RemoteDesk

Changelog

Full release history and version notes for RemoteDesk – SSH, SFTP, RDP and VNC remote-access client for Windows.

Version 1.0

Latest May 2026

SSH Terminal

  • Full xterm.js terminal rendered inside WebView2 with the RemoteDesk dark palette
  • Password or private-key authentication with optional passphrase
  • Inline credential prompts in the terminal when nothing is saved — like OpenSSH, with per-hop banners for jump chains
  • TOFU host-key handling — SHA-256 fingerprint recorded on first connect; mismatches rejected with a red banner
  • Copy / Paste / Select-all (Ctrl+Shift+C / V / A); right-click context menu in the terminal area
  • Smart paste — multi-line content opens a confirm dialog with editable preview and a yellow execution warning
  • Multi-paste to terminals — pick any subset of open terminals (All / None / Others) and send the same payload to every one
  • Reconnect banner on disconnect/error — one click reuses the same tab with scrollback preserved

SFTP File Browser

  • Dual-pane Explorer-style browser opened from any SSH session via right-click → Open file browser (SFTP)
  • Native Windows shell icons resolved by file extension — matches Explorer for .txt / .zip / .png / etc.
  • Drag-drop in both directions; Windows Explorer → remote pane also uploads
  • Recursive folder upload and download — tree walked, matching remote dirs created on demand (existing reused, not re-created)
  • Per-transfer progress and cancel; transfer drawer with live throughput, direction-tinted arrows, color-coded state
  • Merge / overwrite prompts before clobbering anything that already exists
  • Concurrency capped at 3 transfers per SFTP tab; the rest queue in the drawer
  • Recursive delete with a pre-counted progress display (47 / 189 items)
  • Status-bar transfer summary with running totals; throttled so rapid bursts don't churn the UI
  • Inline SFTP sign-in card with per-hop credential rows when target or jump credentials are missing

Embedded RDP

  • Remote desktop rendered inside the tab via the Windows MsRdpClient ActiveX (mstscax.dll) hosted in a WindowsFormsHost
  • No external mstsc.exe window, no taskbar entry, no Windows 11 "Opening Remote Desktop Connection" prompt
  • Saved password injected directly via ClearTextPassword — no Credential Manager round-trip
  • HiDPI-correct — viewport measured in real pixels and DesktopScaleFactor sent to the server so text stays crisp
  • Live resize via UpdateSessionDisplaySettings on modern Windows servers; older hosts fall back to smart-sized scaling
  • Clipboard and smart-card redirection on; drive and printer redirection off
  • Connection state polled via the OCX's Connected property — clean Disconnected vs Error attribution with ExtendedDisconnectReason codes

Embedded VNC

  • Remote desktop rendered inside the tab using MarcusW.VncClient drawing into a WPF WriteableBitmap
  • Aspect-preserving fit with letterboxing — matches TightVNC / TigerVNC viewer behaviour
  • Native mouse / keyboard / scroll-wheel forwarding via a hand-built WPF→X11 keysym map
  • Send keys menu for Ctrl+Alt+Del, ☔Win, Alt+Tab, Alt+F4 — key chords Windows intercepts locally otherwise
  • Auto SSH tunneling when a jump host is configured — otherwise-plaintext VNC traffic rides inside SSH encryption
  • Optional "Loopback gateway" hop for the libvirt / QEMU / Proxmox case (VNC bound to 127.0.0.1 of a deeper hypervisor)
  • Amber plaintext-VNC warning bar before connecting to non-private hosts with no tunneling configured
  • Better error messages for empty passwords and DES-weak password derivations

Jump-Host Chains

  • Any number of SSH hops, reorderable in the session editor; first row dialed first, last row does the final TCP forward
  • Per-hop credentials — mix password and private-key auth across the chain
  • Per-hop error attribution — failures name the exact hop and auth method that rejected the connection
  • Inline prompts for missing jump credentials (SSH/SFTP terminals) and clear pre-connect errors for VNC tabs
  • Route description visible during connect — e.g. "SSH via 2 jump hosts → 127.0.0.1:5901"

Encrypted Vault & Security

  • AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption of the full session list
  • PBKDF2-SHA256 key derivation with 600,000 iterations and 16-byte salt
  • Atomic writes via .tmp + File.Replace — an interrupted save can never corrupt the vault
  • Key material zeroed on lock, idle auto-lock, and app exit
  • Auto-lock after 15 minutes of inactivity (configurable 1–240); manual lock via Ctrl+Shift+L or title-bar padlock
  • Per-credential auto-save policy (target user / password, jump user / password) with conservative defaults
  • "Forgot password? Reset vault" flow on the unlock dialog for irrecoverable forgotten passwords

MobaXterm Session Import

  • INI-style parser over a .mxtsessions export with a full preview dialog before importing
  • Supported protocols (SSH, SFTP, RDP, VNC) pre-checked; unsupported (Telnet, Mosh, Serial, FTP, WSL, ...) listed with an "Unsupported" tag
  • Folder structure preserved — MobaXterm's \-separated folders map to RemoteDesk's /-separated groups, including empty folders
  • Single-hop "Connect through SSH gateway" jump host imported natively for SSH/SFTP sessions
  • Passwords are not imported (MobaXterm encrypts them with its own master key); first connect prompts inline
  • Select-all toggle and live footer counter (N of M supported selected, K unsupported skipped, G groups)

Sidebar, Groups & Tabs

  • Hierarchical TreeView with /-separated groups, classic Windows Explorer tree lines, persistent expansion state across restarts
  • Right-click for New group / New subgroup / New session in this group / Rename / Delete
  • Drag sessions between groups (or onto empty area to move to root)
  • Multi-select with Ctrl/Shift — action menu items apply to the whole multi-set; Duplicate and Delete also bulk-operate with one confirmation
  • Live sidebar search filters by name or user@host:port; group structure preserved while filtering
  • Drag-to-reorder tabs without re-parenting WebView2 HwndHosts (no broken focus chains)
  • Active tab clearly marked — colored top accent bar, bolder title, lighter background
  • Split view renders every open tab simultaneously in an auto-laid 2-column grid; active pane gets a colored border
  • Right-click tab strip for Close / Close others / Close all

Polish, Stability & Storage

  • Custom wide terminal scrollbar that reserves its own gutter — no characters hiding behind the bar
  • Maximize clamp via WM_GETMINMAXINFO — content no longer slides under the taskbar on borderless maximize
  • RDP first-connect resolution fix — short-lived retry burst after Connected so the remote fills the tab without manual window-wiggle
  • App-close stability — tabs disposed before WebView2 teardown, eliminating late "Cannot access a disposed object" dialogs
  • All app-data centralised in %APPDATA%\RemoteDesk\ and %LOCALAPPDATA%\RemoteDesk\ — nothing written next to the .exe
  • WebView2 cache redirected so MSIX / Microsoft Store packaging works out of the box (read-only install location)
  • Single-file self-contained .exe (~81 MB) — no separate .NET runtime install required on the target machine
  • Branded title-bar logo and window icon; multi-size app.ico (16 / 24 / 32 / 48 / 64 / 128 / 256) for Windows Explorer

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