Get started with the Windows Desktop client

Applies to: Windows 10, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, and Windows 7

You can use the Remote Desktop client for Windows Desktop to access Windows apps and desktops remotely from a different Windows device.

• This documentation is not for the Remote Desktop Connection (MSTSC) client that ships with Windows. It’s for the new Remote Desktop (MSRDC) client.
• This client currently only supports accessing remote apps and desktops from Windows Virtual Desktop.
• Curious about the new releases for the Windows Desktop client? Check out What’s new in the Windows Desktop client

Install the client

Choose the client that matches the version of Windows. The new Remote Desktop client (MSRDC) supports Windows 10, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, and Windows 7 client devices.

You can install the client for the current user, which doesn’t require admin rights, or your admin can install and configure the client so that all users on the device can access it.

Once you’ve installed the client, you can launch it from the Start menu by searching for Remote Desktop.

Update the client

You’ll be notified whenever a new version of the client is available as long as your admin hasn’t disabled notifications. The notification will appear in either the Connection Center or the Windows Action Center. To update your client, just select the notification.

You can also manually search for new updates for the client:

1. From the Connection Center, tap the overflow menu (. ) on the command bar at the top of the client.
2. Select About from the drop-down menu.
3. The client automatically searches for updates.
4. If there’s an update available, tap Install update to update the client.

Workspaces

Get the list of managed resources you can access, such as apps and desktops, by subscribing to the Workspace your admin provided you. When you subscribe, the resources become available on your local PC. The Windows Desktop client currently supports resources published from Windows Virtual Desktop.

Subscribe to a Workspace

There are two ways you can subscribe to a Workspace. The client can try to discover the resources available to you from your work or school account or you can directly specify the URL where your resources are for cases where the client is unable to find them. Once you’ve subscribed to a Workspace, you can launch resources with one of the following methods:

• Go to the Connection Center and double-click a resource to launch it.
• You can also go to the Start menu and look for a folder with the Workspace name or enter the resource name in the search bar.

Subscribe with a user account

1. From the main page of the client, tap Subscribe.
2. Sign in with your user account when prompted.
3. The resources will appear in the Connection Center grouped by Workspace.

Subscribe with URL

1. From the main page of the client, tap Subscribe with URL.
2. Enter the Workspace URL or your email address:
   • If you use the Workspace URL, use the one your admin gave you. If accessing resources from Windows Virtual Desktop, you can use one of the following URLs:
     • Windows Virtual Desktop (classic): https://rdweb.wvd.microsoft.com/api/feeddiscovery/webfeeddiscovery.aspx
     • Windows Virtual Desktop: https://rdweb.wvd.microsoft.com/api/arm/feeddiscovery
   • To use email, enter your email address. This tells the client to search for a URL associated with your email address if your admin has setup email discovery.
3. Tap Next.
4. Sign in with your user account when prompted.
5. The resources will appear in the Connection Center grouped by Workspace.

Workspace details

After subscribing, you can view additional information about a Workspace on the Details panel:

• The name of the Workspace
• The URL and username used to subscribe
• The number of apps and desktops
• The date/time of the last refresh
• The status of the last refresh

Accessing the Details panel:

1. From the Connection Center, tap the overflow menu (. ) next to the Workspace.
2. Select Details from the drop-down menu.
3. The Details panel appears on the right side of the client.

After you’ve subscribed, the Workspace will refresh automatically on a regular basis. Resources may be added, changed, or removed based on changes made by your admin.

You can also manually look for updates to the resources when needed by selecting Refresh from the Details panel.

Refreshing a Workspace

You can manually refresh a Workspace by selecting Refresh from the overflow menu (. ) next to the Workspace.

Unsubscribe from a Workspace

This section will teach you how to unsubscribe from a Workspace. You can unsubscribe to either subscribe again with a different account or remove your resources from the system.

1. From the Connection Center, tap the overflow menu (. ) next to the Workspace.
2. Select Unsubscribe from the drop-down menu.
3. Review the dialog box and select Continue.

Managed desktops

Workspaces can contain multiple managed resources, including desktops. When accessing a managed desktop, you have access to all the apps installed by your admin.

Desktop settings

You can configure some of the settings for desktop resources to ensure the experience meets your needs. To access the list of available settings right-click on the desktop resource and select Settings.

