Session Settings¶
You can customize many aspects of how your users’ sessions will behave when running on Frame. The Session Settings console was created to give you fine granularity over these features.
To get started, navigate to the “Settings” page listed on the left side of your Dashboard. Click on the “Session” tab.
Default Session Settings¶
These settings let you configure how the session will behave when users launch any application from the Launchpad. For example, you can choose to show or hide the distance and latency measurements shown in the bottom of the session status bar. In this section, we will review each component of the Session Settings page.

Any changes you make on this page will apply to all production instances, Utility servers, and your Sandbox.
Note
You may specify a separate set of session settings for your Sandbox/Utility server by clicking on the ellipsis next to your Sandbox/Utility Server (Dashboard>Systems), clicking on “Session settings,” and disabling the “Use account settings” toggle. Edit this page as desired and click “Save” to apply your changes.
Storage End of Life¶
Warning
Frame’s built-in storage provider integrations are no longer available on new Frame accounts and will be fully deprecated by July 31st, 2022. More details can be found in the official EOL announcement.
You can enable/disable cloud storage integration options for your users under the “Storage” section. You can use any combination of the options shown in the image below – Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Box, and/or Dropbox.
Features¶
In the “Features” section, you can configure the properties of the end users’ experience while in their Frame session. The functionality of each toggle is described below:

Feature |
Description |
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Clipboard integration |
Enables clipboard functionality. Users can cut and paste text between their local device and their Frame session. |
Clipboard direction |
When the clipboard integration is enabled, use this drop-down menu to choose the clipboard direction policy for your users. |
App switching |
Enables end users to select a different application from the Frame gear menu during a session. End users can only switch applications using the default Windows behavior (Alt + ~ is registered as Alt + Tab to switch between applications) if this toggled is left disabled. |
Download |
Enables downloading files from the remote session to the user’s local device. |
Upload |
Enables uploading files from the user’s local device to their Frame session. |
Enables printing files from the remote session to the Frame Virtual Printer. |
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Camera Early Access |
Enables webcam support for sessions.* |
Microphone |
Enables audio input when using applications within the session. This feature is enhanced for sessions using FRP8. |
USB Redirection Early Access |
USB-connected storage devices are automatically detected and populated as additional drives which are accessible from the file explorer.** |
FRP8 Early Access |
Enables Frame Remoting Protocol 8 for accounts that are configured with Frame Guest Agent 8.1+ |
* = Requires Frame Remoting Protocol 8 to be enabled.
** = Requires Frame Remoting Protocol 8 and Frame App 6.3 (or above) for Windows only.
Additional Documentation
Additional details for these features can be found in our Session Features End User Guide and other sections of our official Frame documentation.
Time Limits¶
The “Time Limits” section displays parameters which control how long sessions can run. See the corresponding sections below to learn more about each parameter.
User Inactivity Timeout¶
This is the maximum amount of time (in minutes) that Frame will keep a session connected when there is no user activity (no mouse/keyboard events). Frame will display a warning at the “1 minute left” mark and then disconnect the session.
Default value: 10 minutes
Minimal value: 1 minute
Idle Timeout¶
For any sessions that are launched from the Launchpad (which is the most common use case for Frame for Business/Education accounts), authenticated users can disconnect from a session and reconnect later to the same running session. The “idle timeout” setting refers to the amount of time (in minutes) that a session will be kept active after an authenticated user disconnects from the session by closing the application within the session, disconnecting from the gear menu, closing their browser tab, or by getting disconnected due to a network issue.
Default value: 10 minutes
Minimal value: 0
Max Session Duration¶
This is the maximum length (in minutes) of time that a session can run. The duration is shown on the status bar countdown timer in the session itself.
Default value: 1 hour
Minimal value: 1 minute
Reservation Timeout¶
“Reservation timeout” refers to the amount of time (in seconds) that the client’s browser will wait for an available server before throwing a timeout error. This value would typically be adjusted to accommodate slow-starting instances. This timeout is less likely to be reached if a min or buffer is configured.
