Dual Monitor Support in Remote Desktop Connections Client v6!
Declining hardware prices and increasing demands for productivity improvements have influenced business investment in multiple monitors for the desks of executives, power users, and administrative staff. LCD display units have decreased the desktop footprint compared to CRT monitors, and since the launch of Windows XP back in October of 2001, laptop manufacturers have been improving on adapter and driver support for multiple monitor on portable equipment. Today, it is rare to find a laptop that will not support extended Windows Desktop on an external display.
Another emerging trend is the growing familiarity and reliance upon remote desktop technologies. Increasingly, IT Professionals and power users count on remote desktop services to connect efficiently to remote networks to perform business related functions, from support to day-to-day job functions. It’s not uncommon for a remote worker to rely exclusively upon remote desktops to connect from a home office or remote location to their business Terminal Server or even to their work desktop via Remote Web Workplace if their network core is Small Business Server 2003.
Microsoft recently released an updated Remote Desktop Connection client (Terminal Services Client 6.0) for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 products. Download links and related information about this product update is available at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925876.
One of the interesting new features in the updated Remote Desktop Connection client is support for spanning multiple monitors!
If you have multiple monitors on the system you are running the Remote Desktop Connection client from, you can stretch the virtual desktop of the host system to span your monitors. It’s important to note that only rectangular shapes are supported – dual monitors with different resolutions will not work with multiple monitor spanning.
If you know the resolution you want for the virtual desktop (great for when you wish to have a less-than-full screen window span monitors), you can now state explicitly the dimensions you desire:
mstsc /w:2048 /h:768 /v:"server"
The above example would create a full screen spanned virtual desktop on two 1024x768 resolution displays.
Or, if preferred, the Remote Desktop Connection client can figure out the size automatically (great for full screen view):
mstsc /span /v:"server"
The above example would create a full screen spanned virtual desktop to match the rectangle size of your dual displays.
There are some limitations of dual monitors and the updated Remote Desktop Connection client:
- The total resolution on all monitors must be less than or equal to 4096 x 2048.
- All monitors must be aligned side-by-side, and have to be the same resolutions. Vertical alignment is not supported.
- The remote session sees the virtual desktop as one very large virtual desktop. It doesn’t know you are using two monitors.
In order to make the most of the dual monitor support, a very nice little tool to have installed on the Remote Desktop host system is SplitView (www.splitview.com). This inexpensive tool adds two buttons to the top right corner of system windows in the title bar area. By pressing the left arrow, the active window is directed to move to the left and use 50% of the screen width. By pressing the right arrow, the active window is sent to the rightmost 50% of the screen. As the virtual desktop is split equally, the consequence of these actions in a Remote Desktop Connection is to move the window to the left or right display on your desk.
And you don’t necessarily need to have dual monitors on the host system! The host might have only one monitor, but you can still span the single virtual desktop across your dual physical displays on the Remote Client PC system. For people who use remote desktop connections on a regular basis, you can get more out of your remote sessions and your investment in dual displays with the updated client and the /span switch! Adding the third party application to assist in managing the windows in your virtual desktop will only improve your overall experience.