Change log for Remote Desktop Plus

Remote Desktop Plus 5.0 (April 7, 2013):

Added the ability to import and export profiles and favorites.
Favorites and the favorites manager can now be started from within the GUI (using the Connect button).
Added the option to save profiles using less strict security, to support roaming usage.
When run as a replacement shell, a Shutdown button will be shown in the GUI for shutting down, restarting or logging off the computer.
Added foreign language support through the use of language files.
Added a blank instance of Remote Desktop Plus to the tray icon menu.
You can now specify multiple command files in the command line.
When a profile contains a blank or no password, the user will be prompted to provide one, after which it will be saved to the profile.
Created a companion tool RDPProfile for creating profiles from the command line.
Added the option /eventlog for writing session information to the Windows application event log.
Added support for /eventlog to both the environment variable and the Group Policies.
Added the option /disconnect to automatically disconnect the session after 10 seconds.
Pimped the look of the profile and favorites managers.
Many other minor changes and improvements.

Remote Desktop Plus 4.0 (August 15, 2012):

Added a system tray icon for managing and launching favorites, and quickly switching to already active Remote Desktop sessions. It also has an option to set the tray icon to be loaded automatically when you start your computer.
Added the option /tray and keyboard shortcut CTRL+T for launching the system tray icon.
Added a favorites manager and a profile manager.
You can now use \% in the /o parameter for literal %-signs.
Fixed an issue with duplicate .rdp files when starting multiple sessions (near) simultaneously.
You can now add .rdp file style options seperately in the command file (@file) without preceding them with /o. This also allows you to use the command file as a kind of master/template .rdp file.
Enhanced the /t option to allow a timeout value for connecting to the remote computer. This can be useful for slow responding computers. For example, /t:8 will make RDP+ try to connect to the computer for 8 seconds before timing out.
Added /tray and /t to the options which can be set through the RDP environment variable.
When using a startup program (/start), and no working directory is set in the .rdp file or through /o:”shell working directory:s:xxxx”, RDP+ will now by default try to set the working directory for that program to the program’s location.
Many other minor changes and improvements.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.12.4 (June 10, 2012)

Fixed an issue with autologin not working when using RemoteApps through slow responding RD Gateways.
Added support for the use of commas within separate /o options. Literal commas can be used by preceding them with a backslash. For example: /o:”remoteapplicationcmdline:s:proddb\, sqlsa\, P@ssw0rd, remoteapplicationname:s:Production Database”.
When using RemoteApps, RDP+ will now by default enable multi-monitor support, just like Windows 2008 does when creating a .rdp file in the RemoteApp Manager.
Some other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.12.3 (May 29, 2012)

Fixed a bug with using double quotes in the command line options file for the connection file.
Fixed a bug with RDP+ not appearing in the taskbar (until it got focused again) when switching to another program before the GUI was shown.
Some other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.12.2 (May 18, 2012)

Fixed a critical bug with the encrypted passwords (/pe). If you have downloaded version 3.12.1 and used it with passwords encrypted through a previous version of RDP+ or Gencrypt, I strongly urge you to change the password of the user you used and to generate a new encrypted password using RDP+ 3.12.2 or Gencrypt 1.3!
Some other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.12.1 (May 6, 2012)

You can now use percentages for the /fit, /w and /h switches. A setting of /fit:95%, would result in a session window 95% of the working size of the local screen.
The screen size which the /fit would result into, is now shown in the GUI.
Added the option /domain, which enables you to specify a default domain to be used for the user. This is only used when a domain name has not been included in the username.
Fixed a bug with drive redirection when the drive label contained extended ASCII or Unicode characters.
Added support for extended ASCII and Unicode characters in both the usernames and in the passwords that you encrypt. This means you can now use usernames like Hüßelmann or Администратор. Gencrypt has also been updated to support the processing of Unicode passwords.
Added support for environment variables in the username, so you can do things like /u:%USERDOMAIN%\%USERNAME%.
Added the available shortcut keys to the help screen.
Several other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.11.2 (February 18, 2012)

Fixed a bug with /fit when used in combination with some multi-monitor configurations.
Improved support for using RDP+ as a custom user shell.
A few other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.11.1 (December 31, 2011)

Expanded the /fit option so you can now set your own margin. For example, /fit:15 will leave a margin of 15 pixels to the right and bottom of the session window.
Added the option /log for logging detailed information about all sessions to a file. Check the main page for the details.
Added /log to the supported options for the environment variable RDP.
Fixed some glitches and bugs with the shortcut keys.
Several other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.10.3 (November 16, 2011)

Fixed a bug with the computername being left out completely when using a kiosk mask in which the computer field was disabled.
When using /noclose on Windows XP or 2003, the close button would not immediately get grayed out. This has been fixed. Note: This was just a cosmetic issue. Even though it wasn’t grayed out, it was indeed disabled.
Added shortcut keys to easily choose or switch between profiles. You can now use Alt+1, Alt+2, etcetera to choose your profile, based on the alphabetical order of the profile names, or Alt+NumericPlus and Alt+NumericMinus to ‘scroll’ up and down through the profiles.
Several other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.10.2 (October 29, 2011)

