Xrdp is an open-source version of Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) that allows you to access a remote computer graphically. It works as a remote access solution by linking graphics from an X Windows system to the RDP client and retransmitting the controls from the RDP client back to X Windows.
Using RDP, you can remotely log in and set up a desktop session just as you would on your local computer. Linux, Windows, macOS, and Android - all of these operating systems support RDP.
In this tutorial, we will explain how to install Xrdp Server, based on the example of Debian 11, and how to connect using standard Windows tools to a VM with an XRDP server.
Debian 11 is not included in our templates, but it is easy to install it by uploading the installation image to your personal VCD directory. We have described it here.
During the installation of Debian 11, you will be offered the option to install a graphical interface:
We recommend choosing Xfce because it is a light and fast desktop environment, making it "ideal" for use on a remote server.
Next, once you have access to your VM using the web console from the VCD, you need to install XRDP, you can do this with the following command in the terminal:
sudo apt install xrdp -y
It usually takes less than a minute to install, once it is done check the status of the service installed:
sudo systemctl status xrdp
You should get an output like this:
As you can see, the service is up and running, which means that we can connect to the VMs remotely.
To organize remote access in the cloud we just need to forward the RDP port (3389) to the VM. In this article we described how to do it.
Now you can connect to Debian 11 the same way you connect to windows, via RDP:
Press Win+R and in the dialog window type mstsc.exe and click OK.
Enter your external IP address in the appeared window (if you are wondering how to find out your IP – watch this video)
Click Connect and in the opened window, enter the username/password of the user you would like to log in with:
Click OK. Ready, you are connected to your VM using XRDP.
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