Remote Desktop Services supported configurations

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2 −title: Supported configurations for Remote Desktop Services

2 +title: Supported Configurations for Remote Desktop Services

33 description: Provides information about supported configurations for Remote Desktop Services (RDS) in Windows Server.

4 −ms.topic: article

4 +ms.topic: concept-article

55 ms.assetid: c925c7eb-6880-411f-8e59-bd0f57cc5fc3

66 author: xelu86

77 ms.author: alalve

8 −ms.date: 04/09/2025

8 +ms.date: 07/07/2025

99 ---

1010

1111 # Supported configurations for Remote Desktop Services

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13 −When it comes to the supported configurations for Remote Desktop Services (RDS) environments, the largest concern tends to be version interoperability. Most environments include multiple versions of Windows Server. For example, you might 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?

13 +When it comes to the supported configurations for Remote Desktop Services (RDS) environments, the largest concern tends to be version interoperability. Most environments include multiple versions of Windows Server. For example, you might 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 use a consistent version?

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15 −So with that in mind, here are basic guidelines for supported configurations of RDS in Windows Server.

15 +This article provides basic guidelines for supported configurations of RDS in Windows Server.

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1717 > [!NOTE]

18 −> Make sure to review the [system requirements for Windows Server](../../get-started/hardware-requirements.md).

18 +> Be sure to review the [system requirements for Windows Server](../../get-started/hardware-requirements.md).

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2020 ## Best practices

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22 −- 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. Meaning a Windows Server 2022 RD Session Host can connect to a 2025 RD Connection Broker, but not the other way around.

22 +- 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. So a Windows Server 2022 RD Session Host can connect to a Windows Server 2025 RD Connection Broker, but not the other way around.

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

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

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26 −- An RDS license server can only process client access licenses (CALs) from the same or previous versions of Windows Server. Meaning, if you upgrade your RD Session Host to Windows Server 2025, you also need to upgrade the license server.

26 +- An RDS license server can only process client access licenses (CALs) from the same or previous versions of Windows Server. So, if you upgrade your RD Session Host to Windows Server 2025, you also need to upgrade the license server.

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2828 - 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 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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4545 RDS supports systems equipped with GPUs. Applications that require a GPU can be used over the remote connection. Additionally, GPU-accelerated rendering and encoding can be enabled for improved app performance and scalability.

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47 −Remote Desktop Session Hosts and single-session client operating systems can take advantage of the physical or virtual GPUs presented to the operating system in many ways, including the [Azure GPU optimized virtual machine sizes](/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/sizes-gpu), GPUs available to the physical RDSH server, and GPUs presented to the VMs by supported hypervisors.

47 +Remote Desktop Session Hosts and single-session client operating systems can take advantage of the physical or virtual GPUs presented to the operating system in many ways, including the [Azure GPU optimized virtual machine sizes](/azure/virtual-machines/windows/sizes-gpu), GPUs available to the physical RDSH server, and GPUs presented to the VMs by supported hypervisors.

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4949 See [Which graphics virtualization technology is right for you?](rds-graphics-virtualization.md) for help with figuring out what you need. For specific information about DDA, check out [Plan for deploying Discrete Device Assignment](../../virtualization/hyper-v/plan/plan-for-deploying-devices-using-discrete-device-assignment.md).

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