All settings must be specified using the .rdp file style syntax:
option:type:value
Examples:
alternate shell:s:notepad.exe
keyboardhook:i:2
Note: The information in this overview is largely compiled from this article at the Microsoft TechNet site.
Overview of available settings
Setting | Type | Default value | Description and possible values | Settable from RDC GUI? | RDP+ equivalent | 5.1 | 5.2 | 6.0 | 6.1 | 7.0 | 7.1 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 10.0 |
administrative session | i | 0 | Connect to the administrative session of
the remote computer.
0 – Do not use the
administrative session. |
Command line | /console, /admin | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
allow desktop composition | i | 0 | Determines whether desktop composition
(needed for Aero) is permitted when you log on to the remote
computer.
0 – Disable desktop composition
in the remote session. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
allow font smoothing | i | 0 | Determines whether font smoothing may be
used in the remote session.
0 – Disable font smoothing in
the remote session. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
alternate full address | s | Specifies an alternate name or IP
address of the remote computer that you want to connect to.
Will be overruled by RDP+. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||
alternate shell | s | Specifies a program to be started
automatically when you connect to a remote computer. The value
should be a valid path to an executable file. This setting only works when connecting to servers. |
Yes | /start | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
audiocapturemode | i | 0 | Determines how sounds captured
(recorded) on the local computer are handled when you are connected
to the remote computer.
0 – Do not capture audio from
the local computer. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
audiomode | i | 0 | Determines how sounds on a remote
computer are handled when you are connected to the remote computer.
0 – Play sounds on the local
computer. |
Yes | /[no]sound | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
audioqualitymode | i | 0 | Determines the quality of the audio
played in the remote session.
0 – Dynamically adjust audio
quality based on available bandwidth. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
authentication level | i | 2 | Determines what should happen when
server authentication fails.
0 – If server authentication
fails, connect without giving a warning. This setting will be overruled by RDP+. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
autoreconnect max retries | i | 20 | Determines the maximum number of times
the client computer will try to reconnect to the remote computer if
the connection is dropped. Note: The maximum value Remote Desktop can handle is 200. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
autoreconnection enabled | i | 1 | Determines whether the client computer
will automatically try to reconnect to the remote computer if the
connection is dropped.
0 – Do not attempt to
reconnect. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
bandwidthautodetect | i | 1 | Enables the option for automatic
detection of the network type. Used in conjunction with networkautodetect.
Also see connection type.
0 – Do not enable the option
for automatic network detection. |
Yes | X | X | X | |||||||
bitmapcachepersistenable | i | 1 | Determines whether bitmaps are cached on
the local computer (disk-based cache). Bitmap caching can improve
the performance of your remote session.
0 – Do not cache bitmaps. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
bitmapcachesize | i | 1500 | Specifies the size in kilobytes of the memory-based bitmap cache. The maximum value is 32000. | No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
compression | i | 1 | Determines whether the connection should
use bulk compression.
0 – Do not use bulk
compression. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
connect to console | i | 0 | Connect to the console session of the
remote computer.
0 – Connect to a normal
session. |
Command line | /console, /admin | X | X | X | ||||||
connection type | i | 2 | Specifies pre-defined performance
settings for the Remote Desktop session.
1 – Modem (56 Kbps). By itself, this setting does nothing. When selected in the RDC GUI, this option changes several performance related settings (themes, animation, font smoothing, etcetera). These separate settings always overrule the connection type setting. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
desktopheight | i | 600 | The height (in pixels) of the remote session desktop. | Limited | /h | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
desktop size id | i | 0 | Specifies pre-defined dimensions of the
remote session desktop.
0 – 640×480. This setting is ignored when either /w and /h, or desktopwidth and desktopheight are already specified. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
desktopwidth | i | 800 | The width (in pixels) of the remote session desktop. | Limited | /w | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
devicestoredirect | s | Determines which supported Plug and Play
devices on the client computer will be redirected and available in
the remote session.
No value specified – Do not
redirect any supported Plug and Play devices. |
Yes | /[no]drives | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
disable ctrl+alt+del | i | 1 | Determines whether you have to press
CTRL+ALT+DELETE before entering credentials after you are connected
to the remote computer.
0 – CTRL+ALT+DELETE is required
before logging in. Note: When disabled, this setting will also delay the autologin until the user has pressed CTRL+ALT+DELETE. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
disable full window drag | i | 1 | Determines whether window content is
displayed when you drag the window to a new location.
0 – Show the contents of the
window while dragging. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
disable menu anims | i | 1 | Determines whether menus and windows can
be displayed with animation effects in the remote session.
0 – Menu and window animation
is permitted. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
disable themes | i | 0 | Determines whether themes are permitted
when you log on to the remote computer.
0 – Themes are permitted. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
disable wallpaper | i | 1 | Determines whether the desktop
background is displayed in the remote session.
0 – Display the wallpaper. |
Yes | /[no]wallpaper | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
disableconnectionsharing | i | 0 | Determines whether a new Terminal Server
session is started with every launch of a RemoteApp to the same
computer and with the same credentials.
