--- title: Client Deployment weight: 400 pre: "2.4. " description: "Deploy RustDesk clients at scale with PowerShell, batch, winget, or macOS bash scripts. Use these deployment examples to install RustDesk, apply config strings, and set passwords automatically." keywords: ["rustdesk client deployment", "rustdesk powershell deploy", "rustdesk mass deployment", "rustdesk winget", "rustdesk intune", "rustdesk rmm", "rustdesk silent deployment"] --- This guide covers large-scale RustDesk client deployment with scripts and automation tools such as PowerShell, batch, winget, and macOS bash. If you need the simplest experience and have RustDesk Server Pro, start with the custom client generator: https://twitter.com/rustdesk/status/1788905463678951787. ## What is the best way to deploy RustDesk clients at scale? For RustDesk Server Pro, the easiest large-scale deployment path is usually the custom client generator because it packages your server settings into the client build. For environments managed through RMM, Intune, GPO, or custom automation, PowerShell, batch, winget, and shell scripts are more flexible. ## Which deployment method should you choose? | Method | Best for | Why you would use it | | --- | --- | --- | | Custom client generator | RustDesk Server Pro teams | Simplest packaged deployment with preloaded settings | | PowerShell | Windows fleet automation | Good fit for RMM, Intune, and scripted installs | | Batch or cmd | Basic Windows scripting | Works in simpler Windows environments without PowerShell-heavy tooling | | MSI | Managed Windows software deployment | Better fit when you already use MSI-based packaging workflows | | Winget | Modern Windows package automation | Simple install path on newer Windows systems | | macOS bash | Mac fleet deployment | Scriptable installation and config for macOS hosts | ## What inputs do deployment scripts need? Most deployment scripts need three things: - A RustDesk config string - A deployment method that can run with administrator or root privileges - A password policy, either random or explicitly set during deployment You can deploy using a number of methods, some are covered in [Client Configuration](https://rustdesk.com/docs/en/self-host/client-configuration/). Alternatively you can use mass deployment scripts with your RMM, Intune, etc. The ID and password are output by the script. You should collect this or split it into different scripts to collect the ID and password. The permanent password can be changed from random to one you prefer using by changing the content inside `()` after `rustdesk_pw` to your preferred password for PowerShell and the corresponding line for any other platform. ## PowerShell ```powershell $ErrorActionPreference= 'silentlycontinue' # Assign the value random password to the password variable $rustdesk_pw=(-join ((65..90) + (97..122) | Get-Random -Count 12 | % {[char]$_})) # Get your config string from your Web portal and Fill Below $rustdesk_cfg="configstring" ################################## Please Do Not Edit Below This Line ######################################### # Run as administrator and stays in the current directory if (-Not ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole]::Administrator)) { if ([int](Get-CimInstance -Class Win32_OperatingSystem | Select-Object -ExpandProperty BuildNumber) -ge 6000) { Start-Process PowerShell -Verb RunAs -ArgumentList "-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command `"cd '$pwd'; & '$PSCommandPath';`""; Exit; } } # This function will return the latest version and download link as an object function getLatest() { $Page = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/latest' -UseBasicParsing $HTML = New-Object -Com "HTMLFile" try { $HTML.IHTMLDocument2_write($Page.Content) } catch { $src = [System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes($Page.Content) $HTML.write($src) } # Current example link: https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/download/1.2.6/rustdesk-1.2.6-x86_64.exe $Downloadlink = ($HTML.Links | Where {$_.href -match '(.)+\/rustdesk\/rustdesk\/releases\/download\/\d{1}.\d{1,2}.\d{1,2}(.{0,3})\/rustdesk(.)+x86_64.exe'} | select -first 1).href # bugfix - sometimes you need to replace "about:" $Downloadlink = $Downloadlink.Replace('about:', 'https://github.com') $Version = "unknown" if ($Downloadlink -match './rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/download/(?.*)/rustdesk-(.)