How to Setup an Ubuntu Linux VM in Azure with Remote Desktop (RