Figure 5.21 Manually launching vmconnect.exe allows you to select the host and
virtual machine.
The actual virtual machine connection is enabled through the vmconnect.exe image,
which is automatically launched through the Connect action with the target virtual
machine specified for you. Vmconnect.exe can also be manually launched, which
brings up the dialog box shown in Figure 5.21, which allows a Hyper-V host to be
selected and then a list of all of the virtual machines on the selected Hyper-V host to
be displayed. Windows Server 2016 vmconnect introduces the ability to connect as
another user.
Windows Server 2012 R2 introduced a new set of capabilities related to vmconnect; it’s
known as Enhanced Session Mode (ESM). Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2,
the only operating systems that work with ESM, were enhanced so that the terminal
services stack was tightly integrated with the Hyper-V VMBus.
This enables VM connections (via Hyper-V Manager or via vmconnect.exe) to leverage
the following functionality traditionally associated with RDP connections:
Rich display
Audio
Printers
Clipboard
USB devices
Drives
Plug and Play devices