Remote Desktop IP Virtualization allows IP addresses to be assigned to remote desktop connections on a per session or per program basis. This can be useful if a program communicates with a server that only allows one connection per IP address. Prior to Windows Server 2008 R2, every session on an RD Session Host server was assigned the same IP address. With Windows Server 2008 R2, you can use Remote Desktop IP Virtualization to assign IP addresses on a per session or per program basis. If you assign IP addresses for multiple programs, they will share a per session IP address. If you have more than one network adapter on the server, you must also choose one network adapter for Remote Desktop IP Virtualization.

Remote Desktop IP Virtualization is configured by using the Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration tool. On the RD IP Virtualization tab of Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration, you can do the following:

  • Enable or disable Remote Desktop IP Virtualization.

  • Select the network adapter to be used for Remote Desktop IP Virtualization.

  • Configure whether the Remote Desktop IP Virtualization mode is per session or per program.

  • If Remote Desktop IP Virtualization is configured per program, you can add a list of programs that Remote Desktop IP Virtualization can use.

Membership in the local Administrators group, or equivalent, on the RD Session Host server that you plan to configure, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477.

To configure Remote Desktop IP Virtualization settings

  1. On the RD Session Host server, open Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration. To open Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, point to Remote Desktop Services, and then click Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration.

  2. In the Edit settings area, under RD IP Virtualization, double-click IP Virtualization.

  3. In the Properties dialog box, click the RD IP Virtualization tab.

  4. To enable or disable Remote Desktop IP Virtualization, do one of the following:

    • Select the Enable IP virtualization check box to enable Remote Desktop IP Virtualization.

    • Clear the Enable IP virtualization check box to disable Remote Desktop IP Virtualization.

  5. To select the network adapter to be used for Remote Desktop IP Virtualization, in the Select the network adapter to be used for IP virtualization list, select the appropriate network adapter.

  6. To select the Remote Desktop IP Virtualization mode, under IP virtualization mode:

    • Click Per session to configure Remote Desktop IP Virtualization to run in per session mode.

    • Click Per program to configure Remote Desktop IP Virtualization to run in per program mode.

  7. To assign which programs use Remote Desktop IP Virtualization, under Assign virtual IP addresses to these programs, click Add Program.

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