2016-4-18  My Mac's resolution is 1680X1050, and the full screen remote desktop session after the update is 1680X1046. The remote application I need to run has to have a EXACTLY 1680x1050, or things become very skewed. The previous version of Remote Desktop would establish a 1680x1050 session to exactly match the resolution of my mac. The 'fix' made MS.

We have been struglling to be able to change and modify the MS RDP resolution settings while connecting from a very high resolution device like Lenovo Yoga pro 2 to any other low resolution device like a computer with standard 19' screen.
The solution is very simple and has a lot of advantages like keeping a list that can be saved of all the remote desktop servers we need to connect to and the ability to copy that list from one computer to another (or back it up if you like...).
There is a small MS program called Remote Desktop Connection Manager - it can be found and freely downloaded from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/confirmation.aspx?id=21101

3 Steps total

Step 1: Download RDPCM

Download Remote Desktop Connection Manager from Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/confirmation.aspx?id=21101

Step 2: Install the software

Install the .msi file - it is fast and obvious...

Step 3: Solve all RDP resolution problems!

Setup all the servers you need

I think it is to bad MS did not find it important enough to allow regular RDP clients to have a decent control level over the RDP resolution settings.

References

• Microsoft's download site to get RDPCM

11 Comments

Hd Resolution

• Ghost Chili
  Nick42 Aug 5, 2014 at 05:02am

  A truly useful set of instructions! I just wish it would just autodetect without addons!

• Thai Pepper
  Mac Mad Aug 5, 2014 at 12:16pm

  If it's just a resolution fix you need, then Run 'mstsc /w: /h:'
  for example: mstsc /w:1280 /h:1024

• Habanero
  Scott Manning Aug 8, 2014 at 02:00pm

  Awesome write up which is something that will come in handy. Thanks for taking the time to create this.

• Poblano
  Amir Inbar Aug 8, 2014 at 02:46pm

  @KevinBillington:
  The method you have suggested is a method of changing resolution without taking into concideration the proportional ratio between the RDP client screen resolution and the RDP server screen resolution.
  Have you ever tried displaying 1280x 1024 window on a 3200×1800 scren?
  I have - the result is a tiny, unreadable window with very small icons that can NOT be used.
  On the other hand - if you try to use fullscreen mode, you get the tiny icons on a screen with resulotion 4 times higher than the RDP server...
  RDPCM solves those problems completly and gives some bonus features!

• Mace
  hsc5775 Aug 27, 2014 at 01:20pm

  thank you for the helpful guide
  RDP resolution are always a probem

• Mace
  James485 Sep 11, 2014 at 01:26pm

  Thanks for sharing and very useful in any environment. RDP is always an issue with screen resolution.

• Datil
  D8805 Dec 25, 2014 at 11:49pm

  Any suggestions for those logging into remote computers though a SBS 2008 Remote Web Access session?

  I've been scratching my head on how to get RDPCM to step in and take care of it. Not sure how to get the RDP launched from IE through RDPCM.

  So far I'm the only remote user experiencing the issue, but I know it is only a matter of time before I'll need to find a way to address this.

• Poblano
  Amir Inbar Dec 26, 2014 at 07:38am

  @D8805:
  As far as I know, RDPCM is meant to be used as a client side software to connect to multiple RDP servers.
  SBS can be used as an RDP gateway to connect to the workstations it manage but you must go through it's authentication mechanism (at least at the Certificate level) first.
  The web interface is usually provided and managed by the server side and not the client side.
  You may be able to connect to computers behind SBS if you use the SBS (NOT self signed) Certificate at the client side but I have never tried this so if you succeed - please let us all know.
  Please be more specific about what do you want to accomplish.

• Datil
  D8805 Jan 3, 2015 at 10:30pm

  I'm a 1-man show for a small manufacturing company and use SBS to remote into my desktop at work.
  From there I manage the network remotely with RDP, VMware Workstation, vSphere Client ... etc. to get to the different things on the network I need to use.
  At home I have a Lenovo laptop with a screen that is fantastic, except for the way it makes my SBS session so tiny and unusable. Fortunately I have a desktop with dual monitors as a fall-back that presents the session in a usable manner.
  SBS is a perfect way for me to access any computer on the network, remotely, except for the problem with the screen on the laptop.

• Habanero
  Chad.w Feb 19, 2015 at 01:07am

  This article is appreciated but the information in it really doesn't solve the problem that a lot of us surface pro 3 users are experiencing and that is the screen resolution is so high that everything is tiny no matter what resolution you set the session to be. For instance, setting it to 1024X768 for the session, just makes a tiny little square session in the middle of the screen that is just as hard to read as a larger resolution session. Using full screen does not scale either. I found a 'fix' on MSN social forums that I will be posting as a how to soon. DJ if you have more information on how to fix what I am describing with the latest 2.7 client, please share.

• Datil
  D8805 Feb 19, 2015 at 02:42pm

  I eventually caved and just changed the resolution on the Lenovo to about half. I wasn't really using the uber-hi-res for any particular benefit, so this makes the laptop a workable platform for remote access now.

  Not really a fix, but it works for me.