Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common technical questions about installing, configuring, securing, and automating SSH Desktop.
What is SSH Desktop, and how does it provide a graphical desktop over SSH?
SSH Desktop (sshdesktop.com) is an open-source, client-side macOS Sonoma desktop shell designed specifically for remote Linux servers. Instead of running slow, resource-heavy VNC, RDP, or X11 forwarding that require open firewall ports and gigabytes of server RAM, SSH Desktop connects over a single standard encrypted SSH2 connection (port 22) and renders 25 graphical management applications directly on your screen — with zero server agents and 0% idle server RAM overhead.
Does SSH Desktop require installing any software on my Linux server?
No. In desktop mode, SSH Desktop connects over standard SSH2 (port 22) and SFTP. It requires zero server daemons, zero agents, and 0% idle server RAM. Optionally, for headless servers, you can run a 12MB static daemon via curl -fsSL https://sshdesktop.com/install.sh | sudo bash.
Are my SSH private keys encrypted?
Yes. SSH Desktop stores your private keys and credentials exclusively in your local operating system's native encrypted credential store: Windows Credential Manager on Windows, Apple Keychain on macOS, and libsecret on Linux.
Can I connect to private databases without exposing ports to the public internet?
Yes. App 6 (Universal Database Studio) automatically routes database traffic over an encrypted SSH tunnel to 127.0.0.1, keeping PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, and MongoDB ports safe from internet scans.
How does SSH Desktop compare to Termius, Webmin, and Cockpit?
Unlike Termius which charges $120 to $240/year and syncs keys to third-party cloud servers, SSH Desktop is 100% free with local key encryption. Unlike Webmin and Cockpit which require heavy background daemons and open ports 10000 or 9090, SSH Desktop operates purely over standard SSH port 22.
Can I extract zip and tar.gz files directly on the server?
Yes. Our in-place remote archive engine executes server-side uncompress commands in milliseconds, saving hours of bandwidth compared to downloading and re-uploading files.
Is SSH Desktop really free for commercial use?
Yes. Released under the Apache 2.0 and MIT open-source licenses, SSH Desktop is 100% free for personal, homelab, and commercial enterprise deployments with zero seat limits.
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