The client will use the settings configured by your admin unless you turn off the Use default settings option. Doing so allows you to configure the following options:

• Display configuration selects which displays to use for the desktop session and impacts which additional settings are available.
  • All displays ensures the session always uses all your local displays even when some of them are added or removed later.
  • Single display ensures the session always uses a single display and allows you to configure its properties.
  • Select displays allows you to choose which displays to use for the session and provides an option to dynamically change the list of displays during the session.
• Select the displays to use for the session specifies which local displays to use for the session. All selected displays must be adjacent to each other. This setting is only available in Select display mode.
• Maximize to current displays determines which displays the sessions will use when going full screen. When enabled, the session goes full screen on the displays touched by the session window. This allows you to change displays during the session. When disabled, the session goes full screen on the same displays it was on the last time it was full screen. This setting is only available in Select display mode and is disabled otherwise.
• Single display when windowed determines which displays are available in the session when exiting full screen. When enabled, the session switches to a single display in windowed mode. When disabled, the session retains the same displays in windowed mode as in full screen. This setting is only available in All displays and Select display modes and is disabled otherwise.
• Start in full screen determines whether the session will launch in full-screen or windowed mode. This setting is only available in Single display mode and is enabled otherwise.
• Fit session to window determines how the session is displayed when the resolution of the remote desktop differs from the size of the local window. When enabled, the session content will be resized to fit inside the window while preserving the aspect ratio of the session. When disabled, scrollbars or black areas will be shown when the resolution and window size don’t match. This setting is available in all modes.
• Update the resolution on resize makes the remote desktop resolution automatically update when you resize the session in windowed mode. When disabled, the session always remains at whichever resolution you specify in Resolution. This setting is only available in Single display mode and is enabled otherwise.
• Resolution lets you specify the resolution of the remote desktop. The session will retain this resolution for its entire duration. This setting is only available in Single display mode and when Update the resolution on resize is disabled.
• Change the size of the text and apps specifies the size of the content of the session. This setting only applies when connecting to Windows 8.1 and later or Windows Server 2012 R2 and later. This setting is only available in Single display mode and when Update the resolution on resize is disabled.

Give us feedback

Have a feature suggestion or want to report a problem? Tell us with the Feedback Hub.

You can also give us feedback by selecting the button that looks like a smiley face emoticon in the client app, as shown in the following image:

To best help you, we need you to give us as detailed information about the issue as possible. For example, you can include screenshots or a recording of the actions you took leading up to the issue. For more tips about how to provide helpful feedback, see Feedback.

Access client logs

You might need the client logs when investigating a problem.

To retrieve the client logs:

1. Ensure no sessions are active and the client process isn’t running in the background by right-clicking on the Remote Desktop icon in the system tray and selecting Disconnect all sessions.
2. Open File Explorer.
3. Navigate to the %temp%\DiagOutputDir\RdClientAutoTrace folder.

—>

Hide windows and reveal your desktop with one click with Show Desktop tool from Parallels Toolbox

Do you manage your files, screenshots or shortcuts on your Mac desktop? If so, then you probably find yourself needing to clear away your open windows and applications quickly to access your desktop. I find myself needing to do this multiple times during my workday. If you manage the real estate of your Mac like me, your screen might look like this:

Luckily, there’s a way to easily hide windows so you can see your desktop on macOS—with one click. The Show Desktop tool in Parallels Toolbox enables you to hide or close all opened windows at once.

When a window is hidden, it can easily be accessed by clicking on the application icon in the macOS dock.

Parallels Toolbox tool Show Desktop in action.

Our engineers designed Parallels® Toolbox as an all-in-one suite for creative individuals, students, small-business owners, chronic multitaskers, IT managers and everyone in between. The helpfulness of Show Desktop is not restricted to a specific industry. A wide variety of users in the digital workplace often find themselves stuck minimizing, closing, quitting and deleting files that were needed to get their task done.

Our goal with the Show Desktop tool is to save those precious files, save your time and provide peace of mind knowing you never have to click more than once to get this job done.

Tips and tricks:

• In the tool’s preferences, the default “hide” can be changed to “quit” to quickly wrap up what you might be working on.
• To see which applications will be quit by this tool, use CMD + Tab as a shortcut.

Parallels Toolbox is our all-in-one solution with over 30 tools for macOS and Windows 10. With just one click, you can save space on your hard drive, create high-quality content, quickly optimize your computer for a presentation and so much more. Our economical suite of tools replaces the need for multiple applications and programs. Try a free 7-day trial of Parallels Toolbox for macOS or Windows 10 from the links below!

Fix: Slow Desktop Right Click Menu In Windows 10

Last Updated on March 3, 2020 by admin 68 Comments

The desktop context menu or popularly known as desktop right-click menu, which appears when you perform a right-click on an empty spot on the Windows 10 desktop, is useful to quickly access Settings and display settings, show/hide desktop icons, sort desktop items, and create a new folder on the desktop.

Ever since the release of Windows 10, several users have been complaining about the slow desktop context menu. According to users who have been experiencing this issue, when you perform a right-click on the empty area of the desktop, the context menu doesn’t appear instantly. The context menu appears slowly after about 4 seconds.

If you’re also experiencing the slow desktop right-click menu issue in Windows 10, you will be happy to know that the problem can be fixed in a few minutes. In most cases, the desktop context menu takes longer than usual time to appear because of the integrated third-party items like Intel graphics card properties and the NVIDIA Control Panel.

Follow the given below directions to remove third-party entries from the desktop context menu and fix the slow desktop right-click issue in Windows 10.

Method 1 of 2

Fix the slow desktop context menu in Windows 10

Step 1: In the Start menu or taskbar search box, type Regedit and then press Enter key to open Registry Editor. If you see the User Account Control dialog, please press the Yes button.

