CoRD: Remote connection to Windows
We live in a world dominated by Windows machines and hence, we often find ourselves faced with the need to connect to one. Sadly OS X has been pretty much devoid of any Windows remote connection apps that work well. Enter CoRD an open-source, lightweight, cocoa based remote desktop client for Microsoft’s remote desktop and terminal services. CoRD was ported from a unix program called rdesktop, and allows you to connect to multiple windows machine simultaneously.
I have been using previous builds of CoRD for over a year now and the new version, which was released a few days ago, addressed some of the issues I have been experiencing. First, the beach ball of death when CoRD attempted to connect to a null machine on a network has been fixed. Second, the inability for the application to remember a custom port to connect to the windows machine has not only been resolved, but the developer went the extra mile in adding a new feature called Computers that allows you to store connection information. The user interface has also been redesigned giving it a fresh look while still maintaining its simplicity. Aside from a number of bug fixes, the new version of CoRD also gives you a tab-style view of open connections with thumbnail previews, as well as more screen resolutions to choose from.
If you still use the defunct remote desktop client from Microsoft, give CoRD a try. Looking at its roadmap posted on the application’s website, the future looks promising. You can download CoRD absolutely free here.
Nice article! I am suddenly interested in using a remote desktop client to control my PC from my Mac. There are so many times where I’m constantly jumping back and forth from one to the other. It is possible for you to talk a little more about setting up the PC box to accept connections from Cord? I’m new to this and don’t know where to begin. Also, is it true that you need XP Professional to gain this functionality?
Thanks for bringing to attention the interesting app! Keep up the great work!
Quote – “Sadly OS X has been pretty much devoid of any Windows remote connection apps that work well”
Have to say I’ve been using Microsoft’s own remote control desktop client for the Mac and it works surprisingly well, even on Intel machine.. (It’s been a round for years BTW and it’s free)
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=remotedesktopclient
@Zack, thanks for your suggestion! i should have definitely put in a little tutorial on how to setup a windows machine to accept a remote desktop connection. Yes, you do need a professional edition for RDC to work. The steps are pretty straight forward.
1) Click on the “Start Button”
2) Right-click on “My Computer” and click on properties
* or you could accomplish step 1 & 2 simply by clicking “Windows” button + “Pause/Break” on your keyboard
3) “System Properties” window will pop up. Select the “Remote” tab (top right)
4) Put a check mark under the section “Remote Desktop” next to “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer”
5) you’re done.
The default RDC port has always been 3389 and due to many security flaws(i suspect they have been fixed now), i change the port to something else, like 4001. Chaging the port requires going to the registry and make a change. You don’t need to do this.
Also, important to note, if you want to establish a connection outside your LAN (from the internet), then you need to ensure your router “exposes” your windows’ local ip address & port number. i usually just designate my windows machine in DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). Your router should have a documentation on how to do this.
@Phil, Microsoft’s own RDC client has indeed been around for a long time. It’s has also been discontinued.
@readers: The first image of this article is inaccurate. It was supposed to be the application logo. Another image must have overwritten it for some reasons. My apology.
[...] That means if you need to connect to a Windows computer via Remote Desktop, you can just as easily do so from a Mac. Naturally, there’s always VNC, which is a great solution for cross-platform desktop control (and is very handy if you don’t have Remote Desktop, which I believe was/is excluded from XP Home). However, Windows’ Remote Desktop generally provides a snappier connection and interface, meaning things tend to work more how you’d expect them to even though you’re not actually at the computer, and the connection is generally very secure (though you can beef up your VNC security, too). CoRD is free, Mac OS X only. — Adam Pash CoRD [Sourceforge via MacApper] [...]
[...] That means if you need to connect to a Windows computer via Remote Desktop, you can just as easily do so from a Mac. Naturally, there’s always VNC, which is a great solution for cross-platform desktop control (and is very handy if you don’t have Remote Desktop, which I believe was/is excluded from XP Home). However, Windows’ Remote Desktop generally provides a snappier connection and interface, meaning things tend to work more how you’d expect them to even though you’re not actually at the computer, and the connection is generally very secure (though you can beef up your VNC security, too). CoRD is free, Mac OS X only. — Adam Pash CoRD [Sourceforge via MacApper] [...]
I’m no fan of Microsoft – quite the contrary – but I’ve used Windows Desktop Client for more than three years, and it’s great. I use it to connect to any server that can accept remote connections and the thing screams. It would really piss off my Windows buddies, because they were stuck using their local machine to access server data, and I’d be done faster than (I did show a few close friends how they could do it on a Windows machine, too).
is my imagination or has the author re-edited the original post from
Sadly OS X has been pretty much devoid of any Windows remote connection apps
to
Sadly OS X has been pretty much devoid of any Windows remote connection apps that “work well.” ???
[...] That means if you need to connect to a Windows computer via Remote Desktop, you can just as easily do so from a Mac. Naturally, there’s always VNC, which is a great solution for cross-platform desktop control (and is very handy if you don’t have Remote Desktop, which I believe was/is excluded from XP Home). However, Windows’ Remote Desktop generally provides a snappier connection and interface, meaning things tend to work more how you’d expect them to even though you’re not actually at the computer, and the connection is generally very secure (though you can beef up your VNC security, too). CoRD is free, Mac OS X only. — Adam Pash CoRD [Sourceforge via MacApper] [...]
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