1rdesktop(1) General Commands Manual rdesktop(1)
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6 rdesktop - Remote Desktop Protocol client
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9 rdesktop [options] server[:port]
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12 rdesktop is a client for Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), used in a num‐
13 ber of Microsoft products including Windows NT Terminal Server, Windows
14 2000 Server, Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server.
15
18 -u <username>
19 Username for authentication on the server.
20 -d <domain>
22 Domain for authentication.
23 -s <shell>
25 Startup shell for the user - starts a specific application
26 instead of Explorer.
27 -c <directory>
29 The initial working directory for the user. Often used in com‐
30 bination with -s to set up a fixed login environment.
31 -p <password>
33 The password to authenticate with. Note that this may have no
34 effect if "Always prompt for password" is enabled on the server.
35 WARNING: if you specify a password on the command line it may be
36 visible to other users when they use tools like ps. Use -p - to
37 make rdesktop request a password at startup (from standard
38 input).
39 -n <hostname>
41 Client hostname. Normally rdesktop automatically obtains the
42 hostname of the client.
43 -k <keyboard-map>
45 Keyboard layout to emulate. This requires a corresponding
46 keymap file to be installed. The standard keymaps provided with
47 rdesktop follow the RFC1766 naming scheme: a language code fol‐
48 lowed by a country code if necessary - e.g. en-us, en-gb, de,
49 fr, sv, etc.
50 The default keyboard map depends on the current locale (LC_* and
52 LANG environment variables). If the current locale is unknown,
53 the default keyboard map is en-us (a US English keyboard).
54 The keyboard maps are file names, which means that they are case
56 sensitive. The standard keymaps are all in lowercase.
57 The keyboard maps are searched relative to the directories
59 $HOME/.rdesktop/keymaps, KEYMAP_PATH (specified at build time),
60 and $CWD/keymaps, in this order. The keyboard-map argument can
61 also be an absolute filename.
62 The special value `none' can be used instead of a keyboard map.
64 In this case, rdesktop will guess the scancodes from the X11
65 event key codes using an internal mapping method. This method
66 only supports the basic alphanumeric keys and may not work prop‐
67 erly on all platforms so its use is discouraged.
68 -g <geometry>
70 Desktop geometry (WxH). If geometry is the special word
71 "workarea", the geometry will be fetched from the extended win‐
72 dow manager hints property _NET_WORKAREA, from the root window.
73 The geometry can also be specified as a percentage of the whole
74 screen, e.g. "-g 80%".
75 If the specified geometry depends on the screen size, and the
77 screen size is changed, rdesktop will automatically reconnect
78 using the new screen size. This requires that rdesktop has been
79 compiled with RandR support.
80 -f Enable fullscreen mode. This overrides the window manager and
82 causes the rdesktop window to fully cover the current screen.
83 Fullscreen mode can be toggled at any time using Ctrl-Alt-Enter.
84 -b Force the server to send screen updates as bitmaps rather than
86 using higher-level drawing operations.
87 -A Enable SeamlessRDP. In this mode, rdesktop creates a X11 window
89 for each window on the server side. This mode requires the Seam‐
90 lessRDP server side component, which is available from
91 http://www.cendio.com/seamlessrdp/. When using this option, you
92 should specify a startup shell which launches the desired appli‐
93 cation through SeamlessRDP.
94 Example: rdesktop -A -s 'seamlessrdpshell notepad'.
96 -B Use the BackingStore of the Xserver instead of the integrated
98 one in rdesktop.
99 -e Disable encryption. This option is only needed (and will only
101 work) if you have a French version of NT TSE.
102 -E Disable encryption from client to server. This sends an
104 encrypted login packet, but everything after this is unencrypted
105 (including interactive logins).
106 -m Do not send mouse motion events. This saves bandwidth, although
108 some Windows applications may rely on receiving mouse motion.
109 -C Use private colourmap. This will improve colour accuracy on an
111 8-bit display, but rdesktop will appear in false colour when not
112 focused.
113 -D Hide window manager decorations, by using MWM hints.
115 -K Do not override window manager key bindings. By default rdesk‐
117 top attempts to grab all keyboard input when it is in focus.
118 -S <button size>
120 Enable single application mode. This option can be used when
121 running a single, maximized application (via -s). When the mini‐
122 mize button of the windows application is pressed, the rdesktop
123 window is minimized instead of the remote application. The maxi‐
124 mize/restore button is disabled. For this to work, you must
125 specify the correct button size, in pixels. The special word
126 "standard" means 18 pixels.
127 -T <title>
129 Sets the window title. The title must be specified using an
130 UTF-8 string.
131 -N Enable numlock syncronization between the Xserver and the remote
133 RDP session. This is useful with applications that looks at the
134 numlock state, but might cause problems with some Xservers like
135 Xvnc.
136 -X <windowid>
138 Embed rdesktop-window in another window. The windowid is
139 expected to be decimal or hexadecimal (prefixed by 0x).