Step 2: Once the Registry Editor is launched, navigate to the following key:

Step 3: Under ContextMenuHandlers, several folders will appear.

Step 4: In order to remove Intel Graphics Properties and Graphics Options entries, you need to delete igfxcui and igfxDTCM folders. To delete a folder, simply right-click on it and then click Delete. Click Yes when you see the confirmation dialog.

Likewise, if your PC has NVIDIA graphics hardware, you will see NvCplDesktopContext under ContextMenuHandlers. Simply right-click on it and then click Delete.

You may close the Registry Editor now.

Step 5: The desktop context menu should now appear instantly, without any delay. If not, restart your PC once.

Method 2 of 2

Another way to fix the slow desktop context menu in Windows 10

Those of you who don’t want to play the Registry can use a free utility called ShellExView to remove those entries from the desktop context menu. Here is how to download and use ShellExView on Windows 10.

Step 1: Visit this page and download the latest version of ShellExView. Note that the download link appears towards the end of the page.

Step 2: Extract the zip file and then run the shellexview.exe file by double-clicking on it. Click Yes button when you see the User Account Control prompt.

Step 3: The tool will take a few seconds to scan your PC for context menu entries.

Step 4: Finally, look for the entry named NVIDIA CPL Context Menu Extension, right-click on it and then click Disable.

Likewise, if you have Intel graphics, under Extensions, look for two entries named TheDesktopContextMenu Class and TheDesktopContextMenu Class and disable them by right-clicking on them and then clicking Disable. You might need to restart Windows Explorer once or perform a reboot to see the change.

Related Articles

Comments

How I fixed my case (laptop HP Pavilion, Intel Core i7 , 8th gen).

The handler connected to Microsoft apk “People” caused 5 -8 sec lag when you open the context menu with right mice button. I used the “ShellExView” to investigate the culprit of this lag. When I click to “Handlers”, no handlers have been highlighted in “ShellExView”. Since this lag was happened recently, I checked the dates of all handlers and regroup them by installation date. The Jan. 13th 2021 (the latest update from Microsoft) was applied to my laptop. I found 10 handlers installed on this date and blocked them. Restarted file explorer and NO LAGS any more !!

So, I was enabling one by one subsequently until found that handler named ” Pin To Start Screen verb handler” was the only one who caused such crazy lag. Of course, I uninstalled the Apk “People” which was installed with latest windows update. In order to successfully uninstall the People apk, this handler should be enabled and than blocked again after. I did it in order to avoid messing with Registry editor.

FYI, my older laptop with different Intel processor and Display adapter driver, still do not have the same lag problem. Just in case, I also uninstalled this People apk and blocked the appropriate handler named above.

Hope this will help in similar situation – at least, it is worth to try. It is obvious that bad handler is not interacting equally bad with different versions of the screen adapters.

You are amazing. I love you

rhusselle rivera says

aw thank you so much.. i deleted my user file and it did made a mess..

it fix it. Thank you!

Yogesh Jain says

Thanks it worked. the right click is instantaneous now.
Although, for those like me, who might be wondering what they are about to delete on some random online advice, that too after allowing admin rights..

By following these steps, you are not deleting/uninstalling anything. You are just about to remove the registry for the graphics controller to be shown in context menu (right click menu).

Further, if you are little skeptical, and don’t want to loose access to graphics options, follow the following before deleting:
First right click on the desktop > Graphics options > Enable to be seen in panel tray.

That way, you can still perform all the functions from the panel tray (located in the bottom right corner of your pc) even after it is gone from context menu, as the icon will be present in it.

Thank you sooo much! Wish I had found this guide a year ago.

very nice… working 100%

Jerry Ensminger says

Thank you very much. Worked for me. Enough said, but still wondering what I deleted. Ha. Thanks again.

Bob Nestel says

To clarify my other comment: The bottom two items do not need to be removed. I put them back in and all the right mouse context menus are still fast.

Bob Nestel says

The above fix did not work for me but I finally got it. Right click was slow on some items, fast on others. Made table of items. Slow items all had “pin to desktop” in their context menu. Removed from registry and all were fast. Thanks to Shawn Brink:
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\PintoStartScreen]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\PintoStartScreen]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Microsoft.Website\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\PintoStartScreen]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mscfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\PintoStartScreen]
Oh yea, I also took out the following two keys first and it may have made some items fast but the above really solved it.
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\<90aa3a4e-1cba-4233-b8bb-535773d48449>]

Wow.. Thankyou.. It worked!

I have NVIDIA graphics hardware and it was driving me nuts trying to figure out why it was taking so long to open when I right-clicked the on the display. Your solution fixed it immediately once I deleted the NvCplDesktopContext under ContextMenuHandlers.

Krishna Balabhadrapathuruni says

Awesome, I deleted the Regedit folders and it worked!

Piotr Biesiada says

Google Drive was taking much time, removed from the registry and the problem is gone! 🙂

thank you the second method worked for me

It worked instantly. But how to access ‘Graphic Properties’, from the start menu?