Microsoft Remote Desktop
Shares rank 7 of 22 game streaming software by recommenders
Recommended for reliably connecting to Windows machines remotely from other devices, including phones. Common caveat: security needs custom setup and it has had vulnerabilities.
Recommended for reliably connecting to Windows machines remotely from other devices, including phones. Common caveat: security needs custom setup and it has had vulnerabilities.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Simple, reliable remote access to Windows
“Unfortunately there is nothing that works as nicely as Windows Remote Desktop.”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “New Mac Studio with M5 Max and M5 Ultra” “Windows Remote Desktop also makes it simple to continue work remotely”
Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “Make Tmux the OS” “the Windows Remote Desktop over Tailscale is great”
Comment from 1 Apr 2026 in “I Traced My Traffic Through a Home Tailscale Exit Node” Works from phones and other devices
“I use my iPhone with a Remote Desktop app and a Bluetooth keyboard fairly often”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “People are using iPad OS features on their iPhones” “so everything is accessible from every device”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Security needs custom setup
“I use MS RDP but it needs custom setup for reasonable security”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “$10K Bounty to Anyone Who Can Hack Ring Cameras to Stop Sharing Data with Amazon” “There have been multiple vulnerabilities that allowed attackers to take over Windows machines over RDP.”
Comment from 6 Oct 2026 in “Apple and a hacker's future” Renamed to Windows App, confusing
“We had a good laugh when our IT informed us that Remote Desktop was being renamed Windows App”
Comment from 1 Apr 2026 in “What Is Copilot Exactly?” “they renamed their mobile Remote Desktop app to 'Windows'”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft Office renamed to "Microsoft 365 Copilot app"” Lag and poor audio latency
“Mac still streams terribly compressed and lagging video of desktop, unable to even adapt resolution to client.”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Apple introduces the new iPad Air, powered by M4” “People report better audio latency accessing the VM through NoMachine or Parsec rather than Remote Desktop”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Windows 11 users are tired of MS account requirements creeping into everything” Frozen pictures and recurring bugs
“The default remote desktop client on Windows 11 can have his picture freeze.”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great” “two bugs that have been driving me crazy for the better part of a decade”
Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “REA Reverse – Engineer Anything”
Other game streaming software people recommend
The four most recommended other game streaming software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moonlight | 68 | 10 | 87% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Sunshine | 55 | 16 | 77% | 10 | — | Approved |
| RustDesk | 32 | 20 | 62% | 8 | — | — |
| Sunshine and Moonlight | 18 | 6 | 75% | 7 | 3 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| Microsoft Remote DesktopThis page | 10 | 10 | 50% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
All 20 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“even with all the money they have, Microsoft didn’t bother to fix their shit.”
“two bugs that have been driving me crazy for the better part of a decade”
“There have been multiple vulnerabilities that allowed attackers to take over Windows machines over RDP.”
“Windows Remote Desktop also makes it simple to continue work remotely”
“Unfortunately there is nothing that works as nicely as Windows Remote Desktop.”
“VNC/TeamViewer/Remote Desktop setups are all mediocre imho”
“People report better audio latency accessing the VM through NoMachine or Parsec rather than Remote Desktop”
“just using Windows Remote Desktop so that you can get that 24/7 assistant functionality is an underrated unlock”
“We had a good laugh when our IT informed us that Remote Desktop was being renamed Windows App”
“the Windows Remote Desktop over Tailscale is great”
“Retina-aware remote control clients like Microsoft Remote Desktop look great”
“Mac still streams terribly compressed and lagging video of desktop, unable to even adapt resolution to client.”
“I use MS RDP but it needs custom setup for reasonable security”
“The results are erratic and frequently awful.”
“The default remote desktop client on Windows 11 can have his picture freeze.”
“they renamed their mobile Remote Desktop app to 'Windows'”
“specialized apps like Chrome Remote Desktop, TeamViewer, or Microsoft Remote Desktop”
“so everything is accessible from every device”
“I use my iPhone with a Remote Desktop app and a Bluetooth keyboard fairly often”
“it wasn't actually listening on the RDP port at all”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.