WS2008: Overview of the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) Client

[CraigMarcho]

First published on TECHNET on Feb 18, 2008
Day Eighteen is upon us.  We are two-thirds of the way through our series of posts.  Today we'll be doing a brief overview of the new Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) Client 6.x.  We've discussed several new features in Terminal Services for Windows Server 2008.  Many of these features require the use of the updated RDC client.  The table below shows the availability of the RDC 6.x client for various platforms:

Platform	Client
Windows Vista Windows Server 2008	The RDC 6.x client application is included with the operating system and is installed by default
Windows XP	Remote Desktop Connection 6.x for Windows XP is available for download from the Microsoft website
Windows Server 2003	Remote Desktop Connection 6.x for Windows Server 2003 is available for download from the Microsoft website
Mac OS X	The Remote Desktop Connection client for Macintosh is available for download from the Microsoft website.  Please note that the Macintosh RDC client will not support the following Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services features: TS Gateway PNP Device Redirection RemoteApp Session Directory XPS Printing

As with previous versions of the client, you can save configuration settings for Terminal Services connections as a Remote Desktop Protocol (.rdp) file.  An RDP file contains all of the information and settings for a connection to a Terminal Server, excluding user credentials.  The default connection file, Default.rdp , is an empty hidden file that stored in the Documents folder of the user profile.  RDP files created using the Save As option are not hidden.

In Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, passwords are no longer stored in .RDP files.  They are stored and managed by the Credential Manager (CredMan).  In Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, the Remote Desktop Connection UI also allowed passwords to be stored for a specific Terminal Server or remote computer.  These passwords are stored using the Data Protection API's in .RDP files in the My Documents folder on these platforms.

There are several parameters and switches that can be passed to the Remote Desktop Connection Client (MSTSC.EXE).  The table below outlines these parameters and switches:

Parameter	Description
<Connection File>	Specifies the name of an .rdp file for the connection.
/v:<Server[:<Port>]	Specifies the remote computer and, optionally, the port number to which you want to connect.
/admin	Connect to a WS08 Terminal Server as an administrator.  A Client Access License (CAL) is not used when this switch is used.  Only two concurrent /admin connections are allowed per Terminal Server.
/console	No longer used - see our post regarding the deprecation of the /console switch for more details
/f	Start Remote Desktop Connection in full-screen mode
/w: <width>	Specifies the width of the Remote Desktop window
/h <height>	Specifies the height of the Remote Desktop window
/public	Runs Remote Desktop in public mode - passwords and bitmaps are not cached
/span	Matches the Remote Desktop width and height with the local virtual desktop, spanning across multiple monitors if necessary
/edit <connection file>	Opens the specified .RDP file for editing
/migrate	Migrates legacy connection files that were created with Client Connection Manager to new .rdp connection files
/?	Displays help at the command prompt

Just a short post today to whet your appetite.  After all, it is Monday!  Tomorrow we'll go over some aspects of the Remote Desktop Connection Client Architecture.  Until next time ...

- CC Hameed

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