Remote Desktop (RDP) Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 10

Remote Desktop Rdp Mstsc Icon

RDP stands for Remote Desktop Connection. It is a special network protocol which allows a user to establish a connection between two computers and access the Desktop of a remote host. It is used by Remote Desktop Connection. The local computer is often referred to as the "client". In this article, we'll see a list of useful keyboard shortcuts available for RDP in Windows 10.



Before we continue, here are some details about how RDP works. While any edition of Windows 10 can act as Remote Desktop Client, to host a remote session, you need to be running Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise. You can connect to a Windows 10 Remote Desktop host from another PC running Windows 10, or from an earlier Windows version like Windows 7 or Windows 8, or Linux. Windows 10 comes with both client and server software out-of-the-box, so you don't need any extra software installed.

Here is the list of keyboard shortcuts you can use in Remote Desktop. These hotkeys can help you save time and increase productivity.

Remote Desktop (RDP) Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 10

Regular Windows keyboard combination Key combination for RDP Description of what hotkeys do
Win key or Ctrl+Esc Alt+Home Opens the Start Menu or Start screen
Alt+Tab Alt+Page Up Displays the Alt+Tab switcher where pressing Page Up while Alt is held down will switch programs from left to right
Alt+Shift+Tab Alt+Page Down Displays the Alt+Tab switcher where pressing Page Down while Alt is held down will switch programs from right to left
Alt+Esc Alt+Insert Cycles through open apps in most recently used order (sends the current active window to the bottom of the Z-order)
Alt+Space Alt+Delete Opens the window menu of the active window
Print Screen Ctrl+Alt+'+'(Plus key on numeric keypad) Takes a screenshot of the whole screen to the clipboard which you can paste in Paint
Alt+Print Screen Ctrl+Alt+'-' (Minus key on the numeric keypad) Takes a screenshot of the active window to the clipboard which you can paste in Paint
Ctrl+Alt+Del Ctrl+Alt+End Sends Ctrl+Alt+Del (Secure Attention Sequence) to the host.
- Ctrl+Alt+Break Toggles the RDP window between full screen mode and windowed mode
- Ctrl+Alt+Up/Down arrow View session selection bar
- Ctrl+Alt+Left/Right arrow Switch between sessions
- Ctrl+Alt+Home Activate connection bar in full-screen mode
- Ctrl+Alt+Insert Scroll the session
- Ctrl + Alt + Right arrow 'Tab' out of the Remote Desktop controls to a control in the host app (for example, a button or a text box). Useful when the Remote Desktop controls are embedded in another (host) app.
- Ctrl + Alt + Left arrow 'Tab' out of the Remote Desktop controls to a control in the host app (for example, a button or a text box). Useful when the Remote Desktop controls are embedded in another (host) app.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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