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xfreerdp dual monitor support for RDP sessions on Ubuntu





Ubuntu comes pre-packaged with an excellent tool to enable RDP sessions to other servers or desktops. The Remmina Remote Desktop Client, it works great but in my opinion one of the drawbacks of the utility is that it doesn't provide multi monitor support.
 

Fortunately there is another RDP client available, xfreerdp which enables multi monitor support.

xfreerdp as the name suggests is a free rdp client for linux. Although it would be appropriate to donate to the project, as with all things free it costs money to run.

To install xfreerdp simply open your terminal window (ctrl + alt + t) and type in

sudo apt-get install freerdp-x11

The you can connect to your required server

xfreerdp -f -u username -p password 127.0.0.01

Obviously substituting the IP address and the strings username and password with your actual details. Once you connect this will open your server session in full screen mode.

To exit back to your ubuntu desktop simply use the keyboard short cut :

(ctrl + alt + enter )



if you want to go back to full screen mode on the server session use ;

(ctrl + alt + enter).

If you flit in and out of your RDP sessions using the;

(ctrl + alt + enter )

you just need to remember to use the :

(ctrl + enter) ,

using the enter from your number pad, otherwise your RDP session will minimize every time you press enter in your remote session.

Additional References

Project Documentation
Ubuntu manual pages




Gary Woodfine
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