How to Connect via Remote Desktop (RDP) to Ubuntu Linux

Richard

April 28, 2020

This tutorial guides users on how to connect to Ubuntu 20.04 | 18.04 using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) through open-source software, Xrdp. The post provides a detailed step-by-step installation and implementation process for both Ubuntu Desktop and Servers, alongside clarifications and additional necessary steps needed for a successful connection.

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to connect to Ubuntu 20.04 | 18.04 via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

Xrdp is an open-source Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) implementation allowing you to control a remote computer graphically.

For several reasons, someone may want to connect to Ubuntu Linux via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). One common reason is that it allows users to remotely access their Ubuntu desktop or server from another computer, which can be particularly useful for remote work or troubleshooting.

Additionally, RDP provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for Ubuntu, which can be more user-friendly for some users who are not as familiar with the command line interface (CLI).

Overall, connecting via RDP to Ubuntu can be a convenient and efficient way to access and control Ubuntu machines remotely.

When you’re ready, follow the steps below to get it working.

Install xrdp

Since you already have a desktop environment with Ubuntu Desktop edition, simply run the commands below to Xrdp.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install xrdp
sudo systemctl enable xrdp

To validate that Xrdp is installed, run the commands below:

sudo systemctl status xrdp

That should display similar text as below:

xrdp.service - xrdp daemon
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/xrdp.service; enabled; vendor preset: >
Active: active (running) since Tue 2020-04-28 10:11:52 CDT; 15s ago
Docs: man:xrdp(8)
man:xrdp.ini(5)
Main PID: 2989 (xrdp)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 4657)
Memory: 1.0M
CGroup: /system.slice/xrdp.service
└─2989 /usr/sbin/xrdp
Apr 28 10:11:51 ubuntu2004 xrdp[2986]: (2986)(140239724779328)[INFO ] address [>
Apr 28 10:11:51 ubuntu2004 xrdp[2986]: (2986)(140239724779328)[INFO ] listening>

Connect from Windows 10

Now that the Xrdp server is installed open the Windows Remote Desktop Connection app and connect to the desktop hostname or IP address.

Please make a log out of your current Ubuntu desktop sessions. You can’t be logged in to Ubuntu while connecting via Xrdp.

When logged out of Ubuntu desktop sessions, click Connect to initiate an RDP connection. You’ll be prompted for your Ubuntu login details.

Next, enter your Ubuntu machine account username and password and connect using Xorg.

When your account username and password are confirmed, you should log in to your Ubuntu machine from Windows.

That’s it!

Connecting to the Ubuntu desktop is easy since it already has a desktop environment.

Connecting to Ubuntu Servers

Since servers generally don’t have a graphical interface, you will need to install a minimal one for this to work in a server environment.

Run the commands below to install some necessary packages.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies xorg dbus-x11 x11-xserver-utils

Next, xrdp user to the sss-cert group by running the commands below:

sudo adduser xrdp ssl-cert

That should get Xrdp installed and ready for connection on Ubuntu servers.

Since most Ubuntu servers don’t have a firewall enabled out of the box, there is no need to worry about firewall blocking connections.

However, if the Ubuntu firewall is enabled, simply run the commands below to allow RDP traffic.

For example, if you’re connecting 192.168.1.0/24 network, then run the commands below:

sudo ufw allow from 192.168.1.0/24 to any port 3389
sudo ufw allow 3389

That’s it!

Conclusion:

This post showed you how to connect via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to Ubuntu 20.04 | 18.04 Desktops and Servers.

If you find any error, please report it in the comment form below.

Thanks,

Richard

Richard, the owner and lead writer at Geek Rewind, is a tech enthusiast passionate about simplifying complex IT topics. His years of hands-on experience in system administration and enterprise IT operations have honed his ability to provide practical insights and solutions. Richard aims to make technology more accessible and actionable. He’s deeply committed to the Geek Rewind community, always ready to answer questions and engage in discussions. He enjoys watching football, cheering for the Minnesota Vikings, and spending time with his family when he’s not writing or managing Geek Rewind.

