Workspot Windows Client Release 4.3.0
January 16, 2023 by Robert Plamondon
Highlights
- Currently in production.
- End-user survey. Client users are now asked to rate their Workspot Client connection after they exit their Workspot desktop or app. Ratings are 1-5 stars with an optional comment. See Workspot Client User Surveys.
- Optional autolaunch. Users with only one Workspot desktop or app can launch that immediately upon sign-in, without clicking its icon on the (otherwise empty) Workspot Client dashboard. This feature is disabled by default, and is enabled in Control via the “Utility Settings” in the users’ Security Policy. See Desktop/App Autolaunch for Workspot Clients.
- Optional authentication via system browser. Previously sign-in for Azure AD and other non-AD authentication providers always took place via the Client’s built-in secure browser. The default system browser can now be selected instead. Some customers insist on the use of specific, approved browsers or rely upon browser extensions that are not supported by the Client’s build-in browser. This option is set in Control under “Setup > Configuration > Authentication and Registration.”
Automatic Installation
Automatic updates via the (highly recommended) Deployment Ring option have rolled out as follows:
- The Stable Ring (recommended for most users) was updated when the Client was released to production. Users whose Security Policies specify the Stable Ring are updated automatically.
- The Preview Ring (recommended for beta testers and early adopters) is the same as the Stable Ring until a new beta is released. Users whose Security Policies specify the Preview Ring are updated automatically.
- We recommend you enable automatic updates for all users, either with the Preview/Stable rings or with the releases you set manually in Control.
See Automatic Updates via Deployment Rings for more information.
Supported Platforms
Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Known Issues
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When a power-managed desktop resumes from sleep, the connection may time out prematurely with the error "There was a problem starting your desktop. Please contact your administrator." The end-user should retry the connection before contacting the administrator, since this usually works.
- On GCP, when the Workspot Teams plugin is in use, if the desktop goes into the Paused state, Microsoft Teams loses track of the Client's redirected audio and Webcam when it resumes. Workaround: Don't enable the Teams plugin on persistent, power-managed GCP Pools.
- Users of Windows 11 Client devices are reported in Control's "User Details" page as using Windows 10.
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If automatic reconnection is disabled in Control, the Client sometimes mistakenly gives a popup saying "User Failed to Launch Desktop" instead of "The Remote Desktop Has Disconnected."
- If you assign a Linux desktop to a user manually in Control, when the user connects to it for the first time with the Windows Client, the Client is supposed to prompt the user for sign-in credentials. Instead, the Client tries the most recently used credentials from another Workspot desktop/app first. If these succeed, the user is signed in automatically.
- Linux desktops do not support Client drive redirection.
- Enabling the identity provider testing feature for more than one identity provider at a time gives inconsistent results.
- To allow users to connect to their Workspot persistent desktops quickly, the Client uses cached information to connect to them, not waiting for its periodic polling of Control to complete first. This sometimes allows end-users to connect to desktops that have recently been reassigned.
- The popup the user receives to change expired Workspot Client PINs does not work. Workaround: Disable PIN expiration (set the expiration time to zero) in Security Policies in Control.
- Desktop zoom and multi-monitor display are not supported at the same time, but can be specified at the same time in the Client UI. Using both may show artifacts and distorted objects.
- When a published app has an interactive login message configured, and "Use Multiple Monitors" is not selected on the Client, the login message window may not be shown on the screen, and the user sees a blank blue window instead.
- When a Workspot desktop or App shows a login dialog, you have to click on the first field even though it appears to be selected already.
- If a user attempts to use the same desktop/app via the Client's built-in VPN on two Client devices at once, both devices enter a reconnect loop (the device with the older session is supposed to yield to the other one). Workaround: cancel the reconnection on one device. This will allow the other to connect.
- PingID authentication is not supported with this release. If a desktop is launched that requests PingID authentication, the user sees the message, "An error occurred in the authentication module. Please try again later or contact your system administrator."
- If two or more desktops are both closed and then both opened again, the second or subsequent desktop launch may fail with: "Notify IT to check the remote Windows server configuration and service." Workaround: Relaunch the desktop after a minute or two.
- Control may claim incorrectly that a Client connection went through the VPN, when in fact it connected directly, using the location detector feature to determine that this was the correct path.
- If you minimize a Workspot desktop and disable "use subset of monitors" under the Client's "Settings > RDP Settings" menu, this is not seen by the current desktop session, which continues to use all monitors except one. Workaround: Clear the "use subset of monitors" option on the Workspot desktop itself (at the top of the primary monitor) or close and relaunch the desktop.
- Sometimes nothing happens if a user closes and then reopens the same app immediately. Workaround: Wait 1-2 minutes and try again.