Install Xrdp for VNC via Windows Remote Desktop

July 3, 2019

xrdp creates an RDP server on remote Linux PCs.

RDP client on laptop:

Windows: factory installed
macOS: RDP client
Linux: apt install xfreerdp

Setup Xrdp server: remote Linux PC has the Xrdp server. Install Xrdp and Openbox desktop

apt install xrdp openbox

Create ~/.xsession containing

exec openbox-session

Enable xrdp with new config

service xrdp restart

Openbox will show a grey screen upon typing password at Xrdp login. Right-click mouse to open menu. If only a gray/black screen, try editing /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh on the remote PC:

#!/bin/sh

if [ -r /etc/default/locale ]; then
. /etc/default/locale
export LANG LANGUAGE
fi

exec openbox-session