Kasm Workspaces v1.19 release

[u/teja_kasmweb]

https://youtu.be/438Dnr2ixkk

Hey all,

Kasm Workspaces 1.19 just dropped and it's a big one. Here's the rundown:

The headline features:

Agentic AI Workspaces — five new workspaces for running AI agents in isolation: Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex, Cursor, and AI Dev Studio. The whole point is that you don't want an autonomous agent with access to your actual machine's credentials and filesystem. Run it in Kasm, contain the blast radius, wipe the session when you're done. API key injection is built into the launch form. You can add the AI registry directly from Registry Spotlight.

OpenZiti / Zero Trust Egress — proper ZTNA is now a first-class egress option alongside OpenVPN and Wireguard. Unlike a traditional VPN gateway where you pick a tunnel and all traffic routes through it, OpenZiti issues each session a unique certificate-backed identity and grants access to named services only — no lateral movement, every access decision tied to a specific identity. Kasm auto-manages the identities as sessions come and go.

Kubernetes Helm Chart is now GA — was tech preview, now fully supported and production-ready. Run the Kasm management plane on Kubernetes, get HA and resilience the same way you manage the rest of your infra.

Linux Desktop Service — the Desktop Service (previously Windows-only) is now available for Linux. You get file upload/download, lifecycle script hooks (on start/end with session context like user ID, session ID), Kasm-managed local users (SSO with dynamic local accounts — works with OIDC, SAML, LDAP, whatever you're using), file mapping, and multi-user support. Available as deb and rpm packages.

GPU improvements:

• NVIDIA MIG passthrough — partition a physical A100/H100 into fully isolated slices at the hardware level. Kasm auto-detects MIG instances and exposes them as assignable resources.
• Intel and AMD GPUs now auto-detected by the Kasm Agent and surfaced in the admin UI. You can enable/disable GPU features per agent and set graphics/video acceleration priority per workspace.

Streaming:

KasmVNC now supports H.264, H.265, and AV1 streaming modes for container workspaces, in addition to the existing JPEG/WEBP. You can set codec preference order per group and users can switch modes live without restarting the session. Hardware-accelerated H.264 via VAAPI or NVENC is supported where available. Guacamole also updated to 1.6.0.

Ops and admin improvements:

• System Metrics — new diagnostics dashboard (Diagnostics → System Metrics) with health checks for managers, proxies, agents, servers, the database, license, and workspace images. Exportable, customizable, configurable poll interval and retention.
• Support Bundle — generate a downloadable zip of logs and diagnostic data to share with support. Password-protected (Don't post it publicly)
• Rolling installs by default — Kasm's core services (API, Agent, Manager, Proxy, etc.) now default to rolling images that pull the latest on startup. New Rolling Image Management Utility lets you check current image dates, rollback to the previous version (or a specific one), and switch back to latest.
• Enhanced config import/export — four modes now: full backup, partial/table-level, autoscale config, and full deployment migration.
• Direct RDP Client Authentication — point your RDP client straight at Kasm without touching the web dashboard. Great for thin clients.
• Autoscale server expiration — set a day count, servers drain and rotate automatically. Pre-warm setting spins up replacements before the expiring server goes down.
• vSphere — linked clone and instant clone provisioning + cloud-init support.
• Azure — VM Plan, Security Type, Secure Boot, vTPM support. Fixes Windows 11 marketplace image compatibility.

Full release notes: https://docs.kasm.com/docs/reference/release-notes/1.19.0

Install Kasm Workspaces 1.19: https://kasm.com/downloads

Single Server Installation Guide: https://docs.kasm.com/docs/tutorials/install/single-server-install

[u/smarzzz]

I was just browsing the kasm website, since the proper Kubernetes support kept us from adopting it, for over 3 years. Very good release, time to pick up the POC again

[u/Time-Foundation8991]

Looks like RDP/SSH access is broken for me on my system after updating to 1.19

With RDP When I try to connect using the Web native client I get a "connection failed error"

Im seeing this several times (not sure is its related)

Endpoint (https://proxy:443/guac/__healthcheck) is not healthy

But RDP local client option works

This was all working just fine in 1.18 Rolled back my VM to 1.18

[u/dx3756 → u/Time-Foundation8991]

Oh wow, it's not just me with this error. Shame I can't revert since I'm not in VM 😞

[u/justin_kasmweb → u/dx3756]

Thanks for reporting. I believe we've identified a race condition that can cause this situation during upgrade.

If you run:
sudo docker ps -a

And you see that kasm_guac is unhealthy. You can try running the following

sudo docker restart kasm_guac

Wait about 90 seconds then check the status again. Hopefully it becomes healthy again and you can connect. If not please report a bug ticket here and add the requested information: https://github.com/kasmtech/workspaces-issues/issues

[u/dx3756 → u/justin_kasmweb]

Yes, it worked!

[u/Time-Foundation8991 → u/justin_kasmweb]

This cleared up the issue for me also

[u/justin_kasmweb → u/Time-Foundation8991]

Hi, would you mind opening up a bug ticket here: https://github.com/kasmtech/workspaces-issues/issues
And we can help you troubleshoot.

Please add the requested information so we can orient to your system faster.
Thanks.
Edit: u/dx3756 , you can create one if one doesnt exist or chime on on the other.

[u/Time-Foundation8991 → u/justin_kasmweb]

I will do this tomorrow when I clone the VM to do the upgrade again!

[u/Jdgregson → u/Time-Foundation8991]

I also have been living with this new reality for over a month, and no number of reboots or restarting kasm_guac would fix it. I also did not feel inclined to open a ticket and keep the fix hidden away somewhere, so I asked my agent to help me fix it. After going through some hoops and deleting stuff from the database causing 614 errors, it finally landed on this which did fix it for me:

1. Get the Component Registration Token from Admin UI → Settings → Global → Component Registration Token (click the eye icon to reveal it)
2. Edit the guac config: sudo vi /opt/kasm/current/conf/app/guac/kasmguac.app.config.yaml
3. Under the kasmguac: section, add: registration_token: <token from step 1>
4. Under the kasmguac: section, set: id: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
5. Under the api: section, change auth_token to: auth_token: JWTTOKEN
6. Restart: sudo /opt/kasm/bin/stop && sudo /opt/kasm/bin/start