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nitefrog
Asked: 2011-12-31 14:30:58 +0800 CST

Blank desktop when logging in via xrdp

  • 772

I am trying to access Ubuntu 11.10 using Remote Desktop from a Win 7 machine. I installed xrdp. I launch the Windows remote desktop client and login in. I then get prompted for the user name and password.

It then logs in, but all I see is the background, no menus, nothing. I have to kill remote desktop by closing it.

Even if I right click , nothing. Any ideas???

The only reason I even went down the RDP road was that VNC would not work either, even after I enabled desktop sharing. I am in a bind as I need to connect to Ubuntu via Windows. In version 8 Ubuntu this was not an issue and it just worked.

windows-7

12 Answers

  1. You might still have another desktop manager in your .xsession config.

    cd /home/youruser
echo "gnome-session --session=ubuntu-2d" > .xsession
sudo /etc/init.d/xrdp restart

    I've had a similar issue and this solved it.

    • 21

  2. For future readers of this post (I found this post top of my Google search when I had the same problem), xrdp no longer seems to work with Ubuntu-2d in Ubuntu 14.04. Instead you must install xfce

    sudo apt-get install xfce4

    Then add the line

    xfce4-session

    to your ~/.xsession file instead of the gnome-session --session=ubuntu-2d line

    • 12

  3. Try this. Just press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open Terminal. When it opens, run the command(s) below:

    sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback
echo “gnome-session -–session=gnome-fallback” > ~/.xsession
sudo /etc/init.d/xrdp restart
    • 3

  4. If I understood you correctly, you have Win 7 machine (rdp client) and ubuntu 11.10 (rdp server).

    If you have unity 3d enabled in ubuntu, that will cause problems. Use gnome session fallback:

    sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback

    (you have to log out and select "gnome classic no effects")

    ..or xubuntu (xfce) :

    sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

    ..or lubuntu (lxde):

    sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

    Also, try using rdesktop from command line. Looks like xrdp and other rdp gui programs don't support rdesktop's full capabilities, so it's best to use the command line directly.

    rdesktop -h

    • 1

  5. Add a backslash in front of your login, like: \yourlogin

    This made it work for me. It removes the domain from your credential.

    • 1

  6. A limitation of the xrdp is that you can only login to desktop:0

    I was logged in on the target machine as well as trying to connect. Once I logged out of the server I was able to login.

    • 1

  7. I had to do the following before it worked:

    • Install xfce4 and configure .xsession to "xfce4-session" as per Paul Rosenberg's reply above.

    • Fix a permissions problem with /etc/xrdp/ that caused the following error in /var/log/xrdp.log:

      [ERROR] Cannot read private key file /etc/xrdp/key.pem: Permission denied

      I added user xrdp to ssl-cert group, not sure if this is the best workaround though.

    • 1

  8. For 20.04 black screen issue is being fixed by adding gnome-session or xfce4-session to ~/.xsession file.

    In my case I has been successfully logged in into gnome-session:

    $ cat ~/.xsession
gnome-session
    • 1

  9. This is more of a workaround, but if you get a blank desktop, then there might be a question on the remote Ubuntu computer asking whether to refuse or allow. Just click the allow button from the alert.

    • 0

  10. Try a different desktop manager. While using lightdm I was getting a blank/black screen via XRDP. Once I switched to lxdm everything worked as expected.

    • 0