Terminals

Terminals is a free tabbed remote connection manager for Windows that puts RDP, VNC, SSH, Telnet, ICA Citrix and web sessions side by side in one window. It was popular with Windows admins who juggled dozens of servers and wanted something better than opening mstsc.exe over and over. If you are searching for a “Terminals RDP manager download”, know up front that the project is dormant: the last release, 4.0.1, came out in June 2017.

The code lives on GitHub under the Terminals-Origin organisation. The maintainers announced in 2019 that active development had stopped, and a 2022 note says the project was “resurrected” while still looking for maintainers; there have been occasional commits since, but no new release. Treat it as legacy software that still works on many systems, not as a maintained product.

Terminals at a glance

What it does

• Opens RDP, VNC, VMRC, SSH, Telnet, ICA Citrix, HTTP and HTTPS connections in tabs, with full-screen and detachable windows.
• Uses the Windows Terminal Services ActiveX client (mstscax.dll), so RDP behaves like the built-in client.
• Stores connections as favorites, organised by tags and groups in a tree, with search across names, protocols and notes.
• Imports connections from other formats and from RDP entries in the registry, and finds computers in Active Directory or by IP range.
• Keeps credentials in an encrypted file protected by a master password, with reusable credential sets.
• Includes network tools: ping, tracert, DNS lookups, Wake-on-LAN, port scanner, shares, services, whois and interfaces.
• Captures screenshots of sessions and manages them in a capture manager.
• Can run a script before a connection opens.

How sysadmins use it

Build a server list from Active Directory

1. Open the favorites organiser and choose the import option that searches Active Directory.
2. Pick the domain and the computers you need, then import them as RDP favorites.
3. Assign tags such as “DC”, “SQL” or “Branch-London” so they appear as groups in the tree.
4. Set a default credential set for the group so double-clicking a server logs you in.

Protect stored passwords

1. In the application options, set a master password before saving any credentials.
2. Create named credential sets (for example a domain admin and a local admin account) in the credentials manager.
3. Point favorites at a credential set rather than typing passwords into each connection.
4. Keep the settings folder on an encrypted disk and out of shared profiles.

Quick checks without leaving the console

1. Before connecting to a server that does not respond, open the network tools and ping it or run tracert.
2. Use the port scanner to check whether TCP 3389 (RDP) or 22 (SSH) is open.
3. Send a Wake-on-LAN packet to a workstation that is powered off.

Install with Chocolatey

1. On machines managed with Chocolatey, run choco install terminals from an elevated prompt.
2. Pin the version (choco pin add -n=terminals) so automated upgrades do not surprise you; there are no new releases anyway.

Install and first run

Windows. Terminals 4.0.1 is published as an MSI installer and a ZIP archive. It needs .NET Framework 4.x, which is present on supported Windows 10 and 11 installations. RDP depends on the system Remote Desktop client components. The official requirements page still mentions Windows XP as the floor, which shows how old the documentation is.

Known issue. The release notes for 4.0.1 list a crash in the ZIP version that needs a fix in Terminals.exe.config; if the portable ZIP fails to start, use the MSI.

Upgrading from 3.x. Version 4.0.1 does not change the database or configuration format from 3.0, so favorites and credentials carry over.

Gotchas. Modern RDP features such as Network Level Authentication and new security policies depend on the ActiveX client and Windows itself; if a connection fails, test the same host with mstsc.exe first. Antivirus tools sometimes question unsigned or old .NET tools, so check with your security team before deploying it widely.

Limitations

• No release since June 2017 and no active maintainer; bugs and security issues are unlikely to be fixed.
• Windows only.
• Its SSH, VNC and other protocol components have not been updated in years; use a maintained SSH client for production Linux servers.
• The credential store has not had a recent independent security review; for privileged accounts, prefer a supported tool or a password vault.
• No team sharing, central management or audit logging.

Terminals vs alternatives

mRemoteNG is the obvious free successor for the same job: open source, multi-protocol, tabbed, and still maintained. Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection Manager (RDCMan), now part of Sysinternals, is free, RDP-only and updated by Microsoft. Royal TS and Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager are commercial options with shared connection lists, vault integration and team features. If you are setting up a new environment, choose one of these instead of Terminals.

FAQ

Is Terminals still maintained?

Not in a meaningful way. The last release is 4.0.1 from 25 June 2017; the repository receives occasional commits, but no new version has been published.

Is Terminals free?

Yes. It is free, and its source code is published on GitHub under the Microsoft Shared Source Community License (MS-CL).

Where can I download Terminals?

The project’s GitHub repository hosts the 4.0.1 MSI and ZIP, and there is an official Chocolatey package called terminals.

Does Terminals run on Mac or Linux?

No. It is a Windows application built on .NET Framework and the Windows RDP ActiveX control.

What is a good Terminals RDP alternative?

mRemoteNG for a free multi-protocol manager, RDCMan for RDP only, or Royal TS and Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager for commercial team use.

Does Terminals support Windows 11?

There is no official statement for Windows 11. It runs on .NET Framework 4.x, which Windows 11 includes, but test it before relying on it.

Last checked against official sources: 1 October 2026 (developer website: github.com). Versions and licence terms change — confirm on the developer's site before deploying in production.