Help › Functions
Connect to a Windows PC with Remote Desktop
DeskRanger can open a Windows PC that offers Remote Desktop, with the sign-in the PC itself asks for.
Some Windows PCs offer Remote Desktop instead of DeskRanger. DeskRanger can connect to them: save the computer as a Remote desktop record and open it like any other device.
- Sign-in. The PC's own sign-in is used. Windows checks the sign-in before opening the desktop. If Windows refuses the sign-in, DeskRanger says why in plain words.
- First time. The first time you connect, DeskRanger shows the PC's fingerprint. Check it, and it is remembered for the next time.
- Window size. The remote desktop follows the size of the window.
- Not included yet. Drives and sound.
In the web console
The web console shows your saved remote desktops (RDP and VNC) under Devices in a section of their own, with the address, user name and how they are reached: Direct, through one of your devices (with its name), or Access device missing when that device is no longer in your account. With Add Device and Add an existing remote desktop you add a record, and in the row's menu you edit or remove it; it then applies in all your apps. You cannot connect from the web console: a browser cannot reach computers in your network, and it has no keychain. So you enter a password in the app or when you first connect. With DeskRanger Secure on, the web console only shows the records: their address decides where a remembered login is sent, so you add and change them in the app.
Clipboard
Per computer you can switch on sharing the clipboard in its record. It is off at first. The same switch (Share Clipboard) is in the session toolbar. If you switch it on while the running session has no such channel, it applies from the next connection. Only text goes across, in both directions, and the channel is opened only in sessions whose record has the switch on. See also Share the clipboard.
Reach a computer in your home network through one of your devices
macOS
If the computer with Remote Desktop sits in a network where one of your Macs runs, that Mac can act as the gateway: your other devices reach the computer through it from anywhere, without port forwarding and without a VPN. On the Network page you allow this per computer with Allow as access for “…”. The page then shows which computers use the Mac as a gateway. The gateway is only for devices of your account, only for the address of the saved record, and never into the internet.
The gateway is not a session: it shows nothing of the Mac's screen, takes no input and shares no files. While a device uses it, you can see that; End ends it. It works while someone is signed in on the Mac and the Mac allows connections.
Windows
If the computer with Remote Desktop sits in a network where one of your Windows PCs runs the DeskRanger service, that PC can act as the gateway: your other devices reach the computer through it from anywhere, without port forwarding and without a VPN. On the Network page you allow this per computer with Allow as access for “…”; there and in the live menu you see which device is using the PC as a gateway right now, and End ends it. The gateway is only for devices of your account, only for the address of the saved record, and never into the internet. It shows nothing of the PC's screen and works while someone is signed in on the PC, not at the sign-in screen. The PC also serves as the gateway only while DeskRanger runs there, even if only in the notification area; when you quit DeskRanger, the connections through it end.
iPhone & iPad
This function is coming soon to iPhone & iPad.
Linux
If the computer with Remote Desktop sits in a network where one of your Linux computers runs the DeskRanger service, that computer can act as the gateway: your other devices reach the computer through it from anywhere, without port forwarding and without a VPN. Under This Computer you allow this per computer with Allow as access for “…”. While a device uses the computer as a gateway, DeskRanger shows this in a small window of its own and under This Computer; End ends it. The gateway is only for devices of your account, only for the address of the saved record, and never into the internet. It shows nothing of the screen and works only while someone is signed in at the computer and DeskRanger runs there; when you quit DeskRanger or sign out, the connections through it end.