rdesktop is an open source UNIX client for connecting to Windows Remote Desktop Services, capable of natively speaking Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) in order to present the user's Windows desktop. rdesktop is known to work with Windows server versions ranging from NT 4 terminal server to Windows Server 2016.
rdesktop currently runs on most UNIX based platforms with the X Window System, and other ports should be fairly straightforward.
rdesktop is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 3. Please send feedback, bug reports and patches to the appropriate mailing list. Patches could also be submitted as a pull request on GitHub.
rdesktop project is hosted on GitHub. See the GitHub rdesktop organization for more information.
The latest stable version of rdesktop is currently v1.9.0.
Previous versions of rdesktop releases and corresponding change logs are available at the release page of rdesktop project on GitHub.
You can also download a snapshot of current development version which may be intermittently unstable while new features are developed.
The rdesktop file release contains documentation on the program.
The RDP protocol itself is essentially an extension of the ITU-T T.128 (aka T.SHARE) application sharing protocol. Microsoft has recently made RDP specifications openly available via the MSDN library.
This project has the following three mailing lists hosted by google groups:
| Announcements | Moderated announcement list for new releases and other important news. | Subscribe |
| Users | Support and general discussion list for users of rdesktop. Please use this list for bug reports. | Subscribe |
| Development | Discussion list for rdesktop developers. This list is used for patch submissions and other development ideas. | Subscribe |
rdesktop project is registered with Bountysource which make it possible for users to create bounties for an issue that they want to get fixed, or just back an existing bounty.
Donations to the rdesktop project are also handled through Bountysource. The rdesktop team will use the donations to back new or existing bounties.
If you are a programmer that need some extra cash. Fix the issue that is backed with a bounty and create a pull request. When the pull request is accepted and merged you should claim the bounty on Bountysource and the backers will vote for acceptance.
For more information about how this all work, read the FAQ at Bountysource.
A SeamlessRDP server extension is available to support integration of individual applications with the client desktop. The minimum requirements for running SeamlessRDP components is Windows Server 2008r2 or later.
SeamlessRDP is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 3. Please send feedback, bug reports and patches to the appropriate mailing list.
SeamlessRDP is a sub project of rdesktop which now has its own repository and issue tracker.
Precompiled binaries are unfortunately not available right now. We hope to be able to provide them in the future.
Professional services, such as custom development, is offered by the following companies:
If you want to be included in this list, please contact us on the developers mailing list. Please note that your web site must mention "rdesktop" and link to www.rdesktop.org.