8.3 Supporting Remote Desktop Connection clients
The Remote Desktop Connection client is the Remote Desktop
Services client. It uses the Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
version 6.0 or later. Clients can use the Remote Desktop Connection client to connect to a
remote server or workstation that has been set up to be administered
remotely.
Remote Desktop Connection client
Most current versions of Windows include the Remote Desktop
Connection client. The features you should be aware of when supporting RDC
are the following:
-
Custom display resolutions allow for high-color and
full-screen viewing. Resolutions of 1680 x 1920, 1920 x 1200,
and higher are fully supported. To set the resolution from a
command prompt or the Search box, add the /w and /h options,
such as mstsc /w:1920 /h:1200.
In an RDP file, you can set the screen size using desktopwidth
and desktopheight, such as desktopwidth:i:1920 or desktopheight:i:1200. -
Monitor spanning settings allow you to display remote
sessions across multiple monitors. All monitors must be
horizontally aligned and use the same resolution. The maximum
resolution across all monitors shouldn’t exceed 4096 x 2048.
To enable monitor spanning from a command prompt or the Search
box, add the /span option, such as mstsc
/span. In an RDP file, you can enable spanning by
typing Span:i:1. -
By default, data sent between the client and the server
is encrypted at the maximum key strength supported by the
client. If you configure RDP on your Remote Desktop Services
server to require high encryption, a client can make a
connection only if it supports 128-bit or higher
encryption. -
If a connection is interrupted or lost while you are
performing a task, the client software attempts to reconnect
to the session and, in the interim, processing continues on
the server so that any running processes can be finished
without interruption. If for some reason you are unable to log
on remotely after you are disconnected, your logon session can
be accessed by logging on locally.
Enhanced experience settings include font smoothing and
display data prioritization. Font smoothing ensures that
computer fonts appear clear and smooth (as long as the desktop has ClearType enabled). Display data prioritization gives priority to display,
keyboard, and mouse data over other types of data, such as
printing or file transfers. The default bandwidth ratio is 70:30.
This means that display and input data will be allocated 70
percent of the bandwidth, and all other traffic, such as file
transfers or print jobs, will be allocated 30 percent of the
bandwidth.
You can adjust the data prioritization settings by making changes to
the registry of the Remote Desktop Services server. Change the value of
the following entries under the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TermDD
subkey:
-
FlowControlDisable -
FlowControlDisplayBandwidth -
FlowControlChannelBandwidth -
FlowControlChargePostCompression
When working with flow control, keep the following in mind:
-
If these entries do not appear, you can create them. To
do this, press and hold or right-click TermDD, point to New,
and then tap or click DWORD (32-bit) Value. -
You can disable display data prioritization completely
by setting the value of FlowControlDisable to 1. If you do
this, all requests are handled on a first-in-first-out basis
and other registry settings are ignored. -
You can set the relative bandwidth priority for display
and input data by setting the FlowControlDisplayBandwidth
value. The default value is 70. The maximum allowed value is
255. -
You can set the relative bandwidth priority for other
data, such as file transfers or print jobs by setting the
FlowControlChannelBandwidth value. The default value is 30.
The maximum allowed value is 255. -
The bandwidth ratio for display data prioritization is
based on the values you set. For example, if you set
FlowControlDisplayBandwidth 200 and
FlowControlChannelBandwidth to 50, the ratio is 200:50 (or
4:1), so display and input data will be allocated 80 percent
of the bandwidth. -
The FlowControlChargePostCompression value determines
whether the bandwidth allocation is based on the
precompression or postcompression data size. The default value
is 0, which means that the calculation will be made on the
size of the data before it is compressed. In most cases, this
is the value you’ll want to use. This setting ensures the
client doesn’t have to wait or perform compression
calculations prior to sending data. -
If you make any changes to the registry values, you need
to restart the Remote Desktop Services server for the changes
to take effect.
Resource redirection allows audio, mapped drives,
ports, printers, and certain keyboard combinations to be handled
by the client computer. If an application generates audio
feedback, such as an error notification, this can be redirected to
the client. Key combinations that perform application functions
are passed to the remote server except for Ctrl+Alt+Delete, which
is handled by the client computer. In addition, local devices such
as drives, printers, and serial ports are also available. Because
both local and network drives are available on the client, users
can easily access local drives and transfer files between the
client and the server.
Plug and Play device redirection extends the resource redirection
features to allow locally connected and supported Plug and Play
devices to be installed on and used with a remote computer. You
can now redirect media players that support Media Transfer
Protocol (MTP) and digital cameras that support Picture Transfer
Protocol (PTP). Plug and Play notifications will appear in the
taskbar on the remote computer. When you start a remote session
for the first time after connecting a supported device locally,
you should see the device get installed automatically on the
remote computer. After the redirected device is installed on the
remote computer, the device is available for use in your session
with the remote computer. For example, if you are redirecting a
Windows Portable Device (WPD) such as a digital camera, you can
access the device directly from a remote application.
