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I tried to find an answer to this a few years ago, but it seemed it wasn't possible then (I suspect it isn't now either! - but what the hell!)

I have a three monitor system, that I mostly use for remote desktop. However occasionally it would be useful to have remote desktop on two monitors and use the other monitor for the local machine.

I know it is possible to have a single monitor full screen, or to stretch an RDP session across monitors, but this loses things like snapping etc.

P.S. this is a duplicate of this thread, but that was a couple of years ago, I'm hoping things have changed.

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Michael B
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4 Answers4

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You can:

  • Save a .rdp connection file and check "Use multimonitor"
  • Execute mstsc /l on the command line (list monitors, and show ID monitor)
  • Edit .rdp file in notepad
  • Change or add selectedmonitors:s:1,2 after use multimon:i:1

In selectedmonitors you can select yours monitors, listed with mstsc /l. In my sample use 1,2 but you can use others.

More info: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/how-to-remote-desktop-fullscreen-rdp-with-just-some-of-your-multiple-monitors

Victor Sanchez
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  • Please do not post the same answer to multiple questions. If the same information really answers both questions, then one question (usually the newer one) should be closed as a duplicate of the other. You can indicate this by [voting to close it as a duplicate](https://superuser.com/help/privileges/close-questions) or, if you don't have enough reputation for that, [raise a flag](https://superuser.com/help/privileges/flag-posts) to indicate that it's a duplicate. Otherwise tailor your answer to this question and don't just paste the same answer in multiple places. – DavidPostill Apr 03 '20 at 11:33
  • What? In question said that is a duplicate. My answer is correct. I have 3 monitors and I use 2 with RDP. – Victor Sanchez Apr 03 '20 at 11:59
  • In the other answer you failed to notice that the OP was using Windows 7 Pro which does not support multiple monitors in RDP. So your answer is useless. – DavidPostill Apr 03 '20 at 12:24
  • This question is Windows10. Not Windows 7. See tag. Please read a little. The one who has difficulties with English is me. – Victor Sanchez Apr 06 '20 at 11:31
  • I'm referring to [the other question which you answered](https://superuser.com/q/804204/337631) incorrectly where the OP was using Windows 7 Pro, not this question. – DavidPostill Apr 06 '20 at 11:38
  • You only need donload last RDP Client: https://support.microsoft.com/es-es/help/2592687/remote-desktop-protocol-rdp-8-0-update-for-windows-7-and-windows-serve – Victor Sanchez Apr 06 '20 at 11:49
  • I think my answer is proven to answer the question. Please undelete it. – Victor Sanchez Apr 07 '20 at 17:01
  • In case someone else is in the same boat as me - if you have 3 monitors but want the RDP client to show up on monitors 2 and 3, add this line to your RDP file .. `selectedmonitors:s:0,2` – abjbhat Apr 24 '20 at 05:38
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    @abjbhat Thank you. I changed the wording a bit to make it clearer. I already wrote a lot of comments about this, but for now you are the first to help me explain it better ... despite my English. – Victor Sanchez Apr 24 '20 at 12:49
  • Is there a way to get the output of `mstsc /l` as text, or some other way to process the output? I find the monitor IDs change frequently, apparently based on how quickly they respond to a wake-up call from my docking station. – Leo Aug 26 '21 at 23:19
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The situation hasn't changed. Your only two choices when using multiple monitors through an RDP session are the /span and /multimon options.

/multimon will treat each screen as a separate display just like you would have on the host. You get snapping/clipping capabilities, but the downside is you can only use ALL of the screens for this.

/span allows you to use only two of your three screens, but the downside is that it's one big rectangle that spans across more than 1 screen. You lose each screen's identity as a separate, distinct display.

You can modify the local group policy on the target computer to specify a maximum of 2 displays for use with the /multimon switch. I don't know what that would look like on a 3-screen display however. I suspect the 3rd screen would just go black. You'd have to play with this yourself.

You can get to the local group policy by hitting Start -> Run and typing gpedit.msc. The setting you're looking for is Computer Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop Services\Remote Desktop Session Host\Remote Session Environment. Set Limit Maximum Number of Monitors to enabled and specify 2.

NOTE You do this on the host computer (the one you're connecting to), not the client.

Wes Sayeed
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    I had a little moment of excitement as I wondered if they'd fixed the Maximum limit policy on Windows 10 (I'm connecting to a WIn10 desktop), but alas if you set that to anything it still limits it to a single screen – Michael B Sep 08 '15 at 02:11
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    I'm sure it's probably very low on Microsoft's priorities list. The reason `/multimon` requires all your screens is because your local computer's window manager is in charge of rendering GUI elements on the remote host. It lowers overhead because the host does not have to send pixels over the wire for drawing things like title bars and buttons. It just sends the raw GDI info and your computer renders it. That probably makes what you want harder for Microsoft to implement. – Wes Sayeed Sep 08 '15 at 02:18
  • Its clearly very low on their priority list ;) I was thinking it might have been something somebody had tweaked for Win10 (I live in hope!) – Michael B Sep 08 '15 at 02:25
  • @WesSayeed How does one go about using /span mode? When I try it, I'm restricted to a single monitor, even if my width is correct for 2 (I just get a scrollbar at the bottom, the window refuses to cross monitor boundaries during resize). – Brian Knoblauch May 04 '18 at 17:03
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I know that this question is a very old one, but i've had this problem currently with thw windows 10 and found one answer that works like magic for me:

https://www.hanselman.com/blog/how-to-remote-desktop-fullscreen-rdp-with-just-some-of-your-multiple-monitors

Miguel Freire
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  • Welcome to Super User! Please quote the essential parts of the answer from the reference link(s), as the answer can become invalid if the linked page(s) change. – DavidPostill Oct 16 '20 at 17:27
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As stated in the linked question, I have been using Vmware workstation to full screen on a subset of my monitors, running a stripped down version of Windows 7, it seems to be working well so far and I'll likely retain this as a solution (at least as something to use when I need to have that separation.)

It does get a little sluggish at times, but for the most part there is no difference in performance (I am primarily using office apps etc)

Michael B
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