In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to save time and bulk import users to your Remote Desktop service.
When we first launched our Remote Desktop service a few years ago, we acknowledged the fact that, even though every company is different, most organisations prefer to centralise their user management processes. This is for many reasons, not least for security purposes. With a service like Remote Desktop, companies can manage their infrastructure in a secure yet convenient way that minimises the administrative burden and provides greater control over what users can access.
At Jotelulu, as part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we have added a feature that allows you to bulk import users to the Remote Desktop so that you can dedicate more time to more important tasks.
How to Bulk Import Users to Remote Desktop
Before you begin
To successfully complete this tutorial, you will need the following:
- To be registered on the Jotelulu platform and have signed in using your username and password.
- To have an active Remote Desktop subscription. If you haven’t set one up yet, see the following tutorial for instructions: How to Register a Remote Desktop on Jotelulu.
Bulk Importing Users to Remote Desktop
Sign in to the Jotelulu platform and click on the card for the Remote Desktop subscription that you want to add users to (1).
Next, you will see the Remote Desktop Summary screen, which shows details about your Remote Desktop subscription and its resources. Click on Users (2) in the left-hand menu.
On the Users screen, you will see the Import Users button (3) in the top right-hand corner. This is the button to click on if you want to import multiple users at once. If you want to add a single user, add several users manually or modify an existing user, you should click on the Manage Users button instead.
Once you click on the Import Users button, a new window will appear asking for you to download a file, fill it in with your users’ details and upload it again.
Click on “Download this file” to download the template (4) and fill it in.
NOTE: When you click on “Download this file”, the window will remain open. However, you can close it at any time by clicking on the X or anywhere else on the screen.
When editing the template file (bulk_import_users.csv), remember that it is a CSV file and that all information should be separated using commas to avoid any problems.
The details for each user should be on a separate line and include the following fields (5):
- Name (First Name).
- LastName.
- E-mail.
- 2FA: Whether or not two-factor authentication is enabled (optional).
- Position: Job title (optional).
- Phone: Telephone number (optional).
So, for example, if we wanted to add a user called “David Hasselhoff”, with the e-mail address “dhasselhoff@jotelulu.com”, 2FA activated, as a member of the Marketing team, with telephone number “888888888”, the entry would look like this:
- David,Hasselhoff,dhasselhoff@jotelulu.com,True,Marketing,888888888
If you decide to leave a field blank, you will still need to add a comma (,) to indicate that the field is empty. You can only do this for optional fields.
So, for the previous example, if we only wanted to enter mandatory fields, the entry would look like this:
- David Hasselhoff,dhasselhoff@jotelulu.com,,,888888888
Once you have filled in and saved the file, return to the Import Users window and click on Upload Files (6).
Select the file you wish to upload and click on Open (7).
If the file has been formatted correctly, a green tick will appear next to the filename (8), otherwise, the tick will appear in red. If everything is correct, click on Import Users (9).
At this point, a message will appear confirming that you have successfully imported your users and providing you with the following options:
- Add to subscription: (10) Choose this option to add your users to the subscription so that they are configured and ready to go.
- Not now: (11) Choose this option to postpone this task for later.
For the moment, we’re going to select Not now (11) so that you can see how both options work. If you both routes. If you click on Add to subscription, you can skip to “Point 13” below.
If you click on Now now, the window will close and you will be taken back to the Users screen. Once you decide that you’re ready to assign your users, simply click on Manage Users (12).
Once you click on this button, the User Management assistant will open. Select the server (13) that you want to assign your users to and click on Next (14).
NOTE: If you want users to have the same configuration on multiple servers, you will need to repeat this operation for each server.
On the next screen, select the users (15) that will share the same configuration, then click on Next (16).
If you need to, you can use the search bar (17) or add new users using the New User button (18), which will follow the process described in How to Link a Remote Desktop User to an Already Existing Domain.
Next, you will need to select how these users will connect to the Remote Desktop:
- Remote App: (19) Users are only able to launch applications.
- Virtual Desktop: (20) Users have access to a complete desktop environment.
Then, select the permissions for your users:
- User: (21) Standard user with no special permissions.
- Administrator: (22) User with administrator permissions.
The Type of User setting (23) allows you to set a user as belonging to a specific domain or as a new local user. The user will be generated locally and deleted if the server they are linked to is deleted.
Under the Security section, you have to option to enable Two-factor Authentication (24) so that users will need an additional key to access the Remote Desktop.
Once you have chosen your settings for this group of users, click on Next (25).
On the next screen, you will be able to select the apps that users will be able to access. Simply click on each application that you wish to enable (26) and click on Save (27) to move on to the next step.
You will then be shown a Summary window. Check that all the details are correct, and if everything is OK, click on Confirm Changes (28).
You will now be able to see your registered users on your Remote Desktop subscription.
Congratulations! You have successfully imported users to your Remote Desktop.
Summary
In this tutorial, you have learned how to bulk import users to your Remote Desktop service. If you want to upload users one at a time to an existing server, you should follow the instructions in the following tutorial: How to Link a Remote Desktop User to an Already Existing Server. In both cases, you will be guided through the process by the platform, step by step, to keep things nice and simple and avoid any mistakes.
We hope that you find this guide useful. However, if you have any problems, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us so we can help you.
Thanks for choosing Jotelulu!