Added the /[no]sound parameter to the list of supported switches for the environment variable RDP.
Added support for the redirection of specific drives through Group Policies.
Fixed some cosmetic issues in the GUI when using a non-default DPI setting.
Several other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.10.1 (October 23, 2011)

Improved the behavior of the /drives command line parameter. You can now specify which drives are to be redirected. Drives can be specified by type (Fixed, Removable, Network, CD-ROM) or by name, and can also be excluded using the minus sign. For example, /drives:fixed,-c:,p: will redirect drive P: and all fixed drives except C:.
Added the option to select the redirectable drives to the GUI.
Added the option for displaying the wallpaper to the GUI.
Added the option /[no]sound, to disable sound from the remote computer from being played on the local computer.
Changed the way RDP+ uses its temporary .rdp file to allow the program to be started (near) simultaneously.
Some other minor (mostly cosmetic) modifications.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.9.1 (October 9, 2011)

Expanded the kiosk mode to allow any combination of the fields for computername, username and password to be enabled or disabled. The /kiosk command line parameter now allows you to specify a 3-character mask in which each character stands for one of the three fields (computername, username, password). 1 enables the field, 0 disables it. For example, /kiosk:011 will disable the computername field and only allow the user to enter the username and password.
Added the command line parameter /allowed, which allows you to specify a list of computers to which a connection can be made. If the target computer does not match the list, the connection will be refused. This ensures users don’t connect to computers you don’t want them to.
The list of supported command line parameter is still steadily growing and can become quite much to type each time. To ease the pain, you can now put command line parameters in a file and use the contents using the @-sign.
Both the new kiosk mode(s) and the allowed targets list can be controlled through Group Policies.
Several other improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.8.1 (September 17, 2011)

Added the ability to set the MRU size to 0. This means RDP+ will not keep a history of the recently used computers in its MRU list. Please note however that Remote Desktop itself will still add the computer(s) to its own MRU.
Added the ablity to also store the /[no]printers, /[no]drives and /[no]wallpaper switches as defaults in the environment variable RDP.
Added support for setting some settings through Group Policies (or the registry). Available are the following settings: Force the /noclose option, force the kiosk mode (/kiosk), disable the option for local drive redirection (/nodrives), disable the option for printer redirection (/noprinters), set the maximum number of MRU entries and force sorting the MRU alphabetically. Policy templates in both ADM and ADMX format for these settings are available for download. See the main page for more information.
Fixed an issue with launching rdp.exe from a scheduled task in Windows 2008 and using the option Run whether user is logged on or not. RDP+ would launch properly, but would remain running in memory.
Several other minor tweaks and modifications.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.7.3 (August 5, 2011)

Gave RDP+ its own most recent used computer list (MRU). Until now it used the same MRU as the normal Remote Desktop Connection, but it got on my nerves. RDC keeps a maximum of 10 computers in its MRU, which I felt wasn’t enough. So RDP+ will by default remember the last 20 used computers.
The biggest drawback of RDC’s MRU however, is that it doesn’t add the computer to the list until you have closed the session. And when it does, it writes the list that was current at the time you started the connection, ‘forgetting’ or overwriting any servers you’ve connected to (and disconnected from) in-between in other RDC sessions. RDP+ will do it the right way…
Added some registry settings to control the maximum MRU size and the ability to sort the list in alphabetical order instead of chronological order. Check this page for the details.
Fixed a bug with /batch not accepting /pe as a valid command line parameter, resulting in an immediate exit of the program.
Several other minor tweaks and modifications.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.7.2 (July 13, 2011)

Fixed a bug with RemoteApps in a multi-monitor configuration.
Fixed a bug with the /mon switch not working properly when the primary monitor was not configured as the leftmost monitor.
You can now also append the /t switch after the computer name(s) in the GUI.
Several other minor tweaks and modifications.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.7.1 (June 19, 2011)

Added the option /noclose, which will disable the close button and its corresponding menu item in the system menu. When in full mode it will disable the connection bar (after about 5 seconds). This will prevent users from exiting the Remote Desktop session without properly logging of.
Added the option /t, which will force RDP+ to wait for the connection to succeed. This can be useful when you’ve just rebooted a server and don’t want to keep trying to manually connect every other couple of seconds. Just use /t and it will automatically login as soon as the server is available again.
Added the option /o, which allows you to specify every option supported by the Remote Desktop .rdp file. More information can be found on the main page.
Made a small update to make this registry tweak possible.
Fixed a bug with RDP+ overruling the fixed screen height from the .rdp file.
Several other minor tweaks and modifications.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.6.4 (March 29, 2011)

