Session shadowing can't be established

  • Updated on Sep 7, 2025
  • Published on Sep 24, 2021
  • 1 minute(s) read
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Issue

The Session Remote Control or Session Shadowing actions might fail in any of the following cases:

  • The “Allow users to start both listed and unlisted programs on initial connection” setting is not selected in RemoteApp configuration on your RDS.
  • The “Run initial program specified by user” setting is not selected setting on the Environment tab of RDP properties in Terminal Services Configuration.
  • The “Always Show Desktop on Connection” setting in Group Policy is enabled.
  • In Citrix XenApp environments, the “Launching of non-published programs during client connection” in XenApp user policies is not enabled.
  • When executing Remote Control on Citrix ICA sessions, the Citrix Online Plugin is not installed on the computer on which you are running ControlUp console.
  • Several known issues (http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125693 ) affect the session shadowing functionality in various scenarios including multiple monitors, using Windows Aero and more.

Solution

Using Remote Assistance instead of session shadowing is a recommended fallback option in these cases.