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MobaXterm new version 20.0

MobaXterm new version 20.0

Posted on by MobaXterm dev team
Tags:    #MobaXterm #News #Release
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Hi everyone!


We just released a new major version of MobaXterm (20.0)!


MobaXterm is your ultimate toolbox for remote computing: in a single Windows application, it provides loads of functions that are tailored for programmers, webmasters, IT administrators and pretty much all users who need to handle their remote jobs in a more simple fashion. MobaXterm provides all the important remote network tools (SSH, X11, WSL, RDP, VNC, FTP, MOSH, …) to Windows desktop, in a single portable exe file which works out of the box. MobaXterm provides a basic Unix-like environment for Windows which uses an advanced console and can even run WSL distribution on Windows with full X server support!


This release adds many improvements as the instant startup mode: we even removed the splash screen if you are using a persistent slash directory as startup takes now less than 2 seconds. We also brought some security improvements by using a Master Password for better passwords encryption.
We have tried to focus on compatibility with various environments: SSH to network routers or switches has been improved to auto-detect available features and fix connections issues. The CPU consumption of terminals has been greatly decreased, and many adjustments have been brought to the graphical interface in order to speed it up.
There are many other improvements: better macros management, graphical interface enhancements, faster “apt-get” feature, … The full changelog is below.

Full changelog:

version 20.0:

  • Improvement: by default, MobaXterm autodetects if Windows is in bright or dark mode and adapts its default settings accordingly
  • Improvement: increased MobaXterm startup speed and removed splash screen when using an installed version or a persistent slash folder
  • Improvement: increased MobaXterm closing speed, by replacing a very slow Windows folder cleanup function by some enhanced code
  • Improvement: added an option in the "Display" tab of global settings window in order to choose if you want to round out borders for tabs
  • Improvement: MobaXterm now allows you to use a Master Password even on Home Edition
  • Improvement: use of Master Password is now mandatory for your stored passwords
  • Improvement: added a "Remember me on this computer" option in the Master Password prompt at MobaXterm startup
  • Improvement: when setting a graphic theme in the Customizer, the chosen theme is previewed in the Customizer itself
  • Improvement: enhanced tabs bar (paint speed, antialiased rendering) and macros sidebar (paint speed, antiflickering)
  • Improvement: added a new setting in macros edition in order to select the delay which will be used between each simulated keystroke
  • Improvement: when recording a new macro, MobaXterm now tries to detect the command you typed and propose a macro title accordingly
  • Improvement: several small improvements in macros edition window: decreased default delay, minified text for INI storage
  • Improvement: added a new "apt-get" command which is faster and easier to use
  • Improvement: if you type an unknown command in local BASH terminal, MobaXterm detects if it can be installed using apt-get
  • Improvement: when dark mode is activated, SFTP and FTP sessions now use dark theme for graphic widgets
  • Improvement: added a small border around the terminal in order to ease mouse selection
  • Improvement: better detection of minimum window width in order to set the terminal size to 80 columns and 24 lines by default
  • Improvement: decreased CPU consumption of terminals, especially when syntax highlighting is turned on
  • Improvement: upgraded MoTTY by backporting the latest PuTTY modifications
  • Improvement: improved speed of shared sessions refresh, especially when there are many saved sessions
  • Improvement: improved speed of new session creation, especially when there are many saved sessions
  • Improvement: improved speed of session name change, especially when there are many saved sessions
  • Improvement: auto-detection of UTF-8 character set in FTP sessions
  • Improvement: prevented some incompatibilities when running MobaXterm from Dropbox or Google Drive folder with multiple accounts
  • Improvement: enhanced auto-detection of Cisco/HPE/Comware network devices in order to adjust SSH session settings
  • Improvement: default GIT_EDITOR variable has been set to MobaTextEditor (this can be changed in user ".profile" script)
  • Improvement: added native support for Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) on ARM computers
  • Bugfix: username of SSH sessions was not properly reset to default after editing a session and selecting saved credentials
  • Bugfix: when the prompt for saving passwords was shown and if you hit "RETURN" the prompt dialog was canceled instead of being acknowledged
  • Bugfix: fixed an issue which occurred during the "Save terminal text to file", when the file format was TXT
  • Bugfix: when typing "tcpdump" or "wireshark" commands in the local terminal, MobaXterm now starts TCPCapture instead
  • Bugfix: the "Close" button of MobaXterm embedded SSH agent process does no longer quit the process but hides it instead
  • Bugfix: in some cases, passphrases for SSH keys were not saved after starting SSH tunnels or gateways
  • Bugfix: fixed a crash error message when a session uses an SSH gateway which does not exist or is unreachable
  • Bugfix: fixed an issue with the font selection combobox which was not displayed properly with Asian languages
  • Bugfix: properly detect UTF-8 characters encoding when setting terminal tab titles
  • Bugfix: in dark mode, the "OpenFile" and "SaveFile" dialog windows can no longer be hidden behind MobaXterm main window
  • Bugfix: in dark mode, a memory device context which was used for painting main menu was not properly released after use
  • Bugfix: a double-update issue occurred on terminals when switching from/to MultiExec mode
  • Bugfix: fixed a dependency issue on the "kinit" local command
  • Bugfix: fixed an error in Powershell sessions when several commands and a startup directory with spaces were set
  • Information: changed versions numbering to "year . release_number_in_that_year . maintenance_release_for_this_version . build_number"


You can download this new release from MobaXterm website.

We want to thank you all for your precious support. We realize that many of you love working with MobaXterm and we are proud to receive many emails with such positive feedback. This is very motivating for us, thank you!

We hope you will enjoy working with this new version of MobaXterm!