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Have you ever minimized a remote app shared by a Windows 2008 server and had it disappear after about 10 seconds?

If so, how did you over come that particular inconvenience?

The application is an in-house app, I'm asking here and not on StackOverflow because I desperately want this to be an implementation issue.

The program works fine over Citrix, but not Microsoft Terminal Services remote app. The setup is just plain-vanilla, no changed to default and we tried with both the MSI installer and the .RDP connection (which I think are exactly the same anyway)

HopelessN00b
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Peter Turner
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  • http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverTS/thread/5a759b79-bed9-40d3-a322-56961324faf9 – Peter Turner May 22 '09 at 18:10
  • It may have something to do with the app being an MDI window, or just not a Microsoft Product... – Peter Turner May 22 '09 at 20:48
  • I am not sure I understand correctly: Is it the terminal client (remote desktop client) or the application within that "disappears" ? – lImbus May 27 '09 at 07:59
  • The app just disappears off the task bar. It's still running on the server When I re-open it (by clicking on the .rdp file) it's at the exact same state I left it at. – Peter Turner May 27 '09 at 13:10

3 Answers3

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Are you going through a TS Gateway and a firewall? If so, here's way may be happening...

When you minimize the RemoteApp, the HTTPS/TCP connection the Remote Desktop client is using to tunnel the RDP traffic goes quiet.

The firewall, thinking your tunneled RPD session is just a normal HTTPS web browser connection waits for some timeout period after not seeing any activity, and then closes the connection.

I hate to link to them, but ExpertSexChange has a decent discussion of the issue: http://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Microsoft_Operating_Systems/Server/Remote_Desktop-Terminal_Services/Q_24178275.html

Their solution was to extend the timeout configured on the firewall.

The only other mention I found of this was a release note from a Juniper Networks SSL VPN firmware update. It mentions adding support for RemoteApps. This would lead me to think that there are some networking requirements that might not be documented by Microsoft and vary with each network device and vendor. Link is here: http://www.juniper-support.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html

Chris Sears
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  • Thanks for the response, but it's not tunneled through a firewall or using TS Gateway. It's happening inside my LAN. – Peter Turner May 27 '09 at 13:14
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So it may just be a Delphi related issue after all, although sysadmins should be aware in case they want to run an app written in Delphi.

  • One Fix is to recompile in > Delphi 2007 with 
Application.MainFormOnTaskbar := True

before the application.initialize (not very sysadminny)

  • Another is to use a batch file to launch your program. (that's odd, but it makes sense)
Peter Turner
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Are you positive that the same behavior doesn't occur when it is not minimized but only inactive for the same period of time?

If a remote app is minimized, that remote session is considered inactive and will be subject to any group policy or rdp-tcp properties that deal with idle session limits. To test, just start the remote app, don't minimize, and let it sit and see how long it takes to disconnect. If it is the same as when it is minimized just change your policy settings.

Daniel Lucas
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