How To Install rdesktop on Kali Linux

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install rdesktop on Kali Linux.

What is rdesktop

rdesktop is:

rdesktop is an open source client for Windows NT/2000 Terminal Server and Windows Server 2003/2008. Capable of natively speaking its Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) in order to present the user’s Windows desktop. Unlike Citrix ICA, no server extensions are required.

There are three methods to install rdesktop on Kali Linux. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install rdesktop Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install rdesktop using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install rdesktop

Install rdesktop Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install rdesktop using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install rdesktop

Install rdesktop Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude on Kali Linux first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Kali Linux. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install rdesktop using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install rdesktop

How To Uninstall rdesktop on Kali Linux

To uninstall only the rdesktop package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove rdesktop

Uninstall rdesktop And Its Dependencies

To uninstall rdesktop and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Kali Linux, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove rdesktop

Remove rdesktop Configurations and Data

To remove rdesktop configuration and data from Kali Linux we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge rdesktop

Remove rdesktop configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove rdesktop configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge rdesktop

Dependencies

rdesktop have the following dependencies:

• libasound2
• libc6
• libgmp10
• libgnutls30
• libgssapi-krb5-2
• libhogweed6
• libnettle8
• libpcsclite1
• libtasn1-6
• libx11-6
• libxcursor1
• libxrandr2

References

• rdesktop website

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install rdesktop package on Kali Linux using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.