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I'm wondering if it's possible to resize the desktop on an RDP session on the fly

I realize you can do it before you connect, but I'm looking to resize it on the fly similar to how vmware works. If I have it in a window that's 800x600 I'd like the remote desktop to be resized to 800x600... but if I maximize my local window or go full screen, I'd like the remote desktop to assume the resolution of the local PC, or the window dimensions.

VMWare does this exactly how I want with an option called "use host settings for monitors"

As I scale the window, the desktop on the guest os scales, I'd like to do this on an RDP session?

Any ideas?

quack quixote
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zimmer62
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10 Answers10

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I am just putting this here for visibility, full credit to @Sevin7 for their comment above:

Use the Microsoft Remote Desktop app from the windows store instead of the version baked into windows. It has an option you have to turn on when making your first connection to "update the remote session resolution on resize" which will stay on for subsequent connections.

Mike Clark
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Ben
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Smart sizing is now a full-blown feature of Remote desktop, but is "hidden" in the right click menu

enter image description here

Source: my (italian) article here (Google Translate)

Hope this help

Dr. Gianluigi Zane Zanettini
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15

This is implemented as a new feature called "Dynamic Resolution Update" and was introduced in Windows 8.1. As long as the resolution is set to "Full Screen" on the client, the desktop resolution will be kept in sync with the client.

One of the changes we’ve made as part of RDP 8.1 is the addition of a new message that can be sent from the client to the server to dynamically update the resolution inside the remote session to match what is available on the client without the need to do a complete reconnect of the session. Previously, we only set the remote resolution during the initial connection. With this change, the resolution is set at connect time and can be updated when the client-side resolution changes while the app is in full screen mode, or when the app transitions from windowed mode to full screen. The resolution change is quick enough to be practically the same as a local change.

See the announcement on the RDS Blog for more.

grawity
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Mitch
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9

You may want to look into the following setting in the RDP file:

smart sizing:i:1

Using smart sizing will allow you to scale your session and will remove scroll bars. You can try adjusting the display size before connecting to get a desired effects. It is not exactly what you are looking for, but the closest you will find for using the current implementation of RDP.

The only caveat here is that the desktop will still remain at the effective resolution that you start with. For example, if you start the desktop at 1024x768, you can resize it down (and it will scale down, becoming smaller and harder to read) all you want but you cannot resize it up to fully fill a 1080p screen. If you start with multiple monitors, and then bring it down to a single monitor, the RDP display will show the multiple desktops side-by-side, crammed together, in one window.

See here for a blog with further details.

As an aside, I have many times used the compiled list of RDP file settings from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte College of Engineering. Hope this helps.

Glorfindel
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Eric
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You can use WSL on Windows and install freerdp2-x11 (i use debian): apt update apt upgrade apt install freerdp2-x11 export DISPLAY=localhost:0.0

run a xserver (vcxsrv for example) in your Windows Computer xfreerdp /u: /v: /dynamic-resolution

After you resize, the resolution is adjusted. And it is free :-)

Jeroen Bleeker
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Xfreerdp supports this feature by default.

Two windows clients I found support this feature:

SpeqZ
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I don't know of a way of resizing once the session is started with the standard RDP client. You can try mRemote which allows this with their "Smart Resize" option. (Caveat: mRemote's overview page reports that mRemote runs only on Windows XP and Windows Vista, not on linux.)

Community
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prototypef
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MobaXterm can do this when the RDP connection has "Autoscale" enabled under "Advanced Rdp settings":

enter image description here

Saaru Lindestøkke
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Thanks to @dr-gianluigi-zane-zanettini, I have found the answer,

If you right click on the title bar, you have the option "Smart sizing", this will allow you to resize the window but it will apply a zoom. But under 'Extra' you have the option 'Resize to fit window' that will not do a zoom but resize the window as asked in the original question. I have noticed that this will keep the original ratio fit to the width of the screen.

Right click options on remote desktop connection

Christophe Devos
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I don't see @christophe-devos 's "Extras" menu on MSTSC on Windows 11 23H2, but Thincast Client (a cross platform 3rd party MSTSC-like client) can do this with using the "Auto-fit window" option

dustojnikhummer
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