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I would like to run an application on one Windows machine (2008 server preferably, but any platform is okay) and display the UI on another Windows workstation.

I'm not sure what blend of technologies I need to do this. I've looked at MS Application Virtualization 4.5 (formerly SoftGrid), but that's not quite what I'm looking for. I don't want the app to run on the local host, just a remote interface. All app CPU activity and network activity needs to be localized on the remote host.

I know it's dissimilar technologies, but think "Parallels" for the Mac... is this even possible with Windows Remote Desktop/Terminal Services?

Simon Gillbee
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2 Answers2

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Sounds like you need Terminal Services Remote Apps, which is in Server 2008. As the technet blurb says:

With Terminal Services, organizations can provide access to Windows®-based programs from almost any location to almost any computing device. Terminal Services in Windows Server® 2008 includes Terminal Services RemoteApp (TS RemoteApp). You can use several different methods to deploy RemoteApp programs, such as Terminal Services Web Access (TS Web Access). With TS Web Access, you can provide access to RemoteApp programs through a Web page over the Internet or over an intranet. TS Web Access is also included in Windows Server 2008

Im not sure if a web interface is good enough for what you need, or if your looking for something more integrated. See here for details on TS Remote Apps and here for details on how to do it.

Sam Cogan
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Citrix does this (seamless window) if you want to pay for it, or as already answered - this is possible as part of the Server 2008 and onwards without Citrix.

You can even package this as an msi and do a very simple policy deploy of it to user's start menus ^^

There are also a few hacks out there to do this with the old Terminal Services and some viewport cropping... I haven't tried them though.

Oskar Duveborn
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