Reconnect To Console (Physical Session)

Why

I got tired of logging in again every time I returned to my PC after using it through RDP, so I built a tiny Windows helper that switches the remote session back to the physical one using the real screen, keyboard, and mouse.

What It Does

• Runs tscon against your current user session to attach it to the physical session
• Wraps the action in a scheduled task so it works from any shell (RDP, SSH, WinRM, etc.) and with the right privileges

Features

• One command: rtc reconnects your RDP session to the physical display
• Installer adds a single bin folder to your user PATH (HKCU) and creates the rtc task
• Smart pre checks: installer skips if already installed; uninstaller skips if not installed
• rtc closes the launching CMD window on success (returns an error otherwise)

Requirements

• Windows 10/11 or Windows Server with RDP enabled
• PowerShell 5.1 (inbox on Windows 10/11)
• Permission to manage your own sessions

Install

• Choose where you want this tool to live permanently and clone or copy the repository there. The installer adds that folder’s bin subdirectory to your user PATH and the uninstall will remove that same path. If you move the folder later, run uninstall.bat and then reinstall from the new location.
• Run install.bat (no need to pre elevate; it will prompt for UAC).
• If already installed (PATH contains the tool and the rtc task exists) you’ll be told and nothing changes.

Usage

• From any shell: rtc
• If started from a CMD window, it triggers the task and closes that window on success.
• If the task cannot be started, it prints a short error and leaves your shell open.

Uninstall

• Run uninstall.bat (prompts for UAC).
• If not installed, you’ll be told and nothing changes.

How It Works

• ReconnectToConsole.bat (root):

  • query user %USERNAME% to get your session ID
  • tscon <id> /dest:console to attach the session to the physical display

• bin/rtc.bat:

  • Runs schtasks /run /tn rtc quietly
  • Exits on success so interactive CMD windows close

• install.bat:

  • Elevates via UAC, resolves the canonical install path
  • Adds the bin folder to HKCU PATH (dedupes existing entries)
  • Registers a manual "On demand" task named rtc that runs cmd.exe /c "ReconnectToConsole.bat"
  • Uses Highest privileges and compatibility set to Win8 (highest value exposed by the PowerShell ScheduledTasks module on Windows 10/11)
  • Skips work and reports "already installed" when appropriate

• uninstall.bat:

  • Elevates via UAC
  • Removes the bin entry from HKCU PATH and from the current session
  • Deletes the rtc task
  • Skips work and reports "not installed" when appropriate

Troubleshooting

• “Access is denied” or elevation prompts keep appearing

  • Accept the UAC prompt, or start an elevated Command Prompt first

• rtc not found after install

  • Open a new shell, or run set PATH and confirm the bin folder is present

• Task runs but nothing moves

  • Make sure you are in an RDP session; verify with query user

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.
See the LICENSE file for details.