Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hi Everyone,

We are trying to automate one of our virtual desktop–based applications using Power Automate Desktop. Unfortunately, we are unable to capture actions within the application using UI automation.We have already installed the required Power Automate Virtual Agent. For your reference, I’ve attached the related files.

Categories:

Bot extensibility

Hi,

If Power Automate Desktop is unable to capture UI elements in a virtual desktop application, it is often due to how the application is being rendered rather than an issue with PAD itself.

Here are a few things I'd recommend checking:

Confirm the virtualization technology (Citrix, Azure Virtual Desktop, VMware Horizon, Remote Desktop Services, etc.), as each has different automation capabilities and requirements.

Verify that the appropriate Power Automate extension/agent for your virtual environment is installed on both the client and the virtual machine (where applicable).

Check whether the application is exposing accessible UI elements. Some virtualized or legacy applications render the UI as an image, preventing UI Automation from identifying controls.

Try using the UI Elements picker to see if any controls can be detected. If nothing is detected, test with Image Automation or OCR actions as an alternative.

Ensure the virtual desktop session is running at a supported resolution and scaling (100% display scaling is generally recommended).

If possible, test the same application directly on a local machine. If UI elements are detected locally but not in the virtual environment, the issue is likely related to the virtualization layer.

Could you also share:

Which virtual desktop platform you're using (Citrix, AVD, VMware, RDS, etc.)?

Whether no UI elements are detected at all, or only certain controls?

Which version of Power Automate Desktop you're using?

That information will help narrow down the root cause.