Conchshell for Windows

Version 2.17.1 · Windows 10 and 11, x64. A terminal, a file manager and a remote desktop — one window.

Download for Windows

Windows

10 and 11, x64

Installer .exe 9.5 MB Installer .msi 13.6 MB

The SmartScreen warning

The Windows builds are not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen shows Windows protected your PC on the first run. Press More info, then Run anyway. Signing is planned; until it ships, comparing the hash is the honest way to know what you have.

.exe or .msi?

The .exe is the ordinary installer — take it if you are installing on your own machine. The .msi is the one for Group Policy, Intune and anything else that deploys packages, and it installs unattended in the usual way:

msiexec /i Conchshell_2.17.1_x64_en-US.msi /qn

Verify what you downloaded

Auto-update checks a detached signature and refuses a build that does not match it. A file you download by hand is not checked for you, so compare its SHA-256 against the published list, in PowerShell or cmd:

certutil -hashfile Conchshell_2.17.1_x64-setup.exe SHA256

Install with Chocolatey

On Windows with Chocolatey, in a terminal opened as administrator:

choco install conchshell

Conchshell keeps updating itself; choco upgrade conchshell works as well.

Install with Scoop

With Scoop, no administrator rights needed:

scoop bucket add conchshell https://github.com/DeveloperrEva/scoop-conchshell

scoop install conchshell/conchshell

Update it with scoop update conchshell: Conchshell sees that Scoop installed it and leaves updates to Scoop.

What it needs

System

Windows 10 and 11

Architecture

x64

Installers

.exe for your own machine, .msi for deployment

Runtime

Microsoft Edge WebView2 — already there on Windows 11; the installer fetches it from Microsoft if it is missing

Protocols

SSH, SFTP, FTP and FTPS, RDP, Telnet and raw TCP

Account

Not required — there is nothing to register

Price

Free. Syncing connections between your own machines is the one paid feature — $19 once

Auto-update

Built in, and refuses a build whose signature does not match

What you get on Windows

A real terminal

xterm.js over a real PTY, drawn with WebGL. Split panes in four directions, tab groups, search and link detection, and the workspace comes back on the next launch. More on the SSH client for Windows: keys, jump hosts and what it leaves out.

Files without a second app

Local and remote directories side by side over SFTP or FTPS, drag and drop between them, a transfer queue with progress, speed and ETA, cancel and retry, and directory comparison before anything is synchronised. FTPS in detail.

RDP where your terminals already are

RDP connections sit in the same list as your SSH hosts. Each remote desktop opens in a window of its own, and its tab in the main window brings it back or ends the session. No switching to a separate client.

Credentials in a vault, not a text file

XChaCha20-Poly1305 with Argon2id, in a vault the app offers to create at every launch while a saved password is still unencrypted — until you accept, that password sits unencrypted in its local data. On Windows the app keeps no vault key in a system keychain, so the vault takes a master passphrase of 12 characters or more, asked at every launch, and gives you a recovery code. Each credential held in the vault is bound to its whole route — host, port, user, proxy and jump host — so pointing the connection somewhere else gets it refused.

Questions people actually ask

Is this a PuTTY replacement?

For the everyday PuTTY job — SSH with saved connections, keys (.ppk files included) and a jump host — yes, with SFTP, FTPS and RDP in the same application instead of three more. Serial lines, port forwarding and X11 stay with PuTTY.

Do I need WSL?

No. It is a native Windows application. WSL is not involved and does not need to be installed.

Does it replace Remote Desktop Connection?

Not entirely. For hosts with Network Level Authentication the connection sits in the same list as your SSH hosts, and each session opens in a window of its own that its tab in the main window brings back or ends. But the connection authenticates over CredSSP only, so a host with NLA switched off is not supported, and Remote Desktop Connection has redirections and RD Gateway support that this client lacks. Keep it for those.

Which installer should I use across a fleet?

The .msi — it takes the standard msiexec switches, so Group Policy, Intune and SCCM handle it like any other package. On images without Microsoft Edge WebView2 the installer reaches out to Microsoft for it, which matters if your machines install offline; Windows 11 already has it.

Is there a 32-bit or ARM build?

No. Windows builds are x64 only.

Do I have to retype my connections?

No. Hosts in ~/.ssh/config are offered on the first screen, Bitvise .tlp profiles import too, and connections, folders, profiles and settings import from a JSON bundle; key files are referenced where they already sit on disk.

The same application, elsewhere

One codebase. The phones are where the feature set differs: on Android, iPhone and iPad there is no local terminal, no ssh-agent, no key files and no split panes — a key reaches a phone inside the vault, linked from a computer with Sync. On iPhone and iPad the app also holds no Sync licence; it links to a computer that has one.

Conchshell for macOS Conchshell for Linux Conchshell for Android Conchshell for iPhone and iPad All downloads and checksums How credentials are stored