Dual Monitor Support in Remote Desktop Connections Client v6
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:
1 | 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):
1 | 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.