As an IT enthusiast, I spend a lot of time on IT-related blogs, forums, subreddits and so on. But one thing I’ve noticed in my journey across the interwebs is that there aren’t a lot of IT pros recommending Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection Manager (RDCMan) these days. I think this is because they’ve come to the conclusion that it’s simply not a solution for their sophisticated needs.

And so, to help some new IT pros save time and avoid getting stressed out, I wanted to write about why, in my opinion, RDCMan is outdated. First, let’s take a look at what RDCMan is all about.

I'm working with Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager on different customer sites with different credentials and remote access types, like RDP, Citrix, SSH-Clients, Websites, etc. Remote Desktop Manager helps me to have quick access to the customer environment.

About RDCMan

RDCMan creates a single location for IT administrators to organize, group and manage connections, so they can manage multiple desktops. It was designed by the Windows Live Experience team for their internal use.

To be fair, there are some good things about RDCMan that should be pointed out. For example, it’s useful for sysadmins and other IT pros in Windows-only deployments who need regular access to groups of computers, labs or server farms. It’s also possible to organize connections by groups and consolidate multiple RDP connections in a single window. And of course, RDCMan is free.

However, RDCMan has some major limitations that IT pros searching for a viable remote connection tool should be aware of. Here are the reasons for my view that is just too outdated:

Lack of Integrations

Back when RDCMan was first released, it was embraced by IT pros and generated lots of fans. But that was many years ago. Times have changed — but RDCMan hasn’t. And arguably its biggest flaw is the lack of time-saving integrations. The best that IT pros can do with RDCMan is to use it in conjunction with external apps like TeamViewer and LogMeIn. But it has no native ability to integrate tools and centralize control.

Only for Windows Deployments

When RDCMan arrived on the scene, many IT pros (most of them, actually) were working in Windows environments. But these days, IT pros need to switch between platforms to remain productive and be efficient – yet RDCMan remains exclusively for Windows deployments. This leaves the scores of IT pros who work in Mac or Linux environments searching for alternatives.

Very Basic

To their credit, Microsoft didn’t dial up the hype with RDCMan and promise that it could do things that it couldn’t. In fact, here’s the official description: “RDCMan manages multiple remote desktop connections. It is useful for managing server labs or large server farms where you need regular access to each machine such as automated check-in systems and data centers.” Pretty down to earth, isn’t it?

My point is that RDCMan is a very basic tool and was never designed to handle sophisticated functions that IT pros need, like managing privileged accounts, securing sensitive data, generating strong passwords, creating audit logs, utilizing 2FA, and so on.

What Is the Best Alternative?

As Get VoIP’s CEO Reuben Yonatan recently noted on our blog, it can be hard to find good remote desktop connection management software. Hard yes, but impossible no!

There are actually several good alternatives to RDCMan. Ultimately, it depends on what you need now and into the future.

As a starting point, I recommend heading over to the popular website AlternativeTo, where you’ll find a few alternatives, such as Devolutions’ Remote Desktop Manager, RoyalTS and mRemoteNG.

Give Remote Desktop Manager a Try

Speaking of Remote Desktop Manager, it’s used by more than 350,000 IT pros around the world, and it’s available in both Free and Enterprise (licensed) versions.

Here are some of the reviews of Remote Desktop Manager that IT pros have published on AlternativeTo:

  • “I used to be an avid supporter of MobaXterm and others, but RDM completely changed my life in managing a large infrastructure. If you ever wanted to be able to do virtually anything across a large number of systems, RDM is the swiss army knife of remote desktop managers. It supports everything! AutoHotKey, AutoIT, and just … everything! Get it right now!”
  • “Remote Desktop Manager is easy to use from any platform: Windows, Mac, Android, Linux. If you need a software to manage a bulk of computers with any remote protocol – SSH, RDP … RDM is the one you need! With a full customization of your work-space it makes life easy for sysadmins!”
  • “RDM is one of the best products out there. If you use Microsoft Remote Desktop Manager, this RDM is like Microsoft RDM on steroids!”
  • “In my 25 years in IT I have used many remote access/management tools. Some were plain horrible (refresh delay) and others were horribly complicated. With RDM you get a clean looking remote desktop management tool where you will keep on discovering new features every time you use it.”

(Aw shucks guys, thanks for the nice words — we’re blushing!)

If you’d like to find out whether RDM is the enterprise-grade and EXTREMELY well-supported remote connection and password management solution you need, please request your 30-day free trial here.

Do YOU Think RDCMan Is Outdated?

As I said at the very beginning of the article, the reasons above are based on my point of view about why RDCMan is outdated. I know that there are many IT Pros still using this useful tool and are persuaded that they could not live without it. If you're one of them, please leave a comment below and share with the community why you think RDCMan is still a must. You can also contact me at jdupont@devolutions.net if you want to if you want to debate!

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Applies to: Windows 10, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, and Windows 7

You can use the Remote Desktop client for Windows Desktop to access Windows apps and desktops remotely from a different Windows device.

Note

Desktop
  • This documentation is not for the Remote Desktop Connection (MSTSC) client that ships with Windows. It's for the new Remote Desktop (MSRDC) client.
  • This client currently only supports accessing remote apps and desktops from Windows Virtual Desktop.
  • Curious about the new releases for the Windows Desktop client? Check out What's new in the Windows Desktop client

Install the client

Microsoft Remote Desktop Manager Mac

Choose the client that matches the version of Windows. The new Remote Desktop client (MSRDC) supports Windows 10, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, and Windows 7 client devices.

