Helpful Keyboard Shortcuts For Working with Windows Remote Desktop: Switching windows and more
If you're a keyboard shortcut fan, you may be annoyed when using Remote Desktop the Alt-tab (in full-screen mode) flips among windows within that remote desktop interface, when you may wish to instead use it to get back to your desktop apps. If you always minimize the remote desktop, there's a better solution by making the remote desktop a window and using a couple of great keyboard shortcuts--specific to working with Remote Desktop in a window--that I discuss here. Just briefly, this all stems from the fact that by default, the Remote Desktop feature of Windows (used to connect to a remote machine) takes over your whole screen, so that Alt-tab is directed to windows within that remote desktop interface. That's fine, if it's what you want. But if you really mean to alt-tab to something on your desktop (like your email program), you may feel you can't. I see many folks (and myself did at first) resort to minimizing the Remote Desktop window (usually via the mouse), then you're back to your desktop and the alt-tab works as "expected". Of course, then you have to find and re-open the remote desktop if you want to work in it again. There's another solution--an all keyboard one! First, note that ctrl+alt+break switches Remote Desktop between full screen and windowed mode (too bad it only does that for Remote Desktop, as it might be useful generally also). Anyway, the magic is that once the remote is in windowed mode, alt-tab will work as normal on your desktop (and the remote session is also just another window, so easily selectable without using your mouse, to get back to it). But that's not all. First, of course, if you wanted to switch among programs in the remote desktop, you could select it, and use ctrl+alt+break to go back into full-screen mode on the remote, where alt-tab would now work in the remote (and you could repeat the process to get back to your desktop). But sometimes you may need (or with the next trick, choose) to keep the remote desktop windowed. How do you then move among windows WITHIN the remote desktop (when it's windowed)? Must you resort to the mouse? NO! Use Alt-PageUp (when the focus is on the remote desktop window). It acts like alt-tab, but only on the remote. Check it out! And to reverse the order of switching apps, as you would Shift-alt-tab, use Alt-PageDown. And when you keep the remote windows (since it's so easy to switch then among both local and remote apps), here's one more key shortcut: with the remote desktop in windowed mode, you may wonder how to bring up the remote Start menu via the keyboard. Of course, if you just hit the Windows key (or ctrl+escape, another great shortcut), that brings up your desktop's Start menu. You may think you have to finally resort to the mouse to bring up the remote Start menu, but NO! :-) Use alt-home. Sweet! There are still others (such as Ctrl+Alt+End as an alternative to Ctrl+Alt+Delete, which is always sent to your client computer). See this MS technote (update from my previously pointing to MS technote). Hope these help.
This is exactly what I was looking for. And I think many out there
(keyboard lovers like me too) will be looking for this. Thanks for the
tips.
Thanks for the tip.
Very useful for us keyboard lovers !
This is very neat. I just need to the Ctrl+Alt+End command. And it works on
my remote desktop. Thanks.
bonus wicked cheers nice!
thank the holy keyboard gods!
Fantastic info on this page.
I have another need. How do I get text from notepad, on the Remote
desktop, to my home desktop?
@new2it, when you connect to a system for the first time, windows will
prompt you with a screen asking "do you trust the computer you are
connecting to?" (at least it does for me, from my CP SP2 box). There, one
of the options is "allow access to your local clipboard".
Thank you thank you thank you! I think I love you! I had a remote desktop
connection that was freezing up on me and couldn't get to Task Manager.
The Ctrl+Alt+End tip saved my sanity!
Great to hear, Melissa. It's still a set of shortcuts I use daily. I hope
they continue to help others. Thanks for the feedback.
Well, isn't the internet beautiful. You wonder about the more important
things in life like how to Tab out of Remote Desktop, you google it and
blam someone has a very nicely written article about it.
This is a time saver. Thank you fellow geeks!
You have made my year. I hate trying to find the mouse under all those
papers when the VOIP rings and I inevitably miss it stumbling around to get
back to my desktop.
Hi, I used to connect to remote desktop. In full screen mode itself, when I
give alt+tab, it takes me some other appl which is open in my machine and
doesn't switch between the appl within the remote desktop..
@Ganesh, this is a good chance to point out something I should have noted
before. There's actually an option (when you open the remote desktop) that
could affect the behavior you're seeing. What I've described above is the
default behavior. I'm guessing yours has been changed.
I have been trying to figure out how to reboot the remoted computer... now
I can.
I'd ask you to marry me, but my wife would object!
Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work in my case.
I only use Remote Desktop in full screen and I'd like to switch between
remote applications with Alt-Tab.
Using Ctrl+Alt+break doesn't do anything.
I tried the Remote Desktop options, Local Resources tab, ('In full screen
mode only', or 'on the remote computer') but it didn't work: alt-tab still
takes me back to my local applications.
@Thierry, I don't know why it's not working for you. That's too bad. At
least the alternative keys are better than nothing. :-) And they prove that
the Remote Desktop keyboard processing works otehrwise. So yes, I would
wonder if something on your local machine is overriding the passing of
alt-tab into the full-screen mode. Can't offer anything more. If you find
out, I'm sure many would appreciate if you think to come back and share
what you find. Cheers.
Awesome help as I was indeed looking for
1) Alt -Home to see the start menu in remote desktop
2) ctrl-alt-End to kill jon in remote desktop
Thank you so much! :D
Thank you so much. I thought I might never find the answer but here it is,
clear as day.