Remote desktop auto start session on workstation login

You should be able to accomplish this pretty easy.

• Setup the client to auto start, use one of these methods.

  • Drop an RDP file or shortcut in their startup group or the system startup group.
  • Set a group policy that will automatically start the terminal server client at logon
    • GPO: User Configuration \ Admin Templates \ System \ Logon \ Run these programs at logon
    • The user will have a local desktop, and there may be a short delay between the display of the desktop and the client automatically launching.
  • Set mstsc as the windows shell
    • GPO: User Configuration \ Admin Templates \ System \ Custom User Interface
    • The down-side is that the user will not have a local environment, and when they disconnect their system will logout.

• Enable RDC Client Single Sign-On for Remote Desktop Services.

Adding to the previous answer... We set shell to "cscript this_script.vbs"

Set shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
shell.Run "mstsc.exe /multimon c:\terminal_server.rdp", 1, true
shell.Run "logoff"

For a more seamless experience be sure to edit the RDP file to hide the connection bar, single sign-on, all that jazz. Then sign the RDP file; in PowerShell use the Set-AuthenticodeSignature. Also, configuring the client's firewall, trusted publisher certs, and the SSO. I find it advantageous to also have GPO configure the Remote Registry service to auto-start, lets me get into the machine and change the shell if necessary. Also have the GPO download new copies of the shell script and RDP file every time it starts, easy configuration refresh.

I've been meaning to write a blog post about all this... It's not half as complicated as it sounds.