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 Windows OS Hub / Windows 10 / Using RDCMan (Remote Desktop Connection Manager) on Windows

May 10, 2023 Windows 10Windows Server 2019

Using RDCMan (Remote Desktop Connection Manager) on Windows

RDCMan (Remote Desktop Connection Manager) is a convenient RDP connection manager for Windows system administrators. It allows to manage multiple RDP sessions in a single window, create tree-like structures with the remote Windows hosts you are constantly using or managing, use different RDP connection settings for servers or groups, and save administrator (or user) credentials to automatically authenticate on RDP/RDS servers.

The last available version of RDCMan 2.7 was released in 2014 and development has stopped since then. In addition, a critical vulnerability was found in this version and Microsoft decided to completely remove the RDCMan download page in 2020. However, in June 2021, Mark Russinovich announced that the RDCMan tool is moving to the Sysinternals tools and will develop further. On June 24, 2021, a new version of Remote Desktop Connection Manager 2.81 was released with fixed vulnerabilities.

Contents:
  • Installing RDCMan (Remote Desktop Connection Manager) on Windows
  • Configuring RDCMan, Creating RDP Host Groups
  • Configuring RDP Connection Settings in RDCMan
  • How to Import Servers into RDCMan?
  • Accessing Hyper-V Virtual Machine Console via RDCMan

Installing RDCMan (Remote Desktop Connection Manager) on Windows

The RDCMan is a free tool and you can download it from the Microsoft website. The current version 2.81 is available here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/rdcman  (0.4 MB).

download rdcman (Remote Desktop Connection Manager) tool

The new version of RDCMan 2.81 comes as a portable application RDCMan.exe and doesn’t require installation (unlike RDCMan 2.71, which is an MSI installation file). Just download the RDCMan.zip archive and extract it to any folder.

extracting rdcman.exe

Remote Desktop Connection Manager supports all Windows versions, up to Windows 10 (Windows 11) and Windows Server 2019. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are also supported, but ou must first install the RDP client version 6 or newer on these operating systems.

Configuring RDCMan, Creating RDP Host Groups

When you start RDCMan.exe, you will see an empty console. First of all, you must create a configuration file to store your settings by pressing Ctrl+N or in the menu: File –> New. Enter the file name *.rdg (actually, it is a text XML file that you can edit manually). In a single configuration file, you can save any number of RDP connections for your remote servers. The tool allows you to structure RDP connections by any criteria you choose: use this feature to create groups.

For example, you can create a group of Hyper-V servers or a group with AD domain controllers. You can group your remote servers by their location, role, or customer.

remote rdp\rds hosts in rdcman console

You can save your RDP credentials to connect to the servers in this group. In the Group Properties, go to the Logon Credentials tab and specify your credentials. All servers in this group inherit the group settings. To change any server option different from the specified group settings, uncheck the “Inherit from parent” and set the personal settings.

RDCMan - save RDP access credentials

Don’t forget to click the Save button.

Warning! RDP connection credentials are stored encrypted in the RDG configuration file instead of Windows Credential Manager (it does not depend on Domain Group Policy settings that prevent the saving of RDP credentials). The security context of the current user is used (logged on user’s credentials) or you can use the X509 certificate for encription.

rdpman credentials encription

It is recommended to encrypt the RDCMan configuration file using third-party tools (for example, using BitLocker or TrueCrypt).

Configuring RDP Connection Settings in RDCMan

Go to RDP connection properties in the “Connection Settings” tab. By default, the standard port 3389 is used for RDP connection. You can change the port number if your RDP server listens on a non-standard port. Uncheck the option “Inherit from parent” and change the RDP port number.

If you check the “Connect to console” option, you will be connected to your server’s console. The console mode simulates a direct connection to the local monitor of your server and is used to connect to the RDS server without using client CAL license, or if the licensing server is not available, or the RDSH licensing mode is not configured.

rdcman - change RDP connection port

Configure the screen resolution to be used in the RDP session in the “Remote Desktop Settings” tab (I recommend to set it to “Full screen”) and local resources in the corresponding tab to be redirected to the RDP session (for example, you can redirect your clipboard to the RDP session, local printers, use a local drives sharing, etc.).

If you don’t need to scroll and the RDP window fits your screen, do check the option “Scale docked remote desktop to fit window”.

RDCMan change display settings

The main drawback of RDCMan 2.81 is that it doesn’t support automatic resizing of the RDP session window. If you want to resize the RDCMan window, you will have to reconnect to all remote servers. In this case, by automatically changing the RDP window (RDP size auto-fit), your connections will be displayed correctly.

Hosts (servers and workstations) can be added to RDCMan groups. Right-click the group and add a server:

  • Server Name – specify hostname or its IP address;
  • Display Name – server name displayed in the RDCMan console.

add RDP server to the rdcman

Finally, you will get this kind of console with remote server tiles updated in real-time.

rdcman - managing multiple RDP server connections

When you double-click a server, you will access a server using RDP with the saved credentials.

