Windows HOST to remote Full Linux GUI ???


jimbo45

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Hi folks
Easy enough to connect a HOST LINUX system to a Remote Windows system -

e.g -- currently updating a remote (Physical) Windows system to latest "Birdie" (Canary) build.

Screenshot_20230408_092951.png

However the OTHER WAY around seems a bit ????. Console logon via SSH and file transfers via Samba / Filezilla works OK but seems problematical to get a Full Linux GUI logon from Windows --especially with Wayland.

Anybody -- Interested in getting logon FROM Windows TO linux with any of the most popular distros e.g Ubuntu / other "debian" type distros, Fedora or SUSE.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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You need to install a Xwindow/Wayland underlaying service that will handle your RDP/VNC connections (or whatever protocol you choose to use)
SSH can be used to encrypt a VNC connection through a tunnel. Debian's aka APT distros use normally some build-in tools coming with your preferred Desktop Manager/Distro combo - Like Ubuntu/Gnome/Mir mix or Manjaro/KDE.

For KDE, check:

For GNOME, check:

For desktop manager independent solutions you have a plaetora of VNC based packages,
TigerVNC, RealVNC etc.
 

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    *nix/bsd
You need to install a Xwindow/Wayland underlaying service that will handle your RDP/VNC connections (or whatever protocol you choose to use)
SSH can be used to encrypt a VNC connection through a tunnel. Debian's aka APT distros use normally some build-in tools coming with your preferred Desktop Manager/Distro combo - Like Ubuntu/Gnome/Mir mix or Manjaro/KDE.

For KDE, check:

For GNOME, check:

For desktop manager independent solutions you have a plaetora of VNC based packages,
TigerVNC, RealVNC etc.


Thanks for the reply

However krfb works fine for LINUX TO LINUX connections -- it's WINDOWS TO LINUX that's the problem. LINUX TO WINDOWS works without issue using basic Ms RDP protocol.

Windows needs or appears to need some sort of X-Server (the underlying protocol which enables the Window management and the desktop GUI to run.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

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  • OS
    Windows XP,7,10,11 Linux Arch Linux
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
Windows needs or appears to need some sort of X-Server (the underlying protocol which enables the Window management and the desktop GUI to run.
1) Check out UFW rules on your Ubuntu, UFW is being installed by default if I remember correctly, UFW as UncomplicatedFirewall. If its installed
you should have settings pane named Firewall or UFW - check that RDP and VNC ports are not blocked by it. If you are not running UFW forget about this for now

2) You need a daemon listening for incoming connections for RDP and/or VNC protocols (both are natively supported)
If you prefer term then gui, launch aptitude (apt pkg manager, ncurses, initially confusing but it works well and search is a lot easier then
f**d up apt-search with its dumb regex and wildcards implementation in term.
$>sudo aptitude make sure to use sudo otherwise aptitude won't be able to do anything aside of searching.
search for "RDP VNC" packages in the repository, maybe you haven't installed all needed.

If you do not have aptitude, install it with $> sudo apt install aptitude

After you have the proper services installed, you need to enable and start them, but first do configure your ports and password,
its a generally bad idea to expose your server with default password (something I learned the hard way...)

after that you check
$>sudo systemctl list | grep -iP "vnc\|rdp"

If you see some units with those keywords check if they are running
$>sudo systemctl status[I] name-of-your.service[/I]
To enable a service (a service is a systemd unit) you can either do
sudo systemctl enable[I] name-of-your.service[/I]
To restart a service you can do
sudo systemctl restart [I]name-of-your.service[/I]

Normally those services will be enabled while systemd reaches your currently set default.target unit,
which in 97% of the cases is either graphical.target or multi-user.target

If anything craps out search
$>journalctl -xea | less
do yourself a favour and install lnav to read logs, makes life easier :)
 

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Maybe I should find a way to revert my laptop from Ubuntu to Canary and try some of this stuff out. However I'm looking for an Arch/Manjaro GUI program to burn flash drive ISO's
 

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Balena Etcher (GitHub Link)

Installation method for Arch/Manjaro Linux:

yay -S balena-etcher

To Uninstall:

yay -R balena-etcher
 

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Maybe I should find a way to revert my laptop from Ubuntu to Canary and try some of this stuff out. However I'm looking for an Arch/Manjaro GUI program to burn flash drive ISO's
DD if=/dev/A of=/dev/B bs=2048M status=progress

Note for some "Hybrid" type of bootable USB flash drives you might need isolinux too if booting under Windows HOST.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

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    Windows XP,7,10,11 Linux Arch Linux
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    2 X Intel i7
Hi @jimbo45 , Below is what I generally do to rdp in to my Ubuntu Mate(22.04) and it is very reliable.

Batch:
sudo apt install xrdp -y
sudo systemctl status xrdp
sudo usermod -a -G ssl-cert xrdp
sudo systemctl restart xrdp
sudo ufw allow from 192.168.1.0/24 to any port 3389
sudo ufw reload


After that, you can simply use your mstsc -v <linuxmachineip>

If by anychance desktop do not load with some dbus error below fix can address it.

Batch:
sudo vim /etc/X11/Xsession.d/80mate-environment

Add:

unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS

before the closing "fi"

Hope this helps.
 

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    Windows 11
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    Xeon(R) W-2133 CPU @ 3.60GHz
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100
Hi @jimbo45 , Below is what I generally do to rdp in to my Ubuntu Mate(22.04) and it is very reliable.

Batch:
sudo apt install xrdp -y
sudo systemctl status xrdp
sudo usermod -a -G ssl-cert xrdp
sudo systemctl restart xrdp
sudo ufw allow from 192.168.1.0/24 to any port 3389
sudo ufw reload


After that, you can simply use your mstsc -v <linuxmachineip>

If by anychance desktop do not load with some dbus error below fix can address it.

Batch:
sudo vim /etc/X11/Xsession.d/80mate-environment

Add:

unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS

before the closing "fi"

Hope this helps.
Hi there

Thanks for the reply.

I think the problem though is with wayland rather than X11/Xorg
Anyway SSH / telnet is OK from Windows as I'm happy to use the command line. I don't want to "undo" wayland session back to X11.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,7,10,11 Linux Arch Linux
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
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