We have a server running MS Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition,
Service Pack 1 and 1 gb ram. Remote Desktop is enabled and a 5 user
license pack is installed. The Terminal Services Manager reports
version 5.2 (build 3790.svr03_sp_1). I see 4 active connections and
400 mb of available ram.

The problem is that when we connect the aparent resolution is low. For
example my computer's desktop is 1152 x 864 and my remote desktop
fills my screen, but an Excel spreadsheet only shows 31 rows and 10
columns. Natively on my computer it shows 42 rows and 14 columns. The
icons on the remote desktop looked stretched and oversized. That's
what happens when I choose options -> display -> full screen (or 1152
x 864). When I choose desktop size of 640 x 480, Excel shows 14 rows
and 4 columns (and the new workbook wizard on the side).

RDP works fine for me on other servers, and it used to work fine on this server. 

Everything appears normal on the console. All clients that connect
seem to have the same problem. Rarely (randomly) it works as it used
to.

Why are remote sessions not showing full resolution? How can I fix it?
I've assumed this is a Terminal Services Server problem, could it be
something else?

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Clarification of Question by uncommonsol-ga on 05 Jul 2005 06:54 PDT

limon160 -- the options settings are not at issue. I can choose a
lower resolution and get a yet smaller screen. Your answer is
irrelivant.

boxerdogittech -- I'll try verifying the integrety of those files. As
you say, the virtual video driver is loaded, so I'm dubious about the
host video driver being at issue. And the console works fine. We have
a re-install scheduled in 3 weeks if we can't resolve the problem by
then. I agree that I think that will fix it, but it will also cost the
client 3 - 10 hours and may introduce other issues. And there's the
chance it will accomplish nothing.

Just from the top of my head, I would think it was the video driver on
the server or the RPD files themselves. The client is limited to its
own max resolution and I do not think it can exceed the max resolution
of the server. The client uses a virtual display driver,Tsharedd.dll,
to translate the image. Assuming that all clients are experiencing the
same issue then I would speculate that there is an issue on the server
unit. RDP also loads the virtual kernel, Win32k.sys, for session
memory access. So in that instance, the root cause would be in either
the RDP session data being corrupted, so then it may be that the cache
or the kernel itself is holding on to some corrupted data, or that
those files are corrupted. So by using some deductive reasoning, if
you first try replacing the critical RDP Win32k.sys, ssms.exe,
csrss.exe, Tsharedd.dll files which you may need to do in safe mode.
It sure is a new one for me. But I have to bet on a system file, just
because I know MS and I know that in the end, if you were to ulimately
do a over-install or if you have a backup to restore, the problem
would diappear. I dont think it has to do with terminial services more
then the RDP system files themselves.

Without more detailed info about the server computer and what state
the system is in, how it is setup, what maintenance and when, It is
really hard to come up with a sure resolution.

When connecting you'll probably need to select the options button to
see a drop down menu at the top of the drop down menu you will notice
that there are tabs along the top you should see one that says display
select a higher resolution setting.  This option is there for lower
speed connections such as over the Internet to decrease the amount
network resources required by the remote desktop protocol.

For some reason when I use my own the first time it defaulted to a
very low resolution also I had to manually set it to my native
resolution.  This is of course using the remote desktop protocol in
Windows XP pro to another Windows XP pro, I have never done this using
windows server 2003, but I have used the services on windows server
2000 and it did the same thing.

I hope this information proves to be useful if not please advise.