Remmina – A Feature Rich Remote Desktop Sharing Tool for Linux

Remmina is a free and open-source, feature-rich, and powerful remote desktop client for Linux and other Unix-like systems, written in GTK+3. It’s intended for system administrators and travelers, who need to remotely access and work with many computers.

It supports several network protocols in a simple, unified, homogeneous, and easy-to-use user interface.

Remmina Features

  • Supports RDP, VNC, NX, XDMCP, and SSH.
  • Enables users to maintain a list of connection profiles, organized by groups.
  • Supports quick connections by users directly putting in the server address.
  • Remote desktops with higher resolutions are scrollable/scalable in both window and fullscreen modes.
  • Supports viewport fullscreen mode; here the remote desktop automatically scrolls when the mouse moves over the screen edge.
  • Also supports a floating toolbar in fullscreen mode; enables you to switch between modes, toggle keyboard grabbing, minimize, and beyond.
  • Offers tabbed interface, optionally managed by groups.
  • Also offers a tray icon, which allows you to quickly access configured connection profiles.

In this article, we will show you how to install and use Remmina with a few supported protocols in Linux for desktop sharing.

Prerequisites

How to Install Remmina Desktop Sharing Tool on Linux

Remmina and its plugin packages are already provided in the official repositories of all if not most of the mainstream Linux distributions.

Run the commands below to install it with all supported plugins:

------------ On Debian/Ubuntu ------------ 
$ sudo apt install remmina remmina-plugin-*
------------ On CentOS/RHEL/Alma & Rocky ------------ 
# yum install epel-release
# yum copr enable castor/remmina
# yum install 'remmina*'
------------ On Fedora 22+ ------------ 
$ sudo dnf copr enable hubbitus/remmina-next
$ sudo dnf upgrade --refresh 'remmina*' 'freerdp*'
$ sudo emerge -a net-misc/remmina  [On Gentoo Linux]
$ sudo apk add remmina             [On Alpine Linux]
$ sudo pacman -S remmina           [On Arch Linux]
$ sudo zypper install remmina      [On OpenSUSE]

How to Connect to a Remote Linux System

Once you have installed it, search for remmina in the Ubuntu Dash or Linux Mint Menu, then launch it:

Remmina Desktop Sharing Client
Remmina Desktop Sharing Client

You can perform any configurations via the graphical interface or by editing the files under $HOME/.remmina or $HOME/.config/remmina.

To set up a new connection to a remote server press [Ctrl+N] or go to Connection -> New, and configure the remote connection profile as shown in the screenshot below. This is the basic settings interface.

Remmina Basic Desktop Preferences
Remmina Basic Desktop Preferences

Click on Advanced from the interface above to configure advanced connection settings.

Remmina Advance Desktop Settings
Remmina Advance Desktop Settings

To configure SSH settings, click on SSH from the profile interface above.

Remmina SSH Settings
Remmina SSH Settings

Once you have configured all the necessary settings, save the settings by clicking on the Save button, and from the main interface, you’ll be able to view all your configured remote connection profiles as shown below.

Remmina Configured Servers
Remmina Configured Servers

Remmina – Connect to Remote Linux Using sFTP

Choose the connection profile and edit the settings, choose SFTPSecure File Transfer from the Protocols down menu. Then set a startup path (optional) and specify the SSH authentication details. Lastly, click Connect.

Remmina sftp Connection
Remmina sftp Connection

Enter your SSH user password here.

Enter SSH Password
Enter SSH Password

If you see the interface below, then the SFTP connection is successful, you can now transfer files between your machines.

Remmina Remote sFTP Filesystem
Remmina Remote sFTP Filesystem

Remmina – Connect to Remote Linux Using SSH

Select the connection profile and edit the settings, then choose SSH – Secure Shell from the Protocols down menu and optionally set a startup program and SSH authentication details. Lastly, click Connect, and enter the user SSH password.

Remmina SSH Connection
Remmina SSH Connection

When you see the interface below, it means your connection is successful, you can now control the remote machine using SSH.

