This is the first release of IAP Desktop.
IAP Desktop is a standalone Windows application that supersedes the Cloud IAP plugin for Remote Desktop Connection Manager. The plugin had to be deprecated as Remote Desktop Connection Manager (RDCMan) was unexpectedly discontinued by Microsoft.
IAP Desktop implements a feature set that is similar to RDCMan with the IAP plugin installed, but provides a richer, more modern user experience. IAP Desktop also does not depend on RDCMan anymore.
Compared to the last pre-release, this release introduces the following changes:
- When connecting to a VM for which you have not previously configured any credentials, you now see a prompt offering you to generate credentials.
- The username suggested for credential generation is now derived from your Google username, not from your local Windows username. This behavior is now consistent with the behavior of the Cloud Console.
- The Settings window now shows an indication that settings only apply after reconnecting.
- Several minor stability and UI fixes.
Note that the following features of the Cloud IAP plugin for Remote Desktop Connection Manager have been dropped in IAP Desktop:
- Support for Windows 7, Windows 2008 R2, and older versions. These Windows versions had incomplete WebSocket support. The plugin offered the ability to use gcloud-based tunneling on these versions. To reduce complexity, this feature has been removed.
- Authentication using gcloud credentials. The plugin optionally allowed you to authenticate using your personal gcloud credentials. This functionality has been removed in favor of standard OAuth-based authorization.