Oh, So That's How It Works!

HOW-TO: Remote Desktop Shortcut Keys

David A. Gray, MBA
Chief Wizard, WizardWrx

For the most part, controlling a remote Windows desktop via the Microsoft Remote Desktop (RDP) feature is pretty much like controlling the desktop on your local Windows machine. With the right settings in the RDP connection item, you can even share your clipboard and one or all of your local disk drives with the remote session.

However, to allow you to retain full control of both desktops, Microsoft had to change a few keyboard shortcuts (hot keys). I've summarized the ones that have come to my attention in a Microsoft Word document, which I've converted to an Adobe PDF document.

There are two versions of the reference sheet, in Microsoft Word 2010 and Adobe PDF formats.

Since I used Microsoft Word 2010 to create the Word document, you need a recent version of Microsoft Word (2007 or later). If you are still using an older version of Microsoft Word, you will need the Compatibility Pack for the Microsoft Office 2007 System.

The PDF version is formatted for Adobe Acrobat, version 1.4, which requires Adobe Reader, version 5 or later. Since PDF documents contain embedded font subsets, they should render correctly on any machine, regardless of the contents of your local font collection. These embedded fonts largely account for the larger size of the PDF file.

Enjoy!