Windows Remote Desktop - mstsc - options and switches

Question

The settings for a Remote Desktop session can be saved in a *.rdp file. This file can be edited in your favourite text editor. The file contains a list of options, many of which can also be called from the command line with switches (e.g. "mstsc /span" will display the remote session on multiple monitors.)

Is there are list of these options anywhere? The Microsoft/MSDN/TechNet resources (e.g. http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/ts_cmd_mstsc.mspx?mfr=true) only seem to explain a small portion of them.

An example of the contents of the file are as follows:

screen mode id:i:2
span monitors:i:1
desktopwidth:i:1280
desktopheight:i:968
session bpp:i:16
winposstr:s:2,3,0,0,800,600
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
authentication level:i:0
alternate shell:s:
shell working directory:s:
disable wallpaper:i:1
disable full window drag:i:0
disable menu anims:i:0
disable themes:i:0
disable cursor setting:i:0
[...]

For example, I am unable to find info on the options for "screen mode". What does "id:i:2" mean and what options can I give it? etc...

Solution 1

screen mode id is the name of the variable. i indicates that it expects an integer. 1 means the remote desktop client will open in a window, 2 means fullscreen.

Brief experimentation indicates that those are the only two options.

Solution 2

The i stands for integer. It's the type of the setting variable.

(Notice that alternate shell uses s as well as winposstr)

So the format is variable:type:value

More details are in another answer

As for how those map to the mstsc command line, they do not. You just got lucky with the span argument.

mstsc /? yields

Comments

[JJW]

none of these links work...

[Kerridge0]

sorry can't edit; but archive.org has the first link: web.archive.org/web/20120208161507/http://coe.uncc.edu/mosai‌​c/…

[Kerridge0]

and some official documentation here: technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff393680(v=ws.10).aspx