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Does a virtual desktop app for Windows exist that is RDP/VNC compatible?

I am looking for something like DexPot that allows you to have a always open desktop to a remote system? Does anything like that exist?

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I'm looking for a 1 button click desktop swap between local computer and a persistent/secure desktop connection to a remote computer. This alt-tab or maximize stuff wont fly... – djangofan Oct 14 '09 at 21:07

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This answer is probably too late by now, but there is mRemoteNG which supports the following protocols:

  • RDP (Remote Desktop/Terminal Server)
  • VNC (Virtual Network Computing)
  • ICA (Citrix Independent Computing Architecture)
  • SSH (Secure Shell)
  • Telnet (TELecommunication NETwork)
  • HTTP/HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
  • rlogin
  • Raw Socket Connections
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I've seen software like this before and couldn't use those either. The reason is that I would bet mRemoteNG would fail on logins to Windows Servers (2003 and 2008) due to their more restrictive RDP authentication scheme. That makes this software much less useful. People who need this kind of thing are certainly using servers. – djangofan May 3 '12 at 22:40
I am actively using it to log into a Win2K3 server. Have been able to successfully log into 2008 R2 and VNC. This is not a silver bullet, but you should really try it before dissing it like that ;) – Oerd May 4 '12 at 7:59
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It turns out that the program "Desktops" that comes with Microsoft SysInternals works ok for me.

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I don't know of any program that can do that and I don't see a great need for it. That is because you can open the VNC/RDP client on a secondary virtual desktop in window mode and click on the virtual desktop program system tray icon (on the virtual desktop taskbar) to switch between virtual desktops. This way you can one-click switch between a virtual desktop and the remote session desktop.

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this sounds like a possible answer. can you elaborate a little. your wording isn't very exact. – djangofan Oct 21 '09 at 17:30
I'll rephrase. Virtual desktop applications usually provide an taskbar icon (the icons next to the clock) that you can click to switch between virtual desktop. You can open the remote session window on a virtual desktop, and click on that icon to switch between your desktops (one of them will contain the remote session window). You can create a desktop shortcut to start the remote session quickly. – alfplayer Oct 21 '09 at 18:55
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I thought they all were :S

VNC/RDP just draw the screen - I have had no problems with any virtual desktop app (apart from a 3d cube program years ago) through RDP when in full screen mode or on some flavours of VNC that allow you to "hold" a key (usually through a button at the top).

If you are having problems, simply change the hotkeys to something that are not captured by the host - but again, full screen RDP may help you. To understand what I am saying, open up RDP in a window with your desktop still showing. Press Alt+Tab and you will see that you are switching your host machines programs. Next maximise RDP to full screen and try Alt+Tab, then you will see that it gets captured in the guest machine.

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I know how to do full screen RDP or VNC. What I am asking here (as you can see in my question) is whether or not an application exists that can treat a VNC or RDP connection as a "virtual desktop" that is "swappable" by clicking an icon on the taskbar in the same way that Linux can swap virtual desktops in the same X-windows service. Please dont confuse "full screen mode remote desktop" with my question concerning "swappable virtual desktop from the taskbar". – djangofan Oct 14 '09 at 20:53
ok - Sorry, I did not understand - Have you thought about using Remote Desktop and sending single Applications? click on the resource tab and choose the application... Is this what you are trying to do? – William Hilsum Oct 14 '09 at 21:08

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