You can install the client for the current user, which doesn't require admin rights, or your admin can install and configure the client so that all users on the device can access it.

Once you've installed the client, you can launch it from the Start menu by searching for Remote Desktop.

Update the client

You'll be notified whenever a new version of the client is available as long as your admin hasn't disabled notifications. The notification will appear in either the Connection Center or the Windows Action Center. To update your client, just select the notification.

You can also manually search for new updates for the client:

  1. From the Connection Center, tap the overflow menu (...) on the command bar at the top of the client.
  2. Select About from the drop-down menu.
  3. Tap Check for updates.
  4. If there's an update available, tap Install update to update the client.

Feeds

Get the list of managed resources you can access, such as apps and desktops, by subscribing to the feed your admin provided you. When you subscribe, the resources become available on your local PC. The Windows Desktop client currently supports resources published from Windows Virtual Desktop.

Subscribe to a feed

  1. From the main page of the client, also known as the Connection Center, tap Subscribe.
  2. Sign in with your user account when prompted.
  3. The resources will appear in the Connection Center grouped by Workspace.

You can launch resources with one of the following methods:

  • Go to the Connection Center and double-click a resource to launch it.
  • You can also go to the Start menu and look for a folder with the Workspace name or enter the resource name in the search bar.

Workspace details

After subscribing, you can view additional information about a Workspace on the Details panel:

  • The name of the Workspace
  • The URL and username used to subscribe
  • The number of apps and desktops
  • The date/time of the last update
  • The status of the last update

Accessing the Details panel:

  1. From the Connection Center, tap the overflow menu (...) next to the Workspace.
  2. Select Details from the drop-down menu.
  3. The Details panel appears on the right side of the client.

After you've subscribed, the Workspace will update automatically on a regular basis. Resources may be added, changed, or removed based on changes made by your admin.

You can also manually look for updates to the resources when needed by selecting Update now from the Details panel.

Unsubscribe from a feed

This section will teach you how to unsubscribe from a feed. You can unsubscribe to either subscribe again with a different account or remove your resources from the system.

  1. From the Connection Center, tap the overflow menu (...) next to the Workspace.
  2. Select Unsubscribe from the drop-down menu.
  3. Review the dialog box and select Continue.

Managed desktops

Workspaces can contain multiple managed resources, including desktops. When accessing a managed desktop, you have access to all the apps installed by your admin.

Desktop settings

You can configure some of the settings for desktop resources to ensure the experience meets your needs. To access the list of available settings right-click on the desktop resource and select Settings.

The client will use the settings configured by your admin unless you turn off the Use default settings option. Doing so allows you to configure the following options:

  • Use multiple displays switches the desktop session between using a single or multiple displays.
  • Select the displays to use for the session specifies which local displays to use for the session. All selected displays must be adjacent to each other. This setting is automatically disabled when you use a single display.
  • Start in full screen determines whether the session will launch in full-screen or windowed mode. This setting is automatically enabled when you use multiple displays.
  • Update the resolution on resize makes the Remote Desktop resolution automatically update when you resize the session in windowed mode. When disabled, the session always remains at whichever resolution you specify in Resolution. This setting is automatically enabled when you use multiple displays.
  • Resolution lets you specify the resolution of the remote desktop. The session will retain this resolution for its entire duration. This setting is automatically disabled if the resolution is set to update on resize.
  • Change the size of the text and apps specifies the size of the content of the session. This setting only applies when connecting to Windows 8.1 and later or Windows Server 2012 R2 and later. This setting is automatically disabled if the resolution is set to update on resize.
  • Fit session to window determines how the session is displayed when the resolution of the remote desktop differs from the size of the local window. When enabled, the session content will be resized to fit inside the window while preserving the aspect ratio of the session. When disabled, scrollbars or black areas will be shown when the resolution and window size don't match.

Remote Desktop Connection Manager

Provide feedback

Have a feature suggestion or want to report a problem? Tell us using the Feedback Hub. You can also access the Feedback Hub through the client:

  1. From the Connection Center, tap the Send feedback option on the command bar at the top of the client to open the Feedback Hub app.
  2. Enter the required information in the Summary and Details fields. When you're done, tap Next.
  3. Select whether it's a Problem or Suggestion.
  4. Check to see if the category is in Apps > Remote Desktop. If it is, tap Next.
  5. Review the existing feedback topics to see if someone else has reported the same problem. If not, select Make a new bug, then tap Next.
  6. On the next page, you can give us more information so we can help you solve the problem. You can write more detailed information, submit screenshots, and even create a recording of the problem to show us what happened. To make a recording, select Start recording, then do what you did up to the point where the problem happened. When you're done, return to the Feedback Hub and select Stop recording.
  7. When you're satisfied with the information, tap Submit.
  8. On the 'Thank you for your feedback!' page, tap Share my feedback to generate a link to your feedback that you can share with others as needed.

Mac Microsoft Remote Desktop 12

Access client logs

You might need the client logs when investigating a problem.

To retrieve the client logs:

  1. Ensure no sessions are active and the client process isn't running in the background by right-clicking on the Remote Desktop icon in the system tray and selecting Disconnect all sessions.
  2. Open File Explorer.
  3. Navigate to the %temp%DiagOutputDirRdClientAutoTrace folder.

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