Have you ever used the Windows app Remote Desktop Connection? This app, included in all Windows installations, allows you to remotely access another Windows PC or a server with Windows Server. For this purpose, it employs the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).
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The Windows client automatically defaults to Windows Virtual Desktop (classic). However, if the client detects additional Azure Resource Manager resources, it adds them automatically or notifies the user that they're available. Use a specific URL Select Subscribe with URL from the main page. On your local Windows 10 PC: In the search box on the taskbar, type Remote Desktop Connection, and then select Remote Desktop Connection. In Remote Desktop Connection, type the name of the PC you want to connect to (from Step 1), and then select Connect.
Organizations can install applications on a central server instead of various computers. To use those applications, employees must remotely access that server. Such centralization can make maintenance and troubleshooting easier. This technology was formerly known as Terminal Services (TS). Currently, web systems are more common. But, in some scenarios, Windows remote apps are still needed.
In those scenarios, Linux users can remotely access Windows computers and servers from their favorite system using an RDP client.
There are a few RDP clients available for Linux and we are going to talk about them today:
You can choose the one you like best or the one that best suits your needs.
Out of curiosity, FreeRDP is both an app and a library, which provides reusable features for other apps. Except for rdesktop, all of the other clients above use the FreeRDP library.
Enabling remote desktop on Windows
First of all, you must set up the computer you want to connect to so it allows remote connections. On the Windows machine you want to connect to, logged on with an administrator account, open the Start menu and click Settings. To do that, on the window that appears, open the System category, and then Remote Desktop. Finally, enable it:
Note that you can’t connect to computers running a Windows Home edition (for instance, Windows 10 Home). This screen informs you, if that is the case:
Your Home edition of Windows 10 doesn't support Remote Desktop.
Source of the image: Digital Citizen
If you want more information about remote desktop on Windows, take a look at:
Remmina is a remote desktop client that supports many remote access protocols such as RDP, VNC, NX, XDMCP and SSH. It aims to be useful for system administrators and travellers, who need to work with lots of remote desktops and/or servers. Remmina is included in the Ubuntu Linux distribution and is its default remote desktop client.
To install Remmina on Linux Kamarada and openSUSE, run:
Once installed, to start Remmina, if you use the GNOME desktop environment, open the Activities menu, on the top-left screen corner, type remmina
and click its icon:
To quickly start a remote access, select the RDP protocol, type the hostname or IP address of the computer you want to connect to (e.g. 10.0.0.251
) and hit Enter:
If it’s the first time you connect to this computer, Remmina asks whether to trust its certificate, click Yes:
On the next screen, enter your User name and Password on the remote computer. Also inform the Domain, if necessary. Optionally, you can choose to Save password. Click OK:
You will see the remote computer’s desktop in the Remmina window:
From now on, you are using that computer, but remotely, without sitting in front of it. Each clicking and typing is sent to be processed on the remote computer.
Remote Desktop Windows Client Linux
If the remote computer is a Windows desktop, its screen is locked during remote access.
If you are going to access this computer often, consider saving the connection settings, so that remote access can be easily initiated. To do this, click the Create a new connection profile button on the top-left corner of the Remmina main window:
On the next screen, give a Name to identify the connection, select RDP in the Protocol field and enter the connection settings: Server, User name, User password and Domain (if necessary). When you’re finished, click Save:
After that, the connection becomes listed on the Remmina main window:
When you want to remotely access that computer, just double-click it on the list.
FreeRDP is a free implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol following the Microsoft Open Specifications. This implementation provides both the client and the server applications as well as a library, which allows other applications to use the RDP protocol. Today, we are interested in the FreeRDP client application.
To install the FreeRDP client on Linux Kamarada and openSUSE, run:
The FreeRDP client does not have a main screen like Remmina. To start a remote access using the FreeRDP client, run this command from a terminal:
Making the appropriate substitutions. For example:
If you need to inform the computer’s domain, use the /d
parameter:
If it’s the first time you connect to this computer, the FreeRDP client asks whether to trust its certificate:
Type Y
(yes) and hit Enter. Then type your user password on the remote computer and hit Enter:
After that, the remote desktop connection is initiated:
If you have ever started the remote desktop connection on Windows by the Command Prompt (using the mstsc command), you may have noticed that the FreeRDP client uses the same command syntax. It was implemented that way on purpose, to keep compatibility.
