How to Create an RDP file to launch a spanned remote desktop session

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We have already discussed about how to use dual monitors when you use remote desktop .In this tutorial we will learn Creating an RDP file to launch a spanned remote desktop session covering multiple monitors.

Create the RDP file

Open Start Menu, click Run. Then type in mstsc /span and hit Enter or Click OK

When the Remote Desktop client opens up you should see similar to the following screen, enter the remote computer name or ipaddress to which you are connecting, and click the Options button.

One options screen opens you should see similar to the following here Click the “Save As” button. A “Save As” dialog will open to save the connection settings to a file. Save the file to a known folder, and with a name like remotecomputer.rdp. In this example, let’s say we saved it to D:\remotecomputer.rdp

Now, close the Remote Desktop Connection program.

Editing Your RDP file

Open Windows Explorer, and browse to the folder containing the file you just saved (D:\remotecomputer.rdp).

Right click the file > choose Open With… menu > Choose Program…

In the Open With dialog, choose Notepad to open the file. Remember to NOT check/enable the “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file” option.

Click OK. The file should open up in Notepad. It is a file with many lines. We need to edit this and add one more line.

In the last line of the file, add the following command and hit Enter

span monitors:i:1

Save and exit the file.

From now on, you can connect to the remote computer using both monitors using this RDP file.