Hi, I'm on Windows 7 Ultimate x64 connecting to Server 2008 x64 (NOT R2) via the terminal client, MSTSC "Remote Desktop". When I first connect, my connection shows as fullscreen (as per my settings) with the connection bar (the "flap" at the top that has the minimize, retore and close buttons on it). Here's my problem... if I hit the "restore down" button, the RD window shrinks down and I can resize it etc like any normal window. But now if I hit "maximize", instead of going fullscreen again (like in Vista's version) it maximizes the RD window, but leaves the title bar in place. So now my RD window has scrollbars because the titlebar and other bits of "chrome" around the window have shrunk the viewable area, but my remote desktop remains at the same resolution. Basically, I just want to know - once you have resized a Windows 7 remote desktop winow, how do you get it to go into fullscreen again, so there's no title bar etc. in the way, just the remote desktop you want to work on. Thanks much, Richard

Grrrr.... having the same problem! If you don't mind, please post if you found a solution (I'll do the same). UPDATE (10 minutes after posting my reply): Richard - you may have already found a solution, but in case you haven't (or for anyone else who searches for info on this problem and lands on this thread first), someone posted a workaround: there's some kind of a "bug" with certain resolution that cause it to refuse full screen. the only way to force it back to full screen mode is by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Break From: remote desktop won't return to full screen

hi had the same problem.. after running mstsc click options on the bottom left corner, go to display tab, display configuration, slide the bar to the end, it will change to full screen Regards, Bidali

I had the same problem. It turned out to be a toolbar / sidebar whatever you want to call it that was installed by the laptop manufacturer and it was sitting on top of the screen. Turn off any tooblars, sidebars, whatever bar you have on your desktop, and close all your remote desktops and try again that should take care off it. H

Hi, guys! Try [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Pause Break]. I use this to toggle Fullscreen/Window on Win7 Home Premium x32 and it works pretty well. Regards

Yes it sure does, ONLY if your laptop has [Pause Break] key. My new Dell laptop does not have that key. So I have to use On Screen keybaord for that feature. But why can't things just simply work! I guess it's too early in computer age for anything to work all the way... oh well. Life is to short, live with what you got. ;)

thank u brother, i have that isuse 4 so long but not any more thanks to you!!

You are a LIFE SAVER. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Just to add to this, my HP laptop also doesn't have a break key, but a bit of research and I find the pause key works as the break. THerefor Ctr Alt Pause gives me full screen in MSTSC

I also have a Dell Laptop and if you hold down ctrl + fn + alt + F12 it gives you the desired function. Works 100% for me.

Worked with dell laptop! ctrl + alt + fn + F12 works perfect!!

With my Dell Laptop worked also perfectly. (ctrl + alt + fn + F12) Tank you!

I have this problem too. Dell XPS14 laptop ... No Pause Key ... No Break Key... (ctrl +alt + fn + F12) doesn't work. The thing that bugs me most is ..... What's changed and WHY? I've been using remote desktop for years and maximizing always used to send it to full screen. Now suddenly I can't go to full screen without exiting and resetting the screen size with the slide bar in the options! WHY ?!?!?!?!?!? Ok just answered my own what question. Seems this has been broken in Windows 7. It still works fine as it used to on my old M65 running Vista. The question becomes Why has this been broken in Windows 7?

SOLUTION! For those of you who don't have [Pause Break] PRESS CTRL + FN + ALT (THEN TRY FROM F1 TO F12) And eventually you'll find one of your Function keys being tied to [Pause Break] mine in this case is [F6].

Having to press a hot key sequence is not a SOLUTION, espicially is the laptop doesn't have the required keys. This is a bug that MS needs to fix. It affects all win7 builds. Do not give in that this is fixed. I want a permanent solution released from MS.

Try Ctrl+Alt+fn+F6 worked for me with Dell Inspiron M5010

I Just had the same problem Windows 7 On Tosh satellite Pro - I resolved it by reducing my Screen resolution to 1280 x 800 - Running MSTSC and going to fullscreen (which it did) - Closed out - Reset Screen res back to 1440 x 900 and run MSTSC again - Problem Solved

I had to use ctrl-alt-fn-del to restore the remote desktop to full scrren on my dell xps l501x

You can recreate the problem if you use MSTSC and leave your computer going to sleep mode. Restart your laptop on a dock station and the remote desktop resolution will be wrong. The screen resolution has been set for your laptop's screen. You have to change the screen resolution and put it back on the good size. Remote desktop will not use the full screen.

i got an xps15 i use ctrl fn alt delete

Having to press a hot key sequence is not a SOLUTION, espicially is the laptop doesn't have the required keys. This is a bug that MS needs to fix. It affects all win7 builds. Do not give in that this is fixed. I want a permanent solution released from MS. --> TOTALLY AGREE! Used to work flawlessly in XP. Launched full screen, restored full screen, even when moved to secondary monitor and restored (went full screen). My ONLY gripe with Win7, but *a serious bug*. It impacts my productivity almost as much as it peeves me. I LIVE ON KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS, but expect to be able to seamlessly deliver them to the client PC without the local keyboard acrobatics first. Sir Gates; hear my prayer...

MSTSC , then OPTIONS, DISPLAY, and full screen

Thanks! ctl alt break completely fixed the problem for me.

