Force
Answer “Y” for Yes of course, and close this shell when it’s done.
Open a new elevated PowerShell prompt and install the RDWebClientManagement module:
Install-Module -Name RDWebClientManagement
Again, answer “Y” for Yes of course. This will then spit out a lengthy EULA:
Answer “Y” for Yes or the installation will abort.
When it’s done installing, run the following command:
Install-RDWebClientPackage
Remember that RD Connection Broker .cer file? Import it now:
Import-RDWebClientBrokerCert <.cer file path>
Finally, publish the RDWebClient package to enable it:
Publish-RDWebClientPackage -Type Production -Latest
Open a HTML5 compatible browser, and navigate to https://<your rdwebaccess url>/RDWeb/Webclient/
After signing in:
And after clicking the “Full Desktop” icon:
So yes, the current version (October 6th 2018) also works on a Windows Server 2019 Remote Desktop Services deployment.
For a quick Step-By-Step guide for deploying Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2019, check this post: Step by Step Windows 2019 Remote Desktop Services – Using the GUI
Arjan
25+ years experience in Microsoft powered environments. Enjoy automating stuff using powershell. In my free time (hah! as if there is any) I used to hunt achievements and gamerscore on anything Xbox Live enabled (Windows Mobile, Windows 8, Windows 10, Xbox 360 and Xbox One). Recently I picked up my Lego addiction again.
Arjan Mensch
Hi Arjan, can you please explain how did you share “full desktop” in html5? I can only see remote desktop from rdweb. Thank you
never mind just had to clear caching in the browser :)
Arjan, is this procedure performed on the same Connection Broker server from which we performed most of the configuration of the new RDS farm, or is this meant to be run on the/both web access servers?
Do you know if there are any plans to expand on access to local resources to include local drives or will it just be limited to clipboard and printers only?
Hi Robert,
I have no idea. I think capabilities are limited by the HTML5 framework and what you can do with that. I don’t know if there are any plans to extend this to allow acces to local hardware.
You say to; “First of all, find the certificate that is used by your RD Connection Brokers and export this to a BASE64 encoded .cer file.” but how do you do that?? The only option is to export the existing certificate as a pfx, which requires setting a password.
Hi Alan,
When you deploy your broker servers you import a .pfx. This cert needs to be exported from the broker as a Base64 encoded file. This can be done with powershell, or simply open the cert in MMC certificates and export from there.
Got that, thanks!
After installing, when I log on and attempt to connect to a published desktop, I get “Your session ended because an unexpected server authentication certificate was received from the remote PC”
We use a wildcard cert, could this be a problem?
i have the same issue. anyone knows an answer?
RDgateway/webserver/connectionbroker is ha in my environment, maybe this could be the reason for this problem?
Thanks for your help
ok i could solve the issue.
i had to replace the certificate.
first i had choosed the round robin certificate for the High availability environment. this was the reason for the error. i replaced certificate with the plain wildcard certificate and this works for me.
you have just to import the right certificate with this powershell command:
Import-RDWebClientBrokerCert “pathtocertificate”
hope this helps other people with the same error
Quick question: is there a way or could you point me to the right direction to pass credentials to the html5 RDWeb ?
We have people logged in in our webportal and would like to have the rdweb application button there or I would like to give a link to rdweb but without the user logging in manually.
Hope you have suggestions
Thanks for your article! I’m finding something similar for this Coronavirus period quarantine
Is the “Full Desktop” just the standard remote desktop app that you published as a RemoteApp or is there some special magic required to add it? I.e. so that it switches the browser to a full RD experience instead of just remote apps?
Hi Sam,
With RDS, you can either publish a full desktop, or publish applications. There’s no magic, just a choice.
A plus of using the HTML5 client is that it doesn’t go totally full screen when connecting to a full-screen desktop when you have dual screens
hi,
i installed a windows server 2019 rdp test enviroment with htlm5. everytime i connect over html5 there comes the message “connect to az725175.vo.msecnd.net”. i think this must be mircosoft azure. but i installed all on premise without internet and cloud connection.
do you have the same issue? can you maybe tell me how i cant disable this connection try?
thank you very much.
regards
Bruno
Any idea how to add a button to switch to the web WebClient ?
Here’s an example:
https://rdweb2016.demodooms.com/RDWeb/Pages/en-US/Default.aspx