Manage many servers with a Remote Desktop connection manager

Once you look after more than three or four servers, a folder full of .rdp files becomes hard to manage. A Remote Desktop connection manager keeps every server in one tree, opens sessions in tabs and lets a group of servers share one set of settings. This guide covers two free tools, Microsoft's RDCMan and the open-source mRemoteNG, set up for servers on port 3389.

Before you start

• A Windows 10 or 11 PC where you will run the manager.
• The IP address, username and password of each server, from your VPS provider's control panel.
• All Windows VPS and Admin RDP servers accept Remote Desktop on TCP port 3389. You will set this port once per group so you do not have to repeat it.
• Download tools only from the vendor: RDCMan from Microsoft Sysinternals, mRemoteNG from its official project site or GitHub releases.

Option 1: RDCMan

Remote Desktop Connection Manager (RDCMan) is a small Sysinternals tool. It stores your servers in an .rdg file.

Create a file and a group

1. Run RDCMan.exe.
2. Choose File → New and save the file, for example mdmhost.rdg.
3. Right-click the file node and choose Add group. Name it, for example Trading servers.

Set the port and credentials on the group

Settings on a group are inherited by every server inside it.

1. Right-click the group and choose Properties.
2. On Connection Settings, clear Inherit from parent and set the port to 3389.
3. On Logon Credentials, clear Inherit from parent and enter the shared username, password and, if needed, domain. Leave the domain empty for local accounts.
4. On Display Settings you can choose to fit sessions to the window.
5. Click OK.

Add servers

1. Right-click the group and choose Add server.
2. Enter the IP, for example 203.0.113.10, and a display name such as MT5 primary.
3. Leave the other tabs on Inherit from parent, so the server uses port 3389 and the group credentials.
4. Repeat for each server.

Double-click a server to connect. Each session opens in the right-hand pane, and the left tree shows thumbnails of all connected servers when you select the group.

Option 2: mRemoteNG

mRemoteNG is an open-source tabbed manager that supports RDP, SSH and other protocols. It saves connections in confCons.xml.

Create a folder

1. Open mRemoteNG.
2. In the Connections panel, right-click and choose New Folder. Name it, for example Windows servers.
3. Select the folder. In the Config panel below, set:

• Protocol: RDP
• Port: 3389
• Username and Password if every server in the folder uses the same account.

Add connections

1. Right-click the folder and choose New Connection.
2. In Config, set Hostname/IP to 203.0.113.10.
3. Open the Inheritance view for the connection (the inheritance button at the top of the Config panel) and tick Port, Username and Password so they come from the folder.
4. Give the connection a clear name and repeat for your other servers.

Double-click a connection to open it in a tab.

Use credential inheritance wisely

Inheritance saves time, but it also spreads one password across many servers.

• Share credentials only across servers that really use the same account, such as a test group.
• For important servers, give each Windows server its own administrator password and set credentials per server.
• Give team members their own Windows users rather than sharing Administrator. See Create a Windows user for Remote Desktop access.

Store passwords safely

Both tools save passwords on disk, so protect the file.

• RDCMan encrypts stored passwords for your Windows user by default. Another user, or a copy of the file on a different PC, cannot decrypt them. You can also choose a certificate for encryption in the file's properties, which helps when moving the file between PCs.
• mRemoteNG encrypts passwords in confCons.xml. Select the root Connections node and set Password protect to add a master password; without it, anyone with the file and the program can open the saved logins.
• Keep the connection file in your user profile, not on a shared drive or synced public folder.
• Lock your PC whenever you step away. A manager with saved passwords is a set of open doors.

Check it works

1. Connect to one server from the tree. It should open without asking for the port.
2. If the session fails, test the port directly:

   Test-NetConnection 203.0.113.10 -Port 3389

TcpTestSucceeded: True means the network path is fine and the issue is in the saved settings.

1. Open the server's properties and confirm the port shows 3389, inherited or set directly.

Troubleshooting

• "The credentials did not work": the inherited password is wrong for that server. Set credentials on the server itself to override the group. See Fix "Your credentials did not work".
• Saved passwords vanish on another PC: RDCMan's default encryption is tied to your Windows user. Re-enter the passwords or use certificate-based encryption.
• Sessions look tiny or blurry in tabs: enable the option to scale or fit the session to the window in display settings, then reconnect.

Next steps

• Lock down logins on each server: Secure Remote Desktop on Windows Server.