27/03/2022 12:25 How to Install Xrdp on Ubuntu 20.

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How to Install Xrdp on Ubuntu 20.04
James Kiarie Last Updated: January 22, 2021 Ubuntu 18 Comments

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27/03/2022 12:25 How to Install Xrdp on Ubuntu 20.04

Xrdp is an open-source equivalent of Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). With xrdp installed
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on a Linux system, users can remotely access the Linux desktop using an RDP client as we shall
demonstrate later in this article. It’s completely free to download and use.

Without much further ado, let’s see how you can install Xrdp on Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 and 18.04.

Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you already have a copy of the Ubuntu 20.04 or Ubuntu 18.04 desktop
already installed. If you have a minimal installation – without a GUI – then installing a desktop
environment (such as GNOME) is recommended.

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To install the Ubuntu desktop environment, run the command:
for Free [with Examples]

$ sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop

Step 1: Install Xrdp on Ubuntu 20.04

To start off, launch your terminal and invoke the following command to install Xrdp on your system.

$ sudo apt install xrdp

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When prompted, just hit 'Y' and press enter to continue with the installation.

Install Xrdp on Ubuntu

Xrdp service starts automatically upon installation. You can verify this by running the command:

$ sudo systemctl status xrdp

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Verify Xrdp Status on Ubuntu

The output confirms, without a doubt, that the xrdp daemon is active and running.

Step 2: Configure Xrdp on Ubuntu 20.04

When Xrdp is installed, an SSL certificate key – ssl-cert-snakeoil.key – is placed in the /etc/ssl/private/
folder. We need to add the xrdp user to the ssl-cert group to make the file readable to the user.

$ sudo adduser xrdp ssl-cert

Add Xrdp User to SSL Cert Group

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Xrdp listens on port 3389 and if you are behind a UFW firewall, you need to open the port to allow
inbound traffic from an RDP client. In this example, I will allow traffic from my entire subnet to the Learn Linux Commands
Ubuntu system. and Tools

How to Manage ‘Systemd’

$ sudo ufw allow from 192.168.2.0/24 to any port 3389
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‘Systemctl’ in Linux

Thereafter, reload the firewall and confirm if the port has been opened. How to Create a Disk Partitions in
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How to Find Out Top Directories

$ sudo ufw reload

and Files (Disk Space) in Linux

$ sudo ufw status

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Open Xrdp Port on Ubuntu Firewall

Step 3: Access Remote Ubuntu Desktop with RDP Client 

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In this step, we are going to access the Ubuntu desktop system from Windows 10 using the Remote
Desktop Client. But before we do so, ensure that you first log out of Ubuntu 20.04. This because Xrdp
only supports one Xsession.

Next, launch your client and key in your remote system’s IP address, and click the ‘Connect’ button.

Connect Remote Ubuntu System with RDP

On the pop-up that requires you to verify the identity of your remote system, ignore the certificate errors
and click on the ‘Next’ button to proceed with the connection.

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Verify Identity of Remote Ubuntu System

On the Xrdp login page, provide your login credentials and click ‘Ok’.

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Enter Ubuntu Login

NOTE: At this point, you might encounter a blank black screen, instead of an Ubuntu desktop
background. In fact, I personally encountered it and after some digging, I discovered a nifty workaround.

Fix Black Ubuntu Screen


The solution is quite simple. Head over to the remote system and edit the /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh script.
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$ sudo vim /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh

Add these lines just before the lines that test & execute Xsession as shown in the screenshot below.

unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS

unset XDG_RUNTIME_DIR

Fix Ubuntu Black Screen

Save the file and exit. Then restart the Xrdp service.

$ sudo systemctl restart xrdp

Next, reinitiate the connection. After the initial authentication, you will be required to authenticate again
as shown.
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Ubuntu Login

Provide your credentials and click ‘Authenticate’ and finally, this ushers you to the desktop screen of
the remote Ubuntu desktop system as shown.

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Remote Ubuntu Desktop Sharing

We’d love to hear your feedback and, more specifically, the challenges that you encountered. We hope
that this guide was useful.

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18 thoughts on “How to Install Xrdp on Ubuntu 20.04”

← Older Comments

lemon
November 13, 2021 at 6:01 am

When running the command to install it keeps asking for credentials again and again.

How to fix it??

Reply

DY
June 25, 2021 at 1:18 am

James, thanks for this post and the hours of my life you saved.

Reply

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