How do I press Ctrl Alt end in Remote Desktop?

The Remote Desktop Protocol is one of the most useful tools built into Microsoft Windows operating systems. It allows you to control a remote Windows machine as if it were straight in front of you. There are, however, some caveats you need to keep in mind.  One such thing is the inability to use keyboard shortcuts by default. Although seemingly unimportant, Windows power users will notice the difference immediately.

Luckily, this setting can be changed when establishing a connection. If you wish to keep this setting unchanged, there are also several other methods that can be used to replace the famous CTRL+ALT+DELETE key combo.

Why use the CTRL+ALT+DELETE keyboard shortcut?

Along with CTLR+C and CTRL+V for copy and paste, CTRL+ALT+DELETE is one of the first keyboard shortcuts a new Windows user learns. The main use for it is to open the Task Manager, from which you can terminate and restart tasks & services that are not responding, as well as see the resource usage of your machine and edit what applications are run on startup.

However, there are other important uses for this shortcut. The menu that it opens also contains options for you to lock the computer (i.e. if you have a password set), switch the user account, and sign out of the current user. At the bottom right, you could also change the network you are connected to, access the Accessibility options, and put your computer to sleep, shut it down, or restart it. With all these features available at a click of a few keys, it can be seen how this is one of the most useful keyboard shortcuts.

What is an RDP?

RDP (i.e. Remote Desktop Protocol) is a protocol developed by Microsoft that allows you to remotely access and control a Windows OS machine over the internet. The feature is built-in to Windows operating system, thus it does not require you to install any additional applications and is easy to use. If you want to establish the connection from a non-Windows machine, however, you will need to install the Microsoft Remote Desktop App.

How to use CTRL+ALT+DELETE in RDP?

Now that you know why use this keyboard shortcut, let us show you how to use CTRL ALT Delete In Remote desktop?

Method 1:

Step 1: The first method is to enable keyboard shortcuts for RDP connections. To do so, when establishing a connection (Windows key + R, then type mstsc into the Run box and press Enter), click on the Show Options button.

Step 2: Then navigate to the Local Resources tab.

Step 3: Under Keyboard, you will see “Apply Windows key combinations”. Click on the drop-down menu and select On the remote computer.

Method 2:

Another way to use this shortcut is to use the on-screen keyboard feature within the RDP host.      

Step 1: Type into the Windows search bar osk and select On-Screen Keyboard. From there you can use all the Windows keyboard shortcuts.

Step 2: If you are using CTRL+ALT+DELETE to access the Task Manager but want to keep using windows keyboard shortcuts on your computer instead of sending them through to the RDP, there are other ways to do it.

Step 3: Right Click on Taskbar

When you right-click on the taskbar in windows, one of the options in the newly-opened menu is to open the Task Manager. It can be seen here:

Step 4: Windows Search

If the RDP host is running Windows 10, you can open the Task Manager by simply typing in Task Manager into the Windows search bar.

Conclusion

If you belong to IT support, then RDP is one of the frequently used tools. It can be difficult to manage everything so frequently. Having shortcuts handy makes every task easy and time-saving. It is better to set up a few shortcuts for your applications. 

In this article, we have mentioned how you can set up keyboard shortcuts for RDP. 

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Category: Tutorials

Is there a way to send the Ctrl-Alt-Del command to an RDP session (Windows Server 2008 R2) inside another RDP session (also Windows Server 2008 R2) without the first session catching it?

Ctrl+Alt+End and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+End do not reach the 2nd level session.

Top-level environment is Windows 7 Enterprise.

Remote Desktop is a nifty little windows feature that allows you to remotely connect to another PC and manage it as if you were physically at the console.

You can read my previous post on how to setup remote desktop in Windows XP. If you need to remote desktop into Windows 10, read this post.

When connecting to another machine, just about all keyboard actions are transmitted to the remote machine, i.e. pressing Enter, typing, pressing the Windows key, etc. However, that is not the case for some key combinations.

One that has bothered me for a very long time when using Remote Desktop in Windows is when I press Ctrl + Alt + Del while logged into the remote computer. Instead of sending the key combo to the remote computer, it would instead perform the action on my computer!

This was actually intended by Microsoft because there are many cases where you may not want that to be sent to the remote computer. So, by default, Ctrl + Alt + Del will only work for the local computer.

So how does one perform this same action on the remote computer? It’s pretty easy actually! In order to send Ctrl + Alt + Del to the remote PC, just press the following alternate key combination:

That’s it! Pretty easy eh? Unfortunately, I tend to use Remote Desktop rarely and therefore forget this key combo all the time!

Some people have also followed up with me and asked about multiple RDP sessions, i.e. A – B – C. So A is remotely connected to B and B is remotely connected to C. In this case, you have to load up the On-Screen Keyboard on the final machine (C). You can do that by running osk.exe (press Windows key + R and typing in osk).

