Terminal Services and Remote Desktop Connection

Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 include a new client for Terminal Services.  The long name is “Remote Desktop Connection”.  Instead of looking for it through the menus however, to quickly connect to another Windows machines that have Remote Desktop (AKA Terminal Services) turned on type the following at a command prompt:

mstsc /console /v 192.168.10.10

The /v specifies the IP address or hostname of the remote computer.  /console will connect you to the same session as the console.  This is handy if you’ve started something via the console and wish to check on it remotely.  Note that when you do this, the console is locked out while you’re connected (or until someone at the console unlocks it).

You can easily get a command-line by pressing WIN+R which pops up the Run dialog.  By placing the address last, you can use AutoComplete to find a previous instance and change the last few digits to a new address