Ubuntu Linux

Comments

Andrew
May 7, 2020
Hey there, I’ve installed this on a Ubuntu 20.04 VM inside of Proxmox. It was working just fine until it seems, I rebooted the VM. I get errors now:
~$ sudo systemctl status xrdp
● xrdp.service – xrdp daemon
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/xrdp.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Thu 2020-05-07 17:07:24 PDT; 25min ago
Docs: man:xrdp(8)
man:xrdp.ini(5)
May 07 17:07:24 Ubuntu-VM systemd[1]: Starting xrdp daemon…
May 07 17:07:24 Ubuntu-VM systemd[1]: xrdp.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILU>
May 07 17:07:24 Ubuntu-VM systemd[1]: xrdp.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
May 07 17:07:24 Ubuntu-VM systemd[1]: Failed to start xrdp daemon.
lines 1-10/10 (END)
Reply
Andrew
May 7, 2020
Seems my last comment did not get posted:
xRDP is not working after (i think) I rebooted my Ubuntu 20.04 VM machine inside of Proxmox. Errors:
~$ sudo systemctl status xrdp
● xrdp.service – xrdp daemon
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/xrdp.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Thu 2020-05-07 17:07:24 PDT; 25min ago
Docs: man:xrdp(8)
man:xrdp.ini(5)
May 07 17:07:24 Ubuntu-VM systemd[1]: Starting xrdp daemon…
May 07 17:07:24 Ubuntu-VM systemd[1]: xrdp.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILU>
May 07 17:07:24 Ubuntu-VM systemd[1]: xrdp.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
May 07 17:07:24 Ubuntu-VM systemd[1]: Failed to start xrdp daemon.
lines 1-10/10 (END)
Reply
reo
May 7, 2020
i’ve 2 user, using user 1 open, if i using user 2 RDP can’t open..
please
Reply
Horst
July 8, 2020
if i install 18.04 it works immediatly,
if i install 20.04 it never works.
I tried many things
If i open Remote Desktop on the PC the login screen appears,
i log in to Xorg screen, the screen is light blue and the turns to black and 2 seconds later it disappear.
Reply
1. Deali
  July 26, 2020
  i get the same problem.
  I install 18.04 and i can use Remotedesktop,
  i install 20.04 on the same system it will not work at all…
  Reply
  1. Billy
    August 3, 2020
    Make sure that there is no user logged into the system before you use RDP.
    Reply
    1. James
      September 16, 2020
      This works, thanks!
      Reply
Rik
July 8, 2020
Connecting from my win 10 laptop to a ubuntu 20.04 desktop on the sane wired network. Using cat6a, linksys router and netgear hub.
I always get:
“Connection Log
connecting to sesman ip 127.0.0.1 port 3350
sesman connect ok
sending login info to session manager, please wait …..
login failed for display 0”
I would love this to work so I can use the linux machine.
Reply
1. Philipp
  August 29, 2020
  same here, I’m still trying to figure out what went wrong.
  Reply
2. Philipp
  August 29, 2020
  my solution was, to only use lower case characters for the user name.
  Reply
  1. Narul
    September 8, 2020
    Great thanks it worked using lower case user name
    Reply
    1. Clyde
      October 30, 2020
      Same here, lower case issue. Now it works, thanks!!
      Reply
Peter Hagen
July 12, 2020
Interestingly I get a black screen when the user is already logged in. It seems it can’t connect to an existing session (or create a new one). I first thought it was an issue with wayland (on Fedora I couldn’t use xrdp due to wayland, but when I disabled it, it did work), but in case of Ubuntu 20.04 it does work with wayland. When the user is not logged in, xrdp does work for me. When I’m signed in with xrdp, I can’t sign-in with the same user locally.
Reply
Eric Lloyd
August 27, 2020
For those whose windows close within five seconds of opening a session on 20.04, try reducing the color depth in your Windows Remote Desktop Connection client. From the initial window: Show Options > Display > Colors = True Color (24-bit).
And while I’ve had no joy attaching to existing console sessions, if I close the RDP client without logging out, I get the Ubuntu Lock Screen when I reattach.
Reply
Stephen
November 7, 2020
I run remote desktop from Windows 10 Pro to an Ubuntu 18.04.2 box and I have no problems connecting even if I am logged on to the Ubuntu box. The Ubuntu machine has the gnome desktop installed and I use xfce as my desktop over RDP. As it all works fine, I am extremely wary of upgrading to 20.04.1. Reading the comments here means I will be staying put on 18.04.2 for some time still. Life is too short to be fire fighting RDP connection issues.
Reply
cmcanulty
November 12, 2020
I also had no issues with 18.04. 20.04 is an unmitigated disaster numerous fixes and nothing connects either vnc or rdp
Reply
Tom
January 9, 2021
Confimed not working. Ubuntu 20.04 installs all OK – starts logon window but when you enter the cridentials scren flashes and connection seems to be refused. Need 20.04 resolution here.
Reply
1. Frank S.
  February 9, 2021
  After carefully reading the logs, I came across a strange ipv4/ipv6 issue.
  For some reason, the communication between xrdp and sesman was not possible with ipv6 disabled on the loopback interface. When using the address 127.0.0.1, xrdp connected to the ipv6 Link-Local Unicast addresses (like fe80::something) of the eno1 interface (my primary lan network adapter) and got a connection reject. Hence no functional RDP session.
  Only after enabling ipv6 on the loopback interface with
  sysctl -w net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6=0
  the xrdp to sesman connection could be established and xrdp was working.
  Reply
  1. Chris N.
    March 11, 2021
    I tried this, but kept getting errors about commands not found, and — “w” not being right.
    ended up having to write “systemctl” and not sysctl, but the “w” being unable is what i’m stumped with.
    Any remedy to this?
    The actual screen it gets stuck on is:
    Connecting to sesman ip 127.0.0.1 port 3350
    sesman connect ok
    sending login info to session manager, please wait…
    login failed for display 0
    Please note I have a reaspberry pi running raspbian I am able to remote into no problem.
    Reply
  2. Michael
    March 22, 2021
    Ill been struggling with this for 6 hours today, and finally now it works!
    I need to allow ipv6 on lo in the future 🙂 Thanks!
    Reply
Colin
June 17, 2021
Hi,
Logon with lower caps letters worked well, but when trying to access the attached USB soundcard, the system doesn’t have one.
I want to start a program on the remote machine, analyzing audiosignals and just want to sneak a peek, if there’s some signal.
Any idea, how i can access to the remote PC and start the application which analyses the audio?!
Reply
JayT
July 17, 2022
Although the connection is working for me but the problem I am having is to keep entering the 23 characters password everytime I try to connect. the password requirement is on XRDP and I don’t know why Windows RDP app isn’t sending the credentials automatically. Does anybody know of the reason?
I have a Oracle Cloud before where it was connecting automatically because the IP and the password were stored in Windows RDP app but Oracle terminated my that account so I created a new account using a new credit card and so the problem arose. I want to sort this out to make my life easier because the password I use is quite complex.
Reply

How to Connect via Remote Desktop (RDP) to Ubuntu Linux

Install xrdp

Connect from Windows 10

Connecting to Ubuntu Servers

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