Keyboard shortcut to minimize Remote Desktop

115

28

Is there a way, using the keyboard, to switch from a maximized (full screen) Remote Desktop Connection back to the main computer?

I have about 4 Remote Desktop connections that I am switching between and it would be nice to not have to go to the mouse each time I want to switch.

I know I can press Ctrl+Alt+Break and that normalizes the remote desktop screen. That is close, but I would like a way to just minimize it (so I don't have to normalize->switch->maximize each time I want to switch screens)

Vaccano

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 5 977

Answers

74

CTRL + ALT + BREAK will minimize the maximized window to the host PC.

Gustav Westling

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 864

7For me that just "Normalizes" it. But that is good enough. (Alt + Tab can then be used.) – Vaccano – 2012-05-04T15:52:30.037

8For me, a second ctrl-alt-break will re-maximize the window. – Ben Mosher – 2012-11-13T19:05:09.557

1CTRL + ALT + PAUSE also works if you don't have the BREAK key or if have to type FN to reach BREAK. – hobbes3 – 2014-02-04T16:00:53.330

1ctrl + alt + pause doesn't work with MS sculpt keyboard (Windows 8). – Sridhar Ratnakumar – 2014-06-18T02:15:17.620

46

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 machine.

With virtual machine use, I often have multiple RDP sessions open, and switch by Ctrl + Alt + Home then Win + T then arrow keys to pick the RDP session I want to be in.

Guest

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 461

After pressing Ctrl + Alt + Home, in Windows 10, I can use Alt + Tab in local machines – Harun – 2018-07-11T06:47:56.913

Perfect solution for people without a Break and also no Pause button – bugybunny – 2019-11-07T08:23:08.020

19

This bugged me for the longest time as well.

Initial attempts to solve it with AutoHotkey failed, because the Remote Desktop client installs a keyboard hook and swallows all input.

I finally discovered that the Caps Lock key gets passed through to the local system.

So, this AutoHotkey script will do the trick, making Ctrl+Shift+CapsLock minimize Remote Desktop:

#IfWinActive ahk_class TscShellContainerClass
  ^+CapsLock::
    ; Need a short sleep here for focus to restore properly.
    Sleep 50
    WinMinimize
  return
#IfWinActive

Corrected 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

Russell Davis

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 1 124

This did not work for me under Windows 10 because of #IfWinActive did not detect the remote desktop. I used the spy to try several different detection methods. So I removed the #IfWinActive line and it works! Of course, it now minimizes all apps, not just remote desktop, but i can live with that. – Knox – 2017-10-27T17:27:52.650

1For me on Windows 10 I had to change IfWinActive to #IfWinActive Remote Desktop Connection ahk_class TscShellContainerClass and put SetTitleMatchMode, 2 at beginning so it checks if window title contains "Remote Desktop Connection" text – CichyK24 – 2018-05-24T13:14:53.520

Same issue as dnk.nitro on Win7 64-Bit. Upon changing the ahk_class Ctrl+Shift+CapsLock works for me. – koushik – 2014-06-04T09:59:31.187

10

Alt+Tab

It is possible to use that normal, comfortable keyboard shortcut to get out of a full screen Remote Desktop, but requires a slightly different setup 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:

  1. Before connecting to the remote machine with Remote Desktop Connection, on the "Local Resources" tab, I set "Keyboard" to "On this computer". This allows using Alt+Tab to get you back to any other program on the local system.
  2. When I want to switch between programs on the remote system, I use Alt+Page Up, which works just like Alt+Tab would, but only on the remote system.

In addition, you can use Alt+Page Down (or Alt+Shift+Page Up) to cycle through the active programs on the remote system in reverse.

One caveat Luc mentioned should be pointed out: using this setup, all keyboard shortcuts using the Windows Key are sent to the local system. An example would be Windows Key+E to open Windows Explorer, which will get you to the local file system, not the remote one.

It took a short amount of time to get used to, but this setup has worked well for me without the need for additional software or more than one shortcut.

kevinmicke

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 740

This is exactly what I'd want, but I'm not sure how to configure it. Here there's a link in browser that opens the client so it's impossible configure anything before that. And just opening the citrix client asks for some email which never resolves to anything. Would there be any way to configure this? Maybe some config file on my pc I can edit? – T_D – 2016-01-28T11:07:37.037

@T_D - Off hand I'd guess you won't be able to control it if you're only able to access it through a browser, and I haven't used Citrix myself. While they may not help, a couple places to try would be: 1. C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\Documents\Default.rdp where you'd want to change to "keyboardhook:i:0" 2. If that doesn't work, you could try the same setting under here in the registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\Default (found here https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg156129(v=winembedded.70).aspx ). Good luck!

