Can Remote Desktop connect only 2 monitors when the client has 3 or 4 monitors connected?

Question

I have three monitors (all 1920x1200) connected to my desktop and I would like to RDP into another computer (running Windows Server 2003) and use only two of my three monitors. The main monitor is used for notification from the LAN like email, build status, etc.

I've tried modifying the .rdp file to have a higher resolution (i.e. 3840x1200 ) which sort of works but the bits per pixel goes down to 8 and you have to manually resize the window which means that you need to change it to around 3840x1150.

If I supply /span to the commandline it gives me a bit more than 3840 spanned across the three monitors (is there perhaps a limitation of say 4096 for the maximum resolution?).

WORKAROUND: Connect twice to the same computer.

Here's an interesting post from Microsoft: Remote Desktop Connection 7 for Windows 7, Windows XP & Windows Vista

Answer 1

What I do is run VMware worskstation which allows you to toggle between any combination of all, any 2 of three, or a single monitor in full screen. Then I run RDC client within the full-screened to two monitors VM. Works great though it's unfortunate Microsoft doesn't provide a way to do this.