Remote Desktop Connection Manager (RDCMan) is a great tool to consolidate multiple RDP connections into a single window to prevent desktop clutter.
Update 19-11-2014: RDCMan 2.7 is now available. Please see here.
The tool can be downloaded from the Download Centre.
There are a couple of things worth noting about the tool:
It will install into the x86 Program Files folder on a x64 machine:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Remote Desktop Connection Manager
Do not save your custom RDG files in the installation folder, just in case your local workstation dies and the file is gone. I always keep my .RDG files in a subfolder of My Documents, which is a redirected folder to a file server.
The RDG files are portable, and you can share them within your organisation. For example, when you get a new admin give them a copy of the RDG files and they are able to review your list of servers and get connected easily – assuming they have the permissions….
The help file is located in the same directory - unsurprisingly this is called help.htm
Finally and most importantly, please say a big thank you to Julian Burger the developer who wrote this and David Zazzo for working to get it released!!
Cheers,
Rhoderick
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Used it for a long time, any news on a win8 version?
Hey Rhoderick, love this tool. A great feature I would love to see in this tool is to disable the supresswhenminized for a server or group of them. I run some tests that actively require the GUI to be open. But say for example when I am connected to a group with all the thumbnails viewable and need to move into 1 server to work, the others become suppressed when i am only viewing one; since its not viewing the thumbnails of all the servers anymore. I understand this is to save bandwidth and performance but it would be great to see an option for some servers or registry key to change.
Smart bear has an article on this for standard terminal server client here support.smartbear.com/.../30217 but it doesn't affect the RDCMAN application.
Hi Paul
I have been using it on Windows 8 since the first beta with no issues.
Are you installing it from an elevated cmd prompt?
Hi Ryan,
Interesting comment - thanks for that!!
I'll add your notes to the internal site for the tool, so the devs can see this. I can't promise what is/will be updated though. I'm just a simple cable plugger!
Awesome tool!
Any thought to opening this up on codeplex? I'd love to see a few updates (more levels in the tree, support for some of the newer RDP enhancements, ability to autosync connection to cloud with passwords working across different computers, etc).
Hi Shawn,
Indeed it is most awesome :)
I've not heard/seen anything on that. I'll add your feedback to the internal site!
I really love this program. It has found a permanent location on my taskbar; It sits next to Outlook. I love the idea of ping, nslookup, and tracert. I would like to add a Manage Computer option when right clicking a computer. It should be simple enough. It would save time when trying to manage multiple computers remotely.
There is one odd issue I have with the program. Sometimes when I have more than one connection connected, one of the connection can get stuck or the opposite. When switching between connections, clicking on a computer in the tree, one will not show, but will bring up a different connection. Sometimes I can select a third different connection and it will open. However clicking back to a connection will bring up a connection that is stuck. If I undock and redock a connection it seems to temporarily solve the problem.
Other than that, this is my #1 tool I use.
Hi, I just found that the virtual channel does not work anymore. I always add some customized DLLs to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\Default\AddIns, but now it looks RDCMan does not load the DLLunder this hive anymore.
Is there any way to fix this problem? Thanks a lot.
A feature of this tool that would significantly enhance my user experience would be the ability to "mirror" the mouse and keyboard commands across all the tiles when viewing in the tiled format. For example, when installing software on a cluster of servers, you could click through all the wizards at once with a "Mirror KVM" tool where what I do on one server view happens on all the others.
thq all comment im give time
I love this tool, but I'm having a couple of issues with it.
Sometimes, when I try to connect to a server, it connects and then disconnects immediately, giving an error 3334. I'm not certain, but it SEEMS like it may only happen when connecting to a 2012 server.
I have also found that sometimes the app just won't connect to any server anymore, and I get "An authentication error has occurred (Code: 0x8007ffff)". Closing the app and re-opening it fixes the issue. This usually happens after the app has been open for several hours, or maybe even left open from the day before.
Has anyone else run into similar issues?
Not seen that issue with error 3334 - have been running this heavily on Windows 8 since beta.
My lab instance of this is always left running. Any other underlying auth issues?
Seems the RDCMan List sessions works for our 2003 servers, but not those running 2008R2. Is this related to the change in tsadmin from .exe to msc? Is there a workaround?
On a related note, would be useful if List sessions also displayed Idle Time and Logon Time columns, same as the tsadmin tool.
Much appreciated.
Ian.
Hi Ian,
That could be the case but I never really dug into that. This issue was already filed with the tool, but I don't know if/when we will see an updated release.
This is a great tool like everyone said. Curious, will there ever be a native 64-bit version? I like my machine to be as close to pure 64-bit setup as possible.