rdesktop application is use to connect RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) of any Operating System like Windows XP, Window NT, Windows 2003/2008, Windows Vista and Windows 7 from Linux machine. It’s a client utility for Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). In this article we are going to view how we can take remote desktop of Windows Terminal using Hostname and IP Address.

Install rdesktop in Linux

Please make sure following points before connecting to remote host.

1. Enable RDP port no. 3389 in Firewall.
2. Enable remote desktop under Windows Operating System.
3. Require at least one user with password.
4. Under MS-Windows desktop >> Right Click on My Computer >> Select properties >> Select Remote tab >> Enable Remote desktop >> Save the changes.

Install rdesktop (Remote Desktop)

It might happen that rdesktop application already installed in your Linux distribution. Kindly verify with below command.

# rpm -qa rdesktop

rdesktop-1.6.0-8.el6_0.1.i686

If not, then install it with YUM command to resolve dependencies.

# yum -y install rdesktop

check rdesktop in Linux

Installation completed

Installation of rdesktop in Linux

How to use rdesktop with hostname

To connect Windows host from Linux desktop type following command using -u parameter as username (narad) and (ft2) as hostname of my Windows host. To resolve host name make entry at /etc/hosts file if you don’t have DNS Server in your environment.

# rdesktop -u narad ft2

Use rdesktop using hostname

How to use rdesktop with IP Address?

To connect Windows host from Linux machine using username as (narad) and IP Address as (192.168.50.5) of my windows host, then command would be as.

# rdesktop -u narad 192.168.50.5

Use rdesktop using IP Address

Please execute man rdesktop in command prompt If you would like to know more about it or visit rdesktop project website. Kindly share it and let us know your comments through our comment box below.