RDP Registry Settings

Other versions of this page are also available for the following:

Windows Mobile Not SupportedWindows Embedded CE Supported

8/28/2008

This topic provides information about Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) registry settings.

Registry Settings for a Desktop Computer

For information about server-side application programming, configurable settings, and server-side registry settings, see this Microsoft Web site.

RDP Registry Settings for a Windows Embedded CE Device

By default, the Windows Embedded CE Terminal Services Client (CETSC) executable uses .rdp plain-text files to store configurable information. For more information, see Terminal Services Client Configuration through the .rdp File and Running Cetsc.exe.

Note

The default registry values vary depending on which Catalog items are included in your operating system (OS) design. For more information, see Default Registry Settings.

Terminal Services Client Global Registry Settings

The HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client registry key controls all Terminal Services connections.

Note

These values control connections at a global level, and are superseded by a connection that has these values specified.

The following table shows the named values.

Value : type Description

BitmapCacheSize : REG_DWORD

This value is the size, in KB, of the bitmap cache in memory. The maximum value is 32000.

The default value is 1500.

BitmapPersistCacheSize : REG_DWORD

This value is the size, in KB, of the bitmap cache file.

The default value is 10.

RequireVKPackets : REG_DWORD

This key is reserved for keyboard input handling. Do not modify this information.

The default value is 0.

For information about settings for a specific Terminal Services connection, see Terminal Services Client Configuration through the .rdp File.

Drive Redirection Registry Settings

Drive redirection lets you view and manage folders on the local drives in a remote session. Drives are redirected when the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\<Connection Name>\EnableDriveRedirection registry entry is 1. By default, drive redirection is enabled.

If drive redirection is enabled, you can use the file redirection filter to specify the directories that are available within the RDP session. The following example shows you how to specify the root of the file system to which the redirection filter applies:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\AutoLoad\FilterFsd]
 "RootPath"="\\"

This registry entry also determines the root of the file redirection filter driver. If you set RootPath to "\\" the whole file system comes under the scope of this filter. You can change this registry entry if you want to reduce the scope of the redirection filter.

For more information, see Filtered File Storage Redirection.

Terminal Server Client Configuration Registry Settings

The Terminal Services Client is controlled by the Terminal Server Client node in the registry. The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client registry key controls the configuration of the Terminal Services Client. The following table shows the named values.

Value Description

CEConfig : REG_SZ

This value indicates whether Terminal Services Client runs in the Windows Thin Client Shell.

The following list shows the available settings:

  • "WBT" indicates that the Terminal Services Client is running in a Windows Thin Client Shell. This is when SYSGEN_WBTSHELL = 1.
  • "Maxall" indicates that the Terminal Services Client is not running the Windows Thin Client Shell. This is used in all other OS designs.

The default setting is "Maxall".

The following list shows the behavior when WBT is set:

  • File change notifications through protected server library (PSL) calls are disabled.
  • The Windows Thin Client Shell does not display the Windows Embedded CE Terminal Services Client (CETSC) user interface.
  • Keyboard hooks are disabled for the Windows Thin Client Shell.
  • Additional registry migration occurs for Windows Thin Client OS designs because the connections are started through registry settings and not through .rdp files.

The following list describes issues that a Windows Thin Client might encounter if this value is set to "Maxall":

  • The Filesys.exe may crash when drive redirection is enabled and an attempt is made to copy a file by using the clipboard.
  • The CETSC user interface appears in the Windows Thin Client when the dialog box about how to enable drive redirection is canceled.
  • Keyboard shortcut messages might be sent to remote sessions.

BitmapPersistCacheLocation : REG_DWORD

This value is the path of the folder where the cache file is stored.

The default value is \temp.

DisableFileAccess : REG_DWORD

This value indicates whether the user has access to the local file system. A value of 1 indicates that access to the local file system is disabled and the Save As and Open buttons are not available in the UI. A value of zero (0) indicates that the user has access to the local file system.

Default setting is 1.

FullScreenAlways : REG_DWORD

By default, the standard shell runs in full-screen mode, and lets the user change it to run in a window and specify the window size. You can change this default behavior by adding this key.

A value of 0 indicates that windowed mode is enabled.

A value of 1 indicates that windowed mode is disabled and the RDP session is always run in full-screen mode. This results in the user not having the option to select a remote desktop size in the Remote Desktop Connection dialog box.

In the Windows Thin Client Shell, this value is set to 1. For more information, see Thin Client Registry Settings.

Virtual Channel Registry Settings

The Terminal Server Client loads the virtual channel plug-in DLLs that are listed in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\Default\Addins\<virtual channel name> registry key. The virtual channel name can be any string.

The following table shows the named values.

Value Description

Name: REG_SZ

No default. The name of the virtual channel plug-in DLLs to load. Separate DLL names with a comma (,).

For more information about virtual channels, see Virtual Channel Client Registration.

Security Provider Registry Settings

When SYSGEN_AUTH_NTLM is included in an OS image, you should specify that the Negotiate security package selects NTLM instead of Kerberos as the security provider. By doing this, you can prevent a 15 second delay, or a failure to authenticate, that occurs during authentication over an RDP connection to a computer running Windows Vista.

This registry key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\SecurityProviders\Negotiate\Packages. It must specify that Simple and Protected GSS-API Negotiation (Negotiate SSP), which selects between NTLM and Kerberos, shall choose NTLM first.

The following table shows the named values.

Value Description

Packages

Specifies the order of security providers that Negotiate SSP chooses, as a comma-separated string. Set this value to "NTLM".

For more information, see Authentication Services Registry Settings.

See Also

Concepts

RDP Application Development
RDP Security
Terminal Services Client Configuration through the .rdp File