Speaking of little known, but really cool tools from Microsoft, I stumbled across a little add-in to Active Directory Users and Computers that adds a right-click shortcut to launch the mstsc client.
On the client side, this shortcut will work with XP, Vista, 7, 2003, and 2008 clients running ADUC (dsa.msc.) On the server side, it does not allow connection to 2008 servers, which is pretty lame since it is just a shortcut to invoke mstsc.exe, but I haven’t found a way to make it work yet. We still have a LOT of 2003 servers in the environment at work, and I expect you do too, so this should still prove to be useful.
Here is how to get in on this shortcut goodness. Let’s first make sure no one has gone there before you. Launch ADUC, browse to an OU or container with computers, and right-click one. You should see the normal choices here.
Old and busted
No remote control….yet. If you do see Remote Control, skip step 4 as it has already been done for you by your predecessor.
- Close ADUC.
- Download the magick remote control tool from here.
- Run it, extracting to a temp folder of your choice.
- Extend the ADUC snap-in for the whole forest by running the rControl_Setup.exe program. This adds the display extension to ADUC for the entire forest. Run this only once.
- Then, copy the rcontrol.exe to somewhere in your path. C:\Windows works well.
- Launch ADUC again. If you didn’t close it before, do so now and reopen it. It will not pick up this new function until you do.
- Right-click a computer in ADUC, and assuming both that it is running terminal services, and you have not munged mstsc.exe, you’ll be able to connect.
The new hotness
Sorry, it’s not going to glow or blink, but there it is sixth one down…Remote Control. It defaults to full screen, but that is just a reghack away from custom goodness.
The install created a new registry section, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\rControlAD, which you can modify to set your preferred defaults.
- "FullScreen"= when set to 1, the session opened by rControlAD will open in full screen. When set to 0, the session opened by rControlAD will use the "Height" and "Width" reg key values.
- "ConnectToConsole"= When set to 1, the session opened by rControlAD will Connect to console (Session 0).
- "Width"= When "FullScreen" is set to 0, this value will be used to determine the session window’s width.
- "Height"= When "FullScreen" is set to 0, this value will be used to determine the session window’s Height.
- "UseCustomPortNumber"= when set to 1, rControl will read and use the Port Number specified at "PortNumber" registry value. The default is "UseCustomPortNumber"="0", so the default Remote Desktop port is used (3389)
And because this post is about remote control, and because it’s also been just that special kind of a day, here’s some Clash for your listening pleasure. Enjoy.
direct link for RSS and email subscribers…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHVpkKn6bGE
Got any ideas about how to make this work with 2008? Know anyone at MSFT who could ‘make it happen?’ Please leave a comment and clue me in!
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