I use the standard remote desktop full screen fine I use it lots when I need to manage my server Windows MVP, paid Remote Assistance is available for XP, Vista and Windows 7. My page on Video Card Problems is now my most popular landing page. See my gaming site for game reviews etc. Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Hardcore Games | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews

And your point -? How is this comment helpful to the next reader -? We are very glad that you are able to use it. We think you are a superstar and we wish you all the best.

suggestion to use the standard tool as it does work Windows MVP, paid Remote Assistance is available for XP, Vista and Windows 7. My page on Video Card Problems is now my most popular landing page. See my gaming site for game reviews etc. Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Hardcore Games | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews

I've been using remote desktop for years and maximizing always used to send it to full screen. Now suddenly I can't go to full screen without exiting and resetting the screen size with the slide bar in the options! WHY ?!?!?!?!?!? Why has this been broken in Windows 7? I totally agree. For me, clicking the Maximize button now makes the window SMALLER! There seems no reason for this illogical retrograde change. MS, please fix.

WTF. Are you trolling? Everyone already has the slider set to to full screen, that's not the problem. It opens in full screen just fine. The PROBLEM is that after you restore the window to move it around -- for example, to drag it to a second monitor -- when you then click MAXIMIZE, it FAILS to return to full screen. Instead, it keeps the title bar and adds scroll bars to the window. You either have to CLOSE THE WINDOW and RESTART REMOTE DESKTOP, or you have to press CTRL+ALT+PAUSE, which are really shitty workarounds, and certainly not solutions. A solution would be a link to a fuc|<ing update patch that fixes the problem, like six months ago when it really started to irritate people. Again, I repeat, the PROBLEM is the MAXIMIZE BUTTON FAILS to work as expected, failing to put remote desktop into full screen mode. It's a BUG in Windows 7 or whatever RDP Client was shipped with Windows 7, and it needs fixed. It's so irritating. Imagine if your maximize button on every window just stopped working, and Aero Snap stopped working, such that instead of doing what it's supposed to do... it did something else, like restore your window to a smaller size. It completely defeats the purpose of having the maximize button there in the first place, and simply wastes time and is irritating.

Ctrl+Alt+Break / Ctrl+Alt+Fn+F12 does indeed work, but only on the top level of remoting. If you have a remote session within a remote session it doesn't work on the inner session :( It used to before Win 7 Chris

I wonder if the local machine is corrupt that it affecting the ability to use the remote full screen. On mine I see the top bar that allows me to close it or minimize it when I need to cut and paste between machines. I have lots of virtual machines as well as my old Acer running Windows 8 to examine and comment on. Try a fresh install of Windows on a spare machine and see if that works any better Windows MVP 2010-11, XP, Vista, 7. Expanding into Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server, SharePoint etc. My page on Video Card Problems is now my most popular landing page. My Page on SSD is now #2. See my gaming site for game reviews etc. Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Hardcore Games | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews

Encountered, the same problem, I was on window 7 just went to display options and changed into the default optimum settings and then tried to reconnect to the session again and the problem was resolved

I should mention I use remote desktop full screen all the time, this way I can use the full desktop of the server I am managing Windows MVP 2010-11, XP, Vista, 7. Expanding into Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server, SharePoint, Cloud, Virtualization etc. etc. Hardcore Games, Legendary is the only Way to Play Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews

I should mention I use remote desktop full screen all the time, this way I can use the full desktop of the server I am managing Windows MVP 2010-11, XP, Vista, 7. Expanding into Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server, SharePoint, Cloud, Virtualization etc. etc. Hardcore Games, Legendary is the only Way to Play Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews HOLY COW. What's going on with this fanatic? I don't get it, those posts are not really in context with the issue or the rest of this forum. Anyway...I'm having the same issue as everyone other than the fanatic are writing about. I support a large number of Remote Desktops and clients and have only seen this a handfull of times. Thankfully the key sequence works but that's not cool. MICROSOFT...do we have any official response on this issue? Thanks.

I found this solution and worked for me, from the main screen I set it to lauch on full screen, later I resize the windows and finally I double click on the top bar of the rdc windows http://www.tech-forums.net/pc/f9/win7-remote-desktop-wont-full-screen-225627/ Hope this works for you, Hugo Z.

I've been running into this problem on my HP dm1 laptop that's got a screen resolution of 1366x768. I never ran into the problem on my other machines (1280x768 laptop or various size desktop monitors.) My keyboard has the word "pause" on the right shift key, and break isnt printed on any of the keys. The Function keys are a strange configuration on this machine, in that they do volume control, media playback, and screen brightness by default, and you have to hit the "fn" key to get normal "f1-f12" operation. Except that the f5 key doesn't have a secondary/primary usage, and seems to be a normal f5 key. I pretty much have resigned myself that if I forget and unmaximize a remote desktop session, I have to disconnect and reconnect if I want full screen again. If I remember which machine I'm on, I can minimize the session, and restore it to full screen, but once it's not in full screen mode, I'm SOL. If there's a general solution, I'd still love to know. Wim.

I found this thread first, but continued searching for the solution. I found this hotfix from microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2582172 It looks like Windows 7/2008 has some problem with 1366x768 and RDP. The hotfix resolved the problem for me. Good luck!

Thank you for posting this here. The hotfix has fixed my issue with remote desktop. Now if only I can figure out what to do about the missing keys on my HP laptop. (HP seems to have left off the Break key in their latest revisions. Having the break key might have been a workaround to the problem if I could have used the Ctrl+Alt+Break combination mentioned at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/What-shortcut-keys-can-I-use-in-Remote-Desktop-Connection.)

MS Provided a hotfix on this: http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Windows%207/Windows%20Server2008%20R2%20SP1/sp2/Fix377500/7600/free/435474_intl_x64_zip.exe) Works for me :)

On my Dell latitude the Insert key has "pause" in orange underneath it. This still works but you have to hit an extra key. Ctrl+Alt+Fn+(key with the Fn color Pause or Break)