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Getting started

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maferick edited this page Oct 23, 2026 · 3 revisions

Getting started

This page takes you from the download to your first open tab: installing Cablebag, making or importing a session, and the search box you will use all day.

Install

  1. Download Cablebag_<version>_x64-setup.exe from the latest release.
  2. Run it. It installs for your Windows account only; no administrator rights are needed.
  3. For Remote Desktop tabs, install the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime (x64). Everything else works without it. Settings, About Cablebag says so when it is missing, with a Download button.

Cablebag needs Windows 10 or 11. There is no Linux or macOS release.

Cablebag keeps itself up to date. When a new version is out, the status line at the bottom shows Update to ...; one click installs it and starts Cablebag again. Updates come only from the GitHub releases page and are installed only when they carry the Cablebag signature. Under Settings, About Cablebag you can Check now, and switch Check by itself (at the start and every six hours) off.

Your first session

  1. Press Ctrl+Shift+N, or click the + button in the tab bar and choose New session.
  2. In the list on the left, pick the type. They are grouped as Terminal (SSH, PowerShell remoting, Telnet, Serial, Local shell, WSL), Remote desktop (RDP, VNC), Files (SFTP, FTP) and Other (Browser, File or folder). The list also offers Proxmox server under Source; see Proxmox.
  3. Fill in Remote host, User name and Port. The Session name is optional; without one the host is used. Folder puts the session in a folder of the tree.
  4. For SSH, choose a Private key file if you log in with a key, or leave it empty to log in with a password or an agent. Login from the vault links the session to a login in one of your credential sources (Vaultwarden or Bitwarden, CyberArk, Delinea Secret Server, Proton Pass); see Credential sources.
  5. Click Save and open. Save keeps it without connecting.

The extra options are folded under the form: SSH options and jump hosts, Screen, sharing and Remote Desktop options, PowerShell remoting options, Gateways, and Notes, tab colour and word colours. Sessions goes through them.

On the first connection to an SSH server, Cablebag asks you to Confirm the server's identity and shows the SHA-256 and MD5 fingerprints. Confirmed servers are listed under Settings, Trusted servers.

Quick connect with user@host

You do not need a saved session for a one-off connection. Press Ctrl+K, type admin@10.0.0.5 and press Enter: Cablebag opens an SSH tab. A few more forms work:

  • host or user@host opens SSH.
  • user@host:2222 sets the port.
  • rdp host, vnc host, telnet host, sftp host, ftp host or winrm host (also rdp://host) pick another type.
  • The name of a saved session opens that session; the name of a local shell (such as PowerShell) opens that shell.

The search box

Ctrl+K opens the search box (inside a terminal, Ctrl+Shift+K). Type a few letters of a session, tab, Proxmox machine, tool, macro or setting and press Enter to open it; Shift+Enter opens the session's editor instead. Type > first to see only the commands, with their keyboard shortcuts.

Home

Ctrl+Shift+H shows Home: a Start list, your recent sessions, your workspaces, and the tabs that were open when Cablebag last closed (see Sessions).

Importing what you already have

If you come from MobaXterm, PuTTY, KiTTY, WinSCP, the OpenSSH config file or saved .rdp files, let Cablebag import those sessions instead of typing them again: Import sessions... in the + menu next to the tabs (or type Import sessions in the search box). Your Chrome, Edge and Firefox bookmarks come in the same way, as web sessions. Each source gets its own folder; importing again updates instead of duplicating. Passwords are not imported. See Importing from other tools.

Where to go next

Releases · Discussions · Issues · Licence · Cablebag is free and open source (MIT), for Windows 10 and 11.

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