Java Remote Desktop Controls Remote Computers Across Different Platforms

Usually when I need to remotely access a computer that is running a different operating system, I’d go for TightVNC or UltraVNC because it is free and can support multiple operating systems. There are a lot more of other remote connection software such as CrossLoop, TeamViewer, LogMeIn, VNC and etc but here’s one that is worth taking a look because it can support many operating systems. It is good to have another alternative because you may never know that one day you’ll have to stop using VNC and switch to another software.

As you can see at the image below, it is possible to remotely control a Windows Vista from Mac OSX using jrdesktop.


Java Remote Desktop (jrdesktop) is an open source software for viewing and/or controlling a distance PC. Besides screenshots, keyboard and mouse events transfer, jrdesktop includes many additional features such as file transfer, data compression, color conversion and etc. jrdesktop uses RMI (Remote Method Invocation) with SSL/TLS to establish a secured connection between the viewer and the server.

Since Java Remote Desktop (jrdesktop) runs on Java, it can remote access across different platforms. That means you can use Windows to connect to Mac OS, Linux to Windows, Windows to Linux, Mac OSX to Vista, and etc.

jrdesktop Main features:

Screenshots, keyboard and mouse events transfer

Control functions : Start, Stop, Pause and Resume, view only, full control

Screen functions : full screen, custom size, scale, …

Data compression (with level selection)

JPEG quality compression (with level selection)

Color quality (full colors, 16 bits, 256 colors, gray color)

Clipboard transfer (texts and images only)

File transfer

Connection infos : duration, transferred data size, speed

Authentication & encryption

Multi-sessions

To run Java Remote Desktop, just download the package from the link at the end of this article, extract and run jrdesktop.jar file. If you get an error saying “Could not find the main class. Program will exit.”, you will need to run the jrdesktop.jar using command line.

Go to Start > Run and type cmd to launch command prompt. CD to the jrdesktop directory and type the following command.

java -jar jrdesktop.jar display

There are a bunch of other commands that you can use to:

1. Start jrdesktop server using default parameters (local machine with port 6666)
java -jar jrdesktop.jar server

2. Connect to (view) local machine
java -jar jrdesktop.jar viewer

3. Start multihomed server using port 8888, admin as username and pwd as password with secured connection (ssl)
java -jar jrdesktop.jar -p:8888 -u:admin -d:pwd -s -m

4. Connect to (view) 192.168.1.2 using port 8888, admin as username and pwd as password with secured connection (ssl)
java -jar jrdesktop.jar -a:192.168.1.2 -p:8888 -u:admin -d:pwd -s

The way jrdesktop sends a file across is a bit different compared to other remote access software. You won’t a dialog box where you can browse for the file that you want to send but instead it sends what is in your clipboard. Let’s say you want to send a file called Nero-9.0.9.4_esd_asknet.exe. Just right click on the file, select copy and then go back to jrdesktop and send. Alternatively, you can also use the shortcut key CTRL+C to copy a file to clipboard.

You need to have Java installed in order to run jrdesktop. If you don’t have, just head to Java.com to install the latest Java Runtime Environment. To connect to a computer in a network from outside, you’ll need to configure port forwarding. It might not be the best if compared with several other popular remote access software but it has its own advantage which is able to control remote computers across different platforms.

[ Download Java Remote Desktop ]