If you are a curious person and want to check it out by yourself:
- on Windows, run:
- on Linux, run:
rdesktop was the first RDP client for Linux and, for many years, it was the most used. But since November 2019, the project is looking for a new maintainer.
In contrast, FreeRDP was born in 2009 as a fork of rdesktop, when Microsoft decided to open the RDP specifications. As time passed and the FreeRDP project evolved, it became the standard RDP client on systems where no native Microsoft client is available.
I present rdesktop here for information purposes only. Unless you have a good reason to use it, you are advised to use one of the other RDP clients, based on FreeRDP.
To install rdesktop on Linux Kamarada and openSUSE, run:
Then, to start a remote access using rdesktop, invoke it from a terminal followed by the hostname or IP address of the computer you want to connect to. For example:
In the past, that would suffice and rdesktop would just work. But now we face a problem that comes from the lack of proper maintenance and updates:
At some point, Microsoft released an Windows update that has since made the use of Network Level Authentication (NLA) required by default. FreeRDP does support NLA, while rdesktop does not. You can still use rdesktop for remote access, as long as you disable NLA on the computer you want to connect to. Note that this makes the connection less secure.
To disable NLA on the Windows machine you want to connect to, logged on with an administrator account, open the Control Panel, open the System and Security category, then click the System icon. On the next screen, click the Remote settings link by the left. On the dialog box that appears, select the Remote tab. Finally, disable the option Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication and click OK:
With NLA disabled, back to the Linux computer that will start the remote access, try again:
This time, rdesktop will work. A window presents the Windows logon screen. Enter your username and password and press Enter to start the remote access:
If you want more information about that rdesktop bug, see:
Vinagre is the default remote desktop client for the GNOME desktop. That’s why it is also the default remote desktop client for Linux Kamarada 15.1, the current stable release. Like Remmina, it supports some connection protocols: SSH, RDP, SPICE and VNC. However, like rdesktop, Vinagre is unmaintained for some time now.
When trying a RDP access, Vinagre only displays a black screen, as I reported on the openSUSE mailing list some time ago:
On some distributions, like Debian, Vinagre works. I believe that those distributions applied some patch to Vinagre.
Probably, the next Linux Kamarada release will come with Remmina instead of Vinagre, following the Ubuntu Linux distribution.
Because of that, I present Vinagre here just for information purposes as well.
Vinagre comes already installed by default on Linux Kamarada and openSUSE, if you chose the GNOME desktop, but if you need or want to install it, you can do this by running:
To start Vinagre, which appears as Remote Desktop Viewer on the applications list, open the Activities menu, on the top-left screen corner, type remote
or vinagre
and click the corresponding icon:
On the Vinagre main screen, click Connect:
Fill in the next screen fields with the connection settings:
- on the Protocol field, select RDP;
- on the Host field, enter the hostname or IP address of the computer to connect to;
- enter your Username on the remote computer; and
- enter the Domain, if necessary.
When you are finished, click Connect.
If it’s the first time you connect to this computer, Vinagre asks whether to trust its certificate:
Tell it to do so by clicking Connect.
Enter your Password, optionally enable Remember this credential and click Authenticate:
At this point, you should see the remote computer’s desktop. You can notice it has its screen locked (as it normally does during RDP accesses). But, as I said, Vinagre only displays a black screen:
Like Remmina, Vinagre allows you to memorize the connection settings, to easily connect to the same computer again in the future. To do this, during the remote access, open the Bookmarks menu and click Add Bookmark.
After you created the bookmark, it will now be listed on the Bookmarks menu. When you want to remotely access this computer again, just open this menu and click the bookmark.
