RDP-Connector

A Tauri App for wrapping the usage of *.rdpx files with freerdp.
The main purpose for writing this tool is to handle RDP with Azure Virtual Desktop from a linux machine.
The oauth login flow will be handled by the RDP-Connector more conveniently than the "browse to URL / paste redirect" flow which is provided by the freeRDP CLI.

The frontend code uses Vue.js with Vuetify.
Feel free to contribute.

NOTE: the provided way to get the rdpx file which is described here is can be deprecated at anytime in the future as Microsoft is moving towards the Windows-App.
Future Versions of the RDP-Connector will provide a possibility to provide the gateway connection information via commandline parameters

If you need to use Azure Virtual Desktop but prefer not to use the web client or the Windows App (for example, if you’re on Linux), you can connect directly to the virtual desktop via RDP. You can (still) download the RDP configuration file here (you must be logged in before opening this link): client.wvd.microsoft (Legacy).

• Go to the settings tab, choose "Download the rdp file"
• click on your desired virtual machine
• *.rdpx file should be downloaded to your system

You don't want to build RDP-Connector on your own? You can download recent versions from the Releases Page.
You can try the latest freerdp binaries from freerdp.com/releases.

The following table shows which versions of rdp-connector are compatible with which versions of freerdp:

• Start the app.

• Go to the Settings tab to manage your RDP configurations:

  • You can now save and manage multiple RDP configurations.
  • Use the Settings Chooser (the dropdown at the top of the settings page) to switch between different profiles.
  • You can Add, Clone, or Delete configurations as needed.
  • Use the Copy button to easily duplicate connection parameters between profiles.
  • (Optional: You can use the wrapper-script from the freerdp binaries in the Releases Page as "Path to freerdp").

  

• Go to the Main page and press "Start RDP" to initiate the connection:

  • Use the dropdown menu to select your saved configuration.
  • If a connection is already active, use the "Jump to RDP" button to quickly focus the FreeRDP window.
  • You can open a Browser Window pointing to MS Teams by pressing the respective Button next to the Jump to RDP Button if you need it (full version)
    • If you don't need it, use the light version

  

You need npm and Rust installed on your system together with some system libraries - check the tauri docs for prerequisites.

npm i
# Build the "full" version (default)
npm run tauri:build

# Build the "lite" version (no Teams)
npm run tauri:build -- -- --no-default-features

The "full" version includes integration with MS Teams, while the "lite" version omits this feature to reduce the application's footprint. If you are building locally, the teams feature is enabled by default.

After this, you get a ready-to-use binary under src-tauri/target/release/rdp-connector.
Also, you get a deb-package for installing on Linux: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/deb/rdp-connector_1.2.0_amd64.deb

You can build freerdp with a sensible build-config if you want. You will need docker for this, or you check the Dockerfile and extract its content.

Build freerdp with:

chmod +x ./freerdp/build.sh
./freerdp/build.sh

Be patient, this will take some time….

Now you got freerdp binaries with many static linked libraries (not all!) under freerdp/bin/ and freerdp/lib.
Note: You will probably need some more runtime-dependencies on your system to run freerdp directly.
But:
You should be able to run freerdp with this little wrapper-script without installing external dependencies now:

./freerdp/run-xfreerdp.sh

You try to use the compiled freerdp binary directly.
The here compiled freerdp is built with FFmpeg support, which is statically linked. But ffmpeg has a dependency to a specific libvpx.so lib which your system doesn't have.

Check your version with ls /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ | grep libvpx or ls /usr/lib64/ | grep libvpx

If you see a different version, you have to change the used OS in the Dockerfile accordingly:

• Ubuntu 20.04 → older(???)
• Ubuntu 22.04 → libvpx.so.7
• Ubuntu 24.04 → newer(???)

Just build freerdp again...

This project is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. In no event shall the authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of or in connection with the software or the use or other dealings in the software.