Remote Desktop: Difference between revisions
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Updated XRDP Subsection, Major Update to Gnome RDP Section, Minor formatting changes. |
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= Software = | == Software == | ||
Remote desktop software is split into two types: servers and clients. | Remote desktop software is split into two types: servers and clients. | ||
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* VNC | * VNC | ||
* | * RDP | ||
== Self hosting == | == Self hosting == | ||
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* GNOME Connections | * GNOME Connections | ||
* [[RustDesk]] | * [[RustDesk]] | ||
== VNC == | == VNC == | ||
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Various servers provide configuration options either by CLI or by configuration file. | Various servers provide configuration options either by CLI or by configuration file. | ||
=== Desktop session === | |||
To start a desktop session or window manager, one currently has to do this manually because servers still have hard-coded paths to <code>/usr/share/xsessions</code> to look for <code>.desktop</code> files. That means one has to write a script that starts the desktop session, window manager, or any other X application. | To start a desktop session or window manager, one currently has to do this manually because servers still have hard-coded paths to <code>/usr/share/xsessions</code> to look for <code>.desktop</code> files. That means one has to write a script that starts the desktop session, window manager, or any other X application. | ||
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== RDP == | == RDP == | ||
=== XRDP === | |||
[[File:Screenshot from 2024-03-02 03-15-05.png|thumb|right|GNOME running in an XRDP shell in Remmina.]] | |||
NixOS has first-class support for XRDP. Client-wise, RDP can be accessed in many ways, but `remmina` and `freerdp` support it natively. | NixOS has first-class support for XRDP. Client-wise, RDP can be accessed in many ways, but `remmina` and `freerdp` support it natively. | ||
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(Source: [https://discourse.nixos.org/t/please-post-working-xrdp-setting-in-configuration-nix/7404/10 Discourse Link], [https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/86a80807d8d7051c63ab2b9d7f630abe066468b1/nixos/modules/services/networking/xrdp.nix nixpkgs code]) | (Source: [https://discourse.nixos.org/t/please-post-working-xrdp-setting-in-configuration-nix/7404/10 Discourse Link], [https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/86a80807d8d7051c63ab2b9d7f630abe066468b1/nixos/modules/services/networking/xrdp.nix nixpkgs code]) | ||
A different window manager can be used for XRDP than a machine user, provided it has been enabled (through NixOS <code>services</code> or <code>nixpkgs</code>. | A different window manager can be used for XRDP than a machine user, provided it has been enabled (through NixOS <code>services</code> or <code>nixpkgs</code>. | ||
Make sure you log out the visual user first on the remote machine, otherwise you'll get a black screen. (Source: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Proxmox/comments/hxp28j/black_screen_in_microsoft_remote_desktop_noob/fzm7zbo/ Reddit]). You may be able to work around this by enabling and configuring [[Polkit]], as demonstrated on that page. | Make sure you log out the visual user first on the remote machine, otherwise you'll get a black screen. (Source: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Proxmox/comments/hxp28j/black_screen_in_microsoft_remote_desktop_noob/fzm7zbo/ Reddit]). You may be able to work around this by enabling and configuring [[Polkit]], as demonstrated on that page. | ||
=== | ==== XRDP with Gnome 48 and higher ==== | ||
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix"> | |||
services.xrdp.enable = true; | |||
services.xrdp.defaultWindowManager = "${pkgs.gnome-session}/bin/gnome-session"; # gnome wayland session | |||
services.gnome.gnome-remote-desktop.enable = true; # needs gnome-remote-desktop backend to work!! | |||
services.displayManager.autoLogin.enable = false; | |||
services.getty.autologinUser = null; | |||
networking.firewall.allowedTCPPorts = [ 3389 ]; | |||
</syntaxhighlight> | |||
=== GNOME RDP === | |||
To enable the built in gnome-rdp, setting <code>services.gnome.gnome-remote-desktop.enable = true;</code> is not enough by itself. This installs the systemd unit but the unit does not start automatically at boot. As a consequence the 'Remote Desktop' configuration option is also not available in 'System' tab of the 'Settings' app. | |||
To fix this we need to enable and start the systemd unit at boot using <code>wantedBy = [ "graphical.target" ];</code> as shown below: | |||
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">services.gnome.gnome-remote-desktop.enable = true; # 'true' does not make the unit start by default at boot | |||
systemd.services.gnome-remote-desktop = { | |||
wantedBy = [ "graphical.target" ]; # for starting the unit by default at boot | |||
}; | |||
services.displayManager.autoLogin.enable = lib.mkForce false; | |||
services.getty.autologinUser = lib.mkForce null; | |||
networking.firewall.allowedTCPPorts = [ 3389 ];</syntaxhighlight> | |||
=== Meshcentral === | === Meshcentral === | ||