References
Since it’s not possible to remotely access computers running Windows 10 Home, to write this how-to I used a VirtualBox virtual machine with a Windows 10 Enterprise evaluation version legally downloaded from:
Rdp Windows Client Alternative
What is an RDP Client?
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is a connection protocol developed by Microsoft to provide users with a graphical interface while connected to another computer over a network connection. The connecting user must deploy an RDP client software, while the receiving computer must deploy RDP server software.
There are several RDP Clients for Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2012 R2. The available client apps for different clients are listed below:
Client | App |
Windows Desktop | Windows Desktop client |
Microsoft Store | Windows 10 client |
Android | Android client |
iOS | iOS client |
macOS | macOS client |
Html 5 | Html5 client |
The RDP servers are built into Windows operating systems and can be enabled through the Server Manager panel.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Assistant
You can download and install Microsoft Remote Desktop Assistant, and use it to enable Remote Desktop Services, hence allowing other devices to access your PC. Follow the steps mentioned below:
- Download and install the Microsft Remote Desktop Assistant after accepting the terms and conditions.
- Click Accept and a Welcome screen appear. Click Got it.
- Click Get Started on the screen that appears next. It lists down all the changes that the tool will carry out on your computer including:
- Enabling remote connections to your PC.
- Keeping your PC awake, making it available for connections.
- Changing your Firewall rules to allow Remote Desktop connection.
- Scan the QR code that appears on the screen next, save the connection as a file, or choose your option to proceed further to enable connection using Remote Desktop.
Your computer is now ready to be accessible from other devices. Install and use Microsoft Remote Desktop client on the device that you will use to connect to your PC.
How does Microsoft Client work?
For the RDP client to work, the receiving machine must have Remote Desktop connections enabled. There are 2 most common ways to enable the RDP connection:
1. Right-click on the Personal Computer icon on your desktop, click on Properties from the drop-down list, and then select Remote settings from the list on the left.
2. Navigate to your Start Menu and go to Windows Settings, click on the System icon, and from the list on the left select Remote Desktop and enable it.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Manager
Latest Windows RDP Client
Due to the Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD), Microsoft is working on patching some bugs that occurred from using their RDP Client to connect to WVD instances. Two of the RDP Client (1.2.605 & 1.2.535) releases were mainly focused on fixing bugs instead of introducing new features.
The latest 1.2.1104 update of Windows RDP Client has the following changes:
- Support for Windows Virtual Desktop Spring 2020 update by updating the automatic discovery logic for the Subscribe option. Customers who have the Spring Update resources do not need to provide consent for the Fall 2019 release.
- The scale factor of high-DPI devices has been improved up to 400%.
- The issue where disconnect dialog did not appear has been resolved.
- The issue where the command tooltips appeared longer than expected has been fixed.
- The crash that occurred when trying to subscribe immediately after a refresh has been fixed.
- The crash that occurred when parsing date and time in some languages has been fixed.
An enhanced RDP Client
Parallels Client, is a completely free RDP Client. It leverages RDP technology, allowing users to instantly connect to either simple RDS infrastructures or Parallels RAS Farms.
It’s an intuitive RDP client that enables multi-tasking on applications and desktops. Multiple connection settings can be stored and utilized so users can keep workspaces docked under the same application window (or undock them to work in another window).
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Moreover, features not supported by the Microsoft RDP Client—such as drag and drop, multiscreen support, zoom, client group policy and more—are implemented to provide a top-class user experience.
The mobile client enables all native gestures of iOS and Android, offering the best mobile experience on the market. Touch ID and passcode features are available to increase data security.
References
Remote Desktop Protocol | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Desktop_Protocol
What’s new in the Windows Desktop client | https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/remote/remote-desktop-services/clients/windowsdesktop-whatsnew
Microsoft Remote Desktop Client | https://www.parallels.com/blogs/ras/microsoft-remote-desktop-client/
Ubuntu Rdp Client Windows 10
5 Best Remote Desktop Connection Managers | https://activedirectorypro.com/rdp-connection-manager/
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Get Microsoft Remote Desktop Client | https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/microsoft-remote-desktop/9wzdncrfj3ps