Remote Desktop Client in Windows 7 Full Screen Issue

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium on a new laptop and I'm having one of the most annoying issues with the RDP client (mstsc.exe). If I restore the full screen RDP window, I lose the ability to go back to full screen. The only way I can get it back is by running a new instance of mstsc, setting the option back to full screen, and connecting again.

I don't have this problem on any other machine (granted, this is the only copy of Home Premium I have). Is this a known issue? Is there a patch/fix? It's pretty obnoxious, I'm having to train myself to not use the restore button and only minimize it (which limits uses).

Langdon

Posted 2010-01-30T17:16:45.897

Reputation: 259

Answers

That's weird, it works fine for me here (Windows 7 Ult. 32-bit).

Ctrl+Alt+Pause should toggle the RDP client in and out of full-screen as well. Does that work for you?

It's also possible for the server-side to have a maximum allowable resolution set. Although I would expect that wouldn't allow the full-screen in the first place, it may be worth looking into.

Perhaps test with another RDP server, if available?

Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007

Posted 2010-01-30T17:16:45.897

Reputation: 103 763

2CTRL+ALT+PAUSE WORKS! Well, technically CTRL+ALT+FN+PAUSE, which kind of sucks, but at least it works.

And yea,that's why I say it's annoying. It's fine at work on Ultimate. It's fine on my desktop on Professional. Just doesn't behave well on my laptop using Home Premium. And it does behave the same when connecting to different servers. If it matters, the laptop is the only machine that has a widescreen resolution (1366x768).

Either way, thanks! – Langdon – 2010-01-30T18:43:59.613

Glad it works. :) Just for info's sake: I tested on my widescreen (1920x1080) originally, so I just bumped it down to 1360x768 and it worked properly there as well. So still weird on yours. ;) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2010-01-30T18:52:46.787

2Is it possible to do this without a pause button? – detly – 2012-05-09T01:38:28.017

As others noted, I was able to work around this by changing my resolution from 1366x768 to 1360x768 (I was surprised to find this option in the screen resolution options). Now, I'm able to start fullscreen, restore to windowed, and maximize back to fullscreen. On a Dell laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium x64 with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670.

michael

Posted 2010-01-30T17:16:45.897

Reputation: 41

+1 - worked for me too on a dell studio xps, has been bugging me for months but could never be bothered to fix it :D – Mark Robinson – 2010-06-06T13:01:41.790

Here are the steps you should follow:

Start "Remote Desktop Connection".
Click on "Options".
Click on the "Display" tab.
On "Display configuation" settings, you can change the "Remote Desktop Connection" display by moving the slider from "Small to Large".
By moving the "Slider" all the way to large, the display settings will automatically set to "Full Screen".

dogfight

Posted 2010-01-30T17:16:45.897

Reputation: 37

1I just helped you out with the formatting @dogfight, Markdown can take some getting used to :) – Ivo Flipse – 2011-01-17T19:15:59.100

1Your answer nothing to do re-maximizing a restored remote desktop window as the original question described. – Langdon – 2011-01-18T04:42:51.337

This worked for me. In the "Display configuration" you can drag the slider all of the way to the right and it will say "Full Screen". – Dan H – 2012-10-09T14:12:41.053