How to minimize remote desktop. Keyboard shortcut to minimize remote desktop. Keyboard shortcut for minimizing remote desktop
Simply pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del sends a signal to the remote computer, which, of course, is not at all what you want. If you have faced such a problem, then today from the Top10 heading you will learn how to solve it. I present 10 handy hotkeys that you can use when working with a remote computer.
10. Ctrl + Alt + (+). The job of capturing screenshots of a remote computer is sometimes like magic. If you click Print Screen, you will get a screenshot of the local computer, not the remote one. Pressing Ctrl + Alt + and the (+) symbol takes a screenshot of the entire client window of the remote computer. It's like hitting Print Screen on your local computer.
9. Ctrl + Alt + (-). Sometimes you don't need a snapshot of the entire desktop window of a remote computer, but only a snapshot of a specific window. Pressing Ctrl + Alt + and the (-) symbol allows you to take a screenshot of only the active window during a session with a remote computer. This combination gives the same result as pressing Alt + Print Screen on the local computer.
8. Alt + Home. Pressing Alt + Home brings up the Start menu on the remote system. This menu provides quick access to various programs installed on the remote system. This combination is similar to pressing the Windows key on the local computer.
7. Alt + Delete. Pressing the Alt + Delete combination during a session with a remote computer opens the Windows menu of the application running on the remote system. The Windows menu usually opens under the icon in the upper left corner of most Windows applications and allows you to move and resize the application window.
6. Ctrl + Alt + Break. Sometimes you may want a window on the remote system to be open in full screen, just like on the local computer. To switch the session of work with a remote computer to full-scale operation mode, you need to press the combination Ctrl + Alt + Break.
5. Ctrl + Alt + Pause. As in the previous paragraph, the combination Ctrl + Alt + Pause switches the session window from windowed mode to full-scale mode. However, in this case, the remote computer window remains at its standard size and does not fill the entire screen of the local computer. Instead, it is displayed against a black background.
4. Alt + Insert. Sometimes you need to quickly switch between different programs that you are running. Pressing the Alt + Insert combination allows you to cycle through programs on the remote system in the order in which they were launched. This process is the same as the Alt + Tab process on the local computer.
3. Alt + Page Down. Another way to cycle through windows with running programs while working with a remote system is provided by the Alt + Page Down combination. Pressing this combination allows you to switch programs during a session with the remote system by moving from right to left in the Windows Task Switch. This is the same as pressing Alt + Shift + Tab on your local computer.
2. Alt + Page Up. Pressing Alt + Page Up allows you to switch programs during a session, moving from left to right in the Windows Task Switch. It's like hitting Alt + Tab on your standard computer.
1. Ctrl + Alt + End. One of the most difficult things in the process of working with a remote computer is transferring the Ctrl + Alt + Del combination to the remote system. Press Ctrl + Alt + End if you need to send a Ctrl + Alt + Del command to the remote system. Pressing this key opens the Microsoft Windows Security dialog box, which allows you to lock the computer, log off, change the password, and launch Task Manager.
Michael Auti is CTO for Windows IT Pro and SQL Server Magazine and author of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 New Features (Osborne / McGraw-Hill).
Remote Desktop (RDC, Remote Desktop Connection or Microsoft Terminal Services Client) is a useful multi-channel protocol that allows the user to connect to administration remote computer with full screen support.
However, in order for the Desktop Connection remote screen to work effectively on the territory of the host Windows, users who often use hotkeys may get confused about the keyboard shortcuts to use when working on remote computer desktop, or get wrong, erroneous, or unexpected behavior using keyboard shortcuts and accelerators.
For example, keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Alt-Del It is often used to bring up a Windows security dialog where users can launch Task Manager, change password, log out, shut down the computer, lock the desktop, turn on the user, etc. When you press the Ctrl-Alt-Del keys on the keyboard, the interrupt sequence will always be captured and processed by the local Windows system, despite the full-screen Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connection window.
Another example is pressing alt-Tab keys to switch between multiple open windows and launch tasks or processes. Alt-Tab keyboard shortcut works entirely on remote computer when Remote Desktop Connection will open in full screen mode, but it will only be possible to switch between windows when the RDC window is restored at the bottom where the RDC windows are one of the windows in rotation.
To get the desired result, used keyboard shortcuts for Remote Desktop Connection are slightly different when applied to a window remote desktop... Here is a list of commonly used hotkeys and key combinations for use in navigation remote desktop connection, along with the action of the keys, the equivalent keyboard shortcuts on the local computer (in brackets) are executed.
