A couple of weeks ago I upgraded to Windows 7 and I have to say that compared to Vista it’s actually a usable operating system and I’m quite enjoying it.
However, there was one issue that was bugging me – I have several remote desktop sessions for various servers set and saved to open in a 1024×768 window, in Windows XP those RDP sessions worked great.
Windows 7 seems to have a bug where, no matter what the windows size it set to the window opens slightly to small, causing you to have to stretch the window to get it to the proper size.
I consulted Google for a solution and found this forum thread where Kristin L. Griffin posted a solution [3rd post from the top].
The solution is simple but you will have to edit each of your saved RDP sessions individually:
- Open the saved RDP session in notepad (it’s really just a text file).
- Locate the following three lines:
- desktopwidth:i:
- desktopheight:i:
- winposstr:s:
- desktopwidth:i: and desktopheight:i: are the size of the RDP window.
- For example, if the RDP window was set to open at 1024×768 these two lines would look like this:
- desktopwidth:i:1024
- desktopheight:i:768
- The winposstr:s: line controls the RDP window positioning and size and is the line that needs to be edited to fix the sizing issue.
- Edit the winposstr:s: line like this:
- First value should be 0
- Second value should be 1
- Third and fourth value should be 50
- The fifth value comes from taking the desktopwidth:i: size and adding 90 to it. In the case of a 1024×768 RDP window it works out to be 1114.
- The sixth value comes from taking the desktopheight:i: size and adding 90 to it as well. In the case of a 1024×768 RDP window it works out to be 858.
- After editing winposstr:s: it should look like this:
- winposstr:s:0,1,50,50,1114,858
- If you have your RDP sessions opening in a different windows size then the last two values of winposstr:s: will be different than the ones shown.
- Save the file and your RDP window should open sized properly.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Control Panel/Ease of Access Center/Make the Mouse Easier to Use
Place a check in the box ‘PREVENT WINDOWS FROM BEING AUTOMATICALLY ARRANGED WHEN MOVED TO THE EDGE OF THE SCREEN”
Took me a while to find this. You are right, this was a PAIN.
@Bob Bradfield
I had tried the “prevent windows from being automatically arranged…” before the fix I posted but it did not resolve the issue of the RDP windows from opening to small.
Thanks for the info, clear and helpfull
GO WONDOWS
@Computer Repair Geek
No problem.
worked well for me, thanks
everytime I moved a windows that was maximised (eg 1024 x 768 RDP window on a 1650 x 1080 desktop), if I moved it from the top left then scrool bars appeared.. the above suggestion prevented this.
Step #1: Open the saved RDP session in notepad (it’s really just a text file).
? what’s the name of the file? I searched all of C: for rdp.* and couldn’t find it.
@Nancy
It depends. The Default RDP session is save in your Documents Library. You will need to show hidden files and folders (Organize –> Folder and search options –> View –> Show hidden files, folders, and drives) to see the Default.rdp file.
Otherwise the rdp files is wherever you saved it to…
Thank you, Adam. I did find the file. I was looking for something like rdp.ini (rdp.*) rather than *.rdp. I edited Default.rdp as directed above, and the scroll bars are longer. Horizontal is almost full screen; vertical still has scrolling. But worse, when I scroll as far down as possible, I don’t get to the task bar. I’m sure I just need to tweak some of those numbers and will fool around with it, but if you know the cause, I’d appreciate it. My edited default.rdp is:
screen mode id:i:2
desktopwidth:i:1024
desktopheight:i:768
session bpp:i:16
winposstr:s:0,1,50,50,1114,858
full address:s:227-OPNED-0
compression:i:1
keyboardhook:i:2
audiomode:i:0
redirectdrives:i:0
redirectprinters:i:1
redirectcomports:i:0
redirectsmartcards:i:1
displayconnectionbar:i:1
autoreconnection enabled:i:1
username:s:Administrator
domain:s:227-OPNED-0
alternate shell:s:
shell working directory:s:
disable wallpaper:i:1
disable full window drag:i:1
disable menu anims:i:1
disable themes:i:0
disable cursor setting:i:0
bitmapcachepersistenable:i:1
I can see the START and Task Bar. Sorry, my mistake. However, I still have some scrolling, and need to scroll down to see Start and the Task Bar, and then scroll up to see the top of whatever program I open. I continue to try tweaking the figures.
Thanks
Success! Not sure what I did wrong before, but I went back to the original settings and then edited again as in the instructions above. I connected via Remote Desktop, logged in, and set the window to maximize, and now I see the whole window with the drop-down bar for pin/min/max/close. Thank you!!
I was also trying to use the same trick on a rdp file. However, it seems this approach only works if the size of the rdp session is smaller than one of your monitors. I’ve got 3 monitors (1024×768) and the most left one is the main display. I’m trying to start the rdp on the 2nd and 3rd screen by using the following settings:
desktopwidth:i:2040
desktopheight:i:735
winposstr:s:0,1,1025,0,2040,735
The problem here is when the rdp session starts, it starts at the position 1025,0 with the size 2040×735, but always has the scroll bar on both side, meaning I have to drag the bottom right corner of the rdp window to expand it to the actual 2040×735.
Does anyone know a solution to it?
Thank you!!! I use multiple saved RDP shortcuts for multiple customers and servers. It was extremely annoying to have to deal with this. I am very grateful for you posting this solution.
BTW http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms632612.aspx has the details on each parameter of that string, if you are curious.
Sweet, glad the post helped you and thanks for that link.