Windows user here, please don’t shoot me
I’m in need of a remote desktop solution that works without a monitor. I’ve tried AnyDesk, TeamViewer, and TightVNC.
All of the stuff I have need of using has a GUI client or dedicated software, but I’m about to be away from home for a couple weeks and I’m worried it might shit out on me for one reason or another and need some manual input (any one who has ever used a computer knows that this happens sometimes)
I have OpenVPN on my router and that’s how I’m accessing everything, so a local solution will work, and it would be nice, but not necessary, if it’s got an Android client as well
I have Windows 10 Home so I can’t use remote desktop that’s built into windows without installing a cracked pro version of window.
I’ve switched almost exclusively to using RustDesk these days for anything outside of my LAN, and have had zero problems with it running on barebones machines, zero monitor connected. It’s open source!
If you’re wanting to use the windows built in RDP, there apparently is a DLL wrapper that enables the RDP server on Home installations. See github. I haven’t had to use it though because my machines are all, well, “legal” copies of 10 or 11 pro, so i cant speak to whether it works or not.
Thank you! This works for me!
Although, to anyone who ends up here in search of the same question, you have to enable software rendering for it to work without a monitor
For anyone wondering how one would go about upgrading your home install to pro, there’s MAS. It’s a simple script that will activate the windows version of your choosing, it can activate msoffice too.
That’s the other option, yeah. If you already have a valid OEM key tied to your hardware though I can understand people not wanting to fuck with it.
Yeah ofc, if you already have a valid key doing everything you need you ofc have no need of it. If you would like BitLocker and remote desktop protocol (build in) like I do, you need a “pro” license.
Stealing from a big company like microsoft is still ethically justified imo.
Enter-pssession gives you powershell on a remote windows machine. Might take some setup to configure the local firewall and enable access. But once you have powershell you have plenty of options.
Hardly worth it now that windows natively supports ssh
You can buy a copy of Pro on a key reseller for like 20 bucks, I would highly recommend doing so.
Remmina should cover your use cases, as it has options for many protocols including RDP. I use Remmina on my Linux machines and all my Windows machines just use RDP since they are all pro.
Remmina, since it’s using RDP, should be able to connect with no monitor.
$400 is pretty steep. That is probably more than a lot of the computers this would be plugged into.
Chrome Remote Desktop works well and doesn’t require a monitor (at least not one that’s turned on).
If you’re already connecting to your home network via VPN, then RDP is always an option.
Edit: read the whole post before replying. Someone else clarified you can run RDP on Home, and recommended my preferred remote control app, Rustdesk.
Do you selfhost rustdesk or using default server? Selfhosting looks bit too complex and default server is not working properly every time (laggy and losing connection)
Checkout Remote Desktop Manager from Devolutions. It let’s you do pretty much any type of remote connection you need to do, and can even do things like start your VPN for you before accessing a remote resource.
If you’re ok leaving a monitor plugged in (but can be off), my go-to is Parsec. Bonus points is that it works without needing a VPN (it uses UDP NAT hole punching like Chrome Remote Desktop). If you’ll be far far away from home, Chrome Remote Desktop tends to be slightly more reliable over high latency than parsec for me - but that could just be because I tuned mine for super low latency when nearby.
Good news is, you can run both at the same time and see how they treat ya! (And both are free for base use, but parsec has a handful of premium features you can pay for if you like it) I have Parsec, CRD, RDP, and SSH all set up in various forms to get back “home” when I’m not.
Xrdp with it default configuration on debain12 worked for me pretty fine to access it from windows 7’s remote desktop protocol on a local network. There was no sound though, so you may need to tweak it to use pipewire or whatever you are using on your linux machine, if you are using any.
