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I have checked this question but my situation is slightly different.

I have a work computer with 2 monitors, each running at 1650x1050. I have a 3 monitor setup at home. Both systems run Windows 7. All three monitors on the home system run at 1920x1080 with one monitor setup individually and the other two configured as a single 3840x1080 monitor. I'd like to have my RDP session run on the one 3840x1080 monitor, but there's a problem.

I've configured my home computer's RDP session for work to run at 3840x1080:

mstsc.exe default.rdp /w:3840 /h:1080

This works about half the time. The other half, the remote window comes up at a resolution of 4096x1080 (I think this is probably the default "maximum" resolution or something.)

It seems to have something to do with whether the session starts up on my one "single" monitor or my other "dual" monitor. Unfortunately, I have the "single" monitor set up as my "main" display in Windows so that's where it wants to start. I have to futz around with the position of the desktop shortcut and move the login window to the other monitor, and still it only works about half the time.

Does anybody have a way to either (1) get RDP to forcibly accept this 3840x1080 resolution or (2) force it to start up on the secondary monitor?

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2 Answers 2

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You can do it through tweaking the values of winposstr inside the rdp file itself. Here is a detailed explaination

Calculating the Values for winposstr

The numbers that you will use depend on how many monitors you have, the screen resolutions of each, and which monitor you have selected to be your primary monitor.

Left edge position determines the monitor

The first of the last four numbers, which is the most important, indicates the position of the left edge of the window. If your primary monitor is in the center and you have monitors to the left and right, you will use a negative number for the monitors to the left, and a positive number for the monitors to the right.

For example, if you have two monitors to the left that each have a resolution of 1680 x 1050, use -1680 to place the session window on the monitor to the immediate left, and double that (-3360) to place the window on the leftmost monitor.

winposstr:s:0,1,-1680,0,0,1050

winposstr:s:0,1,-3360,0,-1680,1050

If your primary monitor has a resolution of 1200 x 1920, use 1200 to place the window on the monitor on the immediate right. This works because that pixel position is where the primary monitor leaves off (and the monitor on the right begins).

winposstr:s:0,1,1200,0,2880,1050

If you have two monitors on the right with a resolution of 1680 x 1050, and want to place the window on the rightmost monitor, simply add 1200 to 1680 to get 2880.

winposstr:s:0,1,2880,0,4560,1050

Top and Bottom Edges
The other numbers only really come into play when the window is restored (not maximized) and can be adjusted to taste.

The second number (third from the end) indicates the topmost edge of the window, so you can leave this number at 0 unless you have special requirements. The fourth (last) number is the vertical resolution (=bottom) of the window. You can leave this at the maximum vertical resolution of the monitor, as in the examples above.

winposstr:s:0,1,1200,0, 2880,1050

Right Edge
The right edge of the window is expressed by the next to the last number. Unless you prefer otherwise, this can be set to the same size as the maximized window.

╔══════════════════╦════════════════════════════╦════════════════════════════════════╗
║     Monitor      ║ Right Edge Calculation     ║          Winposstr Value           ║
╠══════════════════╬════════════════════════════╬════════════════════════════════════╣
║ Leftmost         ║ -3360 + 1680 = -1680       ║ winposstr:s:0,1,-3360,0,-1680,1050 ║
║ Immediate left   ║ -1680 + 1680 = 0           ║ winposstr:s:0,1,-1680,0,0,1050     ║
║ Immediate right  ║ 1200 + 1680 = 2880         ║ winposstr:s:0,1,1200,0,2880,1050   ║
║ Rightmost        ║ 1200 + 1680 + 1680 = 4560  ║ winposstr:s:0,1,2880,0,4560,1050   ║
╚══════════════════╩════════════════════════════╩════════════════════════════════════╝
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  • A wonderful answer, I wish it had worked. Unfortunately, no matter what I try, it seems to make the remote desktop open with dimensions of 4096x1080. I've tried -3840,0,0,1080 which would seem to be the correct settings (my large "composite" monitor is to the left of my main desktop). I've also tried various other settings (+-1 to each number for example) and it seems firmly set on 4096 as the width. I'll keep fiddling with it... thanks again... Oct 25, 2013 at 19:18
  • Gahhh. This is bizarre. It's suddenly started working. It seems to be connected to the "screen mode id" parameter as well as the "winposstr" parameter. If the RDP session starts up as a WINDOW, it seems to set itself to the correct dimensions. I'm not going to argue with it - a win's a win as far as I'm concerned. Thanks for the help! Oct 25, 2013 at 19:52
  • If the opened window has scrollbars then add 16 to the second last number (window padding) and 46 to the last number (window padding + title bar) Apr 5, 2018 at 7:54
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    Rather than having to do the math for winposstr yourself, run "mstsc /l" to list your monitors and their dimensions. See hanselman.com/blog/… Jan 13, 2022 at 22:03
  • I am using Microsoft Remote Desktop Client Mac. And trying to get display on secondly monitor with this winposstr:s:0,1,1200,0,2880,1050 settings. Same setup on Windows is working fine and get display on desired monitory but on Mac it don't work.
    – Ahad Khan
    Jul 29, 2022 at 15:56
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I found these instructions a bit confusing, or maybe I was just too lazy to read them all. I simply set the 3rd value to the total "x" value I wanted (in my case, I wanted the monitor on the right to display the connection, and the monitor on the left has a resolution of 1280x800, so I put 1280 there). Then I made all the numbers that followed it 0. It seemed to have worked.

winposstr:s:0,1,<your x value>,0,0,0

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