You can use the “Connect Group” option. Thus, RDP consoles will be opened for all hosts in a group.

You can do standard things with your server, they are intuitive.

rds server - send keys

  • Reconnect server – reconnect if a remote session is disconnected;
  • Send keys – send standard keyboard shortcuts to a server;
  • Disconnect server – disconnects from a server;
  • Log off server – logs off a server;
  • List sessions – view server active sessions;
  • Undock – brings a server to a separate RDP window;
  • Dock – returns a server to the console.

If you need to connect to a remote RDSH host through a published server with the RD Gateway role, you can set its parameters on the Gateway Settings tab.

rdpman connecting via remote desktop gateway

The main thing: don’t forget to save the configuration file (File -> Save *.rdg). Otherwise, all your settings will be lost when you exit.

save rdp connection rdg file

New RDG file format RDCMan 2.81 is not compatible with previous versions of the tool.

The next time you start RDCMan, you will see a window where you will need to select servers or groups you would like to reconnect.

How to Import Servers into RDCMan?

Unfortunately, you cannot import your server or workstations directly from Active Directory. It looks quite strange since RDCMan is a tool developed by Microsoft.

However, you can import servers from a text or a CSV file. For example, you can export the lists of computers or servers from AD using the Get-ADComputer cmdlet:

(Get-ADComputer -Filter {enabled -eq "true" -and OperatingSystem -Like '*Windows Server*' } | select name).name | Out-File -FilePath c:\PS\ad_servers.txt

To import the server list into the RDCMan console, select “Import Servers” in the Edit menu. In the next window, specify the path to the text file containing the list of servers and click Import.

import rdp server list to the rdcman

To split the imported list of servers into groups, use Edit -> Add smart group. Type the group name and set the rules, according to which the servers will get into it (e. g., the common part of the name or IP addresses).

rdcman - smart server groups

When adding servers to RDCman, you can use patterns:

  • {ber,mch,ham} – substitute the specified values in turn
  • [1-5] – substitute all numbers from the range

For example, specify the following string as the server name: {ber,mch,ham}-dc0[1-3] and 9 servers will be added to the RDCman console.

rdcman adding hosts via patterns

Accessing Hyper-V Virtual Machine Console via RDCMan

In RDCMan 2.81 you can configure a direct connection to the console of virtual machines running on the Hyper-V host (the Enhanced Session Mode is used). To do it, you have to get the virtual machine ID on your Hyper-V host. Use this PowerShell command:

Get-VM -Name WS2016 | select ID

get-vm id - hyper-v

After you have got the VM ID, you can use it to configure a connection in RDCMan. When adding a new server in the RDCMan, specify the name of the remote Hyper-V host, check the option “VM console connect”, and paste the VMID into the ID field. You will be connected under an account with Hyper-V administrator privileges over VMBus (it means that you don’t need the network access to the FQDN or IP address of a guest OS – the access is provided through the Hyper-V host bus over TCP Port 2701).

rdcman connect hyper-v vm console via vmbus

RDCMan has a simple user interface and is very easy to use. If you just need an RDP connection manager, this is an excellent and easy-to-use everyday tool for a Windows administrator.

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8 comments

dunca November 12, 2019 - 12:39 pm

Great job and very good article,
But RDC-MAN does not allow to add the machines under HYPER-V automatically, and also does not allow them to start or stop them or save them, it also does not allow to manage network connections and change them on machines, I suggest you to use my HV-MAN tool which is being validated by Microsoft and which is super simple and allows to do all that on Hyper-v VMs, I am waiting for your return.

Reply
Dustin Graybill January 16, 2020 - 2:42 pm

HV-MAN works if you only are managing hyper-v console sessions. We use RDC Man or Remote Desktop Manager and other management applications because it allows us to connect to multiple different types of sessions at one time in one window. I suggest you remember that not everyone’s situation is exactly the same as yours.

Reply
Mike March 25, 2020 - 8:04 am

DL Link is dead

Reply
admin March 31, 2020 - 8:39 am

Microsoft has closed the development of the Remote Desktop Connection Manager (RDCMan) app after it discovered the CVE-2020-0765 vulnerability. This vulnerability allows attackers to get user data from a computer if a user opens a special RDG with XML data.
Users are advised to stop using RDCMan as soon as possible.
For RDP connections, it is recommended to use Windows MSTSC, as well as the official Remote Desktop UWP app from the Microsoft Store.

Reply
crz April 28, 2021 - 2:54 pm

Enhanced Session is NOT used for Hyper-V connections. It’s Basic session, you can’t tranfer files, there is no shared clipboard, sound and other benefits of regular RDP connection

Reply
Dennis June 28, 2021 - 5:07 pm

RDCMan is supported once again, but by SysInternals.com
Latest version is v2.81

Reply
vdias October 1, 2021 - 9:07 am

Missing a important feature… open external window…

Reply
dude October 29, 2021 - 10:43 am

Missing hotkey to import servers 🙁

Reply

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