140 -a <bpp>
142 Sets the colour depth for the connection (8, 15, 16, 24 or 32).
143 More than 8 bpp are only supported when connecting to Windows XP
144 (up to 16 bpp) or newer. Note that the colour depth may also be
145 limited by the server configuration. The default value is the
146 depth of the root window.
147 -z Enable compression of the RDP datastream.
149 -x <experience>
151 Changes default bandwidth performance behaviour for RDP5. By
152 default only theming is enabled, and all other options are dis‐
153 abled (corresponding to modem (56 Kbps)). Setting experience to
154 b[roadband] enables menu animations and full window dragging.
155 Setting experience to l[an] will also enable the desktop wallpa‐
156 per. Setting experience to m[odem] disables all (including
157 themes). Experience can also be a hexidecimal number containing
158 the flags.
159 -P Enable caching of bitmaps to disk (persistent bitmap caching).
161 This generally improves performance (especially on low bandwidth
162 connections) and reduces network traffic at the cost of slightly
163 longer startup and some disk space. (10MB for 8-bit colour,
164 20MB for 15/16-bit colour, 30MB for 24-bit colour and 40MB for
165 32-bit colour sessions)
166 -r <device>
168 Enable redirection of the specified device on the client, such
169 that it appears on the server. Note that the allowed redirec‐
170 tions may be restricted by the server configuration.
171 Following devices are currently supported:
173 -r comport:<comport>=<device>,...
175 Redirects serial devices on your client to the server. Note that
176 if you need to change any settings on the serial device(s), do
177 so with an appropriate tool before starting rdesktop. In most
178 OSes you would use stty. Bidirectional/Read support requires
179 Windows XP or newer. In Windows 2000 it will create a port, but
180 it's not seamless, most shell programs will not work with it.
181 -r disk:<sharename>=<path>,...
183 Redirects a path to the share \\tsclient\<sharename> on the
184 server (requires Windows XP or newer). The share name is limited
185 to 8 characters.
186 -r lptport:<lptport>=<device>,...
188 Redirects parallel devices on your client to the server. Bidi‐
189 rectional/Read support requires Windows XP or newer. In Windows
190 2000 it will create a port, but it's not seamless, most shell
191 programs will not work with it.
192 -r printer:<printername>[=<driver>],...
194 Redirects a printer queue on the client to the server. The
195 <printername> is the name of the queue in your local system.
196 <driver> defaults to a simple PS-driver unless you specify one.
197 Keep in mind that you need a 100% match in the server environ‐
198 ment, or the driver will fail. The first printer on the command
199 line will be set as your default printer.
200 -r sound:[local|off|remote]
202 Redirects sound generated on the server to the client. "remote"
203 only has any effect when you connect to the console with the -0
204 option. (Requires Windows XP or newer).
205 -r lspci
207 Activates the lspci channel, which allows the server to enumer‐
208 ate the clients PCI devices. See the file lspci-channel.txt in
209 the documentation for more information.
210 -r scard[:<Scard Name>=<Alias Name>[;<Vendor Name>][,...]]
212 Enables redirection of one or more smart-cards. You can provide
213 static name binding between linux and windows. To do this you
214 can use optional parameters as described: <Scard Name> - device
215 name in Linux/Unix enviroment, <Alias Name> - device name shown
216 in Windows enviroment <Vendor Name> - optional device vendor
217 name. For list of examples run rdesktop without parameters.
218 -0 Attach to the console of the server (requires Windows Server
220 2003 or newer).
221 -4 Use RDP version 4.
223 -5 Use RDP version 5 (default).
225
227 0 RDP session terminated normally
228 1 Server initiated disconnect (also returned for logoff by XP
230 joined to a domain)
231 2 Server initiated logoff
233 3 Server idle timeout reached
235 4 Server logon timeout reached
237 5 The session was replaced
239 6 The server is out of memory
241 7 The server denied the connection
243 8 The server denied the connection for security reason
245 16 Internal licensing error
247 17 No license server available
249 18 No valid license available
251 19 Invalid licensing message
253 20 Hardware id doesn't match software license
255 21 Client license error
257 22 Network error during licensing protocol
259 23 Licensing protocol was not completed
261 24 Incorrect client license enryption
263 25 Can't upgrade license
265 26 The server is not licensed to accept remote connections
267 62 The local client window was closed
269 63 Some other, unknown error occured
271 64 Command line usage error
273 69 A service or resource (such as memory) is unavailable
275 70 An internal software error has been detected
277 71 Operating system error
279 76 Protocol error or unable to connect to remote host.
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284 Main website of rdesktop
285 http://www.rdesktop.org/
286 November 2005 rdesktop(1)