Now on your host machine (A), press and hold the CTRL and ALT keys on your physical keyboard and then press the DEL key on the on-screen keyboard. That’s one way to do it.

You can also open the on-screen keyboard on computer B and then type CTRL + ALT + END, which will send CTRL + ALT + DEL to computer C.

Also, note that there are a bunch of other keyboard shortcuts you can use in Remote Desktop:

Those are pretty much all of the remote desktop keyboard shortcuts you will ever need! If you know of anymore, post a comment! Enjoy!

Microsoft Windows has a neat and smart diminutive feature – Remote Desktop which allows its users to remotely hook up to another system & handle as well as control it as if the user is physically present at the other system residing at another location. As soon as you connect to another system remotely, all its keyboard actions get passed on to the remote system, i.e. when you press the Windows key, type anything, press the Enter or backspace key, etc it acts on the remote machine that has been connected using the Remote Desktop. However, there are some special cases with key combinations where some key combinations don’t work the way as expected.

Now the question arises, how to send CTRL+ALT+Delete to a remote desktop? These three combinational keys are generally used to switch users, sign out, open Task Manager, and locking the computer. Previously, until the existence of Windows 7, these combinations were only used to open Task Manager. There are two methods to send Ctrl+Alt+Del in a Remote Desktop session. One is the alternate key combination, and the other is the on-screen keyboard.

Send Ctrl+Alt+Delete in a Remote Desktop Session

One of the key combinations that don’t work is the “CTRL + ALT + Delete” key combination. If you are planning to learn how to send CTRL+ALT+Delete in Remote Desktop for changing a password, you have to lock the RDP screen or log off. The “CTRL + ALT + Delete” key combination won’t work because your own OS utilizes it for your personal system. In this article, you will get to know about some methods that you can use as an alternative for “CTRL + ALT + Delete” while in a remote desktop connection.

Method 1: Use “CTRL + ALT + End”or “Fn + End”

In Remote Desktop, you have to press the key combination: “CTRL + ALT + End”. It will work as an alternative. You can find the “End” key in the upper right side of your screen; located to the top right side of your “Enter” key. If you have a small keyboard where the num-key section is not there, and you have the “Fn” (function) key which is usually on a laptop or external USB keyboard, you can hold down the “Fn” i.e. function key for pressing “End”. This key combination also works for older Terminal Server sessions.

1. Open Remote Desktop Connection by pressing Window Key + R on the keyboard and type “mstsc” then click OK.

2. Remote Desktop Connection Window will pop up. Click on “Show Options” at the bottom.

3. Go to the “Local Resource” tab. Make sure to select the ‘Only when using the full screen’ using the Keyboard drop-down.

4. Now, navigate to the General tab and type the Computer’s IP address and username of the system to which you want to connect remotely, and click Connect.

5. Once you are connected to the Remote Desktop Session, perform the action using CTRL+ALT+END as the alternative key combinations instead of CTRL+ALT+Delete.

The “Ctrl+Alt+End” key is the new alternate combination that will send Ctrl+Alt+Del in Remote Desktop Session. 

Also Read: Enable Remote Desktop on Windows 10 under 2 Minutes

Method 2: On-Screen Keyboard

Another trick that you can use to make sure your “CTRL + ALT + Del” works when you are in a Remote Desktop connection is:

1. As you are connected to the Remote Desktop, click the “Start”

2. Now, type “osk” (for on-screen keyboard – short form), then open the “On-Screen Keyboard” in your remote desktop screen.

3. Now, physically on your personal PC’s keyboard, press the key combination: “Ctrl” and “Alt”, and then manually click the “Del” key on your remote Desktop’s On-Screen Keyboard window.

Here are lists of some key combinations that you can use when you are using Remote Desktop: 

• Alt + Page Up for switching between programs (i.e. Alt + Tab is the local machine)
• Ctrl + Alt + End for displaying the Task Manager (i.e. Ctrl + Shift + Esc is the local machine)
• Alt + Home for bringing up the Start menu on the remote computer
• Ctrl + Alt + (+) Plus/ (-) Minus for taking a snapshot of the active window as well as taking a snapshot of the complete remote desktop window.

Method 3: Manually Change the Password

If you are planning to use the shortcut key Ctrl + Alt + Del just to open the Task manager on your remote desktop, then you don’t have to. You can simply right-click on your taskbar and choose Task Manager.

Again, if you want to change your password on your remote desktop, you can manually do so. Just navigate to

For Windows 7, 8, 10, 2008, 2012, 2016, as well as Vista, you can just click the “Start” and type “change password” for changing the password.

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We hope this guide was helpful and you were able to send Ctrl+Alt+Del in a Remote Desktop Session. Still, if you have any queries regarding this guide then feel free to ask them in the comment section.