Helpful Keyboard Shortcuts For Working with Windows Remote Desktop: Switching windows and more
As a fan of keyboard shortcuts, you may be annoyed when using Remote Desktop Alt-tab in full-screen mode: it flips among windows within that remote desktop interface, but how do you get back to your desktop using shortcuts? Here's how to do that, and more.
Most know about using Alt-Tab to switch among multiple open windows. It's a great shortcut, for keyboard fans like me (I'll wax poetic about it more in the future). But if you have to use the Remote Desktop feature of Windows to connect to a remote machine, you may notice that once connected it takes over your whole screen and now the Alt-tab feature is directed to windows within that remote desktop interface. Makes sense, if that's what you want (and you may well).
But if you really mean to alt-tab to something on your desktop (like your email program), 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". There's another solution--an all keyboard one!
Use ctrl+alt+break to switch Remote Desktop between full screen and windowed mode. Once in windowed mode, then the alt-tab will see the remote session as just another window.
And how do you then move among windows WITHIN the remote desktop (whether windowed or not)? Must you resort to the mouse? NO! Use Alt-PageUp (when the focus is on the remote desktop window). Check it out! (To reverse the order of switching windows, which you'd normally do with Shift-alt-tab, use Alt-PageDown.) 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).
One last remote desktop tip: with the remote desktop in windowed mode, you may wonder how to bring up the Start menu via the keyboard (another tip I'll elaborate on in the future). If you just hit the Windows key (or ctrl+escape), that brings up your desktop's Start menu. What if you want to bring up the Remote Desktop Start menu? Must you resort to the mouse? Again, NO! :-) Use alt-home. 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!