Docs of RustDesk > Self-host > RustDesk Server Pro > FAQ

FAQ

How can I install with the Simple Install Script?

Get your license from https://rustdesk.com/pricing.html, check license page for more details.
Spin up a VPS, bare metal or Linux VM.
If you want to use DNS and SSL create a DNS name i.e. rustdesk.yourdomain.com.
Go to this page.
Copy and paste the command into your Linux terminal.
Follow the prompts as they guide you through the install.
Once the install is complete go to https://rustdesk.yourdomain.com or http://youripaddress:21114.
Log in with the username admin and password test1234.
Enter your license code purchased in step 1.

How can I convert from RustDesk Server Open Source to RustDesk Server Pro?

Get your license from https://rustdesk.com/pricing.html, check license page for more details.
Open TCP port 21114.
Log into your RustDesk Server.
If you didn’t already use DNS and want to use SSL create a DNS name i.e. rustdesk.yourdomain.com.
Go to this page.
Copy and paste the command into your Linux terminal.
Follow the prompts as they guide you through the install.
Once the install is complete go to https://rustdesk.yourdomain.com or http://youripaddress:21114.
Log in with the username admin and password test1234.
Enter your license code purchased in step 1.

There is a new version of RustDesk Server Pro out, how can I upgrade?

Go to this page.
Copy and paste the command into your Linux terminal.
Follow the prompts as they guide you through the upgrade.

I installed with the script, how can I start and stop services?

The services use systemd so can be started and stopped using sudo systemctl stop|start|restart rustdesk-hbbs|rustdesk-hbbr e.g. sudo systemctl restart rustdesk-hbbs.

I installed with the script, how can I view the Linux logs?

The logs are stored in /var/log/rustdesk-server, you can view them using tail /var/log/rustdesk-server/hbbs.log or tail /var/log/rustdesk-server/hbbs.error.

I installed with the script, how can I check the status of the RustDesk services?

To check the status sudo systemctl status rustdesk-hbbs|rustdesk-hbbr e.g. sudo systemctl status rustdesk-hbbs.

How can I change the admin password?

Go to https://rustdesk.yourdomain.com or http://youripaddress:21114.
Log in with the username admin and password test1234.
Click on admin in the top right hand corner.
Click on Settings.
Enter your new password in the boxes provided.

How can I move my license to a new server?

Please see here.

Emails aren’t working from my VPS

A lot of VPS providers block ports 465 and 25.

A simple way to check is using telnet. To test in the Linux terminal type telnet your.mailserver.com 25. On Windows use PowerShell with Test-NetConnection -ComputerName your.mailserver.com -Port 25.

Your mail server may not be using port 25. Please make sure you are using the correct ports.

Can I deploy RustDesk using PowerShell or similar?

Sure, you can find scripts to aid deployment here.

I have installed RustDesk Server Pro manually but the API web console isn’t behind SSL, how can I secure this?

Use a proxy like Nginx, the simple install script has one, it’s really simple. This is how we do it.

Similar configs should work with Traefik v2, HAProxy, Apache Proxy and Cloudflare Tunnel.

How can I file a bug report?

Please file via GitHub.

Why if I am self hosting is this not free and open source?

RustDesk has become a full time job for a number of people, they have lives, wives, jobs and kids which all demands attention and costs money!
We want to be here and still making great progress in years to come.
The open source version will continue to be open source and we encourage others to make developments in line with the AGPL license.

I can’t connect to devices in different groups, why is this?

This is easily sorted, you need to allow cross-group access.

Add new groups.
Click Edit.
Select the relevant groups you want access (it automatically adds them in the corresponding group).

How can I get configs automatically?

Configs are generated automatically.

Download the newest clients from GitHub.
On the main page in the web console click on Windows EXE.
Fill in the host and API (if different from your config).
Click Submit.
Scan QR Code on Android and rename exe to what has been generated.

Do you offer hosting for RustDesk Server Pro?

Please get in touch with our sales team.

Is there somewhere I can see video setup guides?

Yes! We have a YouTube Channel.

Why are my logs are empty?

Ensure API is set on both the device being controlled and the machine controlling. On the left hand side click on Logs.

How can I uninstall RustDesk Server Pro?

Run the following commands:

sudo systemctl stop rustdesk-hbbs.service
sudo systemctl disable rustdesk-hbbs.service
sudo systemctl stop rustdesk-hbbr.service
sudo systemctl disable rustdesk-hbbr.service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/rustdesk-hbbs.service
sudo rm etc/systemd/system/rustdesk-hbbr.service
sudo rm /usr/bin/hbbs
sudo rm /usr/bin/hbbr
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/rustdesk-server/
sudo rm -rf /var/log/rustdesk-server/

If the script installed Nginx then remove using:

sudo apt remove nginx

How can I remove devices from the device list in the web console?

Disable and then delete will now be available.

How can I update RustDesk with PowerShell?

$ErrorActionPreference= 'silentlycontinue'

$rdver = ((Get-ItemProperty  "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\RustDesk\").Version)

if ($rdver -eq "1.2.3")
{
    Write-Output "RustDesk $rdver is the newest version."
    Exit
}

if (!(Test-Path C:\Temp))
{
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path C:\Temp > null
}

cd C:\Temp

Invoke-WebRequest "https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/download/1.2.3/rustdesk-1.2.3-x86_64.exe" -Outfile "rustdesk.exe"
Start-Process .\rustdesk.exe --silent-install -wait

`Key mismatch` error

Please configure your client with correct key.

`Failed to connect to relay server` error

Please make sure hbbr is running. More information about hbbr, you can find here. If your hbbr does not run on the same machine of hbbs, or you have multiple relay servers, or you do not run it on default port 21117, you have to tell it to hbbs explicitly. Please check here.

