The Windows XP remote desktop connection dialog box
provides you with everything that you need to configure and connect to another
computer running Windows XP Pro. You can use the Save As button on the Connection
Settings panel to save all your connection settings as an RDP file. Then, you
can launch and connect to a remote computer simply by double-clicking the RDP
file.

You can also script a remote desktop connection, as Windows
XP’s remote desktop connection has an executable file that can accept command
line parameters and be run from a batch file. The remote desktop connection
executable file is MSTSC.EXE, and the following are some of the most common
parameters:

  • /v:<computername>–specifies
    the name of the computer to connect to.
  • /f–starts
    the connection in a full screen.
  • /w:<width>–specifies the width of the remote desktop
    screen.
  • /h:<height>–specifies the height of the remote desktop
    screen.

For example, to remotely connect to a computer named Kaltec in a 640 x 480 remote desktop screen, you would use
the following command:

mstsc /v: Kaltec /w:640
/h:480

You can type this command line in the Run dialog box, as
well as use it in a batch file.

Note: This tip applies
only to Windows XP Professional.

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