Ubuntu – Unable to do remote desktop using xrdp

remote accessremote desktopxrdp

I have an Ubuntu virtual machine to which I need to do remote desktop. I do not have physical access to that machine and I can do only ssh to the machine. I wanted to do remote desktop and came up with lot of options (vnc, xrdp, opennx). I used xrdp and I installed the necessary packages in the ubuntu machine (xrdp and dependent). Then I enabled the remote access in the ubuntu using the following command line option.

gconftool-2 -s -t bool /desktop/gnome/remote_access/enabled true

gconftool-2 -s -t bool /desktop/gnome/remote_access/prompt_enabled false

Then I restarted the xrdp (/etc/init.d/xrdp start). But when I try to do rdp using the windows client (mstsc), I get the following error. Remote access to the server is not enabled.

How do I solve this? Kindly help.

Raj

Best Answer

On file /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini add address=0.0.0.0 which is the default xrdp address.

Also you have to permit firewall to listen to connections on port 3389 that xrdp is working on. For this execute:

sudo ufw allow 3389

If that doesn't work either:

  1. Restart PCs
  2. Disable firewall (sudo ufw disable) on server pc and then recheck (might even need another restart).

In case you missed it, i will list the entire procedure below (which was a pain to assemble). You'll be fine with that if you follow step by step (promise!).

Remote Desktop between any OS's Step-By-Step guide

I. Windows to / from Windows:

Use Windows Remote Desktop software

II. Linux / Unix to / from anywhere

First do the following on the server computer that you will connect via remote desktop:

- Allow other users to view your desktop
- Best to require a password
- service ssh status
- To allow computers to connect with X11 graphics system capabilities as well, you need to 
    install an X11 server on the computer that is trying to connect (client). So
    * for a Windows computer use XMing
    * for a Linux Ubuntu computer use XQuartz

IIa. Windows to Linux from terminal with graphics support

- Launch XMing on Windows client
- Launch Putty
    * Fill in basic options
    * Connection -> SSH -> X11
        -> Enable X11 forwarding
        -> X display location = :0.0
        -> MIT-Magic-Cookie-1
        -> X authority file for local display = point to the Xming.exe executable

IIb. (b for better) Windows to Linux with full GUI support. This is what most of you will want.

- install xrdp which uses the remote desktop protocol to present a GUI to the user. 
    It can provide a fully functional Linux terminal server, capable of accepting connections 
    from rdesktop, freerdp, and Microsoft's own terminal server / remote desktop clients. 
    xrdp is the daemon that handles RDP remote desktop access from Windows machines to Linux 
- edit the "/etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini" file to include the line:
    address=0.0.0.0
    right under #background=626x72 line. 0.0.0.0 is the local server address of xrdp
- Restart xrdp service
- allow xrdp port (probably 3389) through firewall
- We also need a VNC server. Install tightvncserver on Linux server machine. 
- run tightvncserver (no need to create a view-only password)
- "netstat -lvp | grep vnc" to check out the ports that tightvnc is listening on for 
    connections
- allow the vncserver port from the firewall: sudo ufw allow #
- allow the xrdp server
- Install xfce4 desktop environment an update to xfce, minimalistic faster and lightweight
    sudo apt-get install xfce4
- sudo apt-get install xfce4-terminal : way better than xterm
- sudo apt-get install gnome-icon-theme-full tango-icon-theme : installs icon sets
- Now we modify 2 files to make sure xrdp uses xfce4
    * echo xfce4-session >~/.xsession
    * secondly we modify startup file for xRDP located at /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh
        so it will start xfce4. Replace the last line with 
        startxfce4 
        (before it had something which started with a ., but no matter whatever it is, just 
        replace the last line)
    * restart xrdp service: sudo service xrdp restart
- Now you are ready to log into the computer from client using Remote Desktop (mstsc.exe). 
    Just supply the ipv4 or hostname of the VNC server.

III. *nix to / from *nix

- ssh -X [preferedUserName]@[targetIpv4Address] : -X flag enales X11 forwarding
- accept security certificates from trusted hosts when prompted

IV. Making the connection secure (optional step - applies to any configuration)

VNC & xrdp protocols are not secure which means that they are not encrypted.

To make the connection secure edit the /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini file so that the address becomes 127.0.0.1. This will be the localhost address of the ssh server. SSH encryption will be used underneath to tunnel the vnc traffic.

- sudo service xrdp restart
- sudo service ssh restart
- pkill Xtightvnc
- tightvncserver
- putty -> Connection -> SSH -> Tunnels 
    * Source port: 5555
    * Destination: localhost:3389

If the above don't work:

  1. You may need to restart both computers,
  2. Disable firewall (sudo ufw disable) on server pc and then recheck (might even need another restart).
  3. If above don't work then you have messed up your system, by installing conflicting packages. You have to do manual troubleshooting on that (very unlikely you reach this step if you follow the instructions properly).

Sources and credit:

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