Multiple remote desktop connection manager by RDCMan. It helps maintain server labs, such as data centers and automated check-in systems, where regular access to every computer is required.
Named groups comprise the servers. With a single command, you can connect or disengage from each server in the group. You might think of a collection of servers as a set of thumbnails, each displaying the state of a session at that moment.
Servers may get their credential store or parent group’s login configurations by inheritance. furthermore, you only need to update the password that RDCMan has stored once when you change the password for your lab account. Furthermore, using an X509 certificate or an equivalent CryptProtectData, passwords are encrypted and securely saved with the permission of the (locally) logged-in user.
Users running operating systems older than Windows 7 or Vista must download and install Terminal Services Client version 6. This is available through the Microsoft Download Centre: XP; Win2003
Note regarding upgrades: This version of RDCMan’s RDG files is incompatible with previous iterations of the program. This version will also back up any legacy RDG files that are opened and saved with filenames older.
Display
The menu, a tree containing groupings of servers, a splitter bar, and further a client area make up the Remote Desktop Connection Manager interface.
Menu
RDCMan has several top-level menus, including:
- File: open, close, and save RDCMan file groups.
- Edit: You can add, remove, and change the properties of groups and servers.
- Session: Connect to, disconnect from, and log out of sessions
- View: settings to regulate the size of the client area, virtual groups, and server tree visibility
- Remote Desktops: Remote desktops are very helpful when the server tree is concealed since they provide servers and groups with hierarchical access, much like the server tree does.
- Tools: Modify the properties of the program
- Help: become familiar with RDCMan (you’ve probably already done this).
Tree
Furthermore, you may perform actions like adding, removing, and changing servers and groups by right-clicking on a tree node. Drag and drop is a useful tool for moving servers and groups.
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Keyboard shortcuts:
- Enter: Connect to the chosen server.
- Shift+Enter: Use the Connect As feature to establish a connection to the chosen server.
- Delete: Get rid of the chosen group or server.
- Shift+Delete: Delete the chosen group or server without question.
- Alt+Enter: To open the properties dialogue for a selected server or group.
- Tab: Bring the selected connected server front and center.
To find the tree at the left or right border of the window, use the [View. Server tree location] menu option.
The server tree can be docked, auto-hidden, or always hidden with the [View.Server tree visibility] menu option. If the server tree is not visible, you can still access servers using the Remote Desktops option. The splitter bar at the left side of the window is still visible when the tree is auto-hidden. You may see the server tree again by hovering over it.
Client Area
The client area presentation varies based on the selected node in the tree. The client area displays the remote desktop client for the selected server. A client area thumbnail of the servers in a group appears when that group is selected. You can adjust the RDCMan window’s size and the client area’s dimensions using the View menu. To stop the window from being resized by dragging the frame, use [View. Lock window size].
Note: The thumbnail view’s keyboard navigation can target connected servers. Please proceed with caution as it’s not always clear which server is being targeted. With the [Display Settings] feature, this can be changed. In the thumbnail session, allow for interaction.
Full-Screen Mode
Press Ctrl+Alt+Break (this key is changeable; see Shortcut Keys) after selecting the server to give it focus to operate with it in full-screen mode. Press Ctrl+Alt+Break again to exit full-screen mode, or utilize the minimize/restore keys located in the connection title bar. If the monitor spanning option is selected, multiple monitors can be spanned.
Shortcut Keys
The complete list of shortcut keys for Terminal Services is available here. The Hot Keys tab allows you to configure some of these.
Files
A remote desktop file group is the highest-level organizational unit in RDCMan. A filegroup is a single physical file that holds many servers and/or groups. Groups cannot exist outside of files, and servers cannot exist outside of them. A file is a server group in every way, except that it cannot change its parent.
Groups
A group includes configuration data, including login credentials, and a list of servers. It is possible to inherit configuration parameters and application defaults unique to a particular group. Groups can only contain other groups or servers, despite being homogeneous and nested. It is possible to connect or disconnect every server in a group at once.
The servers underneath a group in the tree view are shown in a thumbnail view when the group is selected. The thumbnails may show the actual server windows or the connection status. Display Settings include group/server specific settings, however the [Tools.Options.Client Area] tab allows you to modify properties of the global thumbnail view.
Smart Groups
A set of rules determines how dynamically smart groups are populated. For inclusion, all progenitors of the smart group’s sister groups are qualified.
Connected Virtual Group
A server is automatically added to the Connected virtual group when it is in the connected state. The Connected group cannot have servers explicitly added or removed from it. You can use the View menu to toggle the Connected group on and off.