Reset MFA for Admin account

https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/discussions/6576

Set up https for web console manually

1. Buy a domain name and resolve it to your server’s IP address.

Buy a domain name from a domain registrar like GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Namesilo.
Resolve the domain name to your server’s IP address with one of the following:
- Your domain registrar’s control panel (recommended)
- DNS providers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_managed_DNS_providers

For example, if you buy a domain name example.com from Namesilo and your server’s IP address is 123.123.123.123, you want to use rustdesk.example.com subdomain as your https web console address. You need to open link https://www.namesilo.com/account_domains.php, click the button with tooltip Manage dns for the domain, add add a A record with the hostname name rustdesk and the IP address of your server.

It takes some time for dns to take effect, go to https://www.whatsmydns.net and check whether the domain name has been resolved to your server’s IP address, step 6 depends on the correct resolve result. In the following steps, replace <YOUR_DOMAIN> with your subdomain, eg: rustdesk.example.com.

2. Install nginx.

Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install nginx
Fedora/CentOS: sudo dnf install nginx or sudo yum install nginx
Arch: sudo pacman -S install nginx
openSUSE: sudo zypper install nginx
Gentoo: sudo emerge -av nginx
Appine: sudo apk add --no-cache nginx

Run nginx -h to check whether it has been installed successfully.

3. Install Certbot

Method 1: If snap is installed, run sudo snap install certbot --classic
Method 2: Using python3-certbot-nginx instead. eg: sudo apt-get install python3-certbot-nginx for ubuntu
Method 3: If the above two methods failed, try install certbot-nginx, eg: sudo yum install certbot-nginx for centos 7

Run certbot -h to check whether it has been installed successfully..

4. Config nginx

There are two ways:

If directory /etc/nginx/sites-available and /etc/nginx/sites-enabled exists, replace <YOUR_DOMAIN> of the following command with your domain name and run it.

cat > /etc/nginx/sites-available/rustdesk.conf << EOF
server {
server_name <YOUR_DOMAIN>;
    location / {
        proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP       \$remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For \$proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:21114/;
    }
}
EOF

Then run sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/rustdesk.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/rustdesk.conf.

Run cat /etc/nginx/sites-available/rustdesk.conf to make sure its content is correct.

If directory /etc/nginx/sites-available and /etc/nginx/sites-enabled don’t exist and directory /etc/nginx/conf.d exists, replace <YOUR_DOMAIN> of the following command with your domain name and run it.

cat > /etc/nginx/conf.d/rustdesk.conf << EOF
server {
server_name <YOUR_DOMAIN>;
    location / {
        proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP       \$remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For \$proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:21114/;
    }
}
EOF

Run cat /etc/nginx/conf.d/rustdesk.conf to make sure its content is correct.

5. Enable firewall rules for the domain

Run the following commands:

sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw --force enable
sudo ufw --force reload

6. Generate SSL certificate

Replace <YOUR_DOMAIN> with your domain name, then run sudo certbot --nginx --cert-name <YOUR_DOMAIN> --key-type ecdsa --renew-by-default --no-eff-email --agree-tos --server https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory -d <YOUR_DOMAIN>

If it prompts Enter email address (used for urgent renewal and security notices), enter your email address.

Finally, the content of rustdesk.conf should be like this:

server {
server_name <Your_DOMAIN>;
    location / {
        proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP       $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:21114/;
    }


    listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/<Your_DOMAIN>/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/<Your_DOMAIN>/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot

}
server {
    if ($host = <Your_DOMAIN>) {
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
    } # managed by Certbot


server_name <Your_DOMAIN>;
    listen 80;
    return 404; # managed by Certbot


}

Here are some common errors:

The console prints Successfully deployed certificate for <YOUR_DOMAIN> to /etc/nginx/.../default rather than Successfully deployed certificate for <YOUR_DOMAIN> to /etc/nginx/.../rustdesk.conf.

Solution: The reason may be certbot doesn’t find the rustdesk.conf file, you can try one of the following solutions: - Check the result of the step 5, run sudo service nginx restart. - Copy the server configs server{...} which contain <YOUR_DOMAIN> to rustdesk.conf, and change location{...} to the content below.

location / {
           proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP       \$remote_addr;
           proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For \$proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:21114/;
      }

too many certificates (5) already issued for this exact set of domains in the last 168 hours

Solution: add another domain name to dns and change <YOUR_DOMAIN> to it, eg: rustdesk2.example.com, then repeat step 1, 4, 6.

Error getting validation data

Solution: it may be caused by firewall, please refer to https://rustdesk.com/docs/en/self-host/rustdesk-server-pro/faq/#firewall

Notice: Run sudo service nginx restart if you change the rustdesk.conf manually.

Open https://<YOUR_DOMAIN> in the browser, log in using the default user name “admin” and password “test1234”, then change the password to your own.

Selinux

If Waiting for RustDesk Relay service to become active... appears when install, it may be caused by selinux. You can try the following commands: sudo semanage fcontext -a -t NetworkManager_dispatcher_exec_t 'hbbs'
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t NetworkManager_dispatcher_exec_t 'hbbr'
sudo restorecon -v '/usr/bin/hbbs'
sudo restorecon -v '/usr/bin/hbbr'

Firewall

Rustdesk set firewall with ufw, it may not work on some distros like CentOS 9, you can try with firewall-cmd.

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=21115/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=21116/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=21117/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=21118/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=21119/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=21116/udp

If you use IP:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=21114/tcp

If you use DNS/Domain:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=80/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=443/tcp

After above, run sudo firewall-cmd --reload to reload firewall.

FAQ