RAWeb: a browser front end for RemoteApps and Remote Desktop

What it actually provides

RAWeb is a web interface and workspace provider for your RemoteApps and Desktops hosted on Windows 10, 11 and Server. The description repeats itself, adding that it is for viewing and managing those RemoteApps and Desktops. So there are two halves. The web interface is the part most people see: a list of applications and devices you can search, favourite, sort by name, date modified or terminal server, and from which you can download RDP files or launch them. The workspace provider half is the part that makes the applications available to other clients, because the fully compliant Workspace feature, which the documentation calls webfeed, places your RemoteApps and desktop connections in the Start menu of Windows clients and in the Android, iOS, iPadOS and macOS Windows app. It is a browser front end that also acts as a publisher.

Why the webfeed half matters

The webfeed feature is what distinguishes this from a browser bookmark list. A Workspace resource is the format Windows clients read to display applications that are not installed locally, and a fully compliant implementation means the entries appear in the Start menu of a Windows machine, in the Windows app on Android, iOS, iPadOS and macOS, with file type associations on those clients. So a deployment can be organised once on the server and then surface everywhere. Two further capabilities ride along with it: different RemoteApps can be exposed to different users and groups, and there is a setup script for easy installation. The grouping feature is the one worth planning for, because it is how a shared server avoids showing every user every application.

Connecting from a browser, and what it needs

The web client connection method is listed as a feature of its own, and it has a specific prerequisite that is easy to skim past: the web client requires RAWeb to be installed on a server with Windows Subsystem for Linux 2. So the browser path is not a pure browser path. It works by having a Linux environment on the server do the work of talking to the remote resources, which is why the installer has to fetch and install prerequisites for it. The README also points out a separate tool, RemoteApp Tool, for setting up RemoteApps on your PC without RAWeb at all, and adds a footnote about what to do when the two are on the same or different devices, namely enabling TSWebAccess per app or exporting RDP files and icons and following the publishing instructions.

Launching an app from the browser needs a client on your device

The download of an RDP file is straightforward, but launching an application directly in the browser requires additional software on the device you are browsing from, and the README documents exactly what that is per platform. On Windows you install the Remote Desktop Protocol Handler from the Microsoft Store, or with WinGet.

winget install "RDP Protocol Handler" --source msstore

On macOS you install Windows App from the Mac App Store, on iOS or iPadOS you install Windows App Mobile from the App Store, and Android is explicitly not supported. That last point is worth noting if you were planning to use the browser on an Android tablet, since the webfeed clients on Android are a different route through the Windows app rather than this launch mechanism. So the browser front end is genuinely browser-based for viewing and managing, and needs a cooperating client when you want an application to open.

A progressive web app that follows Fluent 2

The interface is a progressive web app with window controls overlay support, which is what lets it draw its own title bar buttons and behave like an installed application rather than a tab in a browser. It uses stale-while-revalidate caching for fast load times, which is the sensible pattern for a list that changes slowly but must appear instantly. The styling follows the style and layout of Fluent 2, the design system of WinUI 3, so it sits visually alongside the Windows applications it is launching rather than looking like a separate web product. That consistency is not cosmetic for the audience: a technician using a remote application and the person administering the server are often looking at the same family of interfaces.

Installation is an installer plus optional prerequisites

The install path is a download and run, then follow the prompts, then install the web client prerequisites if you plan to use that connection method. The important detail is in the note that follows: the installer retrieves the pre-built version of RAWeb from the latest release and installs it to C:\Program Files\RAWeb, and if Internet Information Services or other required components are not already installed, the installer will retrieve and install them too. Other versions are available from the releases page, and the installation documentation covers non-interactive installation and manual installation in IIS, which is what you would want for a scripted or already-managed web server. The pre-built route is why the repository does not need to be built to try the product.

Address it on the network and the certificate matters

By default RAWeb is available at https://127.0.0.1/RAWeb, and to reach it from other machines on your local network you replace 127.0.0.1 with the host PC or server's name. To reach it from outside the local network, the instruction is to expose port 443 and replace 127.0.0.1 with the public IP address. Exposing port 443 means TLS termination, and the wiki has a page on trusting the RAWeb server SSL certificate, with the error code 5003 in the URL. That page existing tells you the certificate is the first thing that will bite an operator, since a self-signed certificate on a self-hosted service is a browser prompt by default. There is also a page on configuring hosting server and terminal server aliases, which is the piece that controls how the name a user sees maps to the host behind it.

The repository layout and the release cadence

The repository is a C# solution with a separate frontend. There are four solution filters at the root, RAWeb.Desktop.slnf, RAWeb.Server.Installer.slnf, RAWeb.Server.slnf and RAWeb.slnx, which is a C# 10 style solution file, so the projects are split by what they are: the desktop application, the server, the server installer and everything. The frontend directory holds the web client, the dotnet directory holds the .NET pieces, and a workers directory suggests background processing. There is a global.json pinning the SDK, a setup.json with setup.ps1 for the setup script, a raweb.code-workspace for editor sessions, and a .act directory with an .actrc file, which is the setup for running GitHub Actions locally. The release history shows pre-releases alongside stable ones, with v2026.09-pre.1 from 2026-09-30, v2026.09-pre.0 from 2026-09-02 and a stable v2026.07.14.4 from 2026-07-24, so the versioning is date-based and the pre-release suffix is how a build is marked as not yet stable.

Editorial conclusion

Use RAWeb when you have a mix of published RemoteApps and Remote Desktop connections that you want to reach from a browser rather than from a thick client, since it gives you one searchable list with favourites and per-user and per-group application assignment. Do not treat it as a replacement for the Remote Desktop client itself, since the connection still needs a client or the separate web client path with its own prerequisites. Verify first which connection method you need, because launching an app directly from the browser needs the RDP Protocol Handler on Windows, Windows App on macOS and iOS, and Android is not supported, and that the web client route is viable only where RAWeb is installed on a server with WSL2.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Issues
2. kimmknight/raweb on GitHub
3. License: MIT
4. README
5. Releases