Supply username and password to mstsc

Question

In previous versions of the remote desktop client there were methods of passing in the password through various methods. Has anybody found a good method using the latest remote desktop client? I'm aware of LaunchRDP but that doesn't meet our needs.

Perhaps somebody knows the algorithm so I can dynamically assemble RDP connection files?

Answer 1

I still have connection files with saved passwords that were saved and they still work.

The .rdp format is actually fairly decently documented, see these:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885187

http://asptutorials.net/windows/remote-desktop-connection-rdp-files/

Some documentation about the password hashses is at:

http://www.remkoweijnen.nl/blog/2007/10/18/how-rdp-passwords-are-encrypted/

Answer 2

1. Open Powershell
2. type ("YourPassword" | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force) | ConvertFrom-SecureString;
3. Add the resulting hash to the rdp file as password 51:b:<hash>

Note: This hashes the password per user, so sharing the rdp file with someone else means it wont work.

(11 year old question, but answering for future visitors)