Launch Mac Microsoft RDP with url

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JeremyWhiting-8042 asked Mar 15, '21 izelik-3374 commented Oct 28, '21

Launch Mac Microsoft RDP with url

I'm trying to launch the macos Microsoft Remote Desktop app with a rdp url but it always says the URL is invalid. I've tried these schemes, the first says url is invalid, the second says it can't find the file.

rdp://username@servername (also tried rdp://servername rdp://servername:port etc. None of these are valid somehow)
rdp://address=s:servername (also tried rdp://address=s:servername:3389 rdp://address=s:servername&username=foo, mac's open command wants to open these as a file, not passing the url to the app at all.)

2 fails even with open -a /Applications/Microsoft\ Remote\ Desktop.app <url> with or without " around the url it always reports:

The file /Users/jeremy/rdp://address=s:192.168.1.21:3389&username=s:jeremy does not exist.

Is there a way to launch the macos Microsoft Remote Desktop app with a url and have it load the url and connect to the given server with username if possible, without would be adequate for now.

remote-desktop-client

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GraceHE-MSFT · Mar 16, 2021 at 09:26 AM

Hi,
Thank you for posting your query. According to your description, more information would be grateful.
Are you trying to connect to a workspace?

Best Regards,
Grace

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JeremyWhiting-8042 GraceHE-MSFT · Mar 17, 2021 at 08:16 PM

Yeah, basically trying to open a rdp link, but am not sure what format the macos Remote Desktop app is requiring the url to be in. From reading the documentation I tried what are valid urls on windows, but neither work on macos Remote Desktop. It says the URL is invalid and doesn't try to connect to anything.

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GraceHE-MSFT JeremyWhiting-8042 · Mar 18, 2021 at 02:43 AM

Hi,
Thank you for your quick reply. Via research, you key point is the URL form. The URLs you mentioned above is definitely incorrect. If you are trying to connect to a workspace, the URL should be like this way, e.g. http://contoso.com/rdweb/Feed/webfeed.aspx

To enter information for the remote resource, you can use feed URL which is the URL of the RD WEB ACCESS. You can also enter your corporate email account in this field. That is to say the client can search for the RD WEB ACCESS associated with the email address.

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ios-to-workspace.png (125.7 KiB)

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Answer 1 · 2021-03-22T03:23:20.947Z

GraceHE-MSFT answered Mar 22, '21 JeremyWhiting-8042 commented Mar 22, '21

Hi,
Thank you for your reply. Here are some official documents you may need.
Registering an Application to a URI Scheme
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/internet-explorer/ie-developer/platform-apis/aa767914(v=vs.85)?redirectedfrom=MSDN
Remote desktop URI scheme
https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/windows-server/remote/remote-desktop-services/clients/remote-desktop-uri
Remote Desktop Client URI Scheme Support
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/dn690096(v=ws.11)

Best Regards,
Grace

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JeremyWhiting-8042 · Mar 22, 2021 at 04:15 AM

First link is windows only, I'm talking about Remote Desktop macos app.

Second link is what I already tried, doesn't work.

Third link is a 404.

Thanks anyway.

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JeremyWhiting-8042 JeremyWhiting-8042 · Mar 22, 2021 at 04:18 AM

Third link changed to get https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/dn690096(v=ws.11)?redirectedfrom=MSDN is also what I already tried. The Macos version of Microsoft Remote Desktop doesn't seem to understand these rdp://address=s:serverip:port style links at all. It just says they are invalid when I try to run the app with them as an argument. Maybe there's no built in way to launch the macos app and have it connect to a given server. If that's the case that's too bad, but just say so. Don't keep trying to give suggestions that I've already tried, and explained above that I already tried...

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Answer 2 · 2021-03-23T08:24:03.203Z

GraceHE-MSFT answered Mar 23, '21

Hi,
Thank you for your quick reply. There is a key element you need to check first. That is whether you have Configure the GPO for RemoteApp Programs in Group Policy?
You can check refer to this link.
https://rdr-it.com/en/gpo-deploy-remoteapp-programs/

Best Regards,
Grace

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Answer 3 · 2021-09-16T14:31:41.647Z

MStev-1875 answered Sep 16, '21

I would like to also +1 this and provide some more data. This appears to be a regression in the Mac version of the Remote Desktop App under Big Sur. When you are dealing with windows instances in the cloud, especially of the ephemeral sort, the rdp mechanism provides an invaluable mechanism around scripting access to these instances.

This has become a really big pain point and if the uri handling could be fixed under big sur or some mechanism for passing command line parameters, it would be very much appreciated!

I also get that I'm asking for a feature on a free product :)

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Answer 4 · 2021-09-16T15:25:53.423Z

JeremyWhiting-8042 answered Sep 16, '21 izelik-3374 commented Oct 28, '21

Hello,

None of these answers address the problem at all. I'd like to use a link/url to launch Microsoft RDP app on macos to connect to a given device. I have the device's ip address, username, etc. I do not have a server rdp config file or whatever you are talking about as far as setting remote connection policy, etc. etc.

I have a windows 10 device on my lan at ip 192.168.1.45 for example, and a user on it called Jeremy. How do I launch Microsoft RDP to launch and try to connect to that?

The device at that ip is listening for incoming rdp connections. Connecting to it from windows to windows or linux to windows works fine by specifying the ip and username. I don't see any way to do that with the MacOS Microsoft RDP application. without clicking many options in the gui. I'd like a link and/or command-line option to launch the app and directly connect to a given machine.

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MariusMalaia-1518 · Oct 07, 2021 at 03:59 PM

I needed the same and these replies were as useless to me as they were to you.

The URI scheme is the one you tried and provided by Grace: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/remote/remote-desktop-services/clients/remote-desktop-uri

For macOS you need to look at the legacy part. The format is "variable=type:value". The variable name can contain spaces (why?!) which are translated to URI with the "%20" code.

As an example, this link below will open the RDP client and then a session to the your.host.here (can also be an IP address) with 1680x1050 resolution, in a window, and prefill the username jeremy.

rdp://full%20address=s:your.host.here:3389&audiomode=i:2&desktopwidth=i:1680&desktopheight=i:1050&screen%20mode%20id=i:1&username=s:jeremy

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izelik-3374 MariusMalaia-1518 · Oct 28, 2021 at 04:22 PM

Folks, it seems to be noway until Microsoft will fix the app for Big Sur.
I have the workaround idea - use shell scrit that will generate local .rdp file and run it, but I have a problem with it - it seems to be no way to provide a password this way. Unencrypted passwords are unsupported and I have no clue with encryption method %(

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