+x86_64.exe') { $Version = $matches['content'] } if ($Version -eq "unknown" -or $Downloadlink -eq "") { Write-Output "ERROR: Version or download link not found." Exit } # Create object to return $params += @{Version = $Version} $params += @{Downloadlink = $Downloadlink} $Result = New-Object PSObject -Property $params return($Result) } $RustDeskOnGitHub = getLatest $rdver = ((Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\RustDesk\").Version) if ($rdver -eq $RustDeskOnGitHub.Version) { Write-Output "RustDesk $rdver is the newest version." Exit } if (!(Test-Path C:\Temp)) { New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path C:\Temp | Out-Null } cd C:\Temp Invoke-WebRequest $RustDeskOnGitHub.Downloadlink -Outfile "rustdesk.exe" Start-Process .\rustdesk.exe --silent-install Start-Sleep -seconds 20 $ServiceName = 'Rustdesk' $arrService = Get-Service -Name $ServiceName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue if ($arrService -eq $null) { Write-Output "Installing service" cd $env:ProgramFiles\RustDesk Start-Process .\rustdesk.exe --install-service Start-Sleep -seconds 20 $arrService = Get-Service -Name $ServiceName } while ($arrService.Status -ne 'Running') { Start-Service $ServiceName Start-Sleep -seconds 5 $arrService.Refresh() } cd $env:ProgramFiles\RustDesk\ .\rustdesk.exe --get-id | Write-Output -OutVariable rustdesk_id .\rustdesk.exe --config $rustdesk_cfg .\rustdesk.exe --password $rustdesk_pw Write-Output "..............................................." # Show the value of the ID Variable Write-Output "RustDesk ID: $rustdesk_id" # Show the value of the Password Variable Write-Output "Password: $rustdesk_pw" Write-Output "..............................................." ``` ## Windows batch/cmd ```bat @echo off REM Assign the value random password to the password variable setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION set alfanum=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789 set rustdesk_pw= for /L %%b in (1, 1, 12) do ( set /A rnd_num=!RANDOM! %% 62 for %%c in (!rnd_num!) do ( set rustdesk_pw=!rustdesk_pw!!alfanum:~%%c,1! ) ) REM Get your config string from your Web portal and Fill Below set rustdesk_cfg="configstring" REM ############################### Please Do Not Edit Below This Line ######################################### if not exist C:\Temp\ md C:\Temp\ cd C:\Temp\ curl -L "https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/download/1.2.6/rustdesk-1.2.6-x86_64.exe" -o rustdesk.exe rustdesk.exe --silent-install timeout /t 20 cd "C:\Program Files\RustDesk\" rustdesk.exe --install-service timeout /t 20 for /f "delims=" %%i in ('rustdesk.exe --get-id ^| more') do set rustdesk_id=%%i rustdesk.exe --config %rustdesk_cfg% rustdesk.exe --password %rustdesk_pw% echo ............................................... REM Show the value of the ID Variable echo RustDesk ID: %rustdesk_id% REM Show the value of the Password Variable echo Password: %rustdesk_pw% echo ............................................... ``` ## MSI You can also use msi instead of `rustdesk.exe --silent-install`. https://rustdesk.com/docs/en/client/windows/msi/ ## Winget you can deploy via powershell with winget as well (this installs via microsofts version of apt - part of most recent windows installs) from a powershell window or via script (for example via GPO) ``` winget install --id=RustDesk.RustDesk -e ``` ## macOS Bash ```sh #!/bin/bash # Assign the value random password to the password variable rustdesk_pw=$(openssl rand -hex 4) # Get your config string from your Web portal and Fill Below rustdesk_cfg="configstring" ################################## Please Do Not Edit Below This Line ######################################### # Root password request for privilege escalation [ "$UID" -eq 0 ] || exec sudo bash "$0" "$@" # Specify the mount point for the DMG (temporary directory) mount_point="/Volumes/RustDesk" # Download the rustdesk.dmg file echo "Downloading RustDesk Now" if [[ $(arch) == 'arm64' ]]; then rd_link=$(curl -sL https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/latest | grep -Eo "(http|https)://[a-zA-Z0-9./?=_-]*/\d{1}.\d{1,2}.\d{1,2}/rustdesk.\d{1}.\d{1,2}.\d{1,2}.aarch64.dmg") dmg_file=$(echo $rd_link | grep -Eo "rustdesk.\d{1}.\d{1,2}.\d{1,2}.aarch64.dmg") curl -L "$rd_link" --output "$dmg_file" else rd_link=$(curl -sL https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/latest | grep -Eo "(http|https)://[a-zA-Z0-9./?=_-]*/\d{1}.\d{1,2}.\d{1,2}/rustdesk.\d{1}.\d{1,2}.