Remote Desktop Services supported configurations

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Microsoft's edit · 24 May 2024 16:29 UTC

update language around new WS version

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1111 # Supported configurations for Remote Desktop Services

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13 −>Applies to: Windows Server 2025, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019

13 +>Applies to: Windows Server 2025, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016

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15 −When it comes to supported configurations for Remote Desktop Services environments, the largest concern tends to be version interoperability. Most environments include multiple versions of Windows Server. For example, you may have an existing RDS deployment running an earlier version of Windows Server but want to upgrade to Windows Server 2025 to take advantage of the new features. The question then becomes, which RDS components can work with different versions and which need to be the same?

15 +When it comes to supported configurations for Remote Desktop Services environments, the largest concern tends to be version interoperability. Most environments include multiple versions of Windows Server. For example, you may have an existing RDS deployment running an earlier version of Windows Server but want to upgrade to a later version of Windows Server to take advantage of the new features. The question then becomes, which RDS components can work with different versions and which need to be the same?

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1717 So with that in mind, here are basic guidelines for supported configurations of Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server.

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2121

2222 ## Best practices

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24 −- Use the most recent version of Windows Server for your Remote Desktop infrastructure (the Web Access, Gateway, Connection Broker, and license server). Windows Server is backward-compatible with these components, which means a Windows Server 2016 RD Session Host can connect to a 2019 RD Connection Broker, but not the other way around.

24 +- Use the most recent version of Windows Server for your Remote Desktop infrastructure (the Web Access, Gateway, Connection Broker, and license server). Windows Server is backward-compatible with these components, which means a Windows Server 2022 RD Session Host can connect to a 2025 RD Connection Broker, but not the other way around.

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26 −- For RD Session Hosts - all Session Hosts in a collection need to be at the same level, but you can have multiple collections. You can have a collection with Windows Server 2016 Session Hosts and one with Windows Server 2025 Session Hosts.

26 +- For RD Session Hosts - all Session Hosts in a collection need to be at the same level, but you can have multiple collections. You can have a collection with Windows Server 2019 Session Hosts and one with Windows Server 2025 Session Hosts.

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28 −- If you upgrade your RD Session Host to Windows Server 2025, also upgrade the license server. Remember that a 2025 license server can only process CALs from previous versions of Windows Server.

28 +- If you upgrade your RD Session Host to Windows Server 2025, also upgrade the license server. Remember that a 2025 license server can only process client access licenses (CALs) from previous versions of Windows Server.

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3030 - Follow the upgrade order recommended in [Upgrading your Remote Desktop Services environment](upgrade-to-rds.md#flow-for-deployment-upgrades).

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3434 ## RD Connection Brokers

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36 −Windows Server 2016 removes the restriction for the number of Connection Brokers you can have in a deployment when using Remote Desktop Session Hosts (RDSH) and Remote Desktop Virtualization Hosts (RDVH) that also run Windows Server 2016. The following table shows which versions of RDS components work in a highly available deployment with three or more Connection Brokers.

36 +Starting in Windows Server 2016, there's no restriction for the number of Connection Brokers you can have in a deployment when using Remote Desktop Session Hosts (RDSH) and Remote Desktop Virtualization Hosts (RDVH). The following table shows which versions of RDS components work in a highly available deployment with three or more Connection Brokers.

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107107

108108 ## Single sign-on

109109

110 −RDS in Windows Server 2016 or later supports two main SSO experiences:

110 +RDS in Windows Server supports two main SSO experiences:

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112112 - In-app (Remote Desktop application on Windows, iOS, Android, and Mac)

113113 - Web SSO

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127127

128128 ## Using Remote Desktop Services with application proxy services

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130 −You can use Remote Desktop Services with [Microsoft Entra application proxy](/azure/active-directory/application-proxy-publish-remote-desktop). Remote Desktop Services does not support using [Web Application Proxy](../remote-access/web-application-proxy/web-app-proxy-windows-server.md), which is included in Windows Server 2016 and earlier versions.

130 +You can use Remote Desktop Services with [Microsoft Entra application proxy](/azure/active-directory/application-proxy-publish-remote-desktop). Remote Desktop Services doesn't support using [Web Application Proxy](../remote-access/web-application-proxy/web-app-proxy-windows-server.md).

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