How to connect to RDP from Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android

To connect to a Windows server over RDP, you need its IP address, a user name and a password, plus an RDP client: Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc) on Windows, Microsoft’s Windows App on a Mac, iPhone, iPad or Android, and Remmina or FreeRDP on Linux. Enter the IP address in the client, log in, accept the certificate warning the first time, and you are on the server’s desktop.

All of these are free. Windows App is the client Microsoft used to call Microsoft Remote Desktop on macOS, iOS and Android; it was renamed in 2024, on Android in 2025. If RDP listens on a port other than 3389, every client takes it after a colon: 203.0.113.10:13389.

What do you need before you connect?

• The IP address or a host name pointing to it. Your provider shows it in the server’s panel.
• The user name. On a Windows VPS it is usually Administrator. A shared “RDP account” from a reseller has its own name instead.
• The password. Either one you chose when ordering or one the provider generated. Paste it from your password manager rather than retyping it, and check that no trailing space came along; one wrong character is enough to fail the first login.
• Remote Desktop switched on in Windows. On VPS images it normally is. If you set up Windows yourself, switch it on first under Settings → System → Remote Desktop. How to enable RDP on Windows Server has the sconfig and PowerShell routes.

A new Windows server also needs a few minutes after it is created: the first boot sets up the system, and RDP only answers once Windows shows its login screen. If the provider has a web console, that is where you can watch it get there.

How do I connect from Windows?

Use Remote Desktop Connection, which ships with every edition of Windows, Home included (Home cannot receive RDP connections, but it can make them).

1. 1Open Remote Desktop Connection

   Press Win+R, type mstsc and press Enter, or search the Start menu for “Remote Desktop Connection”.

2. 2Enter the address

   Type the IP address in Computer. Click Show Options if you want to enter the user name now and tick Allow me to save credentials.

3. 3Log in

   Click Connect. When Windows offers your own PC’s account, choose More choices → Use a different account and enter Administrator (or .\Administrator if your PC is in a domain) and the password.

4. 4Accept the certificate once

   “The identity of the remote computer cannot be verified” is normal for a server you just set up, because Windows signs RDP with a certificate it created itself. Tick Don’t ask me again for connections to this computer and click Yes.

Before connecting, the tabs under Show Options set the rest: Display for size and multiple monitors, Local Resources for the clipboard, drives and whether Windows key combinations go to the server, and General → Save As to keep everything in an .rdp file you can double-click next time. The same options exist on the command line; put your server’s address in place of 203.0.113.10 and pick the line you need:

mstsc /v:203.0.113.10                     # connect
mstsc /v:203.0.113.10:13389               # RDP on another port
mstsc /v:203.0.113.10 /f                  # full screen
mstsc /v:203.0.113.10 /w:1600 /h:900      # fixed window size
mstsc /v:203.0.113.10 /multimon           # use all your monitors
mstsc /edit "$env:USERPROFILE\Documents\vps.rdp"   # open a saved file for editing

The text after # is a PowerShell comment. In the old Command Prompt, leave it out: cmd would pass it to mstsc as an extra argument.

Inside the session, a few keys stay with your own PC. Press Ctrl+Alt+End for the server’s Ctrl+Alt+Del screen (lock, sign out, change password), and Ctrl+Alt+Pause to toggle between window and full screen.

Saving the connection as an .rdp file

An .rdp file is plain text, one setting per line, and mstsc writes it for you when you click Save As. Opening one in Notepad shows what the connection will do; these are the lines that matter most for a single server:

full address:s:203.0.113.10:3389
username:s:Administrator
screen mode id:i:1
use multimon:i:0
dynamic resolution:i:1
redirectclipboard:i:1

Read them as: connect to that address and port as Administrator, open in a window (2 would be full screen), use one monitor (1 would use all of them), resize the Windows desktop with the window, and share the clipboard. To change a value, edit it in Notepad or reopen the file with mstsc /edit.

The file never contains your password in plain text; if you ticked “Allow me to save credentials”, Windows keeps it in Credential Manager under TERMSRV/203.0.113.10. After a server reinstall with a new password, delete that entry, or run cmdkey /delete:TERMSRV/203.0.113.10, so the old one is not sent again.

How do I connect from a Mac?

Install Windows App from the Mac App Store, click + → Add PC, enter the IP address as the PC name and add the user name and password under Credentials. Double-click the new tile to connect and accept the certificate prompt. To send Ctrl+Alt+Del, press Fn+Control+Option+Delete. Retina resolution, clipboard and folder sharing and the keyboard mappings are covered in RDP from a Mac. If copy and paste does not work, look first at the clipboard setting on the saved PC’s Devices & Audio tab.

How do I connect from Linux?

Remmina, with a window

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y remmina remmina-plugin-rdp

Open Remmina, pick RDP in the protocol menu next to the address bar, type the IP address and press Enter. Remmina asks for the user name and password and, the first time, whether to trust the server’s certificate. For a server you use often, save a profile instead: it keeps the user name, the resolution and a shared folder, and its clipboard setting is on the Advanced tab.

