Remote Desktop: Configure Session to Use Specific Monitors

Step 1: Create a Remote Desktop Connection File

1. Open Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc).

2. Click Show Options in the bottom-left corner.

3. Go to the Display tab.

4. Check the box for “Use all my monitors for the remote session” (this enables multi-monitor support).

5. Return to the General tab.

6. Enter your Computer name and User name.

7. Click Save As and choose a name for the .rdp file (e.g., CustomMonitors.rdp). Save it to an accessible location like your desktop.

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Step 2: Edit the .rdp File to Specify Monitors

1. Right-click the .rdp file you just saved and open it in Notepad++ or another plain text editor.

2. Find or add the following settings:

   screen mode id:i:2
   use multimon:i:1
   selectedmonitors:s:X,Y
   

   • Replace X,Y with the monitor IDs you want to use.

3. To find monitor IDs:

   • Press Windows + R, type mstsc /l, and press Enter.

   • A dialog will list all monitors with their internal IDs. Use the first number on each line (e.g., 8, 9, 12) in the selectedmonitors:s: line.

4. Remove the following lines from the file if they exist:

   desktopwidth:i:XXXX
   desktopheight:i:XXXX
   

   These conflict with multi-monitor settings and should not be used when use multimon:i:1 is enabled.

5. Save the .rdp file.

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Step 3: Launch the RDP Session

1. Double-click the edited .rdp file to start the remote desktop session.

2. The session will span only the monitors you specified in the selectedmonitors line.