Windows 7 makes remote desktop no longer a network management dedicated

has always been through the remote desktop management server is the "home cooking" of the network management, which brings convenience to remote management. Windows Vista already has a beautiful Aero effect, but its remote desktop still can't realize the system's 3D desktop, let alone running DirectX games, which of course can not meet the needs of multimedia and 3D applications users. What's exciting is that the kernel performance of Windows 7's remote desktop has been enhanced, and the optimization of network transmission data and compression technology has been revolutionized. It can support Windows 7 Aero's 3D desktop, smooth running Direct 2D and Direct 3D 10.1 game. So let's experience the charm of Windows 7 Remote Desktop.

First, Windows 7 remote desktop settings

To achieve the same 3D effect as the local machine, both the local machine and the remote computer must be Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 or higher. First, we set up the remote desktop on a remote computer. We need to right click on the "Computer" icon and select the "Properties" command. In the "System" window that opens, click the "Remote Settings" link. In the "Remote" option window of the "System Properties" pop-up, select "Allow any version of Remote Desktop to run." The computer connection (see Figure 1), thus opening the remote desktop function. Next, we need to go to the "Control Panel - User Accounts and Home Security" feature (Figure 2) to set a password for the account used to log in to the remote desktop.

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After the remote computer is set up, we can try to connect to the remote desktop on the local machine. It is. We click the "Start - All Programs - Accessories - Remote Desktop Connection" command, enter the remote computer name in the "Remote Desktop" window, click the "Connect" button (Figure 3); then the "Windows Security" window will pop up. Password (Figure 4), enter the password check the "Remember my credentials" option and then confirm that you can automatically log in to the remote desktop the next time you connect.

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However, after connecting to the remote desktop, we did not see Windows 7 Aero's 3D desktop effect (Figure 5). Once we open the remote desktop connection window, click the "Options" button to enter the "Experience" option, then we should set it to "LAN (10Mbps or higher)" (Figure 6). After connecting again, we finally experienced the remote desktop with Aero effect (Figure 7).

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Windows 7 Remote Desktop User Experience

The biggest improvement in Windows 7's RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) is the 3D rendering technology. When running Remote Desktop, the remote computer performs 3D rendering, and RDP uses cache compression technology. To ensure the smooth transfer of images to the local machine; when performing 3D rendering of the remote desktop of the local machine, the remote computer transmits the data packets to be rendered to the CPU and GPU of the local machine through the 3D instruction set such as GDI, Direct 3D, DWM, etc. Finish the hardware rendering (RDP architecture shown in Figure 8). Next, let's connect to the remote desktop of the Windows 7 virtual machine created by VMware 7.0 on the local computer (supporting Windows 7 Aero, experience index reaches 2.9). The hardware configuration of the virtual machine: the CPU is the Core E6300, and the memory is 2024MB. Local machine configuration: CPU is Core E6300, memory is 6GB, and graphics card is 7300GT (DirectX9 is supported). The virtual machine's hardware performance is less, but it can support the 3D effect of Windows 7's remote desktop.

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First, we play a DVDRip video on the remote desktop. The video encoding format is XVID (Figure 9). In the case of non-full-screen playback, the video frame rate is about 10, and the picture lag is obvious (see Figure 10); the audio delay is much smaller, because RDP can support low-latency audio playback. DVDRip is not a high-definition video. According to RDP's rendering division, this is a rendering work of a remote computer. Therefore, it is not surprising that the playback effect is not satisfactory. So, will the HD video playback on the remote desktop be improved? We play a high-definition video in MKV format. The video encoding format is V_MPEG4 (see Figure 11). Video playback is severely slow, the video frame rate is below 5 (Figure 12); the audio quality is also reduced, and the audio is faster than the screen. Then, we played HD video on the VMware virtual machine and found that the playback rate was smooth, and the frame rate reached about 30 (Figure 13). This indicates that the remote desktop needs to transfer a large amount of data, which may cause large calculations on the CPU and GPU of the remote machine. pressure.

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So, what about the experience of running 3D games on a remote desktop? We run a game called "General Car Rally" that requires DirectX9 support. However, the game runtime has an error message that cannot be initialized (Figure 14). And we can run the game smoothly in VMware's virtual machine (Figure 15). This shows that the virtual machine's GPU and CPU are unbearable for running 3D games and transferring remote desktop data streams. This may be due to the fact that RDP saves about 40% of the network overhead compared to XP and Vista, which requires a lot of compression processing (the RDP network overhead of the three systems is shown in Figure 16). Currently, Windows 7's remote desktop assigns 3D applications prior to DirectX 10.1 to remote machines, and assigns DirectX 10.1 to the local machine. Therefore, having a DirectX10.1 graphics card will make 3D for remote desktops. The experience has improved.

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We run Flash games on the webpage very much Smooth, while running Silverlight video playback has only a slight delay (Figure 17). These two are the content rendered by the remote machine, and the virtual machine system is more than enough for such operations.

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Through the experience, we found that remote desktops need to have the following conditions to play 3D games and watch HD videos smoothly: Support DirectX 10.1 or higher 3D game; local computer must have a decoding package for playing video (requires DirectX10.1 video decoding); local computer CPU performance mainstream, graphics card supports Direct X10.1; remote computer CPU performance is strong, graphics card supports DirectX9; Support wireless network support for 802.11G and above. Tip: Remote Desktop cannot remotely shut down the computer, but you can use the Shutdown -S command to quickly shut down.