Change the RemoteApp Icon on WS2012

If you’ve ever wanted to change the icon of a RemoteApp that is shown on the RDWeb page or appears on the Start Screen, you may have found yourself frustrated to discover that the UI in Server Manager on Windows Server 2012 does not allow you to pick a new one.  Instead, you can use Powershell specify what icon to use when publishing a new RemoteApp using the New-RDRemoteApp command, or you can change it by using Set-RDRemoteApp.

New-RDRemoteApp [-CollectionName] -DisplayName -FilePath [-Alias ] [-FileVirtualPath ] [-ShowInWebAccess ] [-FolderName ] [-CommandLineSetting {DoNotAllow | Allow | Require}] [-RequiredCommandLine ] [-UserGroups ] [-IconPath ] [-IconIndex ] [-ConnectionBroker ] []

Set-RDRemoteApp [-CollectionName] -Alias [-CommandLineSetting ] [-ConnectionBroker ] [-DisplayName ] [-FilePath ] [-FileVirtualPath ] [-FolderName ] [-IconIndex ] [-IconPath ] [-RequiredCommandLine ] [-ShowInWebAccess ] [-UserGroups ] [ ]

To use these commands you may need to first run “import-module RemoteDesktop”.  You can see the whole list of Remote Desktop cmdlets on TechNet.

Here is an example of a RemoteApp that is using a bland, generic icon.  This one is showing up because I happen to be running a script to launch Internet Explorer in kiosk mode.  It works, but it could use a better icon.

If you edit the Properties of the RemoteApp, it shows you the icon but you cannot change it.  Argh!

So what you do is Unpublish this RemoteApp, then use PowerShell to replace it with a new one using New-RDRemoteApp.

Another option is to simply change the Icon property using Set-RDRemoteApp.  Simply specify the Alias of the existing RemoteApp and the path to the icon to apply.

Regardless of the one you use, make sure you copy the .ico file to a directory that is available on all of the Session Hosts that are part of that collection.  I like to use C:RemoteApps but it could be anyplace.

Now you can reload RDWeb or refresh the RemoteApp RSS feed and you’ll see the new icon.

There you have it.  N’joy!