– kevinmicke – 2016-01-29T18:48:15.597

Very good to know this, though it doesn't direct all other input to the remote machine. Using windowskey+E for example is performed locally. +1 anyway. – Luc – 2013-03-27T08:29:09.843

@Luc - That is a side effect I should have mentioned - I'll add that to the answer. It can be helpful or frustrating always having the Windows Key local depending on what you want at the moment. Thanks. – kevinmicke – 2013-03-27T15:35:03.070

5

For me in Windows 7 64 bit to make scrip work I had to change 1st line from #IfWinActive ahk_class TSSHELLWND to "IfWinActive ahk_class TscShellContainerClass so the full script now looks like:

#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

dnk.nitro

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 151

This worked perfectly for me in Win7 Ultimate 64-bit bootcamp on a Mac. Thanks! – John Bubriski – 2015-03-10T16:08:12.090

4

Not quite what you asked for, but might be helpful enough:

CTRL + ALT + ← - switches you to the host computer

CTRL + ALT + → - switches you back to the remote computer

Source

Ryan Berger

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 629

4Hope people trying this solution do not have intel graphics card :D – anishsane – 2015-07-04T15:39:21.800

1Yes, but this does not work if you chose to not propagate all keys to the remote machine. I need that to have some keyboard shortcuts in the remote machine. The combinations mentioned by the OP do work even in this case, with the flaws mentioned. – Marcel – 2011-01-05T15:32:53.403

4

CTRL+ALT+Home brings focus to the Remote Desktop Connection bar. The connection bar includes the minimize button.

In Windows 7, if I un-check "Display the connection bar when I use the full screen" option when making the connection, then the keys to minimize the RPD session are CTRL+ALT+Home Spacebar.

If the connection bar is set to show (which is the default) then it requires hitting Tab a couple of times to minimize the RDP session: CTRL+ALT+Home Tab Tab Spacebar.

Tim Lewis

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 203

I can do the Tab Tab Space thing when the connection bar is set to show but, for me, when I set it to not show, I still need to Tab once before Space to get past the button that launches the "connection info" screen. How did you overcome this? – mo. – 2019-11-22T16:40:03.727

2

Bring up the host's Task Manager, then task-switch:

  • Ctrl+Alt+Delete (Windows Security)
  • T (Task Manager)
  • Alt+Tab (task-switch on host computer)

Brian Tkatch

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 21

2

I found that you need two combinations of shorcuts. It works in Windows 7.

  1. CTRL + ALT + BREAK will minimize the maximized window to the host PC.
  2. Win + M Minimize your remote Desktop window

or in the first step you can change of window with ALT + TAB.

Nome

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 21

WIN + M doesn't work. ALT+TAB as well as you understand. It must be absolute solution, but not only for some particular configuration. – Kirby – 2017-12-13T14:24:15.053

1

I do the same thing. The best solution I found in XP was virtual dimension with the virtual desktops always on top. Then I can switch among 4 remote desktops in full screen with one mouse click each. However, Virtual Dimension doesn't work quite right in Windows 7 (at least in 64 bit). It seems to work but it loses the "always on top" though the checkbox stays on, the virtual desktop switcher does not. It is so close to what we both want, but so far.

Sayre Swarztrauber

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 11

1

Alt + Caps Lock without Caps Lock annoying state changes (Good if you don't have Scroll Lock)

At first annoying to set up, but in the long term the most comfortable. I like to be able to quickly switch with left hand only

Dexpot 1. Set next desktop to Alt + Scroll Lock (If like I you don't have scroll lock use windows on-screen keyboard to press "ScrLk") 2. Set previous desktop to Alt + Scroll Lock 3. Set screens overview to Ctrl + Scroll Lock

Now use Autohotkey to make redirections (this way Caps Lock will be prevented from changing it's state):

 GetKeyState, state, Capslock ;
    ; Alt + Caps Lock becomes Alt + Scroll Lock
    !Capslock::
        send !{ScrollLock}
    return
    ; Alt + Shift + Caps Lock becomes Alt + Shift + Scroll Lock
    !+Capslock::
        send !+{ScrollLock}
    return
    ; Ctrl + Caps Lock becomes Ctrl + Scroll Lock
    ^Capslock::
        send ^{ScrollLock}
    return

Done. Now you can use Alt + Caps Lock to switch between screens without Caps Lock changing it's states. Also if you only need 2 screens you can set dexpot to use only 2 desktops which will make alt + caps lock quick toggle for remote desktop.

Pawel

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 141

0

Ctrl+Alt+Home worked for me. I am using Windows 10 host with teamviewer to Windows 8 machine which has a terminal server running. I was able to pin the terminal server connection bar.

user523271

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 1

0

I found this workaround using a mutli-desktop manager:

  1. Install Dexpot
  2. Configure Hotkey for "Next Desktop" to ALT+ScrollLock
  3. Configure Remote Desktop to Capture all Keys in Fullscreen Mode

Then you can switch between Fullscreen Desktops mit ALT+ScrollLock.

I set the number of Desktops to 2, as I only have 1 remote desktop.

Additionally, I have installed Clavier, which allows me use just ScrollLock to switch between desktops. (Clavier config: Add-> Write Text... -> Shortcut: ScrollLock -> OK -> Write-Text: [ALT+ScrollLock] )

Synox

Posted 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Reputation: 220

Asked: 2010-11-05T15:39:19.563

Viewed: 147 023 times

Active: 2017-04-07T11:36:08.107