33

I'm trying to get the Remote Desktop feature working on Ubuntu (Desktop) 22.04, but I can't seem to connect to my Ubuntu desktop from a Windows (10) PC. I'm using these instructions:

I've enabled Remote Desktop in the (Ubuntu) Sharing Settings, however when I run the Remote Desktop client (i.e. the standard mstsc.exe client) on Windows and connect to the IP address of the Ubuntu server, I get this login dialog:

XRDP Login

The Session dropdown has 4 options:

  • Xorg
  • Xvnc
  • vnc-any
  • neutrinordp-any

Selecting Xorg and some login credentials causes the window to close. If I leave the credentials blank I get an Ok dialog with this message:

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

If I click Ok the it takes me back to the login dialog.

If I select Xvnc and some credentials then I get a blank green screen.

I get similar behaviour if I disable Remote Desktop in the Sharing settings.

I tried the same thing with a second Ubuntu 22.04 host and get the same thing.

jon hanson
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9 Answers9

31

You have to be logged out of your account on Ubuntu desktop. Else RDP on Windows will keep quitting.

You need to export the following environment variables:

export GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=ubuntu
export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME

Either do sudo nano .xsessionrc or sudo nano /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh and place the above two lines at the very start and reboot your PC.

AJM
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someTechno
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6

(I'll update it with more information after I gain a greater understanding)

This seemed to be the problem on my fresh Ubuntu 22.04 installation.

Cause

In ~/.xsession-errors:

# Error constructing proxy for org.gnome.Terminal:/org/gnome/Terminal/Factory0: Failed to execute child process “dbus-launch” (No such file or directory)
dbus-update-activation-environment: error: unable to connect to D-Bus: /usr/bin/dbus-launch terminated abnormally without any error message
dbus-update-activation-environment: error: unable to connect to D-Bus: /usr/bin/dbus-launch terminated abnormally without any error message

Solution

sudo apt install dbus-x11
dbus-launch

Credits: https://c-nergy.be/blog/?p=16698

I didn't need this on Ubuntu 20

Sridhar Sarnobat
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5

The before response works for me: Disabling Enhanced session in hyper-v. You can do it by going to the view menu at the top of the hyper-v window of this virtual machine and deselecting the Enhanced session. The login screen appears and you can log in.

cesarband
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2

this problem can be solved by disabling Enhanced session in hyper-v. hope it helps someone

change picture
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1

After encountering a blank screen issue while using XRDP on Ubuntu, I spent some time troubleshooting and managed to find a straightforward solution. Here are the steps to resolve the problem:

  1. Install XRDP: Run the following commands on your Ubuntu machine to install XRDP:

    sudo apt install xrdp
sudo systemctl enable --now xrdp

  2. Allow Port 3389: Open the firewall to allow traffic on port 3389 (XRDP default port):

    sudo ufw allow from any to any port 3389 proto tcp

  3. Modify startwm.sh: Edit the XRDP startwm.sh script:

    sudo vi /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh

    Inside the script, add the following line:

    export $(dbus-launch)

    Ensure that the line is added before the following lines:

    test -x /etc/X11/Xsession && exec /etc/X11/Xsession
exec /bin/sh /etc/X11/Xsession

    Save the changes and exit the editor.

  4. Restart XRDP: Restart the XRDP service to apply the changes:

    sudo systemctl restart xrdp

Following these steps should resolve the blank screen issue encountered Remote Desktop from Windows onto Ubuntu.

Antony
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1

Actually, for me, the problem was an existing blocking connection:

So stop the xrdp service:

sudo systemctl stop xrdp

then list all the xorg display servers:

ps -aux | grep xorg

kill all the existing xorg severs from their pid:

kill (pid from ps command)

then start the xrdp service again:

systemctl start xrdp
Senthil Arasu
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0

Create a separate user for your Ubuntu host, this fixed my issue. When I tried using the account I created during the installation of Ubuntu to log into the remote desktop, I got a black screen every time. Once I created a separate user, I was then able to remote desktop on to my Ubuntu systems desktop.

Cruz Ramos
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0

For Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS, this answer finally worked for me...

Edit the following:

sudo nano /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh

Then add the following at the top of the file:

unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
unset XDG_RUNTIME_DIR

Restart xrdp:

sudo systemctl restart xrdp

Interestingly, another answer mentioned adding export $(dbus-launch) to this same file. After restarting the machine, this allowed me to remote in... but a lot of applications were broken and giving dbus related errors (the background was also just blue). I removed the line and restarted again.

Solution 3 on this website is where I got my solution, and I have absolutely no idea why it worked.

**After implementing this solution: there were no more black screens on login, my desktop background was no longer blue, and applications worked as normal.

Halkscout
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-1

Maybe it's related to your nvidia drivers, please try:

  • add your user to groups: tty, render, gdm, input
  • change permissions to chmod ug+x /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg
  • add below lines to /etc/xrdp/sesman.ini [Xorg] section:
param=-configdir
param=/
kowal
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