Mac Remote Desktop Commandline with BIg Sur

Question

Ever since I updated to Big Sur, a script I have no longer works with Remote Desktop Client for Mac.

Basically the script, goes to AWS and looks up a private ip address of a specified machine instance. It then SSH tunnels to that private ip address on port 3389 and binds it locally to port 59000. It then launches remote desktop with a command similar to

open "rdp://full%20address=s:localhost:59000&username=s:administrator&prompt%20for%20credentials%20on%20client=i:1&smart%20sizing:i:1&screen%20mode%20id:i:1"

This was all working great under Catalina (and previous iteration of MacOS). Now with Big Sur, it no longer works. It gets an error:

The file /Users/REDACTED/rdp:/full%20address=s:localhost:59000&username=s:administrator&prompt%20for%20credentials%20on%20client=i:1&smart%20sizing:i:1&screen%20mode%20id:i:1 does not exist.

Its as if Big Sur/Terminal no longer knows how to handle an rdp URI.

Is there some new parameter or configuration that needs to be done with Big Sur now? I am running the latest RDP client 10.6.6 and also tried with the last few versions.

Answer 1

If i replace // with //// in the URI, I don't get that error anymore although the Mac RDP Desktop Client throws an "The URL is not valid. Notify your network administrator." Error - I also tried with the example here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/dn690096(v=ws.11)?redirectedfrom=MSDN

Answer 2

Hello @Stephen Barrett ,

1.Microsoft Remote Desktop uses the URI scheme rdp://query_string to store pre-configured attribute settings that are used when launching the client. The query strings represent a single or set of RDP attributes provided in the URL. The RDP attributes are separated by the ampersand symbol (&).
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/dn690096(v=ws.11)?redirectedfrom=MSDN

Have you configured the GPO for RemoteApp Programs in Group Policy? https://rdr-it.com/en/gpo-deploy-remoteapp-programs/

FYI: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/315333/launch-mac-microsoft-rdp-with-url.html

2.There is a new beta version released which you could have a try:
https://install.appcenter.ms/orgs/rdmacios-k2vy/apps/microsoft-remote-desktop-for-mac/distribution_groups/all-users-of-microsoft-remote-desktop-for-mac

FYI: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/224756/remote-desktop-app-on-macos-big-sur-not-working-wi.html

Best regards,
Leila

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Answer 3

For MacOS sonoma you need to escape the : characters, as described here:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-virtual-desktop-feedback/problem-with-rdp-protocol-handler-in-macos-sonoma/idi-p/3945121

eg rdp://full%20address=s%3Amyhost.com