# Xrdp

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xrdp is a daemon that supports Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). It uses Xvnc or xorgxrdp as a backend.

## Installation

Install the xrdpAUR package (or alternatively xrdp-gitAUR for the development version). This only supports Xvnc as the backend.

### Xorg backend

To use xorgxrdp instead for the backend, install the xorgxrdpAUR package.

Add `allowed_users=anybody` to `/etc/X11/Xwrapper.config` to allow anybody to start an X server.

## Usage

First, start the `xrdp` service. You should be able to connect an RDP client to the host on the default RDP port (3389). If successful, you will be greeted with the xrdp session manager window which allows you to choose between Xorg or Xvnc sessions and provides inputs for user authentication. The session manager UI can be highly customized by modifying `/etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini`.

The parameters used to start Xorg and Xvnc display servers can be configured in `/etc/xrdp/sesman.ini`.

After successfully starting a display server, xrdp will execute `/etc/xrdp/startwm.sh` by default. This script is meant to start a window manager (similar to .xinitrc) and will read from `~/.xinitrc` or `/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc` if they exist. It is recommended to edit `~/.xinitrc` to start your desktop environment or window manager, but you can also edit `/etc/xrdp/startwm.sh`.

If you just close the session window and RDP connection, you can access the same session again next time you connect with RDP. When you exit the window manager or desktop environment from the session window, the session will close and a new session will be opened the next time.

xrdp checks only if a session with the same geometry is already opened. It will start a new session if the geometry/resolution does not match.

## Tips and tricks

### Autostart at boot

The xrdpAUR package contains service files for systemd. Enable `xrdp.service`.

### Graphical acceleration

For Xorg sessions, you can enable graphical acceleration by installing xorgxrdp-glamorAUR for Intel and AMD GPUs and xorgxrdp-nvidiaAUR for Nvidia GPUs.

### Running with Vino (GNOME VNC Server for root session)

Enable the server to be seen via vino-preferences. Since vino defaults to port 5900 for connections, we will edit the xrdp configuration file to understand this. Append the vino session to xrdp's configuration file:

    /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini

    [xrdp8]
    name=Vino-Session
    lib=libvnc.so
    username=ask
    password=ask
    ip=127.0.0.1
    port=5900

If you encounter VNC connection errors, it may be because `vino-server` defaults to accepting only TLS connections. This must be changed to standard VNC authentication so that `xrdp` may connect:

    gsettings set org.gnome.Vino require-encryption false

You can also restrict `vino-server` to only listen on the loopback interface:

    gsettings set org.gnome.Vino network-interface lo

Remember to restart the xrdp server, and one should be able to connect to the vino session (tested using xfreerdp).

## Troubleshooting

### Black box around cursor

If you encounter black box around mouse pointer create `~/.Xresources-xrdp` with line `Xcursor.core:1` and load it in `~/.xinitrc` like

    xrdb ~/.Xresources-xrdp
    exec startlxde

You may need to install xorg-xrdb.

### Black screen

You may get a black screen after logging into the session manager if your `~/.xinitrc` has `--exit-with-session` set in the `dbus_args`.

Try copying `~/.xinitrc` to `~/.xrdpinitrc`, removing `--exit-with-session`, and updating `/etc/xrdp/startwm.sh` to call `~/.xrdpinitrc` instead of `~/.xinitrc`. You might need to append your desktop environment to the call to .xrdpinitrc, as is mentioned in ~/.xinitrc; eg. `. ~/.xrdpinitrc xfce`.

### Black screen with a desktop environment

If you get a black screen and you use a desktop environment, try adding `dbus-run-session` to your `~/.xinitrc` file. For example, for KDE Plasma, use `exec dbus-run-session startplasma-x11`.

### loginctl or systemctl --user not working

Try commenting out all the references to `systemd-home` in `/etc/pam.d/system-auth`. See this issue.

### Prompts for gnome-keyring

If you are prompted to login to gnome-keyring when your session starts add the following 2 lines to `/etc/pam.d/xrdp-sesman`

    auth        optional    pam_gnome_keyring.so
    session     optional    pam_gnome_keyring.so auto_start

### Prevent autostart items from starting

To prevent user defined `~/.config/autostart` items for a from starting you can set the autostart directory param on the session in the `~/.xinitrc` to use only the global `/etc/xdg/autostart` directory.

    get_session(){
        local dbus_args=(--sh-syntax)
        case "$SESSION" in
            awesome) dbus_args+=(awesome) ;;
            bspwm) dbus_args+=(bspwm-session) ;;
            budgie) dbus_args+=(budgie-desktop) ;;
            cinnamon) dbus_args+=(cinnamon-session -a /etc/xdg/autostart) ;;

### No sound

Install pulseaudio-module-xrdpAUR. If that doesn't work add `pulseaudio &` to your `~/.xinitrc`.

## See also

- TigerVNC - VNC, an alternative to RDP, also used as backend here.
- freerdp a rdesktop fork that supports RDP 7.1 features including network level authentication (NLA). It primarily consists of the `xfreerdp` client. In addition, the `freerdp-shadow-cli` command provides a quick and easy way to start an RDP server.

Category:

- Remote desktop