Transcription
In this video, I will show you how to set up remote desktop on Linux Mint 22 using XRDP. We will start by installing XRDP and then we will show how to connect to the remote desktop remotely. And we will also talk about some limitations of XRDP and how to overcome those limitations, and also the best alternative for XRDP.
If it doesn't work for you, we will start by installing the remote desktop. And for that, first update your package list using the command `sudo apt update` and then install the XRDP package using the command `apt install xrdp`.
Okay, so the XRDP package was installed. And let's look at the status of the XRDP service using the command `systemctl status xrdp`. So here it is, active, running. It means that the remote desktop service is now running and enabled. Here, it means that the remote desktop service will start at the system reboot.
Also, look at the main configuration file in the `/etc/xrdp` directory. And in this folder, this is `xrdp.ini`. This is the main configuration file. And we will also look at that. And here, this port number. This is the remote desktop port number. And you have to, if you have a firewall running on your computer, you have to open this port. And also, if you want to access this computer outside your home network, you have to do port forwarding for this remote desktop port on your router. And also make sure that you have a public IP address assigned directly to your router, not a shared IP, not a shared public IP address. And you have to make sure that with your internet service provider. So anyway, okay.
And now, let's see if we can connect to this computer remotely using the IP address. And I will go to a remote computer and try to remote desktop to the IP address. Let's start the remote desktop connection. And so we can connect to the server. So we get the login prompt, meaning that we are able to connect to the remote desktop. And let's see if we can authenticate. And this is not going to work as expected, and I will show you why.
So, what happened here is that the connection dropped immediately. And the reason is that with remote desktop, you can't log into both the local session and the remote session at the same time with the same user. And this is one of the limitations of XRDP. And if this is to work, I have to log out from this user first. And now, if we go back and try to connect again. This time, it should work. So, this time it worked because we logged out from the local session. But the thing is, you can't connect to the local session and the remote session at the same time using the same user.
And, and one more thing is that when you close the remote desktop session, don't use this close button here. You need to properly log out using the log out button here. And if you don't do that, you will not be able to log into your local session without restarting your computer again. And so, to overcome this, the only option is to use two separate accounts for remote login and local login.
And here, I will log into the local session again. And I will now create a separate user for remote login. And I will add the user called `user2`. And after creating the user, make sure to log into that user at least once because the desktop settings need to be set up properly, and that won't happen until you log into the local session. So, we have logged into `user2` once. And now we will log out the user. So, first I will log into `user1` locally. And we will log into `user2` remotely using remote desktop. `user2`. And so now we have logged into the computer both locally and remotely, but we had to use two user accounts for that.
Those are the limitations of XRDP. And you can't log into the same account both locally and remotely at the same time. And also, you have to configure port forwarding on your home router if you want to access the computer remotely outside your home network.
So, to overcome those limitations, you have to use alternative remote desktop software. And I will recommend using AnyDesk remote desktop. With AnyDesk, you don't have to configure port forwarding, and you can log into both the remote and local sessions at the same time. And you will find the installation guide in this video description.