Reconnect Virtual Group
A server may sometimes disconnect and purposefully go offline for an ephemeral period, such as after an OS update reboot. In such a scenario, drag the concerned server into the Reconnect group. RDCMan will keep trying to establish a connection with the server until it succeeds. You can use the View menu to toggle the Reconnect group on and off.
Favorites Virtual Group
A flat file containing your preferred servers is the Favourites virtual group. Any server from the server tree can be added. This is useful if you operate with a few servers from various groups and have a large number of servers in the tree. You can use the View menu to toggle the Favourites group on and off.
Connect To Virtual Group
The servers that are not a part of user-created groups are listed in the Connect To Virtual Group. For information, see Ad Hoc Connections. When there are ad hoc connections, the Connect To group is visible; when there are none, it vanishes.
Recent Virtual Group
The servers that have been accessed recently are located in the Recent Virtual Group. The View menu allows you to turn the Recent group on and off.
Servers
A server contains information about logins, an optional display name, and the server name, which is the computer’s network name or IP address. It’s possible that the login data was passed down from another group.
Adding Servers Manually
It is possible to bulk-add servers with names that fit a pattern to a group. Two pattern classes exist:
- Iteration:{a,b,c} iterates through the contents separated by commas.
- Range:[1–5] repeats the range of numbers. To define the minimal width, prefix the lower bound with zeros.
Examples:
server1{a,b,c}: Addsserver1a,server1b,server1cserver[001-15]: Addsserver001,server002, …,server015{dca,dcb}rack[1-5]sql[1-2]: Addsdcarack1sql1,dcarack1sql2,dcarack2sql1, …,dcarack5sql2,dcbrack1sql1, …dcbrack5sql2
Importing Servers from a Text File
It is possible to import servers from a text file into a group. There is only one server name per line in the file format
txt
Server1
SecondServer
YANSThe dialogue also allows for the precise specification of server names.
With the same options, every server is imported into the same group. The preferences of an existing server are adjusted to the new ones if a server with the same name is imported
Ad Hoc Connections
The [Session. Connect to] function can be used to establish ad hoc server connections. We’ll include these servers in the Connect To Virtual Group. From there, by transferring them to a user-created group, they can be turned into actual servers. When RDCMan terminates, any servers that are still in the Connect To group are not preserved.
Windows Azure
Enter the role name and role instance name into the load balance configuration in the [Connection Settings] tab as per this example. Cookie: mstshash=Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.RemoteAccess.Rdp#MyServiceWebRole_IN_0
Session Actions
A session’s focus can be moved to another session or the server tree.
- Focus release left (Ctrl+Alt+Left by default): This chooses the session that was previously chosen.
- Release the right focus (by default, Ctrl+Alt+Right) to bring up a dialogue window where you can choose where to focus. There will be buttons to access the last used session in addition to those to minimize RDCMan and access the server tree.
Certain Windows operations and key combinations, such as Ctrl+Alt+Del, might be challenging to conduct over a remote connection, especially if RDCMan is launched within the session. The [Session.Send keys] and [Session.Remote actions] menu items provide access to these.
Global Options
The Options Dialogue can be accessed through the [Tool. Options] menu item. You can adjust global parameters here, such as the size of the client area. The majority of server-related settings, such as those seen on the experience page and hotkeys, won’t change until the server is connected again.
General
The main menu is hidden until ALT is hit
You can choose to hide the main menu until you press the ALT key or left-click the window caption area.
Automatic save time
RDCMan has the option to automatically save open files regularly. Select the interval (in minutes) for saving and check the auto-save box. Intervals of 0 will silence the save prompt when exiting RDCMan but will not save regularly.
prompting startup to rejoin to connected servers
RDCThe man keeps the memory of the associated servers after the program terminates. On the next run, you are prompted to choose which servers to reconnect to. When this option is turned off, all previously linked servers are instantly reconnected. For command line switches influencing this behavior, see Command-Line.
Standard configurations for groups
This button opens a dialogue box containing the base-level inheritance hierarchy’s options. If, for example, a File group is set up to inherit from its parent, this is where the settings come from.
Tree
Selecting this option focuses on the distant client.
The default behavior when using a mouse click to pick a node in the server tree control is to maintain focus on the tree control. This can be changed to focus on the selected server.
Dim nodes during inactive tree control
When the tree control is not in use, RDCMan can darken it. This displays the keyboard emphasis visually more clearly.
Client Area
Size of the Client Area
This option allows you to resize the client area of the RDCMan window. You may also access the choices from the [View. Client size] menu.
Size of Thumbnail Unit
The thumbnail unit size can be specified using either an exact pixel size or a relative fraction of the client panel width.
