rdesktop is a Remote Desktop client that speaks the Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). To connect from Unix/Linux to Windows, use rdesktop and tsclient. XP allows one remote client to connect at a time, whereas Windows Servers allow two concurrent inbound remote administration sessions. The Remote Desktop server piece is included in Windows XP Pro and in Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition and all later server versions. While there are licensing restrictions to deal with, the level of access allowed is generally sufficient for administration purposes. So, like VNC, it’s easy to route/NAT through firewalls. While I’ve never found much use for printing to a remote computer’s printer via Remote Desktop, the ability to temporarily auto-mount drives between the two computers often comes in handy.Īll Windows Remote Desktop traffic is encrypted and sent over a single TCP port (3389 by default). In addition to remote screen, keyboard and mouse control, Windows Remote Desktop provides drive mapping between client and server, sound and printer redirection, and encryption of the entire remote session. While VNC server also runs just fine on Windows, this is one area where the Microsoft solution outshines the open source counterparts–Windows Remote Desktop is faster, more secure, and more full-featured than VNC. To connect to a Windows computer remotely, use Windows Remote Desktop (aka Terminal Services). This article is an overview of the best applications for cross-platform GUI remote login in a mixed network of Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix computers. Graphical remote login sessions can be valuable tools for cross-platform server administration.

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