Question

Difference between MSTSC/console and Remote Desktop Connection

Asked by: faisal_n_k

Hey Guys,

Just one query here what is the difference between mstsc/console and Remote desktop Connection in Win Xp or Win Server 2003 while connecting to a remote computer or server. If I m not clear with the question please do let me know.

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2007-03-28 at 10:24:58ID22478245
Tags

mstsc

,

console

Topic

Remote Desktop/Terminal Services

Participating Experts
3
Points
50
Comments
6

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. MSTSC /CONSOLE Equivalent
    I use RDP to manage multiple Server 2003 machines for clients. In XP, I would use MSTSC /CONSOLE to access the current session rather than creating a new session. Some of the programs used are not able to run as a service so I need to connect to the active session. I am ab...
  2. Need a customized mstsc console
    Hi, Need a customized mstsc console in this i have a scroll of machine names and next to it a button to connect. All the machine names will be in a text file and the username and password should be stored in a file. Connecting to any machine in the txt file would be only 1 u...
  3. MSTSC /console and /admin not working
    Have Vista Ultimate SP1 and can no longer connect to console using mstsc /console. As well, mstsc /admin retrieves and error. mstsc /? only shows /console and not /admin. How can I fix this? Dell XPS M1330 Vista Ultimate SP1 Connecting to Server 03 boxes
  4. What is the difference mstsc and mstsc /console?
    What is the difference mstsc and mstsc /console? If we type in cmd..i ll get an RDP window to enter server address what is the difference when i type mstsc and mstsc /console ?
  5. Remote Connection using mstsc and mstsc /console
    I do mstsc and take a remote of a machine and start a application but when i close the remote connection leaving the application running i could see the application closing after 15 to 30 minutes but when i do mstsc /console it was running fine till i close it manually. I ha...
  6. cant get console on mstsc
    im trying to get a rdp console to a server 2003 r2 box from a xp sp3 box. from a command window im using "mstsc /v:server /console". this does not work, it just adds a process to task manager but does not launch a window. it was simple in the older version of the TS...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: QlemoPosted on 2007-03-28 at 10:31:06ID: 18810129

mstsc.exe *is* Remote Desktop Connection.
If you type a ip address and append /console in RDP Client, that's the same as mstsc /console.

If targeting a XP or Vista pc, no difference in any case
If targeting wiin2003, /console connects you with the interactive session of that server, while without /console you will get a separate session.

 

by: faisal_n_kPosted on 2007-03-28 at 10:35:17ID: 18810160

Thanks buddy I was able to find out the answer in one of the other posts here on the experts but ethically the points are yours.

Cheers buddy take care

 

by: faisal_n_kPosted on 2007-03-28 at 10:43:44ID: 18810221

Hey buddy from this sol one question more arises in my mind lets say if some application is running on some machine and I connect using the same username and password as logged on that machine using "RDC" then I log off will the session active on that machine also log off and the application running will stop and to avoid it do we use the MSTSC/console.

Cheers

 

by: QlemoPosted on 2007-03-28 at 12:08:13ID: 18810923

To earn my points :-), I have to answer ...

If you are using RDP, in ANY case take care of your logoff. Logoff should only be used on non-console, temporarily used  sessions. If you log off, the applications will indeed terminate, even if you take over a session from another user. If everything should run as before, just CLOSE RDP session, this will leave the session alive.

 

by: abalPosted on 2007-12-11 at 20:52:14ID: 20455134

Following by faisal_n_k question I have some Crystal Report files that run well under non-console sessions but the same reports are not working under console session. Can you please explain?

 

by: -CyberIT-Posted on 2009-10-08 at 06:34:36ID: 25525145

Im trying to connect to a Server 2003 by using the Remote Desktop Connection.  How can I connect to the console every time instead of a seperate connection every time?

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...