Default value: 600 seconds
Minimal value: 120 seconds
Max value: 900 seconds
Network¶
The “Network” section of the Session Settings page is where you can set network and QoS settings for your users. Some organizations manage groups of users in remote areas which have limited bandwidth, high latency, and often encounter varying network conditions. The Frame Protocol is highly responsive to such circumstances by rapidly adjusting an app’s visual properties, frame rate, image quality, and other key aspects to maintain a consistent user experience. Each of the variables listed below applies to a different aspect of the session’s QoS settings:
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Max frame rate (fps): Sets the maximum frame rate for a session. The frame rate is defined as the number of frames displayed per second.
Max video bit rate (Mbps): Adjusts the maximum bitrate allocated to imagery in the session.
Is YUV444 enabled: Enables YUV444 encoding.
Allow users to change these settings: Allows your users to define their own QoS settings from within their session by accessing the gear menu.
Network QoS Settings Defined¶
Descriptions for the above variables can be found by clicking through the tabs below:
Frame automatically adjusts the video frame rate in response to application activity and available bandwidth. Under normal circumstances, the default frame rate is 20 frames per second (fps). Limiting the maximum frame rate can reduce bandwidth requirements, but may cause choppiness and can make interactive editing tasks difficult. Administrators can set the maximum frame rate for production sessions from the Dashboard. If enabled by the admin, end users can adjust the frame rate of their session as they see fit.
GPU-enabled Instances |
5 - 60 fps |
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CPU-only Instances |
5 - 30 fps |
Frame limits the maximum video stream bit rate to 32 Mbps. Lowering the bit rate limits the overall bandwidth available to Frame, reducing both frame rate and image quality.
Video Bit Rate Range |
256 kbps - 32 Mbps |
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Limitations
Setting maximum video bit rate to a value lower than 6 Mbps will also affect maximum frame rate and maximum audio bit rate. For example, if maximum video bit rate is set to 2 Mbps, frame rate will be automatically limited to 14 fps, and audio bit rate will be limited to 128 kbps.
Frame’s H.264 implementation uses YUV420 chroma subsampling to encode images. This takes advantage of the human eye’s inability to recognize color differences to the same degree that it can recognize variations in brightness. By sending less information about color than it does about brightness, it is possible to reduce the amount of bandwidth required substantially without significantly compromising image quality. This does an excellent job of reducing the amount of bandwidth required, but in some situations, especially in apps where regions of strongly contrasting colors are displayed next to each other, chroma subsampling can result in colors “bleeding” into each other with undesirable results.
To support our customers who need absolute color fidelity, Frame also provides support for YUV444 encoding. This turns off chroma subsampling, sending the full depth of color information for every pixel. As it sends more color information, there is a corresponding increase in required bandwidth.
Note
YUV444 is not supported on mobile web browsers.
End users accessing a YUV444-enabled session will notice that the magnifying glass in the Frame Status Bar is solid green:
If session stats are enabled for the account, you can see if your session is using YUV444 by looking for HQ in the codec name.
Keyboard Profiles¶
Most Frame customers have unique use cases and often require highly-customized environments. Sessions can be tailored to fit a variety of scenarios from the Session settings page, which now includes our “Keyboard profiles” feature. Keyboard profiles consist of custom keyboard shortcuts and language settings that can be applied at the account level, based on the needs of your end users. More detailed information regarding keyboard profiles can be found in the keyboard profiles guide.
Advanced Options¶
The Advanced options component is comprised of two fields, “Advanced Terminal Arguments” and “Advanced Server Arguments.”
Here, you can enter advanced configuration flags that will either communicate with server or the Frame terminal to control the behavior of a session. Separate the advanced configuration flags using a space.
Click “Save” to apply your configurations.
Advanced Arguments¶
The following flags listed below can be used in the “Advanced Terminal Arguments” field to modify the behavior of Frame Terminal, associated with the Frame Account or Launchpad.
