Your files, terminals and desktop — over one fast, encrypted link.

The app you connect with. It comes with everything it needs: no installer, nothing else to set up.

1. Download it

   Most PCs are x64; take ARM64 for a Snapdragon laptop or a Surface Pro X.

   x64 1.1.6 · 74 MB ARM64 1.1.6 · 72 MB

2. Unpack it

   Right-click the downloaded .zip → Extract All…, and choose where it should live, for example C:\Users\you\Apps. Then open the wabilink-client folder and run WabiLink.exe.

   Right-click WabiLink.exe → Pin to Start to find it again.

   Windows protected your PC? WabiLink is not yet known to SmartScreen. Click More info → Run anyway. It asks only the first time.

3. Connect

   Click New profile and fill in the server's address (port 8009), your account and password. The first time, WabiLink shows the server's fingerprint: compare it with what the server's administrator got from wabilink-server identity, and accept it.

4. Video for the remote desktop optional

   The server's desktop is decoded on your graphics card with Windows' own decoders. For HEVC install Microsoft's HEVC Video Extensions, and on Windows 10 the free AV1 Video Extension, from the Microsoft Store. Without them, WabiLink picks a codec you do have.

Manages a WabiLink server from your desk: users and their rights, shares, the remote desktop, and the server's settings.

1. Download it

   Most PCs are x64; take ARM64 for an ARM laptop.

   x64 1.1.6 · 72 MB ARM64 1.1.6 · 70 MB

2. Unpack it and start it

   Right-click the .zip → Extract All…, open the wabilink-admin folder and run WabiLink Admin.exe. If SmartScreen warns: More info → Run anyway.

3. Log in to a server

   Use the server's address and its admin port, 8010, with an administrator account — one created with user add NAME --admin on the server.

   The admin port should be open only to where you administer from. If you cannot reach it, check the server's firewall for TCP 8010.

Runs as a Windows service: it starts with Windows, restarts if it stops, and shows this PC's own desktop to the people you allow.

1. Download it

   x64 1.1.6 · 37 MB ARM64 1.1.6 · 35 MB

2. Unpack it where it will stay

   The service runs from this folder, so put it somewhere permanent. Open PowerShell as administrator (Win+X → Terminal (Admin)) and run:

   Get-Item $HOME\Downloads\wabilink-server-*-windows-*.zip | Unblock-File
   Expand-Archive -Path $HOME\Downloads\wabilink-server-*-windows-*.zip -DestinationPath "C:\Program Files\WabiLink"
   cd "C:\Program Files\WabiLink\wabilink-server"

3. Install and start the service

   .\wabilink-service install --start

   It runs as LocalSystem; its data and logs are in C:\ProgramData\WabiLink\Server. .\wabilink-service status says whether it is running.

4. Add yourself and a share

   .\wabilink-service user add $env:USERNAME --admin          # asks for a password, twice
   .\wabilink-service share add $env:USERNAME Files C:\Users\Public
   .\wabilink-service identity                       # the fingerprint clients will be shown

   Your WabiLink account is named as your Windows account, with a password of its own; Files is the PC's Public folder. Write down the fingerprint: you will compare it the first time you connect.

5. Open the firewall

   Clients connect on 8009; the admin tool on 8010, which this opens to your local network only:

   New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "WabiLink" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 8009 -Action Allow
   New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "WabiLink Admin" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 8010 -RemoteAddress LocalSubnet -Action Allow

6. This PC's desktop optional

   Let users see and use this PC's screen from WabiLink, in their session:

   .\wabilink-service config set desktop-enabled yes
   .\wabilink-service user desktop $env:USERNAME yes

   That is all on Windows: with nobody logged in, the viewer shows the login screen. With a graphics card, the screen is coded on it.

.\wabilink-service stop
Expand-Archive -Path $HOME\Downloads\wabilink-server-*-windows-*.zip -DestinationPath "C:\Program Files\WabiLink" -Force
.\wabilink-service start

.\wabilink-service uninstall

The app you connect with. One command downloads the right version for your Mac and puts it in Applications.

1. Open Terminal

   Press ⌘+Space, type Terminal and press Return.

