Configuration

First start

Once you got mRemote installed and run it for the first time you should see a screen like on the following screenshot.

The first thing that catches your attention will probably be the info box popping up.
Don't freak out just yet, this is not a error message and it's totally ok to show up on the first run.
It just tells you that the connections file could not be found at the default location and that mRemote will create a new one for you at this location.
If you click anywhere else in the application the panel will hide itself again. (Tip: You can also hit Escape to hide the Errors and Infos panel)

Now that we now about the Errors and Infos panel take a deep breath and just stare at the gorgeous about screen for a few seconds. =)
No, seriously, to create your first connection continue reading.

Creating Connections

Right click the root item (the blue ball labeled "Connections") in the Connections panel and select "Add Connection".

A new item shows up under the root item. You can give it a name now (or rename it later). I just named mine "Test".

Now have a look at the Config panel in the bottom left, just under the Connections panel.

As you may notice this is where you configure all the properties of connections and folders.
There are a lot of values that can be set but for our first connection we will keep things simple.

The most important things right now are that we tell the application which host we want to connect to and which protocol we want to use.
In this example I will use a Windows 2003 server that has RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) enabled.
As RDP is the default protocol whenever you create a new connection I don't have to change anything there.

The next thing I'll do is to fill the Hostname/IP field with the hostname I want to connect to.

I'll also fill the Username and Password fields so I will be automatically logged on to the server.

Ok, that's it, we are ready for our first connection test.

Opening and Closing Connections

There are multiple ways to open a connection in mRemote, but the easiest is to just double-click the connection in the Connections panel.

If I do that now, a new panel named "General" with one tab inside named "Test" will show up.

Alright, mRemote is now trying to connect to the specified host.

If it cannot connect you will see a message popping up like on the following screenshot.

This for example means the hostname cannot be resolved.

Instead, if all goes well you should see the remote desktop.

If you do not want to log off from the remote machine but just close it you can do this by simply double-clicking the tab labeled "test" or just close the whole "General" panel by clicking the small "x" in the upper right corner.

Folders and Inheritance

Folders in mRemote cannot only be used to categorize connections but also to apply properties to the underlying connections.

Example:
You have 10 Remote Desktop enabled servers in one domain and 15 in another domain.
Normally you would spend a lot of time creating all those connections and setting the individual properties like username, password, etc.
In mRemote there is an easier way. You just create two folders, one for domain A and one for domain B and set all properties there.
Then create the Connections and let them inherit every property. The only properties left to fill on Connection basis are the Connection's name and hostname. Everything else will be inherited from the parent folder.

"Sounds cool, but how to do it?"
I'll show you how to do it!

First add a new folder.

Then give it a name and fill all the properties you need (just like you did with the test Connection).

When you're done setting the values you can either just drag the test Connection inside the folder or create a new one.

Right now nothing has changed and nothing will be inherited.
To enable inheritance switch to the inheritance view by clicking the dedicated button.

The properties that show up now are almost the same as before, but you can only select yes or no.

When no is selected the property will not be inherited, yes indicates an inherited property.
For this test set "Inherit Everything" to Yes.

Now if you switch back to the properties view (the button left of the inheritance button) you should see that not much is left of all those properties.

Only the Name and Hostname/IP properties are left over, everything else will be inherited from the parent folder.
Of course you can also only let some of the properties be inherited.

Just play around with this a bit and you'll get the hang of it.