Argument |
Details |
Example |
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Enables Frame Terminal to use relative mouse mode. |
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Use this argument to show or not show the update indicator in Frame App. Value of |
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Use this argument to adjust the FRP8 upload chunk size when uploading files from Frame Terminal to the workload VM. Chunk size can be reduced for situations where end users experience input keyboard/mouse lag in low bandwidth and/or higher latency networks. Default value is 4096 bytes. |
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Use this argument to hide the Network Bandwidth Indicator on the Frame Terminal Status Bar. |
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Use this argument to prevent the timezone in the user’s endpoint from being used within the workload VM at the startup of a Frame session. Workload VM timezone can then be configured within the operating system to a specific timezone. |
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Use this argument to hide the Network Latency Indicator on the Frame Terminal Status Bar. |
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Use this argument to show the Settings > Network tab in the Gear Menu of Frame Terminal. |
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Use this argument to enable Lossless encoding (requires YUV444 to be enabled). |
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Use this argument to require Frame Terminal to display in a preset resolution chosen by the Account Administrator, where <width> can be 1024, 1280, or 1920 and <height> can be 768, 1024, or 1080. |
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Use this argument to specify the number of minutes left in a session before the max session timeout warning is displayed to the user. |
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Frame Remoting Protocol (FRP) 8 will use UDP, by default. If Frame Terminal is unable to connect to the Frame Guest Agent on the workload VM via UDP, Frame Terminal will attempt to connect using TCP. Use this argument to require FRP8 to always use TCP. |
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The flags listed below can be entered in to the “Advanced Server Arguments” field to modify the behavior of sessions, associated with the Frame Account or Launchpad.
Argument |
Details |
Example |
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This argument sets the profile disk/personal drive attach timeout value. If a customer administrator sees that enterprise profile disks or personal drives fail to attach in the Session Trail, the administrator can increase the timeout value. Default value is 90000 ms (90 sec). |
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This argument enables resolutions up to 4k on CPU-only instances. Note: CPU-based encoding of 4K displays will require increased vCPU capacity (e.g., 4 vCPUs instead of 2 vCPUs). Note: This argument should also be used in scenarios where users will be accessing Frame from ultra-wide or non-4k high resolution monitors. |
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Can be used to force CPU encoding ( |
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This argument enables additional QoS optimizations for the office productivity application use case where the estimated network bandwidth reported during the Frame session drops over time. |
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Designates which browser is used to launch URLs within the Frame environment. |
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Logoff time in milliseconds with a default of 10000 ms (10 seconds). Used when waiting for any Windows user logoff operation by the Frame Guest Agent. Relevant for persistent desktop accounts when startup of persistent desktop VMs are taking a long time on initial assignment to the user and user session request time outs. Also applicable for domain-joined instances where the Frame user is unable to reach the Windows login screen before the session times out. |
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Use this argument for non-persistent Frame accounts with Enterprise Profiles feature disabled if you wish to have Launchpad users logged into their Frame session as the local Windows non-administrative user |
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Can be used to optimize frame rate in situations where users are accessing rapidly moving content with limited network resources. |
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Can be used to override the default number of trailing display frames (2 with CPU encoding, 8 with GPU encoding) when not all changes to the display are being displayed (e.g., application dialog window not appearing) until something else in the display is moved or changed. |
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Use this argument to designate an upload folder in the session. The default upload folder is |
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* = Advanced argument does not work with FGA 8 deployments.
Note
Please note that users may have to close their existing session and start a new session in order to see any newly applied session settings.
Frequently Asked Questions¶
How does YUV444 improve the end-user experience? What are the limitations?
If the user is working with 2D or 3D design, YUV444 may provide sharper text and shapes. If the text or shapes appear blurry when using the standard YUV420, enable YUV444 and see if there are any visual improvements. This feature requires up to 50% more bandwidth for video streaming. More detailed information, as well as some test images that illustrate the differences, can be found online in articles like these.
My bandwidth is limited. How can I have the best possible end-user experience with limited bandwidth?
Frame dynamically adjusts bandwidth based on streamed content and network conditions to consume the lowest bandwidth while maintaining the best possible user experience. If you need to set a bandwidth limit for a user connection, administrators can adjust the “Max video bit rate” slider in session settings.
What settings should be adjusted to best support conferencing applications like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Skype?
Administrators wishing to support video conferencing applications in Frame must first have FRP8 enabled for their Frame account. Once FRP8 has been configured, admins can simply enable the “Camera” and “Microphone” options in session settings. Accounts using FRP7 can still enable the microphone feature for voice calls. These applications perform best with low-latency network connections. The end user will need to allow certain permissions in the browser, which is discussed in further detail in our Session Features End User Guide.
Under what circumstances can I enable lossless video?
Lossless quality encoding requires up to 40x more bandwidth than “normal” video streaming, as well as the Chrome browser (version 100+) or Frame App on the endpoint device. Administrators will need to add the forceLosslessVideoQuality
Advanced Terminal Argument in session settings in order to use this feature.