2. Copy this, paste it into Terminal, and press Return

   curl -fsSL https://alexander-miglis.github.io/wabilink-packages/install-macos.sh | bash -s client

   It finds out whether your Mac has Apple silicon or Intel, downloads the newest WabiLink for it, checks it, and puts WabiLink in Applications. It says when it is done.

3. Open WabiLink

   Open Applications in Finder (or Launchpad) and double-click WabiLink.

4. Connect

   Click New profile: the server's address (port 8009), your account and password. The first time, WabiLink shows the server's fingerprint: compare it with what the server's administrator got from wabilink-server identity, and accept it.

5. AV1 video optional

   H.264 and HEVC are decoded by macOS itself. For AV1, the best codec for a slow link, install dav1d with Homebrew:

   brew install dav1d

curl -fsSL https://alexander-miglis.github.io/wabilink-packages/install-macos.sh | bash -s client

Manages a WabiLink server's users, shares and settings.

1. Open Terminal

   Press ⌘+Space, type Terminal and press Return.

2. Copy this, paste it into Terminal, and press Return

   curl -fsSL https://alexander-miglis.github.io/wabilink-packages/install-macos.sh | bash -s admin

   WabiLink Admin is then in Applications.

3. Log in to a server

   The server's address and admin port, 8010, with an administrator account (user add NAME --admin on the server).

Runs as a service: it starts when the Mac starts, before anyone logs in, and restarts if it stops. Copy each box into Terminal as it is - nothing in them needs changing.

1. Open Terminal

   Press ⌘+Space, type Terminal and press Return.

2. Install the server

   curl -fsSL https://alexander-miglis.github.io/wabilink-packages/install-macos.sh | sudo bash

   It downloads the newest server for your Mac, checks it, installs it in /usr/local/wabilink-server, and starts it as a service. It ends with "… is installed, running, and starts at every boot."

3. Make yourself an account

   Your WabiLink account, named as your Mac account, and an administrator. It asks for a password for it, twice - one for WabiLink, which may be different from the Mac's:

   sudo wabilink-server user add "$USER" --admin

4. Share a folder

   The Mac's shared folder, as Files:

   sudo wabilink-server share add "$USER" Files /Users/Shared

   Sharing your Documents, Desktop or Downloads instead

   macOS protects those folders: the server may read them only once allowed. System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access → +, press ⌘+Shift+G, paste /usr/local/wabilink-server/wabilink-server, and turn it on. Then, for example:

   sudo wabilink-server share add "$USER" Documents "$HOME/Documents"

5. Note the server's fingerprint

   sudo wabilink-server identity

   The app shows it the first time it connects: it should be the same.

6. Let other computers in

   Only if the Mac's firewall is on (System Settings → Network → Firewall): Options… → +, ⌘+Shift+G, paste /usr/local/wabilink-server/wabilink-server, and set it to Allow incoming connections.

   Other computers connect to this Mac's address, which this shows:

   ipconfig getifaddr en0 || ipconfig getifaddr en1

7. This Mac's desktop optional

   sudo wabilink-server config set desktop-enabled yes
   sudo wabilink-server user desktop "$USER" yes

   Then allow it twice, once, in System Settings → Privacy & Security - in each, +, ⌘+Shift+G, paste /usr/local/wabilink-server/wabilink-server, and turn it on:

   • Screen & System Audio Recording — to show the screen;
   • Accessibility — for the keyboard and the pointer.

   macOS may ask by itself the first time someone connects. After an update it may need turning on again.

curl -fsSL https://alexander-miglis.github.io/wabilink-packages/install-macos.sh | sudo bash

sudo launchctl print system/com.wabilink.server | grep state
tail -n 20 /Library/Logs/WabiLink/server.log

sudo wabilink-server uninstall-launchd
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/wabilink-server /usr/local/bin/wabilink-server

The app you connect with. It brings its own runtime; the system provides fonts, the display and, optionally, video decoders and sound.

