Since everyone started working remotely, I've personally needed to Remote Desktop into more computers lately than ever before. More this week than in the previous decade.
Rdp: Port is IANA registered for Microsoft WBT Server, used for Windows Remote Desktop and Remote Assistance connections (RDP - Remote Desktop Protocol). Also used by Windows Terminal Server. See also: MS Security Bulletin. Trojans using this port: Backdoor.Win32.Agent.cdm Symantec-2005-0-99, TSPYAGENT.ADDQ. Use Microsoft Remote Desktop for Android to connect to a remote PC or virtual apps and desktops made available by your admin. With Microsoft Remote Desktop, you can be productive no matter where.
I wrote recently about to How to remote desktop fullscreen RDP with just SOME of your multiple monitors which is super useful if you have, say, 3 monitors, and you only want to use 2 and 3 for Remote Desktop and reserve #1 for your local machine, email, etc.
IMHO, the Remote Desktop Connection app is woefully old and kinda Windows XP-like in its style.
There is a Windows Store Remote Desktop app at https://aka.ms/urdc and even a Remote Desktop Assistant at https://aka.ms/RDSetup that can help set up older machines (earlier than Windows 10 version 1709 (I had no idea this existed!)
The Windows Store version is nicer looking and more modern, but I can't figure out how to get it to Remote into an Azure Active Directory (AzureAD) joined computer. I don't see if it's even possible with the Windows Store app. Let me know if you know how!
So, back to the old Remote Desktop Connection app. Turns out for whatever reason, you need to save the RDP file and open it in a text editor.
Add these two lines at the end (three if you want to save your username, then include the first line there)
Note that you have to use the style .AzureADemail@domain.com
The leading .AzureAD is needed - that was the magic in front of my email for login. Then enablecredsspsupport along with authentication level 2 (settings that aren't exposed in the UI) was the final missing piece.
Add those two lines to the RDP text file and then open it with Remote Desktop Connection and you're set! Again, make sure you have the email prefix.
The Future?
Given that the client is smart enough to show an error from the remote machine that it's Azure AD enabled, IMHO this should Just Work.
More over, so should the Microsoft Store Remote Desktop client. It's beyond time for a refresh of these apps.
NOTE: Oddly there is another app called the Windows Desktop Client that does some of these things, but not others. It allows you to access machines your administrators have given you access to but doesn't allow you (a Dev or Prosumer) to connect to arbitrary machine. So it's not useful to me.
There needs to be one Ultimate Remote Windows Desktop Client that lets me connect to all flavors of Windows machines from anywhere, is smart about DPI and 4k monitors, remotes my audio optionally, and works for everything from AzureAD to old school Domains.
Between these three apps there's a Venn Diagram of functionality but there's nothing with the Union of them all. Yet.
Until then, I'm editing RDP files which is a bummer, but I'm unblocked, which is awesome.
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About Scott
Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.
AboutNewsletter
Whether you use Microsoft Remote Desktop Services, Windows Virtual Desktop, Citrix XenApp, Citrix XenDesktop, or VMWare Horizon View to satisfy your organization’s Server Based Computing needs, we offer remote desktop management software for organizations of all types and budgets.
In addition, our solutions excel at monitoring RDP performance, connection quality and latency, security, and user session activity – we cover the gap in RDP monitoring and analytics for organizations that have deployed a pure Microsoft Remote Desktop Services environment with no Citrix or VMWare overlays.
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Deployment of our tools is a snap, regardless of your environment. Our solutions work well with on-premises networks or in datacenters serving up dedicated and shared desktops for Managed Service Providers. You can store collected terminal server data in SQL Server Express, on-premises SQL Server, or perhaps most conveniently, in Microsoft Azure SQL.
Finally, you will not find a more affordable set of solutions for Remote Desktop Services monitoring and management in the market. A subscription to our flagship RDS monitoring and reporting tool, the Remote Desktop Commander Suite, can be started for only $9.99 per server per month, with volume discounts available. Other software companies will charge you thousands of dollars to perform assessments of RDP and terminal server performance in your network – we do not.
Read on to learn more about the different editions of our products.
Remote Desktop Commander Suite
The Remote Desktop Commander Suite provides active, real-time and historical capabilities for user session management.
