SOLVED: How To Customize Your RDS RDWeb Page

If you are running Remote Desktop Services (RDS) you likely have an /RDWeb landing page that you would like to reconfigure to make it easier for people to visit.  My RDWeb page now looks like the one on the right.

If you are interested in customizing the RDWeb page, you might be interested in our easy explanation of how to eliminate the /RDWeb portion of the rds.YourDomain.com/RDWeb and change it to just rds.YourDomain.com, HERE.

WARNING: Internet Explorer does a good job of detecting the changes when you refresh RDWeb page but Chrome does not.  Soooo, if you are testing with Chrome, make sure you flush your browser cache.

Customize the HELP Page on the RDS Login Page:

1. Launch IIS
2. Expand DEFAULT WEBSITE > RDWeb > PAGES
3. Double click on APPLICATION SETTINGS from the middle pane
4. Change LocalHelp to true
5. Use Notepad to edit or replace %windir%\Web\RDWeb\Pages\en-US\rap-help.htm
   1. Note that you may want a different path than en-US if you are not using English
6. Refresh your RDWeb login page and note that there is no need to restart IIS after this

Customize the TO PROTECT AGAINST Warning on the RDS Login Page:

1. Use Notepad to edit or replace %windir%\Web\RDWeb\Pages\login.aspx
2. Go to Line 43 and echange the text.  Ours now looks like:

const string L_TSWATimeoutLabel_Text = “All actions are logged off site to protect against unauthorized access. If you are unsure if you are authorized, contact Up & Running IT at 403-xxx-xxxx. Your RD Web Access session will automatically time out after a period of inactivity. If your session ends, refresh your browser and sign in again.”;

Remove HELP Link From the RDS Login Page:

Note that we think it is better to customize the help page than it is to remove it (see above), but you can if you wish.

1. Use Notepad to edit %windir%\web\rdweb\pages\site.xsl
   1. I would make a copy first, in case you screw it up
2. EDIT > GOTO line 150
3. Delete the next 8 lines (everything between the <table> and </table> tags )
4. Save the file to the desktop then copy the file to %windir%\web\rdweb\pages\

Remove CONNECT TO A REMOTE PC Link from RDS Login Page:

1. Launch IIS
2. Expand DEFAULT WEBSITE > RDWeb > PAGES
3. Double click on APPLICATION SETTINGS from the middle pane
4. Change ShowDesktops to false
5. Restart IIS (I like using IISRESET)

Allow Users To CHANGE PASSWORD from RDS Login Page:

1. Launch IIS
2. Expand DEFAULT WEBSITE > RDWeb > PAGES
3. Double click on APPLICATION SETTINGS from the middle pane
4. Change PasswordChangeEnabled to false
5. Restart IIS (I like using IISRESET)

Change The Graphics On a Server 2016 RDWeb Login Page

A) Change the Brand Logo On The RDWeb Login Page:

Option 1:

1. Replace %windir%\Web\RDWeb\Pages\images\logo_02.png with your graphic but make sure it is the same 48×48 pixel size

FYI, logo_01.png is the small remote desktop’ graphic in the top right beside the words RD WEB ACCESS

Option 2:

1. Create a new folder named images %windir%\Web\RDWeb\Pages\en-US\images\
   1. If you are not using English, change the en-US to the appropriate folder
2. Use Notepad to edit %windir%\web\rdweb\pages\site.xsl
   1. I would make a copy first, in case you screw it up
3. Search for ../images/logo_02.png 
   1. on line 114 in the factory site.xsl
4. Update the graphic name and size so it looks the the screen shot to the right

Thanks to THIS page for this one.

B) Change The Server 2016 Logo On The RDWeb Login Page:

1. Replace %windir%\web\rdweb\pages\images\WS_h_c.png 

We suggest that at very least you delete white background of the Server 2016 logo because the default graphic looks terrible.  Also, we suggest you edit that graphic to remove the “2016” from it so that it is 1% harder for hackers to figure out what they are attacking.

C) Change The Microsoft Logo On The RDWeb Login Page:

1. Replace %windir%\web\rdweb\pages\images\mslogo_black.png 

If you just want to remove the Microsoft Logo on the RDWeb home page, the easiest way to to this is to change the mslogo_block.png to a single pixel.  Otherwise you can screw around in the site.xsl code to find it but why bother.

D) Change The Globe Wallpaper On The RDWeb Login Page:

1. Replace %windir%\web\rdweb\pages\images\bg_globe_01.jpg

Change The Text ‘Work Resources’ On The RDWeb Login page:

1. Start a PowerShell as an Administrator
2. Enter Set-RDWorkspace -Name "YourNameHere"
   1. Yes, you need the quotes

That to THIS blog for this tip.

Change the RD Workspace Name and Other Text On the RDWeb Login Page:

1. Use Notepad to edit %windir%\Web\RDWeb\Pages\en-US\RDWAStrings.xml
2. Change the text as you see fit like:
   1. line 3 which contains the Page Title
   2. line 10 which contains the HEADING RDWA , and
   3. line 12 that contains the HELP title text

WARNING: Internet Explorer does a good job of detecting the changes when you refresh the page but Chrome does not.  Soooo, if you are using Chrome, make sure you flush your browser cache.

The text in this file is used in more places than just the RDWeb login page.

There are many other customizations you can perform and I found the following articles useful:

• http://miscproject.blogspot.ca/2015/07/branding-microsoft-remote-desktop-web.html
• https://msfreaks.wordpress.com/2013/12/29/step-by-step-customizing-rd-web-access-2012-r2/
• https://walnutgeek.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/remote-desktop-web-access-enable-i-am-using-a-private-computer-by-default/
• https://nedimmehic.org/2017/02/16/remote-desktop-services-2016-standard-deployment-part-4-rd-web-access-part2/