Why Microsoft Is Phasing Out Its Remote Desktop App (and What to Use Instead)
Microsoft has announced that it is retiring the old Microsoft Remote Desktop tool that was available from the Microsoft Store. Instead, the company is advising users to upgrade to its shiny new Windows app , which does many of the same things, including connecting to PCs remotely and accessing Windows 365 PCs in the cloud.
According to Microsoft, the Windows app provides several improvements over Microsoft Remote Desktop, such as multi-monitor support, dynamic display resolution, customizable home screens, and a more unified interface. It is designed in such a way that you can remotely access the same Windows computers from multiple devices.
If you are a Microsoft Remote Desktop user, you need to upgrade by Tuesday, May 27th. However, it’s not as simple as completely replacing one app with another—Microsoft has other similar tools, and there are currently some caveats about using a Windows app.
What changes and what doesn’t change
Microsoft is discontinuing one specific utility: Microsoft Remote Desktop in the Microsoft Store. The Windows app is essentially its new and modern replacement. However, while the Windows app covers most of the functionality of Microsoft Remote Desktop, it doesn’t cover every feature on every platform.
What won’t go away is the Remote Desktop Connection feature included in Windows: you can still use it as usual . You can also download and use the more advanced Remote Desktop client for Windows, which is designed for IT administrators and professionals and has features suitable for organizations.
Confused yet? While the Windows app for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Android allows remote desktop connections at the time of writing, the Windows app for Windows does not. For Windows-to-Windows connections, Microsoft recommends using the built-in Remote Desktop connection “until support for this connection type is available in a Windows application,” although it has not said when this support will be rolled out.
A Windows app is a good idea in theory, but it’s still a work in progress: Microsoft even has an official known issues and limitations page that you should check if you’re coming from the Microsoft Remote Desktop program (the one that’s being phased out). It also requires a work or school Microsoft account, so individual users can’t access it (at least for now).
How to set up remote connections
You can check out our full guide to the Windows app for more details on what this software package is and what it can do, but if you’re coming from Microsoft Remote Desktop, then you’ll likely be most interested in setting up connections to a remote PC. You can do this by clicking the + (plus) button in the top right corner of the Devices tab, and then selecting “Add Computer” from the list.
You then need to specify the hostname or IP address of the computer you are connecting to, and configure the rest of the connection configuration, including how the remote computer appears on the screen and which folders are shared with the local computer. Once all this is done, click Add to bring the computer to the Devices screen, then double-click its thumbnail to establish the connection.
There’s a lot more to the Windows app, including the ability to stream Windows PCs running Windows 365 to the cloud. However, this feature is intended for business and organizational use, and to date Microsoft has said nothing about allowing everyday consumers to run Windows from the cloud.
If you’re connecting to a Windows PC from a Windows PC, you’ll need to use the old school method of connecting to a remote desktop. First, you need to set up the computer you want to connect to, which should have a professional version of Windows installed. From the Settings menu, select System and Remote Desktop , then turn on the feature and make a note of the computer name that appears on the screen.
On the computer you’re connecting from, type “Remote Desktop Connection” into the search box on the taskbar, then select the Remote Desktop Connection application when it appears. You will be prompted to enter the PC name that was displayed on the other computer, after which the connection will be established.
It’s all a bit patchy, with a lot of tools offering slightly different feature sets and in different stages of development, but Windows apps are clearly the future – eventually. If Microsoft’s approach to Remote Desktop seems too confusing to you, there are plenty of third-party options , including TeamViewer and Chrome Remote Desktop .