How To Connect To A Windows Terminal Server From Ubuntu
As a System Administrator or home user, connecting to Windows Computers from Ubuntu with just file sharing is all that may be needed. Other times, there is a need to remotely access Windows Computers to perform more complex tasks. With Windows, you can easily connect to another Windows Computer running Terminal Services with a Terminal Server client. On Ubuntu, you can also access any Windows Computer using tsclient.
tsclient is a GNOME program for remotely accessing Microsoft Windows NT/2000/2003 Terminal Services and XP Remote Desktop Sharing over RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol).
With Ubuntu, tsclient is installed by default. To verify it is installed simply enter the following command in a Terminal window:
dpkg –get-selections | grep tsclient
If tsclient is installed you should see the output of the command as:
tsclient installed
If tsclient is not installed, you can install it by executing the following command from a Terminal window:
sudo apt-get install tsclient
Now that tsclient is installed, you can easily open tsclient by typing tsclient at the Terminal prompt (yes it looks exactly as the Terminal Server client on Windows!)
To quickly connect to a Windows Computer, just enter the hostname in the Computer field and click Connect at the bottom of tsclient.
Once connected you can logon to the Windows Computer as normal:
Just as you can save configuration settings on a Windows Terminal Server Client, the same can done with tsclient by setting options in the Dislpay, Local Resources, Programs, or Performance tabs. Once the settings have been configured, you can save it as a file and open it when you need to connect to the server.
Once you have saved the settings to a file, you can quickly connect to a Windows Computer from a Terminal window instead of running tsclient from the GUI. To see the tsclient command prompt options, type:
tsclient –help
tsclient [OPTIONS]… [FILE]…
FILE an rdp format file containing options
-h, –help display this help and exit
-v, –version output version information and exit
-x FILE launch rdesktop with options specified in FILE
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Comments on How To Connect To A Windows Terminal Server From Ubuntu
Buenas tardes,
Tengo un problema con el cliente terminal, la resolución de la pantalla al servidor donde ingreso es un poco deficiente, en comparación a cuando ingreso al mismo servidor desde un pc xp con Xmanager2, si alguien sabe como mejorar la resolución del cliente terminal de ubunto me seria de mucha ayuda.
Nota: ya modifique la resolución sobre el terminal client server y no funciona?.
hay otro terminal cliente para ubuntu que pueda utilizar?
gracias
Are you able to access a windows computer that is out side of your network with tsclient or does it have to be part of network?
Yes you can, just make sure that the certain ports are forwarded on the computer/server networks you are wanting to connect to.
okay, having some issues with TSC, it wont let you use the installed printer on the remote desktop… any help will be appreciated!
Works great, definitely slower than MSTSC (Remote Desktop Connection) through Windows. No doubt about it, much slower but still works. Haven´t tried printing but you also can´t easily switch back to Ubuntu without disconnecting from what I can see.
@mark: Really? I just reformatted my Windows XP 64-bit workstation to Hardy, and the first thing I noticed was connecting to our servers through tsclient was a huge improvement over Windows' Remote Desktop. I used to have slow startup/logout times, and when working through those connections there was about a .25-.5 second lag. Now it's as though I'm physically at those machines when I work with them. I think some out-of-date drivers may have been to blame when my workstation was a Windows machine, but I have no complaints now.
dear all,
i try to connect to windows server 2003, on it, i have made a new user called ubuntu. and i try to make connection via tsclient.
but on my ubuntu pc still cannot conncect to windows server. Any explanation?
thanks.
@izulthea
Try connecting to the Windows Server using it's IP Address. The problem may be that your Ubuntu machine cannot resolve the hostname of the Windows Server.
i am able to cnnect to to windows xp from my ubuntu pc but the problem is that i also want to share my disk on the remote computer while connected to it so i can copy files in it from the remote computer.
what should ido?
I'm using Hamachi and attempting to connect my Ubuntu to my XP machine.
I can browse windows shares with no issues
But when I try to RDP into my XP from Ubuntu using tsclient I get this message:
(tsclient:5962): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: /build/buildd/glib2.0-2.18.2/gobject/gsignal.c:2384: instance `0×86d51e0' has no handler with id `2199'
and I also see this message:
** (tsclient:5962): WARNING **:
X Error of failed request: BadAtom (invalid Atom parameter)
Major opcode of failed request: 23 (X_GetSelectionOwner)
Atom id in failed request: 0×0
Serial number of failed request: 55
Current serial number in output stream: 55
no idea whats going on
I see a screen for a split nanno second (looks like the RDP window, but it will close before I can blink)
Any help would be great
When i want to connect to a Windows 2003 Server or a Windows XP, i got the error:
ERROR: getaddrinfo: Name or service not known
If tried via DNS and IP-Address also. Ive tried with RDP and RDPv5.