FreeRDP, from the terminal

FreeRDP is the engine Remmina uses, and its command-line client is handy for scripts and quick tests. Ubuntu 24.04 and Debian 13 ship FreeRDP 3 as xfreerdp3; Debian 12 has FreeRDP 2 as xfreerdp. The options below work in both:

sudo apt install -y freerdp3-x11
xfreerdp3 /v:203.0.113.10 /u:Administrator /dynamic-resolution +clipboard /cert:tofu

sudo apt install -y freerdp2-x11
xfreerdp /v:203.0.113.10 /u:Administrator /dynamic-resolution +clipboard /cert:tofu

• /dynamic-resolution resizes the Windows desktop with the window; /f starts in full screen.
• /cert:tofu trusts the server’s certificate on the first connection and refuses if it changes later. Without it, FreeRDP asks; answer Y to remember the certificate or T for this time only.
• /drive:share,/home/you/share makes a local folder appear on the server.
• Leave out /p:. FreeRDP then asks for the password, which keeps it out of your shell history and the process list.

How do I connect from an iPhone or iPad?

1. 1Install Windows App

   Get Windows App by Microsoft from the App Store. You can skip the sign-in on first start; it is only needed for Microsoft’s cloud desktops.

2. 2Add the server

   Tap +, choose PC, enter the IP address under PC Name, add the user account and tap Save. The server now has a tile on the Devices tab; tap it to connect.

3. 3Pick a mouse mode

   In the session, Mouse pointer mode shows a cursor you steer like a trackpad, which is easier for small Windows buttons. Direct touch clicks wherever you tap. Two-finger tap is a right-click in pointer mode.

An iPad with a hardware keyboard and a mouse or trackpad works like a small laptop. Command shortcuts such as Command+C and Command+V are translated to their Windows equivalents.

How do I connect from Android?

Install Windows App by Microsoft from Google Play, tap + → PC connection, enter the IP address under PC Name, add the user account and tap Save. When you tap the tile, the app first asks which of your phone’s resources the session may use, such as the clipboard, storage or the microphone; allow only what you need. To change that later, tap and hold the PC, choose Edit and set the switches under device and audio redirection. The clipboard on Android carries text only. With a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, an Android tablet or a Chromebook is a workable Windows terminal.

How do I make RDP smoother on a slow connection?

RDP adapts to the line on its own, but on mobile data or a long route a few settings help more than anything on the server:

• Smaller and fewer pixels. A window instead of full screen on a large monitor, one monitor instead of several, and on a Mac the Retina option off. Every pixel the server does not have to send is bandwidth saved.
• Fewer visual extras. In mstsc, the Experience tab lets you pick a slower connection type, which turns off the desktop background, window animations and font smoothing. Lower colour depth on the Display tab helps too.
• Nothing heavy in the clipboard. Copying large files through the clipboard competes with the screen updates. Use a redirected drive for occasional files, and for big ones a download on the server itself, from your cloud storage or a link.

If the session stays sluggish while the line is fine, look at the server itself: Task Manager on the server shows whether the CPU or memory is maxed out, and a busy Windows Update in the background is a common cause on a fresh install.

What should you do after the first login?

• Restrict who can reach port 3389. Bots scan for open RDP ports around the clock. Allow only your own IP address in the Windows Firewall, in PowerShell as Administrator with Set-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup 'Remote Desktop' -RemoteAddress YOUR_IP (your public address in place of YOUR_IP), and keep Network Level Authentication on. What is my IP shows the public IPv4 address to use. Make the firewall change with the provider’s console open, in case the address the server sees is not the one you expected. The Windows RDP security checklist has the rest, including the rule group’s name on a non-English Windows.
• Disconnect or sign out on purpose. Closing the RDP window only disconnects: your programs keep running and you return to the same desktop next time. To end the session, sign out from the Start menu.
• Save the connection. An .rdp file on Windows or a saved PC in Windows App keeps the address, user name and display settings, so you do not have to type them again.

What if the connection fails?

First find out whether anything answers on the port. Run the line for your own computer, with the server’s address in place of 203.0.113.10:

Test-NetConnection 203.0.113.10 -Port 3389

nc -vz -G 5 203.0.113.10 3389

nc -vz -w 5 203.0.113.10 3389

An open port shows TcpTestSucceeded : True on Windows and a line ending in succeeded! from nc. On the Mac, -G 5 is the connect timeout; the macOS nc ignores -w while connecting.

WARNING: TCP connect to (203.0.113.10 : 3389) failed
WARNING: Ping to 203.0.113.10 failed with status: TimedOut

ComputerName           : 203.0.113.10
RemoteAddress          : 203.0.113.10
RemotePort             : 3389
InterfaceAlias         : Wi-Fi
SourceAddress          : 192.168.1.23
PingSucceeded          : False
PingReplyDetails (RTT) : 0 ms
TcpTestSucceeded       : False

Read the last line. The ping is a separate test, and Windows Server’s default firewall rules do not answer ping, so a failed ping on its own says nothing about RDP.

• The port answers, but login fails: wrong user name or password, an old saved password, or an NLA/CredSSP mismatch. The error message names which.
• The port does not answer: the server is still booting, Remote Desktop is off, the Windows Firewall blocks it, or your own network blocks outgoing 3389. Try once over a phone hotspot to rule out the last one.

No hotspot to try from? The open port checker tries the server’s RDP port from our server instead. Open there while your own test fails means the block is on your side of the connection.

Each of those, with the fix, is in Remote Desktop can’t connect to the remote computer.

Frequently asked