How to use different desktop when using Windows Remote Desktop

Question

On my local PC, I have 3 monitors plugged in and active. My windows are positioned where I like them.

When I remote into this PC from a laptop with a single, small screen, the windows are all rearranged to fit into the one screen.

When I later log back in locally, all the windows of open applications are shifted, the taskbar is moved, and various other settings are 'wrecked'.

Is there any way to avoid this problem?

I want to log in with the same account both locally and via remote desktop.

Windows has "virtual desktops" where applications can be arranged differently on the various desktops. Can Remote Desktop use this concept and show a different virtual desktop?

Answer 1

I had a similar problem and could not find a good solution, so I wrote a small C# program to save and restore the positions of certain windows. It works fine for certain apps (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, VSCode) but not for all.

Windows 11 helps somewhat by introducing pre-configured layouts (e.g. two windows side by side) that you can populate with the programs you want.

You can find the WinPos code on GitHub. I can add instructions to the code if anyone finds it useful.

Pros & Cons: WinPos is more flexible: allows you to specify any size and position for the programs you use. But it cannot position certain apps, and I don't know why.

Windows 11 layouts work more reliably, but the choice of layouts is more limited and you need to re-populate the layout every time you log on in a different way.