1. PDQ Connect Help Center
  2. Documentation
  3. Inventory
  4. Device Management
  5. Remote Desktop

Testing Remote Desktop Connections

In some cases, you may need to troubleshoot a remote desktop session where the connection to the endpoint cannot be established. ISL provides a utility called ISL Connection Tester to assist in diagnosing connection issues.
 
Important: The ISL Tester should always be run on both sides (client and operator) so we can pinpoint which network could potentially block the transport.

System Requirements

The ISL Tester tool is supported on Windows and macOS (any OS edition supported by PDQ Connect agent).

When to Use the ISL Tester

The ISL Tester can help diagnose and resolve remote connection issues in the following situations:

  • You encounter an error when starting a remote session in PDQ Connect (e.g., “Could not find any working transport”).
  • A remote session eventually connects but takes an unusually long time to initialize.
  • The computer is behind a proxy; web browsing works, but remote connections fail.
  • You experience poor performance during a remote session, even though both sides have sufficient bandwidth.

Download and Setup Instructions

You can download the ISL Connection Tester from the following location:
https://islonline.net/download/ISLTester

  • For macOS, simply run the .DMG file.
  • For Windows, follow the special instructions below: 
    1. Run the .EXE file as an Administrator. 
    2. When the program opens, click Settings on the top ribbon bar, then locate "Run ISL Tester in local system account" under the "Extra" section. 
    3. Click "Run and Quit".

This step is important because the PDQ Connect agent runs using the local system account.


Testing the Connection

The ISL Tester utility provides four different types of tests: Connection test, Transfer test, Find best transport, and UDP test. For the purposes of PDQ Connect, we will be focusing on using the "Find best transport" option, as it is the most comprehensive and includes the data gathered from the other three tests.

  1. Begin by clicking "Clear log." 
  2. In the main window, click Find Best Transport. 
  3. After completion, click Save Log to export results.
  4. Repeat the test on the other computer (client or operator).

Understanding the Results

The log file contains detailed information, but our main focus is on the bottom section, which confirms the transports that were detected.

This section shows the total number of working transports detected, with a maximum of seven possible transports. A transport refers to the underlying communication channel and protocol used to establish the connection.

For optimal performance, all seven transports should be available. If fewer than seven are found, you may experience slower connection times or reduced performance. If no transports are detected, you will be unable to connect to the device.

Configuring Connection Settings

The connection speeds for each transport are shown at the bottom of the log. If you are experiencing slow connections and notice that one transport is returning significantly faster speeds, it can be beneficial to adjust the device settings to favor that transport. 

Important: If you are not experiencing any connection problems PDQ Connect Remote Desktop, you do not need to do the steps below. It is possible to degrade your experience through incorrect settings (or even prevent the session from connecting!), so please follow the steps below only if you are instructed to do so by PDQ Support. 

To manually configure the transports:

  1. Click "Find best transport" in ISL Tester and wait until the test is complete. 
  2. Examine the results. If you see the direct speed transport in your list, then you do not need to do anything as this is the default transport option. However in web proxy environment you might want to prioritize another transport. 


     
  3. To prioritize another transport, click on the blue link next to the transport which you want to prioritize (boost).


     
  4. Click “Save” under System Connection Options to store your connection settings. After saving, PDQ Connect Remote Desktop sessions will use these settings instead of attempting to auto-detect them.



    Note: You can check (and modify) currently stored connection settings (if any) by clicking "Settings" and then "Show system connection options....".

Reverting to Default Settings

These registry keys store the connection settings. To revert to the default behavior (automatic detection), delete the following:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\ISL Online\AutoTransport\Connect options

You can either remove all entries within Connect options or delete the Connect options key entirely.

Additional Resources

This article was created to provide an overview of how to use the ISL Connection Tester tool. For more detailed information, please visit ISL’s Knowledge Base at the following URL: 
ISL Connection Tester
Clayton Murphy
Updated
Was this article helpful?

Related articles