After using two or more monitors for programming, it’s difficult to go back to using just one. Microsoft Remote Desktop supports multiple monitors, but it usually only works well when both the remote machine and local machines have 2 monitors.

At work, I use a computer with 2 Full HD monitors and a notebook with a tablet resolution -D. This makes it impossible to use the notebook for programming. I normally open a Remote Desktop session in the morning and close it when I leave, often not using the notebook keyboard during the day, which becomes a remote disk and CPU!

The problem is that the local machine has 2 monitors, while the remote machine only has 1. Remote Desktop uses the maximum resolution of only one of the local machine’s monitors, leaving another monitor unused. Although the notebook has low-resolution screen, the processor and memory are very good, so it becomes my standard development machine (Core i7, 8GB). Nothing beats opening Visual Studio 2012 in the morning with several other programs on either side.

To use Remote Desktop with both local monitors, you need to add a parameter to the command line: /span

It’s better to create an alias rather than forgetting it.

mstsc.exe

The result is a remote monitor with a total resolution of two local monitors, in my case: 2 x 1980 = 3960 points! It also works if both local monitors have different resolutions, but the number of lines will be the smallest between them. In my case, I ended up with a remote screen of 3960 x 1080 points.

It would all be perfect if some Windows operations didn’t bother me. The wide monitor, extending over two physical monitors, remains just one large monitor for the remote machine. Therefore, maximizing a window will occupy both local monitors! This can be solved with the resizing areas in Windows 7. To “maximize” a window on only one of the monitors, simply drag the window to the left or right corner (mouse all the way to the left or right, but halfway up the screen). The screen changes color, something like a dark blue transparency in my theme. When this color change appears, release the button and the window you were dragging will resize to occupy the blue area.

A collateral effect is that the Windows taskbar now occupies both monitors, so I have the start button on the left monitor and the clock on the right one!

That’s it for those who are fanatics with 2 monitors!