Ever need to access a computer remotely? It’s easy to do in Windows 10, but Microsoft has provided a few different ways to get there.
One is the old, familiar Terminal Server-based Remote Desktop Connection (RDC), also known as MSTSC for its executable name mstsc.exe. Another is the newer Remote Desktop, a Universal Windows Platform app that Microsoft calls URDC, with package name Microsoft.RemoteDesktop_10.2.1535.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe. Figure 1 shows these two remote desktop clients side-by-side on a current Windows 10 desktop.
Microsoft.RemoteDesktop_10.2.1535.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Figure 1: Old-style Remote Desktop Connection (RDC or MSTSC) on the left, newfangled Remote Desktop (URDC) on the right. (Click image to enlarge it.)
On the left, you see the old application-style Remote Desktop Connection (MSTSC). It’s been unchanged for a more than a decade. The General tab offers controls for quick connections, with other tabs (Display, Local Resources, and so on) for more detailed controls over the remote PC’s appearance, resolution, performance, and so forth. On the right, the newer Remote Desktop app (URDC) presents a sleeker, more modern appearance. It also makes controls and settings more directly available (through the Settings control at the upper right corner of the app window) and shows a thumbnail view for active connections so users can see what’s on a remote desktop.
There’s a third face to Remote Desktop also, but it’s designed to provide access to managed virtual machines (VMs) and virtualized applications via Azure (or equivalent in-house virtualized and managed infrastructures). It’s called the MSRDC Windows Desktop, and it works through a local or Azure-based Active Directory (AD) environment with an associated email-based login, such as bobsmith@contoso.com.
For those with access to an AD (local or Azure-based) infrastructure, the MSRDC version of remote desktop does everything that the URDC version does, and it provides access to virtualized desktops and applications set for such use. Built atop URDC, MSRDC sports the same, more modern interface.
Note that a Windows 10 Home PC can control another PC remotely, but it cannot be remotely controlled using Microsoft remote desktop software (any variant). This is a known limitation of this cheapest Windows 10 version. Those who want to remote into a specific PC should recognize that the target PC must run Windows 10 Pro, Education, or Enterprise.
You can access the three different forms of Remote Desktop as follows:
There is, by the way, a fourth option for accessing PCs remotely in Windows 10: Quick Assist is a built-in Windows 10 feature that lets a local user and a remote user do things together on the remote user’s system. It’s aimed at tech support workers who want to teach and help remote users. With the three Remote Desktop options discussed in this article, the local user takes over the remote machine, whereas Quick Assist is collaborative and allows local and remote users to work on the remote PC. (See “ How to use Windows 10’s Quick Assist app for remote PC support” for more details.)
You might ask: what are the differences among these Remote Desktop versions? Good question! As I write this, not even Microsoft makes much of a distinction between URDC and MSRDC. In fact, the Microsoft documentation “ Remote Desktop clients” describes both of them identically. In its introduction it says, “You can control a remote PC by using a Microsoft Remote Desktop client” and, “The client can run on almost any device…” Furthermore, by going through any such client, “you can operate the apps that are installed on the PC, access the files and network resources of the PC, [and] leave the apps open when you end the client.”
Based on long-term personal experience, I can also say that at present, except for access to virtualized resources (VMs, virtualized apps, and more) and the interface differences, there’s little to distinguish MSTSC from URDC either. That applies to various activities one might engage in on a desktop remotely using any of these programs.
Where differences come into play is in what Microsoft calls redirections — that is, the ability to send signals from devices attached to the local PC or network to the target PC, and vice versa. All three versions of Remote Desktop can redirect input from the local desktop to the remote desktop from keyboard, mouse, and touch devices, so you can use those devices on your local PC to control what’s happening on the remote PC. But where MSTSC and MSRDC can use stylus input, URDC cannot.
Similarly, only MSTSC and MSRDC allow a user to plug in a USB or serial device on the local machine and then access it through the remote machine; URDC cannot extend local USB or serial devices to the remote desktop. Figure 2 sums up how the three versions handle redirections for other devices:
Figure 2: This table from Microsoft’s Remote Desktop clients redirections comparison shows that both MSTC and MSRDC cover all device redirections, while URDC is more limited.
Where MSTSC and MSRDC cover redirection for all devices mentioned, URDC covers only the clipboard, microphones, and speakers. That is, URDC does not let the local user access cameras, local drives and storage, location data, printers, scanners, or smart cards on the remote PC. MSTSC and MSRDC support all of these things. The lack of support for cameras and local drives and storage explains why I still prefer MSTSC to URDC myself (though I do like the URDC interface, look, and feel).
No matter which Remote Desktop client you use, the basic steps for making remote connections are similar:
First, enable remote access on the Windows 10 PC you want to control remotely.
When you’re ready to connect to the remote PC, start up the Remote Desktop software on your local PC as outlined earlier in the story, enter the name of the remote computer and your user account, and make the connection. All the Remote Desktop clients let you save remote PC connections for quick access later and offer additional configuration options.
For more detailed instructions and illustrations, please consult these various Microsoft Docs and Community items:
That’s assuming that everything goes well. Over the years I’ve had to troubleshoot lots of connection issues related to Remote Desktop software. Thus, I’ve learned a kind of configuration recipe to apply when remote access difficulties present themselves. I’ll present it as a numbered list of things to try on the target PC — that is, on the PC you’re trying to access remotely.
Figure 3: After feature upgrades and some updates (usually related to network adapter driver changes), Windows 10 may reset network status to Public. This must be reset.
Figure 4: Network discovery must be turned on; your mileage may vary for file and printer sharing.
Figure 5: Turn on public folder sharing and password protected sharing. If Remote Desktop still isn’t working, then (and only then) turn off 128-bit encryption.
Potential connection issues aside, Remote Desktop is an extremely handy tool, especially for system administrators. On a small network where I handle half-a-dozen test PCs for various Windows Insider builds and a handful of production machines, it’s absolutely invaluable.
In early January, I blogged about Microsoft’s first public disclosure of its upcoming Cloud PC capabilities. This emerging technology will let users on PCs and smart devices use the remote desktop protocol to access (and run) virtual Windows 10 PCs in the cloud via Azure.
Based on how URDC and MSTSC work and my understanding of what the MSRDC client can do, my best guess is that when Cloud PC comes to fruition, URDC and MSRDC will become much more important and capable clients than they are right now. At the same time, I think this may spell a limit on the older MSTSC client, if not the end of its useful life.
We should find out later this year when Cloud PC makes its public debut. This may finally give lots of people an impetus to trade in MSTSC for something new and better.
Ed Tittel has been working in and around IT for over 30 years and has been a Windows Insider MVP since 2018. The author of more than 100 computing books, Ed is perhaps best known for his Exam Cram series of certification prep books. These days, Ed blogs weekly for GoCertify.com and more often than that at Win10.Guru. To learn more about Ed, visit his website at edtittel.com.
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