Credentials
Where a password is while you type it, while it is used, and afterwards.
Two ways to give a password
For this attempt only. When a connection needs a password and has none, PluggedDesk asks: user name, domain if there is one, password. What you type is used for that one attempt. When the attempt ends, whether it worked or not, PluggedDesk wipes the copies it made. Next time, it asks again.
Remembered. Tick Remember in Windows Credential Manager. The password is stored in the vault of your Windows account, under a name, and the connection remembers the name. Next time, there is no question.
Remembering is never done for you. The box is empty each time the prompt appears.
Where a remembered password is
In Windows Credential Manager, under your Windows account, as a generic credential whose name begins with
PluggedDesk:. You can see it there (Control Panel › Credential Manager › Windows Credentials), and remove it there.
It is not:
- in the workspace file, which holds only the name of the credential;
- in PluggedDesk's own database;
- on a command line, where other programs on the computer could read it;
- stored so that it follows you to other computers: it stays on the computer where you saved it.
Credential names
A connection refers to a credential by a name, such as head-office/admin. The name is part of the workspace; the
password behind it is yours. So a workspace can be copied to a colleague: they get the structure and the names, and are
asked for their own passwords.
If a connection names no credential, PluggedDesk suggests a name from the computer and the user name when you tick Remember.
Forgetting
Edit the connection (F2) and choose Forget my saved credential. The password is removed from the vault, and the next attempt asks again.
How a password reaches the engine
The RDP engine runs as its own process. PluggedDesk passes the password to it through a private pipe between the two processes, never as a command-line argument and never through a file. The engine wipes its copy when the attempt ends.
Limits
- While you are typing, the password is held by the text box, as in any application.
- PluggedDesk runs with your rights. Software that is already running as you, on your computer, can read what you can read, the vault included. No application can protect you from that; keeping your computer clean can.
- On macOS and Linux there is no vault support yet, and PluggedDesk is not released for them.