If you are using the RemoteApp RDWeb Access website feature (RDweb) in Windows Server 2008 R2 and have client/user PCs that have upgraded to Windows 10, read below. This does not apply if you are using full RDP desktop sessions to login and see a desktop which is what many/most people do – i.e. using RDP client to connect to a desktop session.
If users are accessing applications using the RD Web access website (i.e. https://IP or Hostname/rdweb ) to access applications instead of logging into the server via the remote desktop connection client, you will notice that the website doesn’t work from Windows 10 PCs using the new Microsoft Edge browser. RemoteApp RDWEB hosted on a Windows 2008 R2 Server requires the client browser to have ActiveX enabled which basically limits usage to Internet Explorer (doesn’t work on Chrome, Firefox nor for MAC users). (Note: Windows Server 2012R2 RemoteApp RDWEB no longer requires ActiveX).
Solution
The good news in this situation is Windows 10 still includes Internet Explorer and if you open the website using IE, you should be able to access it – see steps below. In Windows 10, open IE separately and not within Edge (i.e. in Edge, you can click tools, and then say “open in IE” but don’t do it this way). Follow the steps below to open IE, add rdweb URL to trusted sites in IE, then close IE and reopen IE, then it should work.
- CLICK START BUTTON and start typing “Internet Explorer” which should pop-up in search results and select – see screenshot below. Don’t click the browser shortcut in taskbar because that will just open Edge.
2. After IE opens, go to the url you use for RDweb. Click Allow on popup to allow MS RDS web access – see screenshot.
3. Do not login yet – first we need to add to trusted sites in Internet Explorer (only need to do first time), then will need to exit all IE windows and start again.
4. Under the tools icon, click internet options like this, which will open the Option windows, then go to Security Tab, Trusted Sites (the green checkbox), then click on the “Sites” button and then add the url which may be pre-populated – see screenshots.
5. Next, close all Internet Explorer windows and start over except this time login to the RDS site.