You can control Plug and Play device redirection on the Client
Settings tab in the Remote Desktop Services Configuration tool
(tsconfig.msc). Use the Supported Plug And Play Devices options.
You can also control Plug and Play device redirection by using
Group Policy. To do this, you can use the Do Not Allow Supported
Plug And Play Device Redirection policy setting in the
Administrative Templates for Computer Configuration under Windows
Components\Remote Desktop Services\Remote Desktop Session
Host\Device and Resource Redirection. Several related policy
settings are found under Computer Configuration\Administrative
Templates\System\Device Installation\Device Installation
Restrictions.
Running the Remote Desktop Connection client
As discussed previously, you now can open two administrator
sessions on computers that run Windows Server 2012 without needing
an RD CAL. The use of an admin or console session greatly enhances
your capabilities as an administrator to successfully execute
programs, applications, and processes that will not run in a
virtual session.
There are several ways to start the Remote Desktop Connection client:
-
Run in admin
mode Admin mode is used by administrators to enable
full interaction with the console of the remote system. To run
the client in admin mode, type mstsc
/admin at the command prompt or in the Apps Search
box. -
Run in virtual session
mode Virtual session mode is used by administrators
as well as users to start a virtual session on a remote
system. To run the client in virtual session mode, type
mstsc at the command prompt or
in the Apps Search box.
After the client is started, enter the name or Internet
Protocol (IP) address of the computer to which you want to
connect, as shown in Figure 13. If you
don’t know the name of the computer, use the drop-down list
provided to choose an available computer, or select Browse For
More on the drop-down list to display a list of domains and
computers in those domains.
By default, Windows uses your current user name and domain
to log on to the remote computer. If you want to use different
account information, tap or click Options and then enter your user
name in the field provided. (See Figure 14.)
To set the domain, you can enter your user name in the
DOMAIN\USERNAME format, such as ADATUM\WILLIAMS. Select the Allow
Me To Save Credentials check box to enable automatic logon if
desired.
Note
Even if you select the Allow Me To Save Credentials check
box, you might be prompted to enter your password during the
logon process depending on your network’s policies and the
configuration of the Remote Desktop Services server.
There are six tabs you can use to change the client settings:
-
General You might want to
use these options to save keystrokes by adding logon
information. Rather than typing in your settings each time,
you can save the connection settings and load them when you
want to make a connection.
To save the current connection settings, tap or click
Save As and then use the Save As dialog box to save the .rdp
file for the connection.
To load previously saved connection settings, tap or
click Open and then use the Open dialog box to find and open
the previously saved connection settings. -
Display The default
settings for RDC are full-screen and high-color.
You can modify these settings here.
Use the Display Configuration option to set the screen
size. The size options available depend on the display size on
the local computer.
Use the Colors option to choose the preferred color
depth. The default is 32-bit highest quality color, but
settings on the remote computer might override this
setting. -
Local Resources You can
modify the way the resource and device redirection work,
including audio redirection, keystroke combination
redirection, and local device and resource redirection.
By default, remote computer sound is redirected to the local
computer. Using the Remote Audio option, you can change the
default setting by selecting Do Not Play or Play On Remote
Computer.
By default, when you are working in full-screen mode,
key combinations such as Alt+Tab and Ctrl+Esc are redirected
to the remote system, and Ctrl+Alt+Delete is handled locally.
Using Apply Windows Key Combinations, you change this behavior
so that key combinations are sent to the local computer or the
remote computer only. However, if you send key combinations to
the remote computer only, you could get in a situation where
you cannot log on locally.
By default, local printers are connected automatically
when users are logged on to the remote computer. This makes it
easy to print to your currently configured printers when you
are working with a remote system.
By default, anything you copy to the remote computer’s
clipboard is copied to the local computer’s clipboard. This
makes it easy to copy from a remote source and paste into a
local source.
Tap or click More on the Local Devices And Resource
panel to see additional options. By default, the additional
options ensure that smart cards connected to a remote computer
are available for use in your remote session. You can also
connect serial ports, local disk drives, and supported Plug
and Play devices to make them available for use. Drives and
supported devices can be selected by name, or you can simply
select the Drives and Supported Plug And Play Devices options
to make all drives and devices available for use. Selecting
drives allows you to easily transfer files between the local
and remote computer. Selecting Plug And Play devices allows
you to work with supported devices, including media players
and digital cameras. -
Programs You can
configure the execution of programs when a session starts from
this dialog box. Select the Start The Following Program On
Connection check box, and then set the program path or file
name and the start folder for the program. -
Experience You can select
the connection speed and other network performance settings.
