Self-hosted solution for remote control of an app
reddit / selfhosted

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Dimee25 · 2023-09-26 21:09

Hello,

I have a specific app that runs only on Windows. This app cannot run
on a server and be accessed from different clients. It can only be
used from the computer it was installed. (It is a proprietary app from
our government for managing employee details, so a replacement for
this app is no go).

I need this app to be accessed by multiple people from their computer
and I was wondering if there is a solution, where they can connect
only with a web browser and control only that specific app. Maybe some
kind of headless VNC that can be self hosted and support sharing only
a specific app.

I thought of making the users connect to the app via RDP, but I would
like a way to simulate that the app is running on their computer, not
that they are connecting to a different one. I want the experience to
be 'seamless' as much as it can.

Any suggestion is greatly appreciated!

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Legitimate_Farm_3095 · 2023-09-26 21:22

this is a government app? does your government know you want to give
multiple people access to it from different computers?

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borouhin · 2023-09-27 00:04

Have a look at [kimmknight/remoteapptool](https://github.com/kimmknigh
t/remoteapptool)

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zfa · 2023-09-27 01:59

What an interesting tool, thanks for posting.

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the_jollyollyman · 2023-09-27 06:08

Being Windows and a government app. I'd say stick with Microsoft
solutions. Look into Microsoft RemoteApp.

It's been a while since I have used this, but I remember it working
really well. After transitioning a school to 64-bit Windows, I used
this to give students seamless access to some legacy 16-bit
applications installed on a 32-bit terminal server.

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Dimee25 · 2023-09-27 08:30

Thank you. I will look into it

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Dimee25 · 2023-09-27 09:34

This looks great and easy to use. Thanks

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Apart_Ad_5993 · 2023-09-27 12:03

This sounds like an absolute security nightmare.

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Apart_Ad_5993 · 2023-09-27 12:04

Remote app requires a terminal server, which you said it won't run on.

I'm questioning the quality of this app if it can't be run on a server