Hot Keys
You may customize a lot of the hotkeys for the remote desktop. Still, there isn’t much mapping. For instance, the replacement key has to be ALT-something if the default key is ALT-something. To switch a hotkey, select the hot key’s text box and hit the new “something” key.
Experience
To enhance performance, you may choose to restrict Windows UI functions based on your machine’s available bandwidth. The connection speed drop-down menu allows you to independently adjust each variable or set them all at once. The features include Windows themes, menu and window animation, desktop backdrops, and complete window contents when dragging.
Full Screen
Display the connection bar in full-screen mode.
Connection bar auto-hide
In full-screen mode, the remote desktop activeX control displays a UI connection bar at the top of the window displaying the server. Turning this bar on and off is possible. When activated, you have the option to have it auto-hide or pin you.
A full-screen window always appears first.
You can set the window to always appear at the top while RDCMan is displaying a server in full-screen mode.
When required, use numerous monitors.
A full-screen session is only available on the monitor that by default displays the server window. Within the full-screen options, you can activate multiple monitors spanning. The remote desktop will span as many monitors as necessary to accommodate the remote session if it is larger than the window’s monitor.
Remember that only rectangle areas are used, therefore the shorter of two displays with varying vertical resolutions will be employed. The remote desktop control has a hard limit of 4096×2048 as well.
Local Options
Numerous tabbed property pages with different customization options are available for Groups and Servers. Servers and groups share a great deal of these pages. If you click the “Inherit from parent” check box, the following settings are carried over from the parent container. Most server-related adjustments, such as resizing the remote desktop, won’t take effect until the server is reconnected.
File Settings
Only the characteristics of a file appear on this page. It offers choices for the entire file path (which cannot be modified), the group name of the file, and a remark field.
Group Settings
Only when a group’s properties are selected does this page appear. It has choices for a comment, parent nesting, and group name.
Login Credentials
There are settings related to remote login on the Logon Credentials property page. This page sets the domain, password, and user name. Both the domain and the user name can be specified using the domain\user format. As an alternative to a Windows domain, you can specify [server] or [display] when signing in to a machine “domain”.
During login, the server name will take the place of the display name and the former, respectively. When you have a collection of computers that need administrator login credentials, it is helpful. The login parameters that are entered in the properties pages are applied automatically to new connections. Use the Connect As menu item to establish a new connection and modify these preferences temporarily.
Gateway Settings
There are choices for using a TS Gateway Server on the Gateway Settings property page. This page contains the gateway name, authentication method, and local address bypass options. There will be more choices for login credentials for users of Longhorn server and operating systems based on Vista SP1:
Entering the Gateway password and user name explicitly Possibility of communicating the Gateway credentials to the distant server
Connection Settings
You can adjust the connection settings of a session and the logon process by going to the Connection Settings tab. It is possible to adjust both the console session’s connection status and the remote desktop connection port.
Additionally, some settings let you launch a program as soon as you connect. Type the name of the program and, if applicable, its working directory. Keep in mind that these only apply when you are establishing a new connection to the console session.
In other words, the program won’t run if you reconnect to a session or connect to a session other than the console session. (Or, at the very least, empirical observation suggests that this is how Terminal Services functions.)
Remote Desktop Settings
This page specifies the remote desktop’s dimensions. This is not the actual client view; rather, it is the desktop size that makes sense. You would get a 1024 x 768 view of the remote desktop with scroll bars, for instance, if the client was 1024 x 768 and the remote desktop was 1280 x 1024. A grey border would obscure the entire remote desktop if the client size was 1600 x 1200.
The remote desktop will be the same size as the RDCMan client panel, that is, the RDCMan window client area with the server tree excluded, if “Same as client area” is specified. “Full screen” means that the remote desktop will resize to fit the size of the screen that is visible on the server. Recall that the remote desktop’s size is fixed when establishing a server connection. Changes made to the value of this parameter on a connected server won’t have any effect.
The version of the remote desktop activeX control determines the maximum size of the remote desktop. The maximum resolution of Version 5 (pre-Vista) was 1600 x 1200, but Version 6 (Vista) may support up to 4096 x 2048. This restriction is in effect at connection time rather than when entering data. This is in case many PCs share the same RDCMan file.
Local Resources
The client can receive different resources from the remote server. It is possible to play the remote computer sound locally, remotely, or not at all. You can assign Windows key combinations to the client computer in a windowed mode, to the remote computer in full-screen mode, or to both of these machines always.
Examples of these key combinations include the actual Windows key and other specials like Alt+Tab. It is possible for the remote machine to automatically share resources such as the client drive, port, printer, smart card, and clipboard.
Security Settings
It is up to you to decide if connection establishment requires the distant machine to authenticate.
