With Royal TS (for Windows) V3 and Royal TSX (for macOS) V2.2 we extended the ad hoc connection feature in the ribbon/toolbar to quickly create the correct ad hoc connection based on the defaults.


Royal TS (for Windows)




Royal TSX (for macOS)

The example above shows how to quickly use pre-defined protocol identifiers to open an ad hoc connection directly for a specific connection type. Of course, you can still just enter a host name without the protocol handler and either use the mouse to select a connection or template from the ad hoc button next to the text field. Alternatively you can also just hit the Enter/Return key to show the drop-down menu with all the connection types and templates.

Keyboard Usage

The first thing we changed in Royal TS (for Windows) V3 is keyboard usage with the ad hoc connection feature in the ribbon.

Keyboard shortcut to jump right into the Ad Hoc field: CTRL + SHIFT + A
In Royal TSX (for macOS) you can jump into the Ad Hoc field by pressing: Cmd + L

When no protocol identifier is specified:
Pressing ENTER/RETURN will show the ad hoc drop down list to select a connection type or template you want to use to open.
Pressing CTRL + ENTER (Cmd + Return on macOS) will directly connect to the previously used connection type or template (default is Remote Desktop).

When a protocol identifier is specified:
Pressing ENTER/RETURN will directly connect to the connection type specified by the identifier (see list of identifiers below).

Using Protocol Identifier

Connection Type Protocol Identifier Aliases* Supported on Windows Supported on macOS Remarks
Remote Desktop rdp   Yes Yes  
VNC vnc   Yes Yes  
Terminal terminal   Yes Yes  
Terminal ssh   Yes Yes Overrides the protocol and port for SSH connections.
Terminal telnet   Yes Yes Overrides the protocol and port for telnet connections.
Web Page web http
https
Yes Yes  
File Transfer ftp
? Yes Overrides the protocol and port for FTP connections.
File Transfer sftp
? Yes Overrides the protocol and port for SFTP connections.
File Transfer scp
? Yes Overrides the protocol and port for SCP connections.
VMware vmware
? Yes
External Application app   Yes No  
Performance View perf   Yes No  Make sure a counter list is configured in the default settings.
Hyper-V hyperv   Yes Yes  
Terminal Services terminalservices termsvc Yes Yes  
Windows Processes windowsprocesses winproc Yes Yes  
Windows Services windowsservices winsvc Yes Yes  
Windows Events View windowsevents winevt Yes Yes  

* Aliases: Aliases (if available) can be used instead of protocol identifier. For example: termsvc://10.10.1.1

Using Credentials

Regardless if you use protocol identifier or not, you can also use a special convention which allows you to specify a credential for the ad hoc connection:

Show the Credential Picker dialog before connecting to 10.10.1.1, for example:
?@ 10.10.1.1
or if you also want to use a protocol identifier to connect to 10.10.1.1 using rdp, for eample:
rdp:// ?@ 10.10.1.1

It is also possible to specify a credential or username:
admin?@ 10.10.1.1
or, again with the protocol identifier:
rdp:// admin?@ 10.10.1.1

In Royal TSX (for macOS) we also support passing in the password in addition to the username:
admin: password @10.10.1.1

Providing a credential or username can behave differently, depending on what Royal TS/X can find out:

  1. A single credential with the very same display name was found:
    No credential prompt is shown, connection is established using the found credential.
  2. Multiple credentials with the same display name were found:
    The credential picker dialog is shown and the available credential list is pre-filtered by the name to quickly select one of the found credentials.
  3. No credential with the specified name is found:
    The credential picker dialog is shown and the Username field is pre-populated with the provided name. You just have to provide the password to continue.

Launching Ad hoc connections from outside Royal TSX

Please see this article for instructions on how to launch ad hoc connections using our URI scheme.