Royal TS - Remote connection management for Windows

Disclaimer: I use a NFR license that was provided to me as a vExpert by code4ward free of charge.

I have searched for a relatively long time for a solution to manage multiple remote connections, like RDP, VNC or SSH. I tried different free tools, but none of them fulfilled my requirements, which are quite simple: Manage different connections & credentials. First I’ve tried Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager, which was quite good. But to be honest: It was a bit too much for my needs. Justin Paul wrote a nice review of Remote Desktop Manager. The second product I’ve tested was more suitable: Royal TS for Windows.

Installation

What should I say? The installation is really easy: Start setup, click “next”, “next”, “next” and “finish”. ;) I shot some screenshots to show you the setup. Simply click next.

Accept the license agreement.

Click “Next”.

Choose the desired installation path or accept the default installation path.

You can now select the file types which should be opened automatically with Royal TS. The selection shown in the screenshot is the default selection.

Check the box if you want to create a desktop shortcut.

Click “Install” to start the installation.

Wait until the installation finishes.

Click “Finish” and enjoy Royal TS. :)

Without entering a license, you can use Royal TS with shareware limitations. That means (source):

• You cannot have more than 10 connections per Royal TS application instance
• You cannot have more than 10 credentials per Royal TS application instance
• You can open only one Royal TS document per application instance

A single user license with 1y software maintenance costs 25 €, which is really cheap in respect of the features. To be honest: If I wouldn’t have a NFR license, I would pay for it! If you use MacOS X, simply buy Royal TSX, which also costs 25 €, or the bundle (Windows + MacOS X) for 37,50 €. I recommend to check the other Royal TS offerings!

The GUI

When you start Royal TS, you get a neat and well-known GUI in ribbon-style.

Documents are used to store connections, credentials and tasks. I recommend to create a document in which you can store your connections and credentials.

I also recommend to protect the document with a password, especially if you store credentials in it.

I like to show you how you can create a RDP connection. I will focus on the main functions. Create a new connection and choose “Remote Desktop”.

Enter a name for the connection. This will automatically entered into the “Computer Name” field, so you should use an FQDN or an ip address.

You can specify credentials for this specific connection, enter no credentials or choose another option. I tend to create credentials and to reuse them into different connections.

Depending on your display configuration you can open the connection in a tap, in a windows or on an external display.

I like to redirect some of my local drives into the RDP session, so that I can share files more easily.

Tasks can be used to start actions on connect or disconnet, e.g. create a VPN tunnel. The imagination knows no limits. :)

In contrast to Remote Desktop Manager Royal TS can manage serial connections, so you can create and serial connections Royal TS.

TL;DR

All in all Royal TS is a great tool that I do not want to miss. Download it, try it, buy it. :) The 25 € are a good invest in time savings and productivity.