Install WND Terminal on Linux

x64 is for Intel and AMD processors. The same three files with arm64 in the name are for Arm computers, such as Arm workstations and Arm virtual desktops. All of them are on the downloads page of the WND Software customer portal, next to the Windows and Mac installers. Every release is installed, started and tested on Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04 and Debian 12 before it goes out.

It’s the same app as on Windows and Mac, with the same features, the same policy settings and the same license.

Install

Ubuntu and Debian. apt installs the package and what it needs (WebKitGTK, GTK and Kerberos).

sudo apt install ./WND-Terminal-Linux-x64.deb

Distributions that use dnf.

sudo dnf install ./WND-Terminal-Linux-x64.rpm

Either one puts WND Terminal in the applications menu, under Internet or Network, and installs these files.

AppImage. Make the file executable and run it. It carries its own copy of WebKitGTK, so it works on distributions that don’t have it.

chmod +x WND-Terminal-Linux-x64.AppImage
./WND-Terminal-Linux-x64.AppImage

If it says it can’t mount itself, install libfuse2 (libfuse2t64 on Ubuntu 24.04), or run it with --appimage-extract-and-run.

Install on many computers

The .deb and .rpm are ordinary packages, so Ansible, Puppet, Salt or a script can install them like any other. If you keep an internal apt or dnf repository, add the package there and computers pick up new versions with their regular updates.

Update and remove

WND Terminal never updates itself, so IT decides when a new version goes out. Install the newer file the same way as the first one. It replaces the old version and keeps everyone’s settings. For the AppImage, replace the file.

sudo apt remove wnd-terminal      # Ubuntu, Debian
sudo dnf remove wnd-terminal      # dnf-based distributions

Removing the app leaves each person’s settings in ~/.local/share/com.wndsoftware.terminal. Delete that folder to remove everything.

License and policy

IT settings go in /etc/wnd-terminal/policy.json, with the same settings as Group Policy on Windows and a configuration profile on a Mac. Make the folder owned by root and writable only by root, so people can read the policy but not change it.

sudo install -d -m 755 /etc/wnd-terminal
sudo install -m 644 policy.json /etc/wnd-terminal/policy.json

Put the license key in the policy as "License": "wnd1....". You can also copy the license file to /etc/wnd-terminal/wnd-terminal.license, or set LicenseFile to a path on a share. See Licenses.

Sign-ins IT stores

WND Terminal never saves people’s passwords, so it keeps nothing in GNOME Keyring or KWallet. The help desk account (HelpDeskCredential) and the proxy account (ProxyCredential) are files in /etc/wnd-terminal/credentials, named like the sign-in, with the user name on the first line and the password or token on the second. Only root can change them, and everyone who uses WND Terminal on the computer can read them, so give those accounts only the rights they need.

IBM i sign-on with Kerberos

Kerberos sign-on (SignOn = "kerberos") uses the system’s MIT Kerberos library and the person’s ticket. On a computer joined to Active Directory with SSSD or realmd, the ticket is there after signing in. Otherwise kinit gets one. Where Kerberos matters, choose the .deb or .rpm over the AppImage, so the app uses exactly what the rest of the system uses. See Sign-on without a password.

Scripts

While WND Terminal runs, programs the same person runs can drive its sessions through a Unix socket in a folder only that person can open, /tmp/wnd-terminal-<uid>/automation.sock.

wnd-automate list
wnd-automate A text

With the AppImage, the command is the AppImage followed by automate, as in ./WND-Terminal-Linux-x64.AppImage automate list. IT can turn the API off with AllowAutomation.

Printing

Print screen (Ctrl+P) opens the GTK print dialog with the printers CUPS knows about, and Print to File for a PDF. Jobs from 3287 and IBM i printer sessions are saved in ~/Documents/WND Terminal printouts.

Wayland, X11 and virtual desktops

WND Terminal runs on Wayland (GNOME, KDE Plasma and others) and on X11, including Citrix, VMware Horizon, xrdp and VNC desktops. Some graphics drivers draw a blank window with WebKitGTK’s DMA-BUF renderer, so WND Terminal turns it off unless WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER is already set. To force X11 on a Wayland desktop, start it with GDK_BACKEND=x11 wnd-terminal.

Where things are