Remmina Remote SSH Connection
Remmina Remote SSH Connection

Remmina – Connect to Remote Linux Desktop Using VNC

Choose the connection profile from the list and edit the settings, then select VNC – Virtual Network Computing from the Protocols down menu. Configure basic, advanced, and ssh settings for the connection and click Connect, then enter the user SSH password.

Remmina VNC Connection
Remmina VNC Connection

Once you see the following interface, it implies that you have successfully connected to the remote machine using the VNC protocol.

Enter the user login password from the desktop login interface as shown in the screenshot below.

Remmina Remote Desktop Login
Remmina Remote Desktop Login
Remmina Remote Desktop Sharing
Remmina Remote Desktop Sharing

Simply follow the steps above to use the other remaining protocols to access remote machines, it’s that simple.

That’s all! In this article, we showed you how to install and use Remmina remote connection client with a few supported protocols in Linux. You can share any thoughts in the comments via the feedback form below.

Aaron Kili
Aaron Kili is a Linux and F.O.S.S enthusiast, an upcoming Linux SysAdmin, web developer, and currently a content creator for TecMint who loves working with computers and strongly believes in sharing knowledge.

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15 thoughts on “Remmina – A Feature Rich Remote Desktop Sharing Tool for Linux”

  1. Guide on how to log in with keyfile? I know how to generate the keyfile and upload it to the server, I don’t get how to add it reminna…

    Reply
  2. I am trying to install sudo apt-get install remmina remmina-plugin-* in debian, after “apt-get update” but it can’t find the remmina packages .

    I am getting this errors.

    E: Unable to locate package remmina
    E: Unable to locate package remmina-plugin-*
    

    is there any help? thanks

    Reply
    • @tyty
      Run these commands on Debian 9:

      $ echo 'deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian stretch-backports main' | sudo tee --append /etc/apt/sources.list.d/stretch-backports.list >> /dev/null
      $ sudo apt update
      $ sudo apt install -t stretch-backports remmina remmina-plugin-rdp remmina-plugin-secret

      Reply
  3. When running yum install remmina remmina-plugin-* I get:

    "No package remmina available, 
    No package remmina-plugin-* available ?"
    

    Any idea how I can install remmina on CentOS 7 ?

    Kr

    Reply
  4. The “yum install remmina remmina-plugin-*” command doesn’t work, say there is no package. In fact I only found a old version of remmina for Cent OS, probably would need to compile it, something I don’t remember how to do anymore hehehehe.

    Reply
    • This is what you need to do.

      # yum install dnf.noarch yum-plugin-copr.noarch (if you don't already have them)
      # dnf copr enable hubbitus/remmina-next
      # dnf upgrade --refresh 'remmina*' 'freerdp*'
      

      With that I was able to get 1.2.0-rcgit-18 installed on my CentOS 7 workstation.

      Reply
      • Executed the following command.

        # yum install dnf.noarch yum-plugin-copr.noarch
        

        Got the error..

        "no package dnf.noarch available."
        "Package yum-plugin-copr.noarch 0:1.1.31-45.el7 will be installed"
        "Installed:   yum-plugin-copr.noarch 0:1.1.31-45.el7 "
        
        Executing "dnf copr enable hubbitus/remmina-next" I got"dnf command not found"
        

        Running as root.

        Any idea how I can get remmina installed in this way on CentOS7 ?

        Reply
    • That is because the command is wrong, the correct command is:

      ------------ On CentOS/RHEL ------------ 
      # yum install remmina remmina-plugins-*   
      

      ##pluginS is plural. yum search remmina for all those packages.

      Reply
  5. Thanks, Aaron!

    Sorry for not having been clear enough. I’m not looking for a tool on Linux to access mainly Windows boxes (via rdp), but a tool that can connect to other Linux boxes and offers drag & drop – like MobaXterm.

    Am fully aware of that most file managers in Linux support sftp. However, I’d prefer a separate, file manager independent solution – like Remmina, but with drag & drop when in sftp mode.

    Hope this time I was clear enough :)

    Reply
  6. Is there a similar tool like Remmina but with drag & drop capability in sftp mode?
    Like it’s nicely implemented in MobaXterm.

    Reply

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