deploy remote desktop ubuntu 2204

Deploying a remote desktop with XRDP on Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish (22.04 LTS)

Published on 06 May 2022

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xRDP
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xFCE
jammy-jellyfish

Remote Desktop - Overview

Instances can be used with third party software to run a remote desktop. The software captures the Instance’s screen and transmits it to another device, where the user can interact with the remote machine using its local keyboard and mouse.

A remote desktop can be useful for tasks such as:

accessing a remote computer from anywhere
editing and sharing files between other machines using a high-speed Internet connection
performing administrative tasks
performing live demonstrations of applications installed on the remote machine

In this tutorial you learn how to deploy a remote desktop on an Instance running on Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish (22.04 LTS) by using the following stack:

xRDP - an open-source alternative to Microsoft RDP (Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol).
xfce - a lightweight and stable desktop environment

Security & Identity (IAM):

You may need certain IAM permissions to carry out some actions described on this page. This means:

you are the Owner of the Scaleway Organization in which the actions will be carried out, or
you are an IAM user of the Organization, with a policy granting you the necessary permission sets

Requirements:

You have an account and are logged into the Scaleway console
You have configured your SSH Key
You have an Instance running on Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish (22.04 LTS)
You have sudo privileges or access to the root user

Preparing the remote machine

Connect to your Instance using ssh:
```
ssh root@<your_instance_ip>
```
Update the apt sources list and upgrade the software already installed on the Instance:
```
apt update && apt upgrade -y
```
Install the required packages for the desktop environment using the apt package manager:
```
apt install xorg xfce4 xfce4-goodies dbus-x11 x11-xserver-utils
```
The xRDP server binary is available in the default Ubuntu repositories and it can be installed using apt.
Run the following command installs the packages xrdp and ufw, a firewall to protect your Instance from unauthorized access:
```
apt install xrdp ufw
```
The package manager configures the service to be automatically started upon system reboot.

Run the following command to check that the service has been started during the installation:

systemctl status xrdp.service

A message like the following displays, confirming the status active (running):

● xrdp.service - xrdp daemon
  Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/xrdp.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  Active: active (running) since Fri 2022-05-06 14:40:08 UTC; 47s ago

In case the service has not been started automatically, start it with systemctl:

systemctl start xrdp.service

Open the xRDP configuration file in a text editor of your choice, for example nano:
```
nano /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini
```
Scroll to the bottom of the file and add the following line, then save the file and exit the text editor:
```
exec startxfce4
```
Restart the xrdp service using systemctl to activate the new configuration:
```
systemctl restart xrdp.service
```

Configuring the firewall

Restrict the access to port 3389 to an IP address or a range of IPs. To allow access from the block 192.168.1.0/24 launch the following command:
```
ufw allow from 192.168.1.0/24 to any port 3389
```
To allow connections from any host run the following command:
```
ufw allow 3389
```
Important:
Exposing the service to any IP may cause a security issue.
Enable the firewall:
```
ufw enable
```
Tip:
For more information on how to configure your Instance’s firewall, you can read our tutorial about the configuration of ufw on Ubuntu.

Configuring a regular user

We recommend you create a regular user on your Instance, other than the root user, to connect to the remote desktop, to avoid security issues.

Add the user with the adduser command:
```
adduser <myuser>
```
Install sudo using the apt package manager if you want to give superuser rights to the user. (Optional).
```
apt install sudo
```
Add the user to the sudoers file. (Optional)
```
adduser <myuser> sudo
```

Connecting to the remote desktop

Download and install an RDP client of your choice. In this tutorial we use the Microsoft Remote Desktop Client.
Start the RDP client and click Add Desktop to add a new connection:
Enter the connection details. You must enter at least your Instance’s IP under PC name. Optionally, you can add a Friendly Name to facilitate the identification of your Instance in case you configure several RDP connections.
Double click the connection icon. During the first connection, you may be asked to validate the fingerprint of the Instance. Click OK to confirm the connection.
Enter the identifier and password of your regular user when prompted.
You are now connected and the remote desktop of your Ubuntu Jammy Jellyfish (22.04 LTS) Instance displays. You can launch applications on the remote machine, as you would do locally.