\d{1,2}.x86_64.dmg") dmg_file=$(echo $rd_link | grep -Eo "rustdesk.\d{1}.\d{1,2}.\d{1,2}.x86_64.dmg") curl -L "$rd_link" --output "$dmg_file" fi # Mount the DMG file to the specified mount point hdiutil attach "$dmg_file" -mountpoint "$mount_point" &> /dev/null # Check if the mounting was successful if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then # Move the contents of the mounted DMG to the /Applications folder cp -R "$mount_point/RustDesk.app" "/Applications/" &> /dev/null # Unmount the DMG file hdiutil detach "$mount_point" &> /dev/null else echo "Failed to mount the RustDesk DMG. Installation aborted." exit 1 fi # Run the rustdesk command with --get-id and store the output in the rustdesk_id variable cd /Applications/RustDesk.app/Contents/MacOS/ rustdesk_id=$(./RustDesk --get-id) # Apply new password to RustDesk ./RustDesk --server & /Applications/RustDesk.app/Contents/MacOS/RustDesk --password $rustdesk_pw &> /dev/null /Applications/RustDesk.app/Contents/MacOS/RustDesk --config $rustdesk_cfg # Kill all processes named RustDesk rdpid=$(pgrep RustDesk) kill $rdpid &> /dev/null echo "..............................................." # Check if the rustdesk_id is not empty if [ -n "$rustdesk_id" ]; then echo "RustDesk ID: $rustdesk_id" else echo "Failed to get RustDesk ID." fi # Echo the value of the password variable echo "Password: $rustdesk_pw" echo "..............................................." echo "Please complete install on GUI, launching RustDesk now." open -n /Applications/RustDesk.app ``` ## Linux ```sh #!/bin/bash # Assign a random value to the password variable rustdesk_pw=$(cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | fold -w 8 | head -n 1) # Get your config string from your Web portal and Fill Below rustdesk_cfg="configstring" ################################## Please Do Not Edit Below This Line ######################################### # Check if the script is being run as root if [[ $EUID -ne 0 ]]; then echo "This script must be run as root." exit 1 fi # Identify OS if [ -f /etc/os-release ]; then # freedesktop.org and systemd . /etc/os-release OS=$NAME VER=$VERSION_ID UPSTREAM_ID=${ID_LIKE,,} # Fallback to ID_LIKE if ID was not 'ubuntu' or 'debian' if [ "${UPSTREAM_ID}" != "debian" ] && [ "${UPSTREAM_ID}" != "ubuntu" ]; then UPSTREAM_ID="$(echo ${ID_LIKE,,} | sed s/\"//g | cut -d' ' -f1)" fi elif type lsb_release >/dev/null 2>&1; then # linuxbase.org OS=$(lsb_release -si) VER=$(lsb_release -sr) elif [ -f /etc/lsb-release ]; then # For some versions of Debian/Ubuntu without lsb_release command . /etc/lsb-release OS=$DISTRIB_ID VER=$DISTRIB_RELEASE elif [ -f /etc/debian_version ]; then # Older Debian, Ubuntu, etc. OS=Debian VER=$(cat /etc/debian_version) elif [ -f /etc/SuSE-release ]; then # Older SuSE etc. OS=SuSE VER=$(cat /etc/SuSE-release) elif [ -f /etc/redhat-release ]; then # Older Red Hat, CentOS, etc. OS=RedHat VER=$(cat /etc/redhat-release) else # Fall back to uname, e.g. "Linux ", also works for BSD, etc. OS=$(uname -s) VER=$(uname -r) fi # Install RustDesk echo "Installing RustDesk" if [ "${ID}" = "debian" ] || [ "$OS" = "Ubuntu" ] || [ "$OS" = "Debian" ] || [ "${UPSTREAM_ID}" = "ubuntu" ] || [ "${UPSTREAM_ID}" = "debian" ]; then wget https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/download/1.2.6/rustdesk-1.2.6-x86_64.deb apt-get install -fy ./rustdesk-1.2.6-x86_64.deb > null elif [ "$OS" = "CentOS" ] || [ "$OS" = "RedHat" ] || [ "$OS" = "Fedora Linux" ] || [ "${UPSTREAM_ID}" = "rhel" ] || [ "$OS" = "Almalinux" ] || [ "$OS" = "Rocky*" ] ; then wget https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/releases/download/1.2.6/rustdesk-1.2.6-0.x86_64.rpm yum localinstall ./rustdesk-1.2.6-0.x86_64.rpm -y > null else echo "Unsupported OS" # here you could ask the user for permission to try and install anyway # if they say yes, then do the install # if they say no, exit the script exit 1 fi # Run the rustdesk command with --get-id and store the output in the rustdesk_id variable rustdesk_id=$(rustdesk --get-id) # Apply new password to RustDesk rustdesk --password $rustdesk_pw &> /dev/null rustdesk --config $rustdesk_cfg systemctl restart rustdesk echo "..............................................." # Check if the rustdesk_id is not empty if [ -n "$rustdesk_id" ]; then echo "RustDesk ID: $rustdesk_id" else echo "Failed to get RustDesk ID." fi # Echo the value of the password variable echo "Password: $rustdesk_pw" echo "..............................................." ```