Single Sign-On for Remote Desktop Web Access

With Digipass Authentication for Remote Desktop Web Access users can authenticate to Remote Desktop Web Access using either of the supported authentication methods (see Authentication methods). However, after successful authentication, they may be prompted to re-authenticate with their static passwords whenever they launch a remote application, even if single sign-on is enabled for Remote Desktop Web Access. This is because, if Remote Desktop Web Access is set up accordingly, the web browser caches the user’s credentials during the session and forwards them to RDP on application launch. If users authenticate with OTPs, the RDP connection to the remote applications cannot be established because the browser will cache and forward the entered OTP instead of the static password. As a result, users will again be prompted for their credentials when launching a remote application.

To ensure that users need to authenticate only once and with their OTP, you need use Remote Desktop Web Single Sign-On. If you enable this option, Digipass Authentication for Remote Desktop Web Access will send the required information including the user’s static password back to the browser using an encrypted cookie, i.e. vmrdsessid. The encrypted credentials are managed by a dedicated ActiveX control, which users need to install when authenticating to Remote Desktop Web Access. With this setup, authenticated users no longer need to provide the static password when starting a remote application.

For information about enabling single sign-on, see Authentication.

To use this feature, Remote Desktop Web Access needs to be configured to use web single sign-on. For more information, refer to the Microsoft resources at Microsoft Remote Desktop Services.

Software requirements for single sign-on

The following client and browser requirements must be met for single sign-on:

• Users need to have Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) client 7.0, 7.1 or 8.0 installed on their computer. With older versions, SSO authentication with and without Digipass Authentication for Remote Desktop Web Access will not be possible.

• The web browser needs to support ActiveX.