For optimal performance, choose the connection speed you are
using, such as Modem (56 Kbps) or LAN (10 Mbps or higher), and
allow only bitmap caching.
Other options you can allow include Desktop Background,
Font Smoothing, Desktop Composition, Show Window Contents
While Dragging, Menu And Window Animation, and Visual Styles.
If you select these additional check boxes, you cause
additional processing on the remote system and additional
network traffic, which can slow down performance. Desktop
composition creates an enhanced desktop, as long as you
installed the Desktop Experience feature on the Remote Desktop Services servers and clients that
are using Windows Vista or later. Font Smoothing allows the
client to pass through ClearType fonts, as long
as Clear Type is enabled (which is the default
setting).
By default, Reconnect If Connection Is Dropped is
selected. If the session is interrupted, the RDC will try to
reconnect it automatically. Getting disconnected from a
connection doesn’t stop processing. The session will go into a
disconnected state and continue executing whatever processes
the session was running. -
Advanced You can select
these options to control the use of server authentication and
the Remote Desktop Gateway feature. By default, the
RDP client is configured to warn you if the authentication
protocols fail and automatically detect RD Gateway
settings.
When you tap or click Connect, you are connected to the
remote system. Enter your account password if prompted, and then
tap or click OK. If the connection is successful, you’ll see the
Remote Desktop window on the selected computer and
you’ll be able to work with resources on the computer. In the case
of a failed connection, check the information you provided and
then try to connect again.
When you are working in full-screen mode, a connection bar
is displayed at the top of the screen. On the left side of the
connection bar is a push pin. If you tap or click the push pin, it
unpins the connection bar so that the bar disappears when you move
the mouse away. To make the bar appear again, you then need to
point the mouse to the top part of the screen. On the right side
of the connection bar are several other buttons. The first button
switches you to the local desktop. The second button switches
between full mode and tile display mode. The third button
disconnects the remote session.
Disconnecting from a session does not end a session.
The session continues to run on the server, which uses resources
and can prevent other users from connecting because only one
console session and two virtual sessions are allowed. The proper
way to end a session is to log off the remote computer just as you would a local computer.
In the Remote Desktop Connection window, tap or click Start
and then tap or click the Shutdown Options button. In the shortcut
menu, tap or click Logoff.
Caution
Don’t try to log off the remote session by pressing
Ctrl+Alt+Delete and tapping or clicking Logoff. Doing this will
log you off the console session on your local client but still
leave the remote session running on the Remote Desktop Server.
9. Tracking who’s logged on
When you deploy Remote Desktop Services, you can use the Remote Desktop Services Manager to view and manage
logon sessions. With Remote Desktop, you can use this as
well, but you typically don’t need all the additional options and
details. A more basic way to keep track of who is logged on to a
server is to use the QUSER command. Type quser
to see who is logged on to the system on which you are running the
command prompt, or type quser /server:
ServerName
to see who is logged on to a
remote server. Consider the following example:
USERNAME SESSIONNAME ID STATE IDLE TIME LOGON TIME
tedg rdp-tcp#1 1 Active . 5/04/2014 11:42 AM
Wrstanek console 2 Active 2:27 5/04/2014 09:43 AM
Here, there are two active sessions:
-
TEDG is logged on to an active RDP session. The session ID
is 1, meaning it is Session 1. -
WRSTANEK is logged on locally to the console. The session ID
is 2, meaning it is Session 2.
You can also use the Task Manager to view user sessions. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, and then tap or
click Task Manager. In the Task Manager dialog box, tap or click the
Users tab. Here, each user connection is listed with user name,
status, CPU utilization, and memory usage by default. Other columns
can be added by pressing and holding or right-clicking any column
header and then tapping or clicking the columns to add. If you
double-tap or double-click a user’s name, there’s an entry for each
running process. Processes are listed by name, CPU usage, and memory
usage.
You can also use Task Manager to manage remote user
sessions:
-
To disconnect a user session, select the user entry, tap or
click Disconnect, and then tap or click Disconnect User when
prompted to confirm the action. -
To log off a user, select the user entry, tap or click
Logoff, and then tap or click Log Off User when prompted to
confirm the action.
The difference between disconnecting a session and logging off a
session is important. When you disconnect a session, the session goes
into a disconnected state and continues executing current processes.
If you log off a user, you end that user’s session, closing any
applications the user was running and ending any foreground processes
the person was running as well. A foreground process is a process
being run by an active application as opposed to a background or batch
process being run independently from the user session.
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