0 – No new session is started.
The currently active session of the user is shared. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
disableremoteappcapscheck | i | 0 | Specifies whether the Remote Desktop
client should check the remote computer for RemoteApp capabilities. 0 – Check the remote computer for RemoteApp capabilities before logging in. 1 – Do not check the remote computer for RemoteApp capabilities.Note: This setting must be set to 1 when connecting to Windows XP SP3, Vista or 7 computers with RemoteApps configured on them. This is the default behavior of RDP+. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
displayconnectionbar | i | 1 | Determines whether the connection bar
appears when you are in full screen mode.
0 – Do not show the connection
bar. Will be overruled by RDP+ when using the parameter /noclose. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
domain | s | Specifies the name of the domain of the
user.
Will be ignored/overruled by RDP+. |
Yes | /u, /domain | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
drivestoredirect | s | Determines which local disk drives on
the client computer will be redirected and available in the remote
session.
No value specified – Do not
redirect any drives. |
Yes | /[no]drives | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
enablecredsspsupport | i | 1 | Determines whether Remote Desktop will
use CredSSP for authentication if it’s available.
0 – Do not use CredSSP, even if
the operating system supports it. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
enablesuperpan | i | 0 | Determines whether SuperPan is enabled
or disabled. SuperPan allows the user to navigate a remote desktop
in full-screen mode without scroll bars, when the dimensions of the
remote desktop are larger than the dimensions of the current client
window. The user can point to the window border, and the desktop
view will scroll automatically in that direction.
0 – Do not use SuperPan. The
remote session window is sized to the client window size. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
full address | s | Specifies the name or IP address (and
optional port) of the remote computer that you want to connect to.
Will be ignored by RDP+. |
Yes | /v | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
gatewaycredentialssource | i | 4 | Specifies the credentials that should be
used to validate the connection with the RD Gateway.
0 – Ask for password (NTLM). |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
gatewayhostname | s | Specifies the hostname of the RD Gateway. | Yes | /rdgateway | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
gatewayprofileusagemethod | i | 0 | Determines the RD Gateway authentication
method to be used.
0 – Use the default profile
mode, as specified by the administrator. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
gatewayusagemethod | i | 4 | Specifies if and how to use a Remote
Desktop Gateway (RD Gateway) server.
0 – Do not use an RD Gateway
server. 0 and 4 have the same effect, but setting the method to 4 also sets the option for bypassing local addresses in the Remote Desktop user interface. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
keyboardhook | i | 2 | Determines how Windows key combinations
are applied when you are connected to a remote computer.
0 – Windows key combinations
are applied on the local computer. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
negotiate security layer | i | 1 | Determines whether the level of security
is negotiated or not.
0 – Security layer negotiation
is not enabled and the session is started by using Secure
Sockets Layer (SSL). |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
networkautodetect | i | 1 | Determines whether to use auomatic
network bandwidth detection or not. Requires the option bandwidthautodetect
to be set and correlates with connection type 7.
0 – Use automatic network
bandwitdh detection. |
Yes | X | X | X | |||||||
password 51 | b | The user password in a binary hash value. Will be overruled by RDP+. | Yes | /p, /pe, /i | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
pinconnectionbar | i | 1 | Determines whether or not the connection
bar should be pinned to the top of the remote session upon
connection when in full screen mode.
0 – The connection bar should
not be pinned to the top of the remote session. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
prompt for credentials | i | 0 | Determines whether Remote Desktop
Connection will prompt for credentials when connecting to a remote
computer for which the credentials have been previously saved.
0 – Remote Desktop will use the
saved credentials and will not prompt for credentials. This setting is ignored by RDP+. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
prompt for credentials on client | i | 0 | Determines whether Remote Desktop
Connection will prompt for credentials when connecting to a server
that does not support server authentication.
0 – Remote Desktop will not
prompt for credentials. This setting is ignored by RDP+. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
promptcredentialonce | i | 1 | When connecting through an RD Gateway,
determines whether RDC should use the same credentials for both the
RD Gateway and the remote computer.
0 – Remote Desktop will not use
the same credentials . |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
public mode | i | 0 | Determines whether Remote Desktop
Connection will be started in public mode.
0 – Remote Desktop will not
start in public mode . This setting is incompatible with autologin and some other features and therefore ignored by RDP+. |
Command line | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
redirectclipboard | i | 1 | Determines whether the clipboard on the
client computer will be redirected and available in the remote
session and vice versa.
0 – Do not redirect the
clipboard. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
redirectcomports | i | 0 | Determines whether the COM (serial)
ports on the client computer will be redirected and available in
the remote session.
0 – The COM ports on the local
computer are not available in the remote session. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
redirectdirectx | i | 1 | Determines whether DirectX will be
enabled for the remote session.
0 – Do not enable DirectX
rendering. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
redirectdrives | i | 0 | Determines whether local disk drives on
the client computer will be redirected and available in the remote
session.