If tried with or without keyboard settings.
Anyboy an Idea?
dear all,
why my ubuntu cannot mount permanently to windows server2003 (like mapping in windows). i`ve tried to make connection, but its lost when computer restart.
any Guru can help me? completly please.
I'm having the same problem. I'm dual booting with XP and Ubuntu. Terminal Server Client works fine (and faster than it does on Windows), but it doesn't recognize printers. If I switch over to the XP side, I can print with no problem.
I tried using tsclient but it's extremely slow compared to win->win remote desktop connection even though the computers sit in the same local area network. Any suggestion to improve the connection quality?
works definitely faster than win to win (jaunty to win2003)
Mike: I posted on 4/10/09 with the same issue. (Terminal Server Client doesn't recognize printer). Did you ever find a solution? I hope so, and that you'll share it with me. Thanks.
John
John. You can use, from a terminal, rdesktop IP -r printer:name_of_the Printer. Then go to the printer in Windows that says something like name_of_printer from name_of_Ubuntu_computer in session x. Go to tab ports click on bidiretional printer and chose the windows port that you wanto to print. Ex. if you program use LPT1 to print then choose LPT1. Now you have two ports the local and the remote one. So by this way you can print in your local Ubuntu printer
I can access to win-sever2003 but Terminal server not printing default?!!!!!!
I have pc with ubunto and connecting with printer and server2003 with program great plains…then I accessed to server by terminal server but when I want to print from the great plains any report it does not capture my printer….why???????!!!!!
Hernan: Thanks for your reply. It was a bit technical for me to understand.
When you say enter from a terminal: rdesktop IP -r printer:[name_of_the_printer], do you mean the printer's name as it appears on the remote computer [HP LaserJet 4000 Series PCL6 (from BIGDADDY) in session 3] or its name as it appears in Ubuntu [usb://HP/LaserJet%204000%20Series]?
Where is the "Ports" tab you speak of?
Sorry to be asking, I'm a newbie.
I have pc with ubunto and connecting with printer and server2003 with program great plains…then I accessed to server by terminal server but when I want to print from the great plains any report it does not capture my printer….why???????!!!!
Please any help???
try clicking on the local resources tab on the start menu for tsc then click add local hard drive
@Tommy: I have this problem too! But I don't see a solution posted yet! Love to hear about it, as Googling for an answer hasn't lead to a solution yet. And I need to connect to my work (Windows) computer. When they reinstalled the system to a newer Windows, I got this error. Thanks in advance! Greets.
Hello, I have Terminal Server Client on Ubuntu 9.10 to get a XP desktop from my other PC. I use a launcher with this: rdesktop -r disk:"KINGSTON"="/media/KINGSTON" 192.168.1.2 to share my USB pendrive but I need to share that and other folders. If I make launchers for every folder or drive I want and I launch them I'm getting several conections to the same PC, and I dont want that. Anybody knows how to get that with just one launcher. I mean with one command ?? Thanks.
Gracias por tus comentarios. Es excelente y me ha sido de gran ayuda.
GRACIAS.
how can i connect my ubuntu to a server without open the webbrowser
and download something from the server.
if you can help me plz reply me!!
Hello,
I have this working but when I want to use an internet connection on the remote desktop (Win XP) I can not get a connection.
Any ideas?
Abuiskool
If you are physically in front of the XP computer and logged on (with out using remote desktop) are you able to browse out to the Internet?
@rzk
check local resources tab of terminal services client… there's an option there that says "add my local drive to the remote computer"…
I use 64 bit 10.04 to access XP. I find that following doing this I get issues with windows not showing properly on the local XP machine after a remote session where the taskbar programs will flash yellow and not display correctly, remaining hidden requiring minimisation and multiple clicks to re find these. A reboot of XP fixes this behaviour until I log in again with the Terminal Server Client application. Anyone else notice this?
Sorry I should have said I am using 32 bit XP.
@mark: I too was finding the tsclient to be slower than win-on-win for the same connection. A Youtube video hit I also found mentioned switching to RDPv5, which made all the difference. Unless you are connecting to something really old (like Windows 2000), you should prefer the RDPv5 protocol over RDP.