1. Install what it uses from the system

   sudo dnf install fontconfig libICE libSM libdav1d libavcodec-free pulseaudio-utils

   The video decoders come from EPEL:

   sudo dnf install epel-release
   sudo dnf install fontconfig libICE libSM libdav1d pulseaudio-utils

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install libfontconfig1 libice6 libsm6 pulseaudio-utils libavcodec-extra
   sudo apt install libdav1d7 || sudo apt install libdav1d6

   sudo pacman -S --needed fontconfig libice libsm dav1d ffmpeg libpulse

   sudo zypper install fontconfig libICE6 libSM6 libdav1d7 pulseaudio-utils

   Fontconfig, libICE and libSM (any desktop has them), and for the remote desktop's video dav1d (libdav1d.so.7) and FFmpeg's libavcodec; for its sound pacat or aplay.

   dav1d and libavcodec decode the remote desktop's video; without them it is sent as lossless tiles, which needs a faster link.

2. Download it

   For a Raspberry Pi 3, 4 or 5 with the 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS take ARM64; the 32-bit system has no WabiLink app.

   Most PCs are x86_64; ARM boards and laptops take ARM64. uname -m says which.

   x86_64 1.1.6 · 48 MB ARM64 1.1.6 · 45 MB

3. Install it for yourself, with a menu entry

   mkdir -p ~/.local/opt ~/.local/bin ~/.local/share/applications
   tar -xzf ~/Downloads/wabilink-client-*-linux-*.tar.gz -C ~/.local/opt
   ln -sf ~/.local/opt/wabilink-client/wabilink-client ~/.local/bin/wabilink-client
   cat > ~/.local/share/applications/wabilink.desktop <<EOF
   [Desktop Entry]
   Type=Application
   Name=WabiLink
   Comment=Files, terminals, tunnels and desktop of your server
   Exec=$HOME/.local/opt/wabilink-client/wabilink-client
   Terminal=false
   Categories=Network;FileTransfer;RemoteAccess;
   EOF

   WabiLink is now in your applications menu, and wabilink-client starts it from a terminal.

4. Connect

   Click New profile: the server's address (port 8009), your account and password. Compare the fingerprint shown the first time with the server's wabilink-server identity.

tar -xzf ~/Downloads/wabilink-client-*-linux-*.tar.gz -C ~/.local/opt

rm -rf ~/.local/opt/wabilink-client ~/.local/bin/wabilink-client ~/.local/share/applications/wabilink.desktop

Manages a WabiLink server's users, shares and settings.

1. Install what it uses from the system

   sudo dnf install fontconfig libICE libSM

   sudo apt install libfontconfig1 libice6 libsm6

   sudo pacman -S --needed fontconfig libice libsm

   sudo zypper install fontconfig libICE6 libSM6

   Fontconfig, libICE and libSM: any desktop has them.

2. Download it

   Take ARM64, for the 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS.

   x86_64 1.1.6 · 46 MB ARM64 1.1.6 · 44 MB

3. Install it for yourself, with a menu entry

   mkdir -p ~/.local/opt ~/.local/bin ~/.local/share/applications
   tar -xzf ~/Downloads/wabilink-admin-*-linux-*.tar.gz -C ~/.local/opt
   ln -sf ~/.local/opt/wabilink-admin/wabilink-admin ~/.local/bin/wabilink-admin
   cat > ~/.local/share/applications/wabilink-admin.desktop <<EOF
   [Desktop Entry]
   Type=Application
   Name=WabiLink Admin
   Exec=$HOME/.local/opt/wabilink-admin/wabilink-admin
   Terminal=false
   Categories=Network;System;
   EOF

4. Log in to a server

   The server's address and admin port, 8010, with an administrator account (user add NAME --admin on the server).

Installed from WabiLink's signed package repository, so it updates with the rest of the system. It runs as a systemd service under its own wabilink account.

There are no packages for this distribution yet: the server comes as a self-contained archive, installed as a systemd service under its own wabilink account.

1. Install it

   curl -fsSL https://alexander-miglis.github.io/wabilink-packages/install.sh | sudo sh

   This adds the repository and its signing key, then installs wabilink-server with what its optional parts use: ssh for login terminals, the libraries of the remote desktop, and SVT-AV1 for AV1 video where the system has it. It does not start the server yet.

