Installing the SDE Remote app

1. Before you start

Windows and Linux get the same app at the same version number. Both packages are on the same release page, which is the address your site gives out (the gateway's SDE_APP_DOWNLOAD_URL, see section 6).

The PC only needs to reach the SDE portal over HTTPS (port 443). Native Remote Desktop connections travel through the SDE gateway on the same port, so no RDP port has to be opened to the PC.

2. Windows: install the MSI

1. Copy SDE-Remote-<version>.msi to the PC.
2. Double-click it and accept the Windows prompt for administrator rights. The MSI is installed for all users of the PC.
3. When it finishes, open SDE Remote from the Start menu or the Desktop.

What the MSI installs:

3. Windows: silent install and SCCM

Run these as SYSTEM (the SCCM or Intune system context) or from an elevated prompt:

• Detection rule: the MSI's ProductCode, or its UpgradeCode {8A7B6C5D-4E3F-2A1B-9C8D-7E6F5A4B3C2D}, which stays the same for every version.
• Upgrades: deploy the newer MSI with the same install command. It replaces the old version in place. Installing an older MSI over a newer one stops with "A newer version of SDE Remote is already installed."
• Ask users to close SDE Remote before the upgrade runs, or schedule it outside working hours.

Machine-wide settings

The MSI has no public properties, and the app reads no policy or machine-wide registry settings. Everything the user sets (the portal address, their username, view and connection options) is saved per user in %AppData%\SdeRemote\settings.json. Users type the portal address once; the app remembers it.

{ "LastBaseUrl": "https://sde.example.org/guacamole" }

Moving from the old script installer

Early pilots used a per-user script installer (install.ps1) that put the app in %LocalAppData%\Programs\SDE Remote. The MSI doesn't remove it, so a user could end up with two copies and an old Desktop icon. Remove it once per user, as the signed-in user or as an SCCM step before the MSI:

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\SDE Remote" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item -Force "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\SDE Remote.lnk",
  "$env:APPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\SDE Remote.lnk" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

The user's settings in %AppData%\SdeRemote are kept.

4. Linux: install the .deb

1. Download the file for the laptop's Ubuntu release: ~jammy for 22.04, ~noble for 24.04. Check the release with lsb_release -cs.
2. Install it with apt, which also installs the packages it depends on. The ./ matters: it tells apt this is a file, not a package name.

   sudo apt install ./sde-remote_1.1.2-1~noble_amd64.deb

3. Check it:

   sde-remote --version

   It prints the app version, for example 1.1.2.
4. Open SDE Remote from the applications menu (search for "SDE Remote" in Activities), or run sde-remote.

What the package installs:

The package also recommends the GStreamer plugin packages (gstreamer1.0-plugins-good, -bad, gstreamer1.0-libav) for sound and video in the web window. apt install adds them unless your apt configuration turns recommended packages off.

Deploying to many laptops

The .deb is an ordinary package, so any tool that runs apt install can deploy it (Ansible, Landscape, a script). To serve it from your own apt repository, add the file to the repository for the matching release; the package name is sde-remote.

5. First run

1. Start SDE Remote. The sign-in window opens.
2. In Guacamole URL (Windows) or Server (Guacamole URL) (Linux), enter the portal address, for example https://sde.example.org/guacamole.
3. Enter the Username and Password of the user's domain account, and select Sign in.
4. If the site asks for it, the user sets a new password or accepts the security operating procedures (SyOps). See the user guide.
5. The main window, Your services, lists the user's tiles.

The app remembers the portal address and username for next time. It never saves the password. Leave Advanced alone on a normal site: the broker address is worked out from the portal address. The settings under it are in the settings reference.

Only one copy of SDE Remote runs per user. Starting it again (from the menu, a shortcut or a link) brings the running copy to the front and hands it the link.

6. Updates

The app doesn't update itself. After each sign-in it asks the gateway which version the site expects. If the app is older, the status bar at the bottom of the main window says:

SDE Remote 1.1.2 is available (you have 1.1.1). Click here to download it.

Clicking the message opens the release page in the browser. Nothing is downloaded or installed automatically: the user, or your MSI or apt rollout, installs the new version.

To update:

• Windows: install the new MSI the same way as the first time (msiexec /i … /qn). It upgrades in place.
• Linux: sudo apt install ./sde-remote_<new version>-1~noble_amd64.deb. If the package comes from your own apt repository, a normal sudo apt upgrade picks it up.

Settings and connection options carry over on both platforms. Close SDE Remote before updating, or ask users to restart it afterwards.

7. Uninstall

• Windows: Settings → Apps → Installed apps → SDE Remote → Uninstall, or msiexec /x {ProductCode} /qn. This removes the program folder, the shortcuts the MSI made and the machine-wide link handler.
• Linux: sudo apt remove sde-remote. This removes /opt/sde-remote, the menu entry and the AppArmor profile.

Neither removes the files each user's own copy wrote. Delete them if the PC is being handed on:

8. Troubleshooting

9. Related pages

• SDE Remote user guide: signing in, tiles, sessions, logs and error messages
• SDE Remote settings reference: every option, its default, and the gateway settings that override it
• Links and desktop shortcuts to SDE Remote
• SDE VDI setup guide and SDE vApps setup guide