Answers to common questions.

mRemoteNG is a free, open-source, multi-protocol remote connections manager for Windows. It lets you open and organise RDP, VNC, SSH, Telnet, rlogin, Raw TCP, and HTTP/HTTPS sessions in a single tabbed interface, with all your connections stored in a connection tree. It is a community-driven fork of mRemote, maintained on GitHub.

Yes. mRemoteNG is completely free and open source, released under the GNU General Public License v2 (GPL v2). There is no paid tier, no per-seat cost, and no license to buy — for personal or commercial use. The full source code is available on GitHub.

RDP (Remote Desktop), VNC, SSH (v1 and v2), Telnet, rlogin, Raw TCP, and HTTP/HTTPS. You can save connections for any of these in the same tree and open them side by side as tabs in one window.

mRemoteNG runs on Windows 7 through Windows 11, as well as the corresponding Windows Server editions. It requires the .NET Framework, which is included with modern versions of Windows.

Both are offered. The MSI installer registers the app and is the simplest option for a normal desktop. The portable build runs from any folder (including a USB stick) without installing, which is ideal for locked-down environments or carrying your setup between machines.

The latest stable release is v1.77.3. Releases and their changelogs are published on the project's GitHub page, where you can always find the newest build.

New releases are occasionally flagged by antivirus heuristics until their reputation propagates. Always download from the official GitHub releases page or the Downloads page so you know you have a genuine build. If in doubt, verify against the checksums published with each release.

Install the new version over the top, or replace the portable folder — your connection file and settings are preserved. It is always sensible to back up your confCons.xml connection file before a major upgrade.

Right-click in the connection tree → New Connection, then pick the protocol and fill in the host, port and credentials. Group related connections into folders. Settings such as credentials and protocol options can be inherited from a parent folder, so you configure them once and reuse them across many connections.

Each connection can inherit properties — username, domain, port, gateway settings and more — from the folder above it in the tree. Set a value once on a folder and every connection inside it picks it up, unless you override it locally.

Yes. mRemoteNG can import connections from Active Directory, from a CSV file, or by running a port scan of a network range to discover reachable hosts. This makes bulk-loading a large estate quick, rather than adding hosts one at a time.

Yes — RDP connections support an RD Gateway, and SSH connections can be tunnelled through a jump host. Configure the gateway on a connection or folder and the sessions beneath it route through it automatically.

Connection details and passwords are saved in a configuration file that is encrypted with AES. By default the file is protected so it can only be read on your account/machine, and you can optionally set a master password to encrypt it with a passphrase of your own.

Because it is open source under the GPL v2, anyone can inspect exactly what the software does — there is no hidden telemetry or phone-home. Your connection data stays local on your machine. As with any credential store, keep your config file backed up and, for shared machines, protect it with a master password.

Yes. You can set a master password so the encrypted connection file can only be opened after entering your passphrase, rather than relying solely on Windows account protection. This is recommended on shared or portable installations.

By default your connections are stored in an encrypted confCons.xml file in your user profile (or alongside the app for portable installs). You can point mRemoteNG at a different location to share a connection file across a team.

mRemoteNG is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPL v2). You are free to use, study, share and modify it, including in commercial settings, in line with the terms of that license.

Yes. There is no distinction between personal and commercial use — it is free for both. Many system administrators, DevOps engineers and IT teams use mRemoteNG in production environments every day.

Absolutely. mRemoteNG is community-driven. You can report bugs, suggest features, improve the documentation, or submit pull requests on the GitHub repository.

Start with the documentation at mremoteng.readthedocs.io. For bugs, feature requests and community discussion, use the issues and discussions on the GitHub repository.