Historically, small and medium sized businesses have had few affordable options if they wish to monitor performance and user activity on their remote desktop servers. Vendors like Citrix and VMWare offer comprehensive remote desktop management software and terminal server monitoring solutions only at their top licensing tiers, placing them out of reach except for the largest organizations. Other third-party vendor solutions are often priced by concurrent user, making them expensive to implement and maintain.
The Remote Desktop Commander Suite is a powerful package for SBC environments. At its heart are two key components:
Remote Desktop Reporter
Remote Desktop Reporter, part of the Remote Desktop Commander Suite, is a comprehensive reporting and monitoring solution that collects and consolidates key metrics from all of the remote desktop servers in your environment, providing you with easy to run and schedule reports showing user activity, time tracking, licensing trends, application usage, and performance.
SPL Tracker
(Service Provider Licensing Tracker)
SPL Tracker – part of the Remote Desktop Commander Suite – saves time, money, and headaches for organizations who need to keep an eye on service provider licensing programs.
Here’s how:
Microsoft SPLA Licensing, Citrix Service Provider Licensing, and the VMWare Service Provider Program offer big savings to Managed Service Providers, but at a price. Monthly reporting requirements are onerous, and MSPs that attempt to tackle this chore by hand find that it is time-consuming and error prone.
Wouldn’t you rather leverage a tool that can automate this task for you? And, while doing so, track and eliminate license wastage so you can reduce your monthly costs? If so, Service Provider Licensing Tracker is designed especially for you. Reach out and request a quote to learn more about how it can actually pay for itself in very little time.
Remote Desktop Commander Lite
If the Remote Desktop Commander Suite sounds too robust for your needs or you are still a fan of RDPSoft’s legacy Remote Desktop Admin Toolkit, then Remote Desktop Commander Lite is perfect for your needs.
Remote Desktop Commander Lite assists you with tasks that are active and real-time in nature, such as observing memory use by application or user, logging off and disconnecting users, terminating hung processes, and running parameterized PowerShell queries against session hosts, users, or processes.
Best of all, Remote Desktop Commander Lite is now completely free – it’s our gift to entire RDS/Citrix community, and we hope it makes their lives easier.
Remote Desktop Commander Premium Management Features
If you don’t need all of the features of the Remote Desktop Commander Suite, but if you need improved shadowing and remote assistance capabilities to support your users, sophisticated real time monitoring of live sessions, and/or a way to delegate management tasks to your support staff without making them server admins, then extend the capabilities of Remote Desktop Commander Lite with our Premium Management Features package.
The Remote Desktop Commander Premium Management Features license only costs $99.99 per admin or help desk user per year, but gives you the power you need to adequately support a Microsoft Remote Desktop Services or Windows Virtual Desktop environment of any size. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services does not have a native mechanism to delegate remote desktop management tasks to support staff, which to date has required giving support staff admin rights. Also, native shadowing support for Windows Server 2012 R2, Server 2016, and Server 2019 has been complicated at best, plagued with issues related to shadowing multiple monitor sessions.
Rdp Ports
Our Premium Management Features package fixes both of those issues, by providing a complete RDS Management Delegation Wizard to define and extend granular rights to help desk staff across session hosts and connection brokers. It also comes with our new SuperShadow tool, which allows admins, support staff, and managers to monitor and assist multiple sessions at once, with file transfer capabilities through the clipboard, complete multi-monitor support, and so much more.
Remote Desktop Canary
Need to keep a constant watch on your Remote Desktop Services deployment, with the ability to receive instant alerts if new RDP connections cannot be established or if new connections are experiencing slow RDP login times? Want to review screenshots of login sequences to see how long it takes for RemoteApps and login scripts to launch? Want to send login statistics to your existing NMS solutions’ dashboards?
If so, Remote Desktop Canary is the RDS synthetic monitoring solution for you. Program it to perform recurring RDP login monitoring tests into your environment, notifying you and recording screenshots and other statistics for troubleshooting. Pricing starts at only $499.99 a year to monitor a single RDS farm/collection, with volume discounts available.
Other Services
In addition to producing Remote Desktop Commander Suite and Remote Desktop Commander Lite, we also provide additional services for our clients.
Rdp Mstsc /admin
You can request an RDS Performance Audit of your RDS infrastructure to review and identify any performance bottlenecks in the areas of CPU/memory consumption, network connection quality, and much more.
Rdp Mstshash
You can also contract with us to produce custom reports against Remote Desktop Commander’s database.