DirectX application doesn't work over Remote Desktop

Question

I have a WPF application which has a DirectX component within it. This component does not work over Remote Desktop--it just shows a corrupted image. The application works fine when not using Remote Desktop.

In trying to debug the problem I installed the February 2010 DirectX SDK. Now, when I run the program on the computer with the SDK and Remote Desktop to it from a separate computer, the component works just fine. However the opposite does not work--trying to use the application over Remote Desktop when it is running on the computer without the DirectX SDK (it has the original problem with the corrupted image).

I have already compared the loaded DLLs (using Process Explorer) between running the application on my SDK machine and non-SDK machine. They both are loading the same DLL versions.

What else could be causing this behavior?

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EDIT: I have discovered that the application actually is loading a different DLL. I didn't notice because I didn't capture the DLL list properly. When I run the application on the machine with the SDK it loads D3DREF9.dll, the DirectX reference rasterizer. This gives me a clue as to what the problem is, although I am still working out the solution.

Answer 1

Are you using the same display color depth on both systems?

Answer 2

Try reducing the performance/experience display options in RemDesk. I'd start with turning off Bitmap Caching, reducing the color depth, etc..

Answer 3

http://www.virtualdub.org/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=208

http://discussms.hosting.lsoft.com/SCRIPTS/WA-MSD.EXE?A2=ind0805B&L=DIRECTXDEV&P=R2550&1=DIRECTXDEV&9=A&J=on&d=No+Match;Match;Matches&z=4

Answer 4

It turns out that the application that I was maintaining was attempting to create a DirectX Hardware device, and if that failed, it would attempt to create a Reference device, and finally, if both of those failed, it would create a Software device.

There is no Reference or Software renderer available on systems by default. To get a Reference renderer the DirectX SDK must be installed--and you're only supposed to use it for debugging, not deployment. For a software renderer, the system only needs .NET 3.5 SP1 and then the software must load it.

Basically I believe the problem was that the software was failing to create the rendering device properly. I've cleaned up the initialization code and it renders over Remote Desktop just fine now.