How to take remote desktop of Windows from Linux

In Linux we have a utility rdesktop which is used to take remote to any Windows machine. let us see how it works and the iptable rules to allow or reject the same.

You need to install rdesktop package for this purpose. For RHEL machine you can use the below command

To check for existing package
# rpm -qa | grep rdesktop
To install a new package
# yum -y install rdesktop
Once the package is installed run the below command from the GUI console of your Linux box
NOTE: rdesktop will only work from GUI console and not from CLI or putty

Syntax
# rdesktop (machine_name_to_connect)
# rdesktop 192.168.1.7

And this should do the magic.

In case you get any graphical console related error follow the below link
Xlib: No protocol specified

Iptables rules for rdesktop

To allow a particular subnet to which your machine can connect
# iptables -I OUTPUT -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp --dport 3289 -j ACCEPT
To block a subnet to which your machine can connect
# iptables -I OUTPUT -d 192.168.1.0/24 -p tcp --dport 3289 -j REJECT