   It picks the 64-bit or 32-bit package by itself (Raspberry Pi 2 and later).

   Or add the repository by hand

   sudo curl -fsSLo /etc/yum.repos.d/wabilink.repo https://alexander-miglis.github.io/wabilink-packages/wabilink.repo
   sudo dnf install wabilink-server

   sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
   sudo curl -fsSLo /etc/apt/keyrings/wabilink.asc https://alexander-miglis.github.io/wabilink-packages/wabilink.asc
   echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/wabilink.asc] https://alexander-miglis.github.io/wabilink-packages/deb stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wabilink.list
   sudo apt update && sudo apt install wabilink-server

2. Download it

   uname -m says which: x86_64, aarch64 (ARM64) or armv7l (32-bit ARM).

   x86_64 1.1.6 · 37 MB ARM64 1.1.6 · 35 MB 32-bit ARM 1.1.6 · 35 MB

   It needs glibc, OpenSSL 3 and systemd from the system: sudo pacman -S --needed openssl: sudo zypper install libopenssl3.

3. Install it as a service

   sudo mkdir -p /opt/wabilink
   sudo tar -xzf ~/Downloads/wabilink-server-*-linux-*.tar.gz -C /opt/wabilink --strip-components=1
   sudo /opt/wabilink/wabilink-server install-systemd
   sudo ln -sf /opt/wabilink/wabilink-server /usr/local/bin/wabilink-server

   This creates the wabilink account and /var/lib/wabilink, and starts the service now and at every boot.

4. Add yourself and a share

   sudo wabilink-server user add "$USER" --admin        # asks for a password, twice
   sudo mkdir -p /srv/files && sudo chown wabilink: /srv/files
   sudo wabilink-server share add "$USER" Files /srv/files
   sudo wabilink-server identity                     # the fingerprint clients will be shown

   The service runs as wabilink: it needs to read each share's folder, and write where people upload. For a folder of your own, sudo setfacl -R -m u:wabilink:rwX,d:u:wabilink:rwX /path gives it access.

5. Start it

   sudo systemctl enable --now wabilink

   systemctl status wabilink shows it running; journalctl -u wabilink -f follows its log.

6. Open the firewall

   Clients connect on 8009. The admin tool uses 8010: open that only to where you administer from.

   sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8009/tcp
   sudo firewall-cmd --reload

   If ufw is on (sudo ufw status):

   sudo ufw allow 8009/tcp

   There is no firewall on by default. If you set one up with nftables or iptables, allow TCP 8009.

   If a firewall is on (firewalld, ufw, nftables), allow TCP 8009.

7. This machine's desktop optional

   sudo wabilink-server config set desktop-enabled yes
   sudo wabilink-server user desktop "$USER" yes

   Viewers see the session of whoever is logged in at the machine - locked or not, as on its monitor; unlock it from the viewer.

   Lock, don't log out. GNOME doesn't share its login screen, so once you log out there is nothing to show until someone logs in at the machine. Lock instead (Super+L): the viewer shows the lock screen, and you unlock it from there.
   • Works with GNOME on Wayland and any X11 session.
   • Always on, with no monitor: sudo wabilink-server desktop-setup "$USER" starts a locked headless GNOME session for you at every boot.
   • Always on: turn on GDM's automatic login for the account (Settings → Users → Automatic Login), and set sudo wabilink-server config set desktop-user "$USER".
   • Raspberry Pi OS's own desktop (labwc) is not supported yet: switch it to X11 with sudo raspi-config → Advanced Options → Wayland → X11. The screen is sent as lossless tiles.
   • With a graphics card (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel) the screen is coded on it, through FFmpeg.

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

sudo tar -xzf ~/Downloads/wabilink-server-*-linux-*.tar.gz -C /opt/wabilink --strip-components=1
sudo systemctl restart wabilink

sudo dnf remove wabilink-server

sudo apt remove wabilink-server

sudo wabilink-server uninstall-systemd
sudo rm -rf /opt/wabilink /usr/local/bin/wabilink-server