How to Enable Remote Desktop Service in Linux: A Step-by-Step Guide

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Enable Remote Desktop Service in Linux

Remote Desktop Service (RDP) is a system to access your Linux machine from another computer, providing a graphical desktop interface. This is particularly useful for remote administration or troubleshooting. In this tutorial, I’ll explore how to enable Remote Desktop on Linux using different methods, including XRDP, VNC, SSH with X forwarding and xfce-desktop-environment.

Method 1: Using XRDP (RDP Protocol)

XRDP is an open-source implementation of Microsoft’s RDP, allowing you to access Linux systems from a Windows or Linux machine.

Step 1: Install XRDP

Open a terminal and run:
For Debian/Ubuntu-based systems:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install xrdp -y

For Fedora/RHEL-based systems:

sudo dnf install xrdp -y

Step 2: Enable and Start XRDP Service

sudo systemctl enable xrdp
sudo systemctl start xrdp

Step 3: Configure Firewall

Allow RDP traffic through the firewall (default port 3389):

sudo ufw allow 3389/tcp
sudo ufw reload

Step 4: Connect Using RDP Client

  1. On a Windows machine, open the Remote Desktop Connection tool.
  2. Enter the IP address of your Linux machine and click Connect.
  3. Provide your username and password to log in.

Method 2: Using VNC for Remote Desktop Access

VNC (Virtual Network Computing) allows remote access by sharing the desktop over the network.

Step 1: Install VNC Server

For Debian/Ubuntu-based systems:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install tigervnc-standalone-server -y

For Fedora/RHEL-based systems:

sudo dnf install tigervnc-server -y

Step 2: Set a Password for VNC

Run the following command and set a password:

vncpasswd

Step 3: Start the VNC Server

Start the VNC server manually:

vncserver :1

This creates a session on port 5901 (:1 corresponds to 5901).

Step 4: Configure Firewall

Allow VNC traffic:

sudo ufw allow 5901/tcp
sudo ufw reload

Step 5: Connect Using VNC Client

  1. Install a VNC client (e.g., RealVNC Viewer) on your local machine.
  2. Enter your Linux machine’s IP address followed by the port (e.g., 192.168.1.10:1).
  3. Provide your VNC password to access the desktop.

Method 3: SSH with X11 Forwarding

For lightweight remote access, you can use SSH with X11 forwarding to run graphical applications from a remote Linux system.

Step 1: Install SSH Server

For Debian/Ubuntu-based systems:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openssh-server -y

For Fedora/RHEL-based systems:

sudo dnf install openssh-server -y

Step 2: Enable and Start SSH Service

sudo systemctl enable ssh
sudo systemctl start ssh

Step 3: Enable X11 Forwarding

Ensure that X11 forwarding is enabled in the SSH configuration:

Open the SSH config file:

sudo vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Find the line

X11Forwarding no

Change to

X11Forwarding yes

Restart the service

sudo systemctl restart ssh

Method 4: @xfce-desktop-environment

To Enable Remote Desktop Service in Linux follow the steps bellow.

For Fedora

Step 1 :  Install the desktop environment with the following commands.

$–> sudo dnf install @xfce-desktop-environment

$–> suod dnf install tigervnc-server

reboot the system

make sure

That’s It.

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