## https://sprecho.ai/help/troubleshooting/use-sprecho-over-remote-desktop-and-terminal-server — Using Sprecho over Remote Desktop and Terminal Server

> How Sprecho works when your applications run on a Terminal Server, what audio redirection does and does not change, and the limits worth knowing in advance.

*Updated: 2026-08-23* *Platforms: windows*

This article is for the setup where Sprecho runs on the Windows PC in front of
you and the applications you dictate into run somewhere else — a Terminal
Server, an RDS farm, a RemoteApp window, or a full remote desktop.

Dictation works there. Some things behave differently than they do locally, and
knowing which ones saves a lot of guessing.

### The setup that works

1. Install Sprecho on your **local** PC and sign in there. Nothing needs to be
   installed on the server for dictation itself.
2. Connect to the remote machine as usual.
3. Click into the text field inside the remote window.
4. Hold your dictation key — **Insert** by default on Windows — and speak.

Sprecho records with your local microphone and delivers the finished text into
the remote window the same way your keyboard delivers keystrokes. From the
server's point of view, you typed.

### Your microphone stays local — redirection changes nothing

Remote Desktop can forward audio in both directions, and the setting called
**Remote audio recording** or "Record from this computer" is the one people
reach for first. It is not needed here and it does not help.

Sprecho never asks the remote session for sound. It opens your local microphone
directly and puts the text back into the window on your screen. Leave your
audio-redirection settings as your IT team configured them.

This has a pleasant side effect: microphone quality does not depend on the
remote connection at all. A congested link slows down how quickly text appears,
never how well you were understood.

### The plugin your remote-desktop client loads

Sprecho installs a small plugin that your remote-desktop client loads when it
connects. Sprecho itself never loads it — the client does, per connection.

Its job is context. From your PC, a remote application is only a picture, so
Sprecho cannot tell which app you are in or what is already in the field. The
plugin carries that information back so per-app behaviour and correct
capitalisation keep working across the remote boundary.

Two consequences worth remembering:

- **After a Sprecho update, the new plugin takes effect on your next
  connection.** A session that is already open keeps using the one it loaded.
- **An open session blocks the update itself** on older builds. That is the most
  common Terminal-Server complaint we get, and it has its own article:
  [The Windows app will not update](/help/troubleshooting/the-windows-app-will-not-update).

### For Enterprise teams: the Terminal Server module

The plugin bridges the connection, but something inside the session has to read
the cursor position. That is the **Terminal Server module**, which Enterprise
teams can enable from the admin dashboard.

Your administrator installs a small MSI once, machine-wide, on the Terminal
Server image. It starts automatically in every user session at logon, with no
window and no per-user setup, and only a compact signal ever leaves the session
— whether the cursor sits at the start of a sentence and the single character
before it. Never text, never field contents, never window titles.

The module is advisory. If it is not installed or does not answer in time,
dictation behaves exactly as it does without it. The download and the switch are
both on the **Downloads** page of the Enterprise dashboard.

### Known limits

- **Already-connected sessions lag behind updates.** Reconnect after updating
  Sprecho to get the current plugin.
- **Citrix and other non-Microsoft clients.** Plain dictation works, because
  Sprecho types into the window like a keyboard. The deeper context integration
  is built around Microsoft's Remote Desktop clients; if you are on Citrix and
  want the module, talk to support before rolling it out.
- **Nested sessions.** Connecting through one remote desktop into another leaves
  Sprecho two boundaries away from the app. Dictation still types, context does
  not survive the second hop.
- **Sprecho inside the remote session is not the supported setup.** It would
  depend on redirected audio arriving intact in the session, which is exactly
  the fragile part we designed around.
- **Text arrives at connection speed.** On a slow link, the finished text lands
  a moment later than it would locally. It is not lost.

### Symptom → cause

| What you see | What it usually is |
|---|---|
| Recording works, nothing is typed into the remote app | The remote window lost focus, or the field is not a text field — the same rules as local dictation |
| Dictation ignores your dictionary in remote apps | Normal without the Terminal Server module — a remote window is a picture to your PC |
| A sentence continuing mid-thought gets capitalised | Same cause: no cursor information from inside the session |
| The update fails while you are connected | The plugin is loaded by the client — close the session and retry |
| The plugin behaves like the old version after updating | The session was already open; reconnect |
| Text appears seconds late | Connection latency, not recognition |

### Still stuck?

If dictation types nothing at all into remote applications, first confirm it
works in a local app such as Notepad. That single test tells support whether the
problem is remote-specific or general —
[No text is inserted into my app](/help/troubleshooting/no-text-is-inserted-into-my-app)
covers the general case.

Otherwise [contact support](/help/contact) with your remote-desktop client and
version, whether you use RemoteApp or a full desktop, and your Sprecho version
from **Settings → System → Updates**.

### FAQ

#### Do I install Sprecho on the terminal server or on my own PC?
On your own PC. Sprecho records with your local microphone and types into the remote window like a keyboard would, so the remote server needs nothing installed for basic dictation to work.

#### Do I need to enable microphone redirection in my Remote Desktop settings?
No. Sprecho records locally and never asks the remote session for audio, so the "Record from this computer" setting makes no difference to dictation. You can leave it as it is.

#### Why does dictation into a remote app not use my dictionary or capitalise correctly?
From your PC, a remote application is only a picture, so Sprecho cannot read the text field you are typing into. Enterprise teams can close that gap with the Terminal Server module, which their administrator deploys to the server.