- CTRL + ALT + END : Opens the Microsoft Windows NT Security dialog (CTRL + ALT + DEL)
- ALT + PAGE UP : switch between programs from left to right (CTRL + PAGE UP)
- ALT + PAGE DOWN : switch between programs from right to left (CTRL + PAGE DOWN)
- ALT + INSERT : Switch between programs in the last used order (ALT + TAB)
- ALT + HOME : Display the Start menu (CTRL + ESC)
- CTRL + ALT + BREAK : Switch the client computer between windowed and full screen mode
- ALT + DEL : Opens the Windows menu
- CTRL + ALT + minus sign (-) : snapshot the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe client window to the terminal server's clipboard and provides the same functionality as pressing the ALT + PRINT SCREEN keys on the local computer (ALT + PRT SC)
- CTRL + ALT + Plus sign (+) : snapshot the active client window to the terminal server clipboard and provides the same functionality as pressing PRINT SCREEN on the local computer (PRT SC)
Keyboard shortcut for minimizing remote desktop
is there a way to use the keyboard to switch from the expanded (full screen) remote desktop connection back to the host computer?
I have about 4 remote desktops that I switch between and it would be nice not to switch to the mouse every time I want to switch.
I know I can press Ctrl + Alt + Break and this will normalize the remote desktop screen. - It's close, but I would like a way to just minimize it (so I don't need to normalize -\u003e switch -\u003e maximize every time I want to switch screens)
13 replies
Ctrl + Alt + Home will bring focus to your local machine (at least in Win 8). Ctrl + Alt + Home then Win will open the windows menu on your local computer.
using a virtual machine, I often have multiple RDP sessions open and switch to Ctrl + Alt + Home then Win + T then the arrow keys to select the RDP session I want to be.
it bothered me for a long time.
initial attempts to solve it with AutoHotkey failed because the Remote Desktop client installs a Keyboard Hook and swallows all input.
I finally found that the Caps Lock key is being passed to the local system.
So this AutoHotkey script will do the trick by doing Ctrl + Shift + CapsLock to minimize the Remote Desktop:
#IfWinActive ahk_class TscShellContainerClass ^ + CapsLock ::; Need a short sleep here for focus to restore properly. Sleep 50 WinMinimize return #IfWinActive
fixed version that works for me:
#IfWinActive ahk_class TSSHELLWND ^ Capslock ::; Ctrl + Caps Lock (couldn "t make Ctrl + Shift + Caps Lock work for some reason; Need a short sleep here for focus to restore properly. Sleep 50 WinMinimize A; need A to specify Active window; MsgBox, Received Remote Desktop minimize hotkey ; uncomment for debugging return #IfWinActive
you can use this normal, convenient keyboard shortcut to exit Full Screen Remote Desktop, but a slightly different setup is required before connecting. Instead of minimizing the remote system, I just switch to another local program and leave the remote system in the background with the following:
- before connecting to a remote computer with a remote desktop connection, on the “local resources tab”, I set “keyboard” to “on this computer.” This allows you to use Alt + Tab to return to any other program on the local system.
- when i want to switch between programs on a remote system i use Alt + Page Up, which works the same as Alt + Tab would, but only on the remote system.
alternatively, you can use Alt + Pages (or Alt + Shift + Page Up) to switch between active programs on the remote computer in reverse.
for me on Windows 7 64 bit, to make the piece work I had to change the 1st line from #IfWinActive ahk_class TSSHELLWND to "IfWinActive ahk_class TscShellContainerClass now the whole script looks like this:
#IfWinActive ahk_class TscShellContainerClass ^ Capslock ::; Ctrl + Caps Lock (couldn "t make Ctrl + Shift + Caps Lock work for some reason; Need a short sleep here for focus to restore properly. Sleep 50 WinMinimize A; need A to specify Active window; MsgBox, Received Remote Desktop minimize hotkey ; uncomment for debugging return #IfWinActive
CTRL + ALT + Home brings focus to the Remote Desktop Connection pane. The connection panel contains a Minimize button.
in Windows 7, if I uncheck the "Show connection bar when I use full screen" option when connected, then the keys to minimize the RPD session are CTRL + ALT + Home spacebar.
Show (by default) in the connection string requires hitting Tab a couple of times to minimize the RDP session: CTRL + ALT + Home Tab Tab space.
I'm doing the same thing. The best solution I found in XP was a virtual dimension with virtual desktops always on top. Then I can switch between 4 remote desktops in full screen with one click each. However, Virtual Dimension does not work quite correctly on Windows 7 (at least 64-bit). It seems to work, but it loses "always on top", although the checkbox remains checked, the virtual desktop switch does not. This is so close to what we both want, but so far away.
Alt + Caps Lock without caps lock annoying state changes ( ok if you don't have scroll lock)
