How to chain multiple remote desktop jumps in windows machines?

Question

Is it possible to start a remote desktop connection and once you get in automatically start another remote connection to another server with different credentials? Like so:

My pc -> winxp with credentials 1 -> (automatically) win server 2003 with credentials 2

Thank you

Answer 1

Yes you can. But I don't advise it.

The reason is that remote desktop programs work by monitoring the screen and only sending areas which have changed. This has the advantage of reduced need for network bandwidth and less latency. However most window managers provide notification only on a control level (a control is usually defined as a rectangular area which has its own window handle or equivalent, for example a button, an edit control, etc.), because that's the abstraction level they work on. Usually the flow of things in a GUI system goes like this:

• The GUI subsystem figures that a portion of the desktop needs redrawing
• It then creates a list of controls that need to do the redraw by intersecting the area occupied by the control with the area that needs to be redrawn, taking into account the spacial order of the controls (which is behind which).
• Finally it transmits a message to the controls which need to be redrawn with the exact area they need to draw

Imagine the waterfall effect as each redraw is sent up through the chain. Each new remote session will ultimately be slower than the last, until you reach a point where the current session is effectively unusable.