I was wondering around how to log in to my desktop Windows XP workstation via the Console Mode (eg. to connect to the session that you see on the screen) by using the Remote Destkop Client application by Microsoft. It was so simple, so here is my 2 cents solution:
1) Save a new connection setting under the ~/Documents folder (for example name it MyConnection) You can set up the srceen detail and other settings in the GUI, but unfortunately not the Console mode.
2) Locate this file with Finder, right click and select Open With…, then use TextEdit to open the file.
3) Simply insert the following line to the end of the file: connect to console:i:1
4) Save the file and load Remote Desktop Client, and now you can controll your terminal! 
Thanks for your tip! I have successfully added the line at the end of the file, but after saving it with TextEdit, I could not open it with RDC any more. Maybe I should change the resource field “creator” back to the original value, or something like this. I used to use ResEdit for this task many years ago, but I am not sure if there is a version for the current Mac OS (I am a recent switcher to Mac OS X). Can you help me?
Hi, interesting problem, however i always save files as utf-8 text with TextEdit, i advise you to recreate the file and open it from the Terminal with nano or vi or any other command-line editor.
Giving the extension .rdp to the file solved my problem, thanks. But the right solution would have been simply using nano.
Unfortunately the Czech keyboard is still reinstalled and reselected every time I log in to a Windows computer from my Mac which has Hungarian keyboard. However, this problem does not occur if I reconnect to an existing session. Adding or removing the line “connect to console:i:1″ does not make any difference.
To tell the truth, i rarely start a new connection, i always use console mode to access my Windows machines. The Czech keyboard is not present when I connect in console mode (I have run-only-one type applications) and log in automatically (I’ve saved the domain/username and the password in the RDP client for this connection).
I think the RDP client reads out a setting from the Os X environment, and tries to initialize the connection as a Central European - Hungarian, but somehow it falls back to Czechish from Hungarian (can not find a fitting keyboard mapping?)
SWEET! Thanks this is a great tip.
OS X remote desktop windows console
I was having trouble connecting my Mac’s Remote Desktop Connection to the console of my windows box (not a new terminal services session). Thankfully I ran across this great tip from: tech blog - skaelede online
Just save a connection and edit t…
I found this while searching the Help menu. “You can connect to the Windows console session by holding down the COMMAND (COMMAND key) key when you click Connect. This option is available only when connecting to a computer running Windows Server 2003.”
Another solution is to add “/console” after the connection name or IP address.
Thanks for the tip on the /console option. Works like a charm and is way easier than the other options.
found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later ..
Excellent work guys!. The /console and the pico thing. Saved me lots of frustration you have!