Prevent RDApp from spawning other applications

Brian Hart 296 Reputation points
2021-03-22T23:55:44.087+00:00

Server 2019.

Is it possible to prevent a RemoteApp from spawning other applications? We have an application that, as part of its user interface, has a button that shows the Task Manager. A user clicked that, then used it to spawn Server Manager.

If I can configure the particular RemoteApp to disallow spawning any other processes, I will resolve the problem by configuring that. If not, I have to go back to the software vendor and point out their egregious security hole.

Remote Desktop
Remote Desktop
A Microsoft app that connects remotely to computers and to virtual apps and desktops.
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  1. Brian Hart 296 Reputation points
    2021-04-15T18:33:09.57+00:00

    This all assumes that I am the programmer of the application and can embed the logic in the program or that I have a way to capture the application beforehand.

    Further research reveals that the activity I want is, indeed, required to be embedded in the application itself; it is up to the programmer of the application to provide a way to sense an existing instances of the application for the current user and prevent multiple instances; RDApp has no native capacity to block multiple instances. I was mis-informed when I assumed there was a way to do this.

    I have contacted then vendor, and buried within their setup, they do have a way for me to specify that a user can have only one instance. So we are implementing that.

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  2. Grace HE 1,241 Reputation points
    2021-03-30T08:27:02.84+00:00

    Hi,
    Thank you for your feedback. Via my research and tests, here are some hints for you.
    First, you could try to apply commands to the according reomteapps on the RDCB.
    To kill a process by its PID, type the command:
    taskkill /F /PID pid_number
    To kill a process by its name, type the command:
    taskkill /IM "process name" /F
    ![82610-image.png]1

    Secondly, you could try to stop other processes. Here is a link you may refer to. Please note that this is not a Microsoft official link and it may change. So please try it after some tests.
    https://winaero.com/kill-process-windows-10/

    ---If the suggestions above are helpful, please ACCEPT ANSWER. Really appreciate. This will also help others with similar issue to find this post quickly. ---

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  3. Brian Hart 296 Reputation points
    2021-03-26T13:27:41.063+00:00

    No. That post is all about spawning an extra RDP window. The problem has nothing to do with extra RDP windows. I need to prevent the Remote Desktop application from even being able to open other applications. These do not open another window anyway; they open inside the same RD session, so they do not open another Remote Desktop window.

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  4. Grace HE 1,241 Reputation points
    2021-03-26T08:51:39.32+00:00

    Hi,
    Thank you for your feedback and sincerely sorry for the delay of rely. I think the spawning is the problem that bothers you. Here is a related question and link that may help you.

    RemoteApp spawns extra RDP windows
    https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/b2e08528-b638-4705-a19f-f10becc95b5d/remoteapp-spawns-extra-rdp-windows?forum=winserverTS

    Best Regards,
    Grace

    ---If the suggestions above are helpful, please ACCEPT ANSWER. Really appreciate. This will also help others with similar issue to find this post quickly. ---

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  5. Brian Hart 296 Reputation points
    2021-03-23T07:02:47.687+00:00

    No, that is not it at all.

    That link addresses how to ensure that a spawned process also closes when the RemoteApp itself closes, and that is not the question at all. My question is how to prevent a RemoteApp from spawning any other process in the first place. I want only the RemoteApp itself--no other applications--to be able to run in the session opened when the RemoteApp is opened.

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