Powershell Remote Desktop Connection specifying user and password

How do you specify a user when using the mstsc command in powershell? While I can specify the server, I cannot specify a user.

Let's assume Server name = server01, User name = Test, Password = PW

Example 1 mstsc /v:server01 /user server01\test /password PW

This only brings up the "Remote Desktop Connection Usage" help menu.

Example 2 mstsc /v:server01

This works, bringing up the normal RDP connection prompt for User & password.

Example 3 mstsc /v:server01 /user server01\test

Even trying to just specify the user fails, bringing up the help menu again.

Some website articles on powershell suggest using "Connect-RDP" or "Connect-Mstsc" instead of just "mstsc" as per above examples, but this only brings up an error code. My knowledge of powershell is very basic, so I'm probably making a simple mistake somewhere.

SteveM

Posted 2018-07-19T02:49:50.450

Reputation: 69

Using this script https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Connect-Mstsc-Open-RDP-2064b10b/view/Discussions and running the command Connect-Mstsc -ComputerName 18.186.48.107:3389 -User workpc\Yisroel -Password YisroelGithub -Verbose

– Yisroel Tech – 2018-07-19T03:23:41.217

Yisroel, this still brings up an error Connect-Mstsc is not recognised – SteveM – 2018-07-19T03:53:58.947

It is not a built-in command. You need to download the Connect-Mstsc.ps1 script file from the link I mentioned. Then cd to the script file location (cd C:\Users\Yisroel\Downloads) then run . .\Connect-Mstsc.ps1 and then that script with the details – Yisroel Tech – 2018-07-19T04:10:52.883

Yisroel, still not working sorry. Downloaded script, and ran as above. Error: " ...cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled". Ran as admin: "Set-ExecutionPolicy -executionpolicy undefined". Still getting error – SteveM – 2018-07-19T04:46:48.787

1To run a script from anywhere you need to first run Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted – Yisroel Tech – 2018-07-19T04:55:01.530

Answers

From the "Remote Desktop Connection Usage" help menu, there is no switch like "/user" or "/password".

Please try

cmdkey /generic:"server01" /user:"test" /pass:"PW"

Then used mstsc /v:server01 to connect to the server.

V_V

Posted 2018-07-19T02:49:50.450

Reputation: 187

@Yisroel Tech and V_V, both methods worked once I unticked "Always ask for credentials" in Remote Desktop Connection settings. – SteveM – 2018-07-19T22:57:51.530

Preferably you should use cmdkey /add:TERMSRV/server01 /user:Test /pass:PW And if you want the credentials to be deleted after mstsc has launched you can do this by invoking the command cmdkey /delete:TERMSRV/server01 – gollum – 2018-09-10T13:36:05.370

It has been said before, but I'd just like to add a fully working, batch-ready example that I use when I need to log in to so several user's accounts on a simple (i.e. the same password for all users) terminal server, e.g. when I need to make certain changes to each user's environment.

For %f in (user1 user2 user3) do cmdkey /add:TERMSRV/servername /user:domain\%f /pass:commonpassword & mstsc /v:servername & ping 127.0.0.1 & cmdkey /delete:TERMSRV/servername

(replace "servername", "domain", "commonpassword" and the usernames in the for-loop as needed. You may need to open MSTSC once without parameters to set the default parameters as needed and then save the settings.)

Thomas

Posted 2018-07-19T02:49:50.450

Reputation: 171