Technology Comparison

Depending on your environment, type of automations, and applications used, you can choose one of the two available PiP technologies.

PiP - Child Session is best suited for complex automations that make use of hardware events and image-based automation, while PiP - Virtual Desktop provides a faster process start time and can run on more Windows operating systems.

If both PiP technologies are compatible with your environment and automations, PiP - Virtual Desktop is recommended as it is faster and uses less resources to start the automation. You can also keep a PiP - Child Session instance open throughout the day to achieve similar performance when starting an automation.

The main differences are presented below:

Session authentication and VPN compatibility

Scenario	PiP - Child Session	PiP - Virtual Desktop
Normal Password Authentication	✅	✅
PIN Authentication	✅1	✅
Smart Card Authentication	✅1	✅
VPN Configurations	✅2	✅

1 Only works the first time a PiP session is spawned. After that, the PiP session can be authenticated only using username and password until the next restart of the machine.

2 More information on how PiP - Child Session works with VPN can be found here.

UI Automation compatibility

Scenario	PiP - Child Session	PiP - Virtual Desktop
Edge/Chrome Browser Automation	✅	✅1
Hardware Events UIAutomation	✅	❌
Image-Based Automation	✅	❌
Windows Messages2	✅	✅
Simulate2	✅	✅

1 UIAutomation Activities v22.4 and above is required for Edge/Chrome browser automation when using PiP - Virtual Desktop.

2 These input methods may not work on all applications. Check the Input methods table for the overall compatibility with applications.

Applications and integrations usage

Scenario	PiP - Child Session	PiP - Virtual Desktop
Microsoft Office Suite	✅	✅
Other UiPath Activities/Integrations	✅	✅

Supported Operating Systems and Virtualization

OS	PiP - Child Session	PiP - Virtual Desktop
Windows 8/10/11 - Home Edition	❌	✅
Windows 8/10/11 - Pro/Enterprise Edition	✅	✅
Windows Server 2012/2016/2019/2022	❌	✅
Mac OS X	❌	❌
Remote Desktop	✅	✅
App-V	❌	✅

Miscellaneous

Scenario	PiP - Child Session	PiP - Virtual Desktop
Ability to run an executable as administrator	❌	✅
Recording execution or taking screenshots	✅	❌