RDS – Fix broken local RDS links in start menu

RemoteApp and Desktop Connections are quite powerful. Still, it happens that RDS icons configured through your Windows Remote Desktop Application broker either won’t update or vanish. This can have various reasons. Out of experience, the easiest way is to manually clean up and then configure the source again – as explained step by step below…

1. Open REGEDIT as the current user (DO NOT run as!)
   1. Navigate to:
      1. Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Workspaces
   2. Delete the whole key WORKSPACES (just delete it! no worries)
2. In Windows Explorer
   1. Navigate to:
      1. %appdata%\Microsoft\Workspaces
      2. Delete the whole WORKSPACES folder (yes – delete it!)
   2. Navigate to:
      1. %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
      2. If there is a folder “RDS Farm Name (RADC)” then delete it completely
3. (see footer note) Open Control Pannel
   1. Navigate to “RemoteApp and Desktop Connections” or type in search box: remote
   2. There should be nothing in the connections, add a new one while clicking on “Access RemoteApp and desktops” in the left hand menu
      1. use your RDS URL
   3. If asked for credentials, use the users credentials or have them type em in
   4. This should finish successfully
4. You now should see the applications in the start menu again

Note: If you have a GPO or script configured to auto-configure the Control-Panel, you could just reboot as well instead of manually configuring the Control Panel again.

Tags: radcrds