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Several RDP Tools on Linux

Posted on Edited on In Disqus:
Because of the pneumonia outbreak everyone had to work remotely; after the new year the company uniformly updated Windows' remote connection feature, so we had to switch connection tools. Taking this blog as the chance, I'll share a few rdp tools.

Updated 2021-11-26: I now mainly use remmina — it can support domain networks

Introduction to rdp Tools on Linux

Since I normally use Linux but inevitably need to connect to Windows computers, I’ve explored several remote connection tools. Sharing them here.

remmina

This is a remote connection tool with a graphical interface. How to put it — you operate it by clicking here and there. It feels very much like a Windows tool. Personally I have no special preference for it, but while my home computer could connect, at the company it wouldn’t — like a vase: pretty but unusable for me. It seems it can only mount one folder; note this when using it.

rdesktop

This is the tool I used most before 2020. Because the company hadn’t uniformly configured remote desktop back then, when using rdesktop you need to remove the setting “Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication”, otherwise you’ll get errors like:

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Failed to initialize NLA, do you have correct Kerberos TGT initialized ?
Failed to connect, CredSSP required by server (check if server has disabled old TLS versions, if yes use -V option).

I usually connect like this:

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rdesktop 192.168.137.1:3389  \
    -x l \
    -g 1600x900\
    -u <user> \
    -p <pass> \
    -r clipboard:CLIPBOARD \
    -r disk:remote=/home/corvo/Netease/remote \
    -r disk:music=/home/corvo/Music \
    -r disk:media=/run/media/corvo \
    -r sound:local:alsa

For command-line explanations see Linux Tips (IV); I won’t go into detail. One more downside of rdesktop: it cannot copy images.

xfreerdp

Ever since the company forcibly enabled “Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication”, which I couldn’t modify, and after searching through many programs, I found the freerdp tool.

Usage:

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xfreerdp \
    /u:'game.ntes\<user>' \
    /p:<pass>\
    /gfx-h264:AVC420 \
    /rfx \
    +fonts \
    +menu-anims \
    +aero \
    /size:1750x950 \
    /sound:sys:alsa /clipboard \
    /v:192.168.137.1

After using it, I felt great. Compared with rdesktop it has roughly the following advantages:

  1. Supports “Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication”
  2. Clipboard support is great — copying/pasting images and dragging files are supported

Summary

For ordinary rdp environments, all three tools above work. At the company there’s really no choice — xfreerdp must be used. If anyone has recommendations or usage questions, feel free to share.

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