Remote Desktop Connection Manager is a free Windows utility that provides you with a central place to organize, group, and manage your various Remote Desktop connections. This is particularly useful for system administrators, developers, testers who maintain groups of computers and connect to them frequently. Using this utility you can create groups of servers in a hierarchical fashion, assign a set of credentials, local resources, display and security settings. It also provides a live thumbnail preview of all connected servers.
How to use Remote Desktop Connection Manager
Create a new connection file. Click on "File" > "New" and select the name and location of the file.
This file can be used to import the connection setting from one computer to another.
Once the connection file is in place, create a new Group by right-clicking on the Connections icon and selecting "Add group".
Enter the name of the group:
Let's take a look at the properties of the group now:
Group Settings: This is just the group name, path to the .rdg file and a comment section.
Logon Credentials: The Parent connection file can be configured with master properties such as Logon Credentials. Once configured, these settings are automatically inherited by the Group - the Group then provides these as default settings to the individual machine Connections. However, I might want to configure my Group to have other credentials than the default. Therefore, I unselect "Inherit from parent" in the "Logon Credentials" tab and fill in my details:
Gateway Settings: enables you to connect to local machines by using one externally available TS (or RD) Gateway:
Remote Desktop Settings: Simply define Color depth and Desktop Size:
Local Resources: Provides for remote Disk, Printer, Ports and Clipboard settings. By default, only the Clipboard is enabled.
Display Settings: Sets the options for the thumbnail view.
Connection Settings: Here you can connect to the console, change the Start Program or even the Port.
Security Settings: Provides options around Authentication warnings and errors.
Add Servers to the Group
'Server' might seem confusing but really it is "the machine I want to connect to". Select the Group and right-click on the group and select "Add server".
Enter the Server's (machine's) name, IP, and any other setting you need which you do not want to be inherited from the parent Group.
Once all Servers are added, you can right-click a machine name and select "Connect Server". You can also double-click its thumbnail title in the main pane.
The server's thumbnail is now updated and it shows a real-time image of what's seen on that server's desktop.
You can also connect to the entire group at once. Right-click on the group name and select "Connect group".
Immediately, all machines are now connected.
When done, you can disconnect each machine or the entire group at once.
Conclusion
Remote desktop connection manager is a simple, free tool with great functionality to help everyone who connects to multiple machines frequently.
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