Hide Connection bar

Question

Is there a way to hide the blue connection bar in the Windows RD client when connecting to Azure Virtual Desktop? A cmd line, GPO, powershell or a registery solution is preferable? Or perhaps from within Azure Portal?

The goal is to prevent users from resizing or minimizing the session desktop which is enabled by default during Remote desktop connection. Prefered method is Force users to sign out or "disconnect" from the start menu only.

Any advice appreciated

Answer 1

@Kassa, Abel The way we do this for out customers is the following:

1. In the Azure Virtual Desktop hostpool, go to RDP Properties
2. Go in the RDP Properties to the tab Advanced
3. Add the following option there: displayconnectionbar:i:0
4. Click save to save this setting
5. Refresh the workspace at the client side to apply this setting
6. The blue connection bar will now be hidden (you can get it back by using the shortcut CRTL+ALT+HOME)

This way you have this setting centralized, i would not prefer to do RDP settings via registry or manual settings. Teach your users to use the shortcut CTRL+ALT+HOME (brings back the connection bar for 5 seconds) if they want to switch between desktops.

Answer 2

Hi,

Not sure if there is any I could'nt find any on MS, however you can set the Timeout settings and disconnect the session following the steps in GPO:

You can set RDP session time-outs using user Group Policies. You can do this either in the domain GPO editor (gpmc.msc) or the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) on a Remote desktop session or the RDS client.

RDP session timeout settings are found under following GPO sections Computer Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Remote Desktop Services -> Remote Desktop Session Host -> Session Time Limits.

Below are the Remote Desktop time-out settings which are available:

Set the time limitation for the disconnected sessions
Set time duration for active but idle Remote Desktop Service sessions -> the policy allows idle RDP sessions to get terminated which has no user inputs (like typing something on the keyboard or moving a mouse)
Set time duration for active Remote Desktop Service sessions -> it is the maximum time duration of any RDP sessions, after which it gets terminated or gets disconnected after the set time limit.
End Session when time durations are reached -> sets the time after which an RDP session will be logged off (terminated) instead of disconnecting it.
Lastly, set a time limitation for the logoff of RemoteApp sessions.

save all the changes and update the Group Policy settings on your RD host (gpupdate /force). Now, the new time-out settings will be applied to the latest RDP sessions. Hence, as a result, sessions will only get disconnected after the specified time which is provided by you.

Run Gpupdate /force and the policy will apply to new sessions

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Answer 3

Thanks for the information. Our use case is a testing center where a student is not permitted to minimize the window and navigate away from the session. I understand the option exists for the traditional mstsc client as shown here as well as a registry solution. I am looking for a solution for the MSRDC client.

Thanks

Answer 4

@Kassa, Abel
Did you check these settings under registry?
\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSRDC\Settings

Answer 5

Thank you for the suggestion. I added the registry key "displayconnectionbar" to the reg path shown above and set value to 0 but it is not applying and no change. The connection bar is still visible. Please share if there is an alternative solution