marinersk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Apologies for the off-topic post, but I asked this question at StackOverflow and, other than a mysterious drive-by downvote, I have had no response.

I'm hoping someone here, with an eye toward automation in any environment where Perl runs, might have bumped into this and knows how to work around it.

I'm trying to launch Remote Desktop in a way that permits my local keyboard-driven macros to manipulate the window without having to first reach for the mouse and click on the "Restore Down" button.

I've tried a few variants of the command line invocation (both from Perl and from the actual command line) and I just can't seem to get it to launch in the mode I want without creating an RDP file. If that's the answer I have to have, then so be it, but I was hoping for one less layer of kludgeness here.

My basic invocation technique is:

mstsc /v:%SFS_FNDKEY% /w:1024 /h:768

[download]

Adding the /fparameter forces it to occupy the full screen, as expected, but leaving the /foff leaves it in this odd hybrid state; it does not take up the full screen, but considers itself to be in full-screen mode, complete with the "Restore Down" button which needs to be clicked before my local keyboard-driven macros can assume control of the window.

Any cluebats out there? I know it's likely a fairly odd request, since most people want full-screen mode, but being different is nothing new over here. : -)

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Re: OT: Windows Non-Full-Screen Remote Desktop
by afoken (Chancellor) on May 22, 2015 at 15:04 UTC

    I don't know if this helps you, but perhaps you can try it:

    I have a small web frontend for VirtualBox that creates RDP files. Those RDP files, when started, open a Terminal Service Client window, not in fullscreen mode, but as a simple window. I don't know if thes show the same behavior with a Microsoft Terminal Server, but I think it is worth trying it.

    This is one of the files, set up for 1024x768, connecting to 192.168.2.10 Port 3011 (default=3389):

    screen mode id:i:1
desktopwidth:i:1024
desktopheight:i:768
session bpp:i:32
winposstr:s:0,1,1291,12,2558,1001
compression:i:1
keyboardhook:i:1
displayconnectionbar:i:1
disable wallpaper:i:0
disable full window drag:i:0
allow desktop composition:i:1
allow font smoothing:i:1
disable menu anims:i:0
disable themes:i:0
disable cursor setting:i:0
bitmapcachepersistenable:i:1
full address:s:192.168.2.10:3011
audiomode:i:0
redirectprinters:i:0
redirectcomports:i:0
redirectsmartcards:i:0
redirectclipboard:i:1
redirectposdevices:i:0
autoreconnection enabled:i:1
authentication level:i:0
prompt for credentials:i:0
negotiate security layer:i:1
remoteapplicationmode:i:0
alternate shell:s:
shell working directory:s:
gatewayhostname:s:
gatewayusagemethod:i:4
gatewaycredentialssource:i:4
gatewayprofileusagemethod:i:0
promptcredentialonce:i:1
drivestoredirect:s:

    [download]

    Edit the full address line, save as text, rename to *.rdp, double click to open.

    Alexander

    --
    Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)
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      I appreciate the feedback.

      I was preapred to make RDP files dynamically, but was hoping for less clutter than that. But if that's what will work, then that's where I'll go with it.

      I can always organize the clutter (i.e., special directory for RDP files)

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