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ConnectionManager reference

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ConnectionManager.exe is available in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 and later.

ConnectionManager.exe is a command-line utility to manage remote development connections outside of Visual Studio. It's useful for tasks such as provisioning a new development machine. Or, use it to set up Visual Studio for continuous integration. You can use it in a Developer Command Prompt window. For more information about the Developer Command Prompt, see Use the Microsoft C++ toolset from the command line.

ConnectionManager.exe is available in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.5 and later. It's part of the Linux development with C++ workload in the Visual Studio Installer. It's also installed automatically when you choose the Connection Manager component in the installer. It's installed in %VCIDEInstallDir%\Linux\bin\ConnectionManagerExe\ConnectionManager.exe.

The functionality of ConnectionManager.exe is also available in Visual Studio. To manage remote development connections in the IDE, on the menu bar, choose Tools > Options to open the Options dialog. In the Options dialog, select Cross Platform > Connection Manager.

Syntax

ConnectionManager.exe command [arguments] [options]

Commands and arguments

  • add user@host [--port port] [--password password] [--privatekey privatekey_file]

    Authenticates and adds a new connection. By default, it uses port 22 and password authentication. (You are prompted to enter a password.)

    You can use either a password or a key file and passphrase for authentication. Key files are more secure than username/password. If you already have a key pair, it's possible to reuse it. Use both --password and --privatekey to specify a passphrase for a private key file.

    Versions of Visual Studio before 17.10 support Elliptic Curve (EC), Rivert-Shamir-Adleman (RSA), and Digital signature algorithm (DSA) keys for remote connections. Because of security concerns, RSA and DSA keys are no longer supported in VS 17.10 and later. Only EC keys are currently supported.

    To create a key pair compatible with the connection manager, use the command ssh-keygen -m pem -t ecdsa -f <key-name>. If you use ssh-keygen to create the private key, you must specify the switch -m pem, or the key won't be accepted by Visual Studio. If your private key begins with -----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----, you must convert it with ssh-keygen -p -f <FILE> -m pem.

  • clean

    Deletes header cache for connections that no longer exist.

  • help

    Displays a help screen.

  • list [--properties]

    Displays information, IDs, and properties of all stored connections.
    For examples, see Commonly used properties.

  • modify [default | connection_id | user@host [--port port]] [--property key=value]

    Defines or modifies a property on a connection.
    If value is empty, then the property key is deleted.
    If authentication fails, no changes will be made.
    If no connection is specified, the user's default remote connection is used.

  • remove [connection_id | user@host [--port port]]

    Removes a connection. If no arguments are specified, you're prompted to specify which connection to remove.

  • remove-all

    Removes all stored connections.

  • update [default | all | connection_id | user@host [--port port]] [--previous] [--fingerprint]

    Added in Visual Studio 16.10. Updates the host key fingerprint of the specified connection(s).

  • version

    Displays version information.

Options

  • --file filename

    Read connection information from the provided filename.

  • --fingerprint

    The host key fingerprint presented by the server. Use this option with list to view a connection's fingerprint.

  • -i

    Same as --privatekey.

  • -n, --dry-run

    Does a dry run of the command.

  • --no-prompt

    Fail instead of prompt, when appropriate.

  • --no-telemetry

    Disable sending usage data back to Microsoft. Usage data is collected and sent back to Microsoft unless the --no-telemetry flag is passed.

  • --no-verify

    Add or modify a connection without authentication.

  • --p

    Same as --password.

  • --previous

    Indicates that the connection(s) will be read from the previous version of connection manager, updated, and written to the new version.

  • -q, --quiet

    Prevents output to stdout or stderr.

Examples

This command adds a connection for a user named "user" on localhost. The connection uses a key file for authentication, found in %USERPROFILE%.ssh\id_rsa.

ConnectionManager.exe add user@127.0.0.1 --privatekey "%USERPROFILE%\.ssh\id_rsa"

This command removes the connection that has ID 1975957870 from the list of connections.

ConnectionManager.exe remove 1975957870

Commonly used properties

Property Description
authentication type The type of authentication used for the connection such as: "password", "privatekey".
To create a connection with the authentication type set to "privatekey": ConnectionManager.exe add user@127.0.0.1 --privatekey "%USERPROFILE%\.ssh\id_rsa"
default A boolean indicating whether this is the default connection. The default connection is used when there's more than one connection available and the one to use isn't specified.
To set the specified connection to be the default connection: ConnectionManager.exe modify -21212121 --property default=true
host The name or IP address of the remote computer.
To change the host for the specified connection to another machine, in this case, local host: ConnectionManager.exe modify -21212121 --property host=127.0.0.1
isWsl Returns true if the remote session is running Windows Subsystem for Linux.
password The password for the connection. Change the password for the specified connection with: ConnectionManager.exe modify -21212121 --property password="xyz"
platform The platform of the remote computer such as "ARM", "ARM64", "PPC", "PPC64", "x64", "x86".
port The port used for the connection.
Change the port for the specified connection: ConnectionManager.exe modify -21212121 --property port=22
shell The preferred shell to use on the remote system. Supported shells are sh, csh, bash, tcsh, ksh, zsh, dash
To set the preferred shell to be zsh for the remote machine on the specified connection: ConnectionManager.exe modify -21212121 --property shell=zsh
If the shell found on the Linux system isn't supported, then sh is used for all commands.
systemID The remote system type, such as "OSX", "Ubuntu".
timeout The connection timeout in milliseconds. Change the timeout for the specified connection with: ConnectionManager.exe modify -21212121 --property timeout=100
username The name of the user logged into the remote computer.
To add a connection for a user named "user" on localhost: ConnectionManager.exe add user@127.0.0.1

See also

Connect to your target Linux system in Visual Studio