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How to Remote Desktop to the Actual Server Console on Windows 2003

Using the Remote Desktop client usually lands you in a seperate session on the windows server. There are times, however, when you might want to be able to connect to the console directly instead of being in a seperate session. This is how.

Start the remote desktop client from the command line or the Start/Run dialog with this command:

mstsc /console

You can now select the server you wish to connect to, and you will connect to the server console session instead of a seperate session.

If you want to see the usage dialog, type mstsc /?

The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. When he's not coming up with great how-to articles, he's probably writing at his personal blog. This article was written on 09/27/06 and tagged with: Windows, Networking

Comments (5)

  1. apd

    i use the fullscreen option

  2. Derek

    If you remote into a console, do not log off if there are programs or services running that need to interact with the desktop. You should disconnect instead. A good example is Icverify, the credit authorization gateway. If you log off the remote console session the app will terminate.

  3. Carlos

    In the OS X version of RDC you hold down the "Command" key while connecting.

  4. Rock

    Very Useful Thx

  5. ZeroCool

    When I do this it still shows up as a TCP-RDP session, why does it now show under the console as being logged in?


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