Display Settings
This page allows you to customize the thumbnail display settings.
Tiny scale is the initial choice. This determines how many thumbnail units should be allocated to the display of a specific server. By default, every server uses a scale of 1. You can change this to display more important servers. One can still observe numerous other servers even if a server is scaled by three or five, for example, and the remote session remains very helpful in the thumbnail presentation. For servers, there isn’t any other choice.
For groups, there are three further options: show disconnected thumbnails, allow thumbnail session interaction, and preview session in thumbnail. The first is whether the continuously updated live connection is visible in the thumbnail view. The second determines if the thumbnail session is usable based on the first. Whether disconnected servers show up in the thumbnail view is controlled by the last option.
Encryption Settings
Passwords stored in files can be encrypted by RDCMan using an X509 certificate or the local user’s credentials via CryptProtectData. The File Settings and Default Group Settings dialogues have an Encryption Settings tab.
The current user’s private key-possessed personal certificates are available for encryption. The following methods can be used to create such a certificate:
PowerShell
New-SelfSignedCertificate -KeySpec KeyExchange -KeyExportPolicy Exportable -HashAlgorithm SHA1 -KeyLength 2048 -CertStoreLocation "cert:\CurrentUser\My" -Subject "CN=MyRDCManCert"In addition, The current user will create a certificate named “MyRDCManCert” in their further Personal Certificates store; you will need to export this certificate using the private key to install it on another machine.
Profile Management
On this tab, you may add, update, and remove credential profiles.
List Remote Sessions
RDCMan does not provide good support for managing remote sessions other than those linked from RDCMan. To use the feature, select [Session. List Sessions] from the menu.
Keep in mind that to list the sessions, the RDCMan account needs to have Query Information rights on the remote server. Moreover, It is also necessary to be able to access the remote session directly, as opposed to through a gateway server. The ability to disconnect and log off requires permission. For additional details on remote desktop permissions, visit Microsoft.
Command Line
RDCMan will begin loading the additional files as soon as the previous program terminates. Additionally, you can override this by explicitly providing a file (or files) on the RDCMan command line. Moreover, the next shifts are identified:
- /reset: reset the application’s persistent preferences, including the size and placement of the window.
- /noopen: begin with an empty environment and then do not open the previously loaded files.
- /c server1[,server2…]: connect to the designated servers.
- /reconnect: without prompting, connect any servers that were online during the shutdown.
- /noconnect: It shouldn’t be necessary to prompt servers that were online during shutdown to reconnect.
Find Servers
A dialogue box is available to locate servers using Ctrl+F or the Edit. Use the Find (servers) command to find all servers that match the pattern group\server. These servers are shown to you as an actionable dialogue window with a context menu.
Credential Profiles
Credential profiles save login information in a file or globally to RDCMan. This makes it possible for groups without a common ancestor to use the same saved credentials. Keeping login credentials for servers and gateways in one location is one use case.
Passwords are editable just once when they change. Moreover situation is when a group of people share RDG files. Passwords are not stored in the file because RDCMan uses user-specific encryption; instead, each user creates and configures a profile called “Me” in their global storage.
There are two ways to change a credential profile’s settings. First, one must modify via a credentials dialogue and subsequently store the identical profile name and domain in the same store (global or file). It’ll inquire if you wish to update. Alternatively, you can use the Profile Management tab by going to the group properties for the credential store (file or global, again).
The encryption settings of the included file encrypt passwords for file scope credential profiles. Global credential profiles make use of Group Settings by Default.
Policies
The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\RDCMan registry key is where RDCMan obtains policy information.
DisableLogOff: To prevent the logoff command from working throughout RDCMan, set this DWORD value to non-zero.
FAQ
- How can I log in with my smartcard credentials?
Turn on “Redirect smart cards” under the tab for local resources.
- I receive an error like 50331656 when attempting to connect through a gateway. Why?
It is necessary to define gates using FQDN.
- How can I enable auto-login?
You have to enable a Group Policy to control it. Make use of the MMC “Group Policy” Snap-in and go to “Local Computer Policy/Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Terminal Services/Encryption and Security”. Select “Disabled” by double-clicking the “Always prompt client for password upon connection” option.
- How can I change the remote desktop’s size once a server is linked?
It is not possible. You must disconnect and reconnect to resize (to complete this task in one step, use the Reconnect function). Finally, Under Display Settings, besides RDCMan servers can choose to have both docked and undocked servers automatically reconnect with the updated resolution.
I hope that this post helps to answer any questions you may have about the remote desktop connection manager then connect us on Twitter and Facebook. Please write us with any recommendations you may have for this article.
