INSTALL XRDP (REMOTE DESKTOP) SERVER ON UBUNTU 20.04

Xrdp is an open-source implementation of Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol. With Xrdp you can log in to a remote Linux machine with a full desktop session.

This guide assumes that you are running a Desktop Environment on the system that you wish to install Xrdp.

Installing a Desktop Environment

Ubuntu Servers do not have a Desktop Environment installed by default. If you wish to use Xrdp, you can install one of the below Desktop Environments.

You can skip this step if you are running Ubuntu Desktop.

Install the Gnome DE

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop -y

Install the Xfce DE

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop -y

Installing Xrdp

The Xrdp package is in the Ubuntu Repositories. Run the following command to install Xrdp.

sudo apt install xrdp -y

Upon installation, verify the Xrdp service automatically starts with the following command.

sudo systemctl status xrdp

You should see the output similar to the following:

● xrdp.service - xrdp daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/xrdp.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Wed 2021-12-29 05:03:18 EST; 40min ago
       Docs: man:xrdp(8)
             man:xrdp.ini(5)
    Process: 10425 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh /usr/share/xrdp/socksetup (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Process: 10434 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/xrdp $XRDP_OPTIONS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 10435 (xrdp)
      Tasks: 1 (limit: 4636)
     Memory: 752.0K
     CGroup: /system.slice/xrdp.service
             └─10435 /usr/sbin/xrdp

Configuring Xrdp

Xrdp uses the /etc/ssl/prvate/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key that is readable only to members of the ssl-cert group. Run the below commands to add the xrdp service account to the ssl-cert group and restart the xrdp service:

sudo add user xrdp ssl-cert

sudo systemctl restart xrdp

The configuration files for Xrdp are located in the /etc/xrdp directory. For typical Xrdp connections there is no need to make any changes to the configuration files.

The main configuration file is xrdp.ini. This file is laid out into sections for setting global configuration and security settings.

Configuring the Xrdp Server Firewall for Incoming Xrdp Sessions

If you are running a firewall on your Xrdp enabled machine, run the following commands to allow RDP protocol sessions.

To allow access from a specific IP address or IP range, for example, 192.168.0.0/24 run the following command:

sudo ufw allow from 192.168.0.0/24 to any port 3389

To allow access from anywhere, which I think is horrible and risky from a security standpoint, run the following command:

sudo ufw allow 3389

Connecting to the Xrdp Server

To connect to the Xrdp Server using a Windows PC, you can use the RDP Client. Type remote in the Windows Search Bar and click on Remote Desktop Connection. In the Computer field input the IP Address or Computer Name and click Connect.

Linux and Mac users can use a RDP client such as Remmina or Vinagre.