Remmina - VNC

Created: 2017-04-27 09:44:52 -0700 Modified: 2020-06-11 15:21:08 -0700

Remoting from Linux into Windows

If you have Remote Desktop enabled on the target Windows machine, then Remmina is the way to go. I tried rdesktop, but I couldn’t get it to configure/build correctly, and I didn’t feel like it was worth the effort.o

Also, if you want to improve performance of switching windows, win+end by default is the way to make Windows monochrome. It becomes much snappier to alt+tab when you cut the number of available colors down to ~1%.

This setting is labeled as “Color filters” in the settings:

Configuration basics

First of all, when using Remmina from Linux, it’s important to know that the “host key” for sending commands is by default “ControlR”, which is NOT ctrl+R but rather the _right control key on the keyboard (i.e. not the left one). That means that if you enter full-screen mode, ctrl+F will exit it, but only if you’re not pressing the left ctrl key.

I remapped this to “insert” since I end up pressing Control_R frequently on my laptop, but I almost never use the insert key when remoting into a machine.

Second, I found that it’s really difficult to use Remmina with two monitors on the destination computer. My destination computer was Windows, so I pressed Win+P to disable the second monitor altogether so that I could get a coherent remoting experience.

Also, to get keyboard keys like the Windows key to go to the destination computer, enable the keyboard-lookin’ icon in the toolbar of Remmina. Then alt+tab, win+D, etc. will go to the destination computer. Again, ctrl+F by default will let you see the Remmina UI so that you can change these settings.

Troubleshooting

your libfreerdp does not support h264 (reference1, reference2)

First, you can’t quick-connect and change the graphics options; you have to save the connection via the ➕ button.

I used the same resolution and selected “True color 32bpp”.

Sound doesn’t play

The setting is just disabled by default; you have to go to Remmina settings (for a saved connection) → Advanced → Sound → Local.