TurboRemoteFX

Powershell script which changes Group Policy and Registry entries to increase RDP (Remote Desktop) performance. (Enabling RemoteFX and Hardware, ie. GPU, H.264/AVC Encoding)

Based on the following sources:

• "Pushing Remote FX to its limits." - Reddit r/sysadmin post by u/liquidspikes
• "How to manage Local Group Policy with Powershell" - Blog post by Brandon Padgett, 2016
• PolicyFileEditor - Github project by Dave Wyatt (dlwyatt)
• "Optimizing RDP for casual use" - Blog post by Tedd Hansen, 2015
• Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) 10 AVC/H.264 improvements... - Blog post by Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security Team, 2018

Usage

Requirements:

• You need to install the PolicyFileEditor Powershell Module. To do this run:

  PS> Install-Module -Name PolicyFileEditor -Scope CurrentUser

To make the Group Policy/Registry changes:

1. Download and extract the files.

2. Open Administrator PowerShell to that directory.

3. Then run the following:

   PS> Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process ; .\TurboRemoteFXHostGPO.ps1

4. To assert the Group Policy changes run:

   PS> gpupdate /force

To undo the changes:

• Follow the steps above except use the TurboRemoteFXHostGPO-inverse.ps1 script.

  PS> Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process ; .\TurboRemoteFXHostGPO-inverse.ps1

Also recommended:

• If using NVIDIA, you should also grab their extra driver to support OpenGL over RDP
  • You will need to make an Nvidia account to download this.
  • nvidiaopenglrdp.exe
  • Khronos Group article explaining more
• Client side changes
  • When opening an RDP connection make the settings:
    • Network Type: LAN
    • Persistent Bitmap Caching: No

About

The scripts simply automate making changes in Group Policy and the Registry.

Equivalent gpedit.msc changes

All changes take place inside the path:

Local Computer Policy
\ Computer Configuration
  \ Administrative Templates
    \ Windows Components
      \ Remote Desktop Services
        \ Remote Desktop Session Host

From there, the following locations take changes:

In \Connections

Select RDP Transfer Protocols = Enabled
Set Transport Type to: "Use both UDP and TCP"

In \Remote Session Environment

Use hardware graphics adapters for all Remote Desktop Services Sessions = Enabled
Prioritize H.264/AVC 444 graphics mode for Remote Desktop Connections = Enabled
Configure H.264/AVC Hardware encoding for Remote Desktop Connections = Enabled
    Set "Prefer AVC hardware encoding" to "Always attempt"
Configure compression for Remote FX data = Enabled
    Set RDP compression algorithm: "Do not use an RDP compression algorithm"
Configure image quality for RemoteFX Adaptive Graphics = Enabled
    Set Image Quality to "High" (lossless seemed too brutal over WAN connections.)
Enable RemoteFX encoding for RemoteFX clients designed for Windows Server 2008R2 SP1 = Enabled.

In \Remote Session Environment\Remote FX for Windows Server 2008R2

Configure Remote FX = Enabled
Optimize visual experience when using Remote FX = Enabled
    Set Screen capture rate (frames per second) = Highest (best quality)
    Set Screen Image Quality = Highest (best quality)
Optimize visual experience for remote desktop sessions = Enabled
    Set Visual Experience = Rich Multimedia

These changes correspond to the following registry entries:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services]
"SelectTransport"=dword:00000000
"bEnumerateHWBeforeSW"=dword:00000001
"AVC444ModePreferred"=dword:00000001
"MaxCompressionLevel"=dword:00000000
"ImageQuality"=dword:00000002
"fEnableVirtualizedGraphics"=dword:00000001
"VGOptimization_CaptureFrameRate"=dword:00000001
"VGOptimization_CompressionRatio"=dword:00000001
"VisualExperiencePolicy"=dword:00000001

You can check this by browsing regedit or using the Powershell Command:

Get-Item "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services"

Other registry tweaks

Not all of the configurations were available with GPO, so some other registry tweaks are made in TurboRemoteFXHost.reg

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services]
"AVCHardwareEncodePreferred"=dword:0
"fEnableWddmDriver"=dword:00000000
; If issues, try WDDM driver enabled.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations]
"DWMFRAMEINTERVAL"=dword:15

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile]
"SystemResponsiveness"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TermDD]
"FlowControlDisable"=dword:00000001
"FlowControlDisplayBandwidth"=dword:0000010
"FlowControlChannelBandwidth"=dword:0000090
"FlowControlChargePostCompression"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp]
"InteractiveDelay"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters]
"DisableBandwidthThrottling"=dword:00000001
"DisableLargeMtu"=dword:00000000