Changed the behavior of /pe to always implicitly force the /kiosk switch.
Protected the password field against asterisk loggers when in kiosk mode.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.6.3 (March 12, 2011)

Added support for IPv6 addresses.
Added some extra checks for the validity of entered host names or IP adresses. This solves the issue in which entering a remote computer with a colon as its last character would bring up the normal Remote Desktop user interface instead of connecting.
Several other minor improvements and a lot of code optimization.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.6.2 (February 26, 2011)

Added the option for setting some default options through the user environment variable RDP.
When in the GUI, you can now use ALT+P to go the profile selection even when the GUI is collapsed.
When the GUI is displayed and no user or profile has been specified, RDP+ will prepopulate the username field with the last used user for the server.
Changed the way profiles are saved in the registry. Previously stored profiles will be automatically migrated, so you won’t notice a thing.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.6.1 (February 19, 2011)

Added support for connecting through Remote Desktop Gateways.
Several other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.5.2 (February 16, 2011)

Redid the help-function once again. The ‘old’ new one was a bit slow loading on some computers. Also corrected a glaring mistake in the contents.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.5.1 (February 10, 2011)

Added the option /remoteapp for launching RemoteApps. This is also supported by the autologin feature of course. More details can be found on the main page.
Added the option /lb which brings load balancing and failover functionality to Remote Desktop Plus. Specify multiple servers and Remote Desktop Plus will randomly pick one of the servers to connect to. If this server is unreachable, RDP+ will skip it and cycle trough the other servers in the list, until it finds a responsive one. You can use this for example for RemoteApps which are hosted on multiple servers.
RDP+ will now also accept the Remote Desktop option /multimon in the command line. When using a Remote Desktop client which does not support this switch, it will simply be ignored.
Redid and somewhat expanded the help-function.
Several other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.4.1 (January 23, 2011)

Added the option /icon. You can now set your own icon to be displayed in the title and task bar.
Added the option /[no]wallpaper to switch displaying the remote computer’s wallpaper on or off.
Reduced memory usage when using /wait.
A few other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.3.2 (December 22, 2010)

Fixed a bug with connecting to multiple servers at once in combination with local user accounts.
A few other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.3.1 (December 16, 2010)

Added the option /mon for specifying on which monitor the Remote Desktop session should be started.
Added the options /batch and /wait for use in scripts. For the same purpose Remote Desktop Plus will now also generate exit codes. See the main page for an overview.
Fixed a bug with the profile editor.
Added the ability to rename existing profiles in the profile editor.
Optimized the code some more.
Several other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.2.2 (December 9, 2010)

Fixed some bugs with the new features from 3.1.1.
Optimized the code a bit.
Several other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.2.1 (December 6, 2010)

Added the options /w and /h for specifying width and height of the Remote Desktop window.
Remote Desktop Plus now reads and displays the current settings for the screen size and the redirection of printers and drives from the connection file, unless overruled by one of the command line parameters.
Added the option /title. You can now set your own text to be displayed in the title bar.
Several other minor improvements and tweaks.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.1.4 (November 26, 2010)

Fixed a bug with specifying a startup program which contained the name of a .rdp file (/start:”mstsc C:\Files\Support.rdp”).
Added support for using both local and remote environment variables in the /start command. Check the main page for more information.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.1.3 (November 24, 2010)

Fixed a bug with the /start switch not always working under certain conditions.
Fixed a bug with fields sometimes being cleared in the GUI and the password being ‘forgotten’ when not using a profile and clicking on the More button.
Logo would not be displayed in the Help screen when not launched from within the GUI.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.1.2 (November 6, 2010)

Fixed a bug in the GUI when using /console in the server field or spaces while specifying multiple servers.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.1.1 (August 11, 2010)

Added an option to set a default profile. You can then use /i without parameters to use it (rdp /i instead of rdp /i:”Domain Admin”). If you have only one profile, it will assume that’s your default profile.
Changed the internal structure of the registry settings. The old settings will be migrated, so you won’t notice a thing.
Made the Help screen wider, to compensate for the increasing length.
There’s some debate about the legality of using icons from Microsoft applications in your own program, so to be on the safe side, I removed the Microsoft icon for Remote Desktop and created my own.
Fixed some minor cosmetic bugs.
Several minor improvements.

Remote Desktop Plus 3.0.1 (July 30, 2010)

Added an option to specify encrypted passwords in the command line. This will enhance security when starting Remote Desktop Plus from scripts or published applications. Use /encrypt to generate the encrypted password and /pe to use it.
By default, Remote Desktop 6.1 and higher block connections to computers whose identity cannot be verified. Remote computers that are running Windows XP and Windows 2003 however are incapable of providing their identity, so Remote Desktop Plus will now always force the connection.
Renamed the /simplegui command line switch to /kiosk.
Changed the checkbox Specified user and password to its reverse: Use profile.
Pimped the program banner.
Several other minor improvements.

Remote Desktop Plus 2.11 (June 30, 2010)

First public release.