I’m a heavy user of RDP (Remote Desktop, a.k.a. Terminal Services). I don’t remember how I ever got any work done before this technology existed. What follows are some miscellaneous tips.
To login to the console session on a Windows 2003 machine, start the Remote Desktop application from the command line with /console. You can also shadow a console session, so a person physically at the machine can interact with the session, too. See: How to Connect to and Shadow the Console Session with Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services. There is also an interesting but Rube Goldbergian trick I’ve never tried: How To Shadow a Remote Desktop Session in Windows XP Professional.
If you save connection settings in an .rdp file, you can add “connect to console:i:1” to make the console session preference permanent. This page extensively documents other .rdp file parameters.
When RDP misbehaves, qwinsta and rwinsta are available for remote management of sessions. Scott Forsyth has a nice write-up on how to use these tools: Managing Terminal Services Sessions Remotely.
When I connect to a Windows XP machine using RDP, the system replaces the “Turn Off Computer” button in the start menu with “Disconnect”. If I want to remotely power down the machine or reboot, I turn to the command line utility TSSHUTDN.
To connect to a Windows machine from a *nix machine I’ve used rdesktop successfully.
When paranoid, I change the default listening port for RDP on some of my machines.
Finally, some shortcut keys I commonly use:
ALT + PAGE UP replaces ALT+TAB to “tab” through running applications in the RDP window.
CTRL + ALT + + (numeric keypad plus) takes a screen print of the remote desktop (just like using PrintScrn on a local computer).
CTRL + ALT + - (numeric keypad minus) takes a screen print of the active window inside the RDP window (just like using ALT+PrintScrn on the desktop).
Any tips you want to share?
Comments
However, I use task manager to shut down remote machines-- you'll notice it has the shutdown option in a RDP session.
Rdesktop can be found at http://sourceforge.net/projects/rdesktop/ (link in the article is invalid)
and grdesktop at http://www.nongnu.org/grdesktop/
Regards,
Lars Wilhelmsen
shutdown -r -t 00 (reboot in 0 seconds)
shutdown -s -t 00 (shutdown in 0 seconds)
Start->Windows Security will bring up the familiar Ctrl-Alt-Del menu, which allows you to log off, shut down/reboot, etc. (Though I'm not 100% sure this works if Fast User Switching is enabled.)
_cyclops_: thanks for finding that broken link. Late night posts always kill me.
I use Alt+Home then R quite a bit to pop up the Run dialog.
Just change to windowed mode, click on the system menu (top left), The bottom option is "Help" - Select "Remote Desktop Connection Help".
Expand "Concepts" and click on "Using Terminal Services shortcut keys".
Also it is configurable per connection whether you want to use a console connection or not.
www.microsoft.com/.../details.aspx
-r restarts the computer
-f forces the issue. Otherwise the RDC client locks the workstation.
There are some other options too. Type “shutdown /?” to see them all.
I posted about this command a while back when I found out I didn't know how to send a ctrl-alt-del from the OS X RDC client. I believe it still works.
distribucon.com/blog/archive/2006/01/03/858.aspx
My remote machine has 1GB ram and it is 2+ Ghz P4, my machine at home is 512mb,P4 and I am on broadband through a wireless router - so I am not sure why this happens, my co-workers are not having this issue.
Any idea why this happens? is it my machine at home? or could it be that my internet gets disconnected at regular intervals?
This can be caused by:
- congested Internet links between A and B
- busy server computer (eg, 100% CPU for extended periods)
- MTU stuff
- other stuff
If possible, try using PING at the same time to work out where the problem might be, or get a Netmon/Ethereal capture and look for any delays relating to RDP - TCP port 3389.
For a character to appear on the screen through RDP:
- You type the letter
- the RDP client at the local box sends the letter to the RDP server
- the RDP server does whatever it needs to do to update the screen in the application you're using
- the RDP server sends the changed pixels back to the client
- the client receives the changed pixels and updates the display
I'm something of a Wireless Luddite, so I think it's most likely someone's using your home microwave at the time you have the problem - eliminate that first. If you can't live without a microwave, try cabling the PC to the broadband connection temporarily, see if it gets any better.
I've seen RDP get into a state where it wouldn't update unless something else changed (eg, type a word and nothing, but click elsewhere and whop! the word appeared) - one such cause was fixed in XPSP2.
Did you also know you can get the shutdown/restart options by simply deselecting all windows (click a blank space on the taskbar or desktop) and pressing Alt-F4?
If the only port on the work machine you can get to is the RDP port, then I don't think there is anything you can do remotely. You can try the ts shut down utility described here to try and reach the machine to force a reboot.
Thanks
Two questions
1) is it possible to make the remote desktop session viewable to the user of the host computer like laplink. Ie when one of my employees connects to my computer can I keep an eye on the session?
2) If it is not possible to make a viewable session is there any way that the person that connects to my computer can disconnect so that I know that they are off my computer currently Windows says that it is locked and that the other person is using my computer even though they are off.
Cheers
does anybody know an easy way (e.g. keyboard shortcut) to switch between the different sessions quickly?
thnx.
I have a situation where a number of XP clients RDP into a Server running 2008. One client is experiencing keyboard issues, where keystrokes intermittently switch to another mapping, for example the main keyboard character '1' displays the caret '^' on the terminal. Any troubleshooting hints?
Thanks!