
Windows XP Home Edition does not accept any RDC connections at all, reserving RDS for Fast User Switching and Remote Assistance only. For example, rdesktop supports Unix platforms.Īlthough RDS is shipped with most editions of all versions of Windows NT since Windows 2000, its functionality differs in each version. Third-party developers have also created client software for RDS. Fast User Switching is part of Winlogon and uses RDS to accomplish its switching feature. Fast User Switching allows users to switch between user accounts on the local computer without quitting software and logging out. In case of RDC, however, the remote user opens a new session on the remote computer and has every power granted by its user account's rights and restrictions. In case of Remote Assistance, the remote user needs to receive an invitation and the control is cooperative. The first two are individual utilities that allow a user to operate an interactive session on a remote computer over the network. Windows Remote Assistance – only Windows 10 and later.Windows includes three client components that use RDS: RemoteFX was added to RDS as part of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1.

This is in contrast to application streaming systems, like Microsoft App-V, in which computer programs are streamed to the client on-demand and executed on the client machine. User interfaces are displayed from the server onto the client system and input from the client system is transmitted to the server - where software execution takes place. RDS is Microsoft's implementation of thin client architecture, where Windows software, and the entire desktop of the computer running RDS, are made accessible to any remote client machine that supports Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Terminal Services were then renamed to Remote Desktop Services with Windows Server 2008 R2 in 2009.

Starting with Windows 2000, it was integrated under the name of Terminal Services as an optional component in the server editions of the Windows NT family of operating systems, receiving updates and improvements with each version of Windows.

RDS was first released in 1998 as Terminal Server in Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition, a stand-alone edition of Windows NT 4.0 Server that allowed users to log in remotely. Remote Desktop Services ( RDS), known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and earlier, is one of the components of Microsoft Windows that allow a user to initiate and control an interactive session on a remote computer or virtual machine over a network connection.

Components of Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Servicesĭocs.
