In Windows Remote Desktop Connection (RDP), you can easily enable the option to use all monitors in a multi-monitor environment through the graphical interface.
However, the standard Remote Desktop Connection dialog does not let you configure a setup like this:
- Three monitors are connected to the local PC.
- Only two of them should be used for RDP.
- The remaining monitor should stay available for local work.
To do this, save an .rdp file and add the selectedmonitors property directly.
1. Find the monitor IDs
First, check the monitor IDs recognized by RDP.
Open Command Prompt or PowerShell and run:
mstsc /l
You can also run:
mstsc.exe /l
The command displays the connected monitors and their internal RDP IDs.
For example, a PC with three monitors might show these IDs:
0
1
2
These numbers do not necessarily match the Display 1, Display 2, and Display 3 labels shown in Windows Display settings.
Always use the IDs reported by mstsc /l. Microsoft documents the /l option as the way to obtain monitor IDs for the selectedmonitors RDP file setting.
2. Save an RDP file
Start Remote Desktop Connection:
mstsc
Select Show Options, configure the destination and other settings, and then use Save As to save an .rdp file.
For example:
MyPC.rdp
3. Open the RDP file in a text editor
Open the saved .rdp file in Notepad or another text editor.
The file contains settings similar to these:
screen mode id:i:2
use multimon:i:1
full address:s:192.0.2.10
Add the property that specifies which monitors to use.
4. Select the two monitors
Suppose mstsc /l shows that you want to use monitors 0 and 1 for RDP. Add these settings:
use multimon:i:1
selectedmonitors:s:0,1
Even with three monitors connected, RDP will now use only monitors 0 and 1. The remaining monitor stays available for local Windows applications.
The selectedmonitors property requires use multimon:i:1. This requirement is documented in Microsoft’s RDP property specification.
Configuration examples
Suppose the PC has these three monitors:
Monitor A Monitor B Monitor C
0 1 2
To use monitors A and B for RDP while leaving monitor C for local work, use:
screen mode id:i:2
use multimon:i:1
selectedmonitors:s:0,1
To use monitors B and C for RDP instead, use:
screen mode id:i:2
use multimon:i:1
selectedmonitors:s:1,2
Choosing the primary monitor for the RDP session
Of the IDs specified in selectedmonitors, the first monitor listed becomes the primary display in the remote session.
For example:
selectedmonitors:s:1,2
This makes monitor 1 the primary monitor in the RDP session.
Reversing the order:
selectedmonitors:s:2,1
makes monitor 2 the primary monitor instead.
Change the order depending on where you want the taskbar and Start menu to appear.
The selected monitors must be contiguous
The selectedmonitors property has an important restriction: according to Microsoft’s specification, the selected displays must be contiguous in the Windows display layout.
For example, if three monitors are arranged in a horizontal row:
+---------+---------+---------+
| Monitor | Monitor | Monitor |
| A | B | C |
+---------+---------+---------+
Select two adjacent displays, such as A + B or B + C.
A selection such as A + C, which skips monitor B in the middle, does not meet the contiguous-display requirement.
If necessary, try changing the monitor arrangement under Settings → System → Display in Windows.
Complete example
Suppose the remote destination is:
192.0.2.10
and you want to use monitors 0 and 1. The relevant part of the RDP file is:
screen mode id:i:2
use multimon:i:1
selectedmonitors:s:0,1
full address:s:192.0.2.10
An actual .rdp file contains many other settings for display size, sound, clipboard redirection, authentication, and more. You can leave those settings unchanged.
In most cases, you only need to verify or add these two lines:
use multimon:i:1
selectedmonitors:s:0,1
Connect to the remote PC
Save the edited .rdp file and double-click it.
The important point is to connect through the edited .rdp file, rather than launching a new connection directly from mstsc.exe.
With the configuration working, two monitors are used for RDP and the third remains available to local Windows:
+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| RDP | RDP | Local |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Troubleshooting
First, check the current monitor IDs again:
mstsc /l
Connecting or disconnecting a monitor, or changing the Windows display configuration, can result in different IDs from the ones you expected.
Next, confirm that the .rdp file contains:
use multimon:i:1
Then verify that the IDs in:
selectedmonitors:s:0,1
match the IDs shown by mstsc /l.
Finally, confirm that the selected monitors are contiguous in the Windows display layout.
Summary
To use only two of three monitors with Remote Desktop, set selectedmonitors in an RDP file.
First, run:
mstsc /l
to find the monitor IDs.
Then add settings like these to the .rdp file:
use multimon:i:1
selectedmonitors:s:0,1
This lets you use two monitors for RDP and keep the third monitor for local work.
It is particularly useful for a laptop with two external monitors, or a desktop PC with a three-monitor setup, when you want to work locally and remotely at the same time.