RDP 6.1 Features and Enhancements

RDP was previously enhanced in Windows Vista RTM and again in Windows Vista SP1 to provide more robust remote access capabilities for users in enterprise environments. Additional services were also added on the server side in Windows Server 2008 to provide new capabilities for remote clients. See the section titled "Understanding Remote Desktop Services Terminology" later in this tutorial for more information about these services.

On the Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 platforms, RDP 6.1 provided the following features and enhancements:

• PnP device redirection for media players and digital cameras Users can redirect supported Windows Portable Devices, such as certain media players and digital cameras that use the Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) or Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP). PnP device redirection over cascaded Remote Desktop connections is not supported, however.
• Windows Embedded for Point of Service device redirection Users can redirect Windows Embedded for Point of Service devices that use Microsoft Point of Service (POS) for .NET 1.1, a class library that provides Microsoft .NET Framework applications with an interface for communicating with POS peripheral devices from Windows Server 2008 Remote Desktop Session Hosts. You can download Microsoft POS for .NET 1.1 from the Microsoft Download Center at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6025b728-ec06-48f9-bc80-c38b2a27a242&displaylang=en. It requires the .NET Framework Redistributable Package version 1.1 or higher.
• Custom display ratios and resolutions Users can customize RDC to support monitors with resolution as high as 4096 x 2048 with display resolution ratios as large as 16:9 or 16:10. The previous version RDP 5.2 supports only a 4:3 display resolution ratio at a maximum resolution of 1600 x 1050.
• Multiple monitor spanning Users can span multiple monitors placed together to form a single, large desktop that can enhance productivity. Monitors must use the same resolution and can be spanned only side by side, not vertically. The maximum resolution across all spanned monitors cannot exceed 4096 x 2048. Repositioning of dialog boxes is not supported, including the Winlogon dialog box.
• Desktop Experience By installing the Desktop Experience feature on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Session Host, users of remote computers can use Windows Vista features such as new desktop themes and Windows Media Player 11, within a Remote Desktop session.
• Desktop composition and font smoothing Lets users use desktop composition and ClearType font smoothing within a Remote Desktop session to enhance readability on liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors.
• Display data prioritization Users can customize RDC to prioritize keyboard, mouse, and display traffic so that the Remote Desktop experience is not adversely affected when bandwidth-intensive tasks are being performed on the remote computer, such as copying large files or submitting large print jobs. For more information, see the section titled "Improving Remote Desktop Performance" later in this tutorial.
• Network Level Authentication Support Users can configure Remote Desktop to enable a connection from only clients that support Network Level Authentication. With Network Level Authentication, the user/client and server can negotiate a secure channel for exchanging data prior to allocating resources for sessions.
• Server authentication Allows users to verify that their RDC client is connecting to the correct remote computer or Remote Desktop Session Host. This provides increased security and protection of confidential information by ensuring that you are connecting to the computer to which you intend to connect.