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IO540
14th Sep 2011, 14:06
Judging from a quick google, this problem is very common and lots of people have strugged with it, without a solution that I have found.

Basically, let's say you access a remote PC (1600x1200 monitor) from a laptop which is 1024x768.

As soon as the connection is established, the desktop of the PC will get resized to 1024x768 as well.

This obviously screws up the icon layout on that PC - if you had any icons placed outside the 1024x768 area.

There is a complicated hack one can do on the laptop's RDP config file, involving

screen mode id:i:1
desktopwidth:i:1600
desktopheight:i:1200
.....
smart sizing:i:1

but this then prevents any user accessible settings on the RDP client... so the solution is to use the /edit command line parameter on the client, but this switches the first line above to

screen mode id:i:2

which takes you back to square one.

The above settings deliver a partial solution: the full 1600x1200 desktop is scaled down on the laptop to 1024x768, which is fine because you see the entire remote desktop, but obviously the text in any apps is barely readable, and there is no way to "zoom in". This is equivalent to PC/A option 2) below.

There seems to be no way to achieve the PC/Anywhere functionality, whereby you have two options on the laptop (client):

1) 1:1 pixel transfer (and the 1024x768 laptop is then just a window onto the remote 1600x1200 PC, and you get scroll bars so you can move about the entire remote desktop)

2) "Screen Scaling" which reduces the entire remote desktop to the local PC/A window (this obviously also produces mostly unreadable text, but it allows you to open and close apps, resize them, etc)

On the PC/A client one can switch between the above two modes anytime.

Has anybody ever solved what appears to be a really obvious crippling of the RDP functionality?

As to why I don't just use PC/A, well I do and have been for years, and it has very slick file transfer features, and it never messes up the remote desktop, but PC/A is, like most software written or taken over by Symantec, a load of crap, and every so often (usually when I am 1000nm away) the remote end decides that it has an open session, or crashes, and won't accept any calls. I suppose I could open up an RDP session and reboot the remote PC :) :) :)

I would like to move over to RDP because it is noticeably more data-efficient than PC/A, which is relevant on a GPRS or 3G connection. But there seems to be no way to achieve a readable result (basically, a 1:1 or similar pixel mapping) and at the same time be able to reach over the whole remote desktop (using scroll bars or whatever). RDP doesn't seem to ever display scroll bars representing the remote desktop.

I suppose one could use a laptop with a higher-res screen than any remote machine :) but that's unrealistic. Possibly, running a virtual desktop on the laptop (i.e. a fake desktop of say 2000 x 1500, which you can zoom around) might work...

I'd appreciate any ideas.

mixture
14th Sep 2011, 14:13
Given that Microsoft's primary target market for RDP is RDS (i.e. being an attractive additional licensing revenue stream), and the secondary is sysadmin work, I don't think you'll find them rushing to support high-resolution stuff any time soon.

There's always Citrix... :cool: (although I don't know if that would solve your particular issue).

Or if you're just accessing a single remote PC, how about Teamviewer ? You shouldn't really be leaving RDP exposed to the internet without additional security (Forefront UAG).

IO540
14th Sep 2011, 14:35
There is no issue with resolution on RDP. I gather it is limited to 1600x1200 but that's OK, and no client I have (laptop) will ever have a real desktop that size.

Sure there are other remote desktop apps e.g. Gotomypc, etc.

I run this over an IPSEC VPN so it is secure.

Citrix is where RDP comes from originally, but the server is complicated. One needs two computers to run the server end, though I gather one can run it on one PC running a VM. Too much hassle for this simple requirement.

I just wondered if anybody here is familiar with Remote Desktop and perhaps knows how to do this. It may well be in there, as a config file entry, etc.

ZH875
14th Sep 2011, 14:59
I use Teamviewer (Free for Personal use) and have no problems, the desktop is either scaled or scrolled as one prefers.

To me it's the Dogs Danglies, but sometimes wished the family would pick another mug to sort out their issues.:p

IO540
14th Sep 2011, 15:18
This (http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/forum/windows-xp/15869-remote-desktop-server-screen-resolution.html) suggests a curious solution... It implies that scroll bars appear which allow you to move around the remote desktop.

Will try it later.

Edit: didn't work. :)

Mike-Bracknell
14th Sep 2011, 16:34
When you start your RDP client, if you click the "options" button in the bottom left (without clicking "Connect"), and then click the "display" tab, this will give you a sliding scrollbar allowing you to set the expected size of the RDP window (from a range of set sizes and "full screen"). If the non-full-screen setting is different from the local display resolution, you will get scrollbars to navigate around the RDP session.

Incidentally, when RDPing into a computer, you're not actually remoting into your local console but into a RDP session on your computer. In terminal servers they can co-exist with console RDP sessions (as long as you're not trying to log on as the same person) but you need to specify the /Console switch (although this switch name has been rewritten recently so I can't tell without Googling as to whether this is the current name)

HTH.:ok:

mixture
14th Sep 2011, 16:38
Mike-Bracknell,

In Windows Server 2003, you can start the RDC client (Mstsc.exe) by using the /console switch to remotely connect to the physical console session on the server (also known as session 0). In Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2, the /console switch has been deprecated.

See here (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947723) for more info.

But then you knew that already..... :p

Furthermore, I didn't think the console trick was of any use when connecting to a desktop rather than a server, since you're restricted to a single session anyway.

Mike-Bracknell
14th Sep 2011, 16:40
There was, indeed, a certain amount of CBA involved in my first reply, btw ;)

txdmy1
14th Sep 2011, 17:15
Xen desktop would fix it, or try remoting through a VWMare image set to the same, works for work

IO540
14th Sep 2011, 19:05
If the non-full-screen setting is different from the local display resolution, you will get scrollbars to navigate around the RDP session.I may be missing something subtle, but the scroll bars only scroll around the local depiction of the portion of the remote desktop to which the remote end is set to when you login.

There appears to be no way to have a remote desktop of say 1600x1200 and a local desktop of say 1024x768, and have scroll bars displayed (locally) which allow you to move around the whole 1600x1200 desktop and have 1:1 pixel mapping between the two desktops.

The situation where scroll bars are displayed are when e.g. you set up a 1024x768 desktop under Options (this setting refers to the local desktop) but then reduce the local RDP client window size below 1024x768.

There is a screen size setting in the .rdp file which appears to specify the remote desktop size which the remote machine desktop is set to when you login, and that is fine, but this alone does not produce local scroll bars which allow you to move around that desktop. And with no scroll bars, you tend to end up with unreadable text etc.

If you think I am missing something, I'd like to know. Maybe something can be done with two different .rdp config files, and switching between them by using two different RDP icons.

Mike-Bracknell
15th Sep 2011, 08:58
Right, minor apple-ogies....i've finally had time to test this out

The scrollbar only appears if your local screen size is > than your remote size. Hence, if this is an issue to you, you might want to consider a larger local screen resolution.

Also, 3rd party RDP tools (specifically the one I use on my iPhone) give you scrollbars whatever the case.

RDP will never be anything but a 1:1 pixel mapping.