0 – The drives on the local
computer are not available in the remote session. Note: This setting is replaced by drivestoredirect from RDC 6.0 onward. |
Yes | /[no]drives | X | X | |||||||
redirectposdevices | i | 0 | Determines whether Microsoft Point of
Service (POS) for .NET devices connected to the client computer
will be redirected and available in the remote session.
0 – The POS devices from the
local computer are not available in the remote session. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
redirectprinters | i | 1 | Determines whether printers configured
on the client computer will be redirected and available in the
remote session.
0 – The printers on the local
computer are not available in the remote session. |
Yes | /[no]printers | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
redirectsmartcards | i | 1 | Determines whether smart card devices on
the client computer will be redirected and available in the remote
session.
0 – The smart card device on
the local computer is not available in the remote session. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
remoteapplicationcmdline | s | Optional command line parameters for the RemoteApp. | No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
remoteapplicationfile | s | Specifies a file to be opened on the
remote computer by the RemoteApp.
Note: For local files to be opened, you must also enable drive redirection for (at least) the source drive. |
No | /remotefile | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
remoteapplicationexpandcmdline | i | 1 | Determines whether environment variables
contained in the RemoteApp command line parameter should be
expanded locally or remotely.
0 – Environment variables
should be expanded to the values of the local computer. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
remoteapplicationexpandworkingdir | i | 0 | Determines whether environment variables
contained in the RemoteApp working directory parameter should be
expanded locally or remotely.
0 – Environment variables
should be expanded to the values of the local computer. Note: The RemoteApp working directory is specified through the shell working directory parameter. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
remoteapplicationicon | s | Specifies the file name of an icon file
to be displayed in the Remote Desktop interface while starting the
RemoteApp. By default RDC will show the standard Remote Desktop
icon.
Note: Only .ico files are supported. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
remoteapplicationmode | i | 0 | Determines whether a RemoteApp shoud be
launched when connecting to the remote computer.
0 – Use a normal session and do
not start a RemoteApp. |
No | /remoteapp | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
remoteapplicationname | s | Specifies the name of the RemoteApp in the Remote Desktop interface while starting the RemoteApp. | No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
remoteapplicationprogram | s | Specifies the alias or executable name of the RemoteApp. | No | /remoteapp | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
screen mode id | i | 2 | Determines whether the remote session
window appears full screen when you connect to the remote computer.
1 – The remote session will
appear in a window. |
Yes | /f[ullscreen], /fit, /max, /w, /h |
X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
server port | i | 3389 | Defines an alternate default port for
the Remote Desktop connection.
Will be overruled by any port number appended to the server name. |
Command line | /v | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
session bpp | i | 32 | Determines the color depth (in bits) on
the remote computer when you connect.
8 – 256 colors (8 bit). |
Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
shell working directory | s | The working directory on the remote computer to be used if an alternate shell is specified. | Yes | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
smart sizing | i | 0 | Determines whether the client computer
should scale the content on the remote computer to fit the window
size of the client computer when the window is resized.
0 – The client window display
will not be scaled when resized. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
span monitors | i | 0 | Determines whether the remote session
window will be spanned across multiple monitors when you connect to
the remote computer.
0 – Monitor spanning is not
enabled. Note: When using Remote Desktop Connection 7 (Windows 7/2008), the use multimon setting is recommended. |
Yes | /span | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
superpanaccelerationfactor | i | 1 | Specifies the number of pixels that the screen view scrolls in a given direction for every pixel of mouse movement by the client when in SuperPan mode | No | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
usbdevicestoredirect | s | Determines which supported RemoteFX USB
devices on the client computer will be redirected and available in
the remote session when you connect to a remote session that
supports RemoteFX USB redirection.
No value specified – Do not
redirect any supported RemoteFX USB devices. |
Yes | X | X | X | X | |||||||
use multimon | i | 0 | Determines whether the session should
use true multiple monitor support when connecting to the remote
computer.
0 – Do not enable multiple
monitor support. |
Yes | /multimon | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
username | s | Specifies the name of the user account
that will be used to log on to the remote computer.
Will be ignored by RDP+. |
Yes | /u | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
videoplaybackmode | i | 1 | Determines whether RDC will use RDP
efficient multimedia streaming for video playback.
0 – Do not use RDP efficient
multimedia streaming for video playback. |
No | X | X | X | X | X | |||||
winposstr | s | 0,3,0,0,800,600 | Specifies the position and dimensions of
the session window on the client computer.
Will be overruled by RDP+. |
No | /f[ullscreen], /fit, /max, /w, /h, /pos |
X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
5.1 : Included with Windows XP.
5.2 : Included with Windows 2003.
6.0 :
Included with Windows Vista. Available for Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2003 SP1/SP2.
6.1 : Included with Windows 2008, Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3. Available
for Windows XP SP2.
7.0 : Included with Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7.
Available for Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista SP1/SP2.7.1 : Included with Windows
7 SP1 and Windows 2008 R2 SP1.
8.0 : Included with Windows 8 and Windows
2012. Available for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 2008 R2 SP1.
8.1 : Included
with Windows 8.1 and Windows 2012 R2. Available for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 2008
R2 SP1.
10.0: Included with Windows 10.