1. Microsoft Remote Desktop Send Ctrl Alt Deleted
2. Microsoft Remote Desktop Send Ctrl Alt Delete
3. Microsoft Remote Desktop Send Ctrl Alt Del Mac

I’m a fan of Microsoft’s Remote Desktop; it’s built into Windows and allows me to quickly and easily administer a remote box from the comfort of my own work station.I use it at my house to administer the headless servers on my home network, the Subtext build server, and the co-located VelocIT servers.

Scenario: Your PC (node1) and Remote PC (node2). Open the onscreen keyboard Start - All Programs - Accesories - Ease of Access - On-Screen Keyboard on node2. When you want to send ctrl + alt + del, press Ctrl + Alt in node1 and click del in node2. (Worked for me in node1=XP and node2=Win7). 1.Use CTRL+ALT+END instead of CTRL+ALT+DEL The best technique that everyone practices is to use CTRL+ALT+END instead of CTRL+ALT+DEL. The Remote Desktop uses the End key as a substitute for the Alt key. Since the combination we always use is used by our device, the application sends the End key and translates it as the Alt key.

Gotta’ love that magic!

Today a co-worker asked me how to send the infamous Control + Alt + Delete keystroke combination to a machine he was working on via RDP.This is a pretty common keystroke to use when trying administer windows… it does have uses other than just killing the box.

With Virtual PC there is menu item to send the keystrokes on to the virtual box.Go to the Action menu and select the Ctrl + Alt + Del option.

And with Remote Desktop?

Well it’s not quite as obvious. Actually it’s not an obvious solution at all…It might not even be documented!?

For the record, since I already knew the answer I decided to be lazy and didn’t bother to search the tubes for any official documentation.

To send the Ctrl + Alt + Del keystroke combination via RDP you actually need to use…

Ctrl + Alt + End

Microsoft Remote Desktop Send Ctrl Alt Deleted

Hmm… that sure is intuitive!

This post is just for sake of my mental sanity because I’m always forgetting the keystroke combination to perform a CTRL-ALT-DEL thru Remote Desktop on an Azure Virtual Machine because if you press a CTRL-ALT-DEL key combination it will perform that command in your local machine – maybe now next time I will remember it, otherwise I know were to look.

To bring up the Windows Security dialog box for the Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) (provides the same functionality as pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL on the local computer) you need to use the following keystroke combination: CTRL + ALT + END.

While researching, once again, I found out another very useful shortcut:

Microsoft Remote Desktop Send Ctrl Alt Delete

• ALT+PRINT SCREEN will place a snapshot of the active window, within the client, on the clipboard

Microsoft Remote Desktop Send Ctrl Alt Del Mac

To know more about other possible shortcuts please see Remote Desktop Services Shortcut Keys