Studio user guide

UiPath Remote Runtime is a component which enables the communication between a remote desktops or applications, such as Citrix Virtual Apps, and certain UiPath extensions. These include the UiPath Extension for Citrix, for Windows Remote Desktop and Apps, for VMware Horizon, and for Amazon WorkSpaces. It gathers information about targeted UI elements of remote applications and passes this data to the corresponding extension. This allows for native generation of selectors in the UI Explorer.

The Remote Runtime component was granted a Citrix Ready certification, making it a trusted, effective solution for working with Citrix technologies.

Depending on the type of environment you want to build your automation projects on, the UiPath Remote Runtime component can be installed as follows:

The corresponding UiPath extensions must be installed on the client machine.

The UiPathRemoteRuntime.msi installer can be downloaded from:

Once the UiPath Remote Runtime component is installed, it registers a task in the Task Scheduler so that the UiPathRemoteRuntime.exe process is started at every user login, for every user logged in to the remote server.

The UiPath Remote Runtime component is required to establish the connection between an application or desktop server and a corresponding UiPath extension installed on a client machine. This way, selectors are natively generated on the client machine where Studio is installed, without having to rely on OCR and image recognition activities.

The UiPath Remote Runtime has the same requirements as the UiPath Robot. See the full list of requirements in the Robot guide.

You can also choose to deploy the extension for Java, Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Microsoft Remote Desktop and Apps, VMware, Citrix, and Amazon WorkSpaces from the installer, as well as the Task Scheduler entry, by selecting the corresponding options, as depicted below:

The Task Scheduler entry for the Remote Runtime can be added or removed at any moment. Simply run the UiPathRemoteRuntime.msi installer and choose the corresponding option.

Additionally, you can use the following options to install extensions:

You can also perform a silent installation by using the /quiet parameter:

You can install the UiPath Remote Runtime at any location using the APPLICATIONFOLDER option:

You can now create processes to automate on Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, VMware Apps, Amazon WorkSpaces virtual desktops, as well as over RDP connections just as you would on a standard machine. Because of the corresponding extensions, OCR and image recognition activities are no longer required to properly identify UI elements. Instead, elements are natively recognized and can be used with any activity.

By default, the UiPath Remote Runtime component creates an entry in Windows Task Scheduler to automatically start every time the corresponding user logs in. This feature is represented by the Create Launch UiPathRemoteRuntime task option in the UiPathRemoteRuntime.msi installer, which you can choose to disable, if necessary.

The Remote Runtime Task Scheduler entry can be added or removed via the installer or the Command Prompt, as explained in the following sections. If the entry is removed, you must launch the UiPathRemoteRuntime.exe process using another method, like a startup script.

The Remote Runtime Task Scheduler entry can also be edited to start only for a specific user, by clicking the Edit button from the Triggers tab. Multiple tasks can be created for multiple users.

The UiPath Remote Runtime has a dependency on the version of the UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities package, not on the version of UiPath Studio/Robot.

The Remote Runtime installed on a remote machine must have the version of the latest UI Automation package you want to use in your projects, and it is compatible with the previous UI Automation releases (it is backwards compatible).

The UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities package and the UiPath Remote Runtime have the same UiPath driver dependency. For each UI Automation package released version, a download link for the UiPath Remote Runtime component with the same version number is provided.

For example, for UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities package version 23.10.8, the required UiPath Remote Runtime installer can be downloaded from https://download.uipath.com/versions/23.10.8/UiPathRemoteRuntime.msi.

You can download the UiPathRemoteRuntime.msi installer from:

The UiPath Remote Runtime component is installed on the Citrix Application server, VMware virtual machine, or Remote Desktop machine in the %ProgramFiles(x86)\UiPath folder. All installed versions are visible in the %ProgramFiles(x86)%\UiPath\RemoteRuntime\packages\uipath folder.

When you build or execute a process, you need to use a UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities package which is compatible with the deployed driver version of the UiPath Remote Runtime.

The version of the UiPath driver dependency for the UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities package is displayed in Studio, in the Project Dependencies section.

The same UiPath version must be present on the remote machine, in the %ProgramFiles(x86)%\UiPath\RemoteRuntime\packages\uipath folder.

Each UiPathRemoteRuntime.msi installer contains the latest UiPath dependency, as well as the latest supported Long Term Support (LTS) UiPath dependencies. The versions of the compatible UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities package for a specific UiPath Remote Runtime installer can be checked in the Properties window of the UiPathRemoteRuntime.msi file.

The table below enlists the dependencies between the UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities package and UiPath Remote Runtime:

If you use a version of the UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities package that has a UiPath dependency which is not part of the set of installed UiPath dependencies on the remote machine, selectors are not generated and the following exception is thrown: The UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities package is incompatible with the UiPath Remote Runtime running on the server.

Interactive selection on the target application does not build correct selectors unless the UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities matches the UiPath Remote Runtime dependency on the Citrix Application server, VMware virtual machine, the Remote Desktop machine, or the Amazon WorkSpaces virtual desktop,

For example, if you want to build an automation project using the UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities package version 23.10.8, you need to copy the corresponding UiPath dependency from the client machine (where Studio/Robot is installed) on the Citrix Application server, VMware virtual machine, the Remote Desktop machine, or the Amazon WorkSpaces virtual desktop.

This is done as follows:

Selectors are now properly generated with your current version of the UiPath.UIAutomation.Activities. Changes take effect as soon as the dependency is copied.

The Remote Runtime Dependencies described above are required both for the design time and execution time.

When you start a process, the Robot sends out the necessary commands to the extension for Citrix or Windows Remote Desktop via an RPC channel. This information package also contains details about the version of the UI Automation package used to build the process.

The corresponding extension then forwards the information package via an ICA virtual channel to the UiPath Remote Runtime component, which is on the Citrix Application servers or Remote Desktop machine.

Depending on the version of the UI Automation package with which the process was built, the UiPath Remote Runtime component instructs the Robot Executor which driver to use.

Communication between the Remote Runtime Component and the corresponding extension is done via an internally-developed ICA channel. Multiple ICA channels can be used, but the Citrix Receiver, for instance, already uses several channels for the clipboard, audio, and more.

Once the Remote Runtime component is installed, you can create your automation projects without having to create any firewall rules.

Data transfer between the Remote Runtime and extension requires little bandwidth usage. For example, each action the Robot performs (such as a Click activity) transfers around 3 KB of data.

If you jump through multiple remote connections (RDP, Citrix, or VMware) to reach a destination remote computer, where the automation is developed, you must install Remote Runtime on each intermediary remote computer, not just on the target one. For more details, check the Configure a multi-hop connection page.