Unable to move a window via shortcuts/hotkeys when MAC session is in focus
Unable to move a window via shortcuts/hotkeys when MAC session is in focus
It seems the ARD/Mac RDP sessions on Windows completely take over the input when your focus to RDM and mac tab is open. I've DisplayFusion and my private library to move windows between monitors. It works fine for when RDM is Windows tab, or linux tab but it fails when it's mac. It works fine when triggered from PowerShell: `Set-DesktopWindowPlacement -Name 'Remote Desktop Manager*' -Placement Maximize -MonitorIndex 1 -PassThru` but once you set a hotkey or something like Ctrl+Shift+5 it's impossible to move the window. The failing part is the keyboard-trigger path when the macOS session has focus. RDM is likely capturing/forwarding the shortcut before my hotkey host, DisplayFusion, or Windows global hotkey routing can reliably consume it. Is this something fixable, or just expected due to windows/macos differences?
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Hi przemyslaw02,
Thanks for confirming, that actually clears things up. The "Apply Windows key combinations" setting only covers Win-specific combos like Alt+Tab or Win+D; anything outside of that goes straight to the ARD session, regardless of what it's set to, so it wouldn't matter what combo you use.
What's happening under the hood is that the VNC/ARD protocol grabs all keyboard input at a level that tools like DisplayFusion never get to see. RDM doesn't have a way to limit that for Mac sessions right now, which is why it works fine on Windows and Linux tabs but not on Mac.
For the time being, the cleanest options are using DisplayFusion's title bar buttons or the right-click taskbar menu rather than hotkeys, or wiring the PowerShell call to something other than a keyboard shortcut. If neither of those fit your workflow, it'd definitely be worth submitting a feature request: a keyboard capture toggle for Mac sessions is something the team would need to look at from the protocol level up: https://forum.devolutions.net/forums/6/remote-desktop-manager-windows--feature-request
Best regards,
Eduard Sepulveda Lopez
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Hi przemyslaw02,
Thanks for the detailed write-up and for doing the legwork already.
Before writing this off as expected behavior, check your Mac ARD session properties under the Advanced tab, there's an option called "Apply Windows key combinations (for example ALT+TAB)" that controls where combos get routed. If it's set to "On the remote screen," that's likely your culprit. Try flipping it to "On the local computer" and see if it helps.
If that doesn't change anything, your read is correct, the ARD session captures keyboard input before tools like DisplayFusion get a chance to see it. The PowerShell command works because it routes through window messaging rather than the keyboard event pipeline, which is why that path behaves differently.
In that case, the most reliable workarounds are DisplayFusion's title bar buttons or right-click taskbar menu (neither depend on keyboard hooks), or binding your PowerShell call to something other than a hotkey.
If the setting doesn't cover that specific combo, it'd be worth submitting a feature request so the team can look at making ARD keyboard routing more granular: https://forum.devolutions.net/forums/17/remote-desktop-manager--feature-request.
Best regards,
Eduard Sepulveda Lopez
I already have "On the local computer" set. My combos that i use are ALT+SHIFT+CTRL+5 for example which seems to work fine as part of other tabs you create. i tried different simpler combos but it didn't matter - all is pretty much eaten by mac session
Hi przemyslaw02,
Thanks for confirming, that actually clears things up. The "Apply Windows key combinations" setting only covers Win-specific combos like Alt+Tab or Win+D; anything outside of that goes straight to the ARD session, regardless of what it's set to, so it wouldn't matter what combo you use.
What's happening under the hood is that the VNC/ARD protocol grabs all keyboard input at a level that tools like DisplayFusion never get to see. RDM doesn't have a way to limit that for Mac sessions right now, which is why it works fine on Windows and Linux tabs but not on Mac.
For the time being, the cleanest options are using DisplayFusion's title bar buttons or the right-click taskbar menu rather than hotkeys, or wiring the PowerShell call to something other than a keyboard shortcut. If neither of those fit your workflow, it'd definitely be worth submitting a feature request: a keyboard capture toggle for Mac sessions is something the team would need to look at from the protocol level up: https://forum.devolutions.net/forums/6/remote-desktop-manager-windows--feature-request
Best regards,
Eduard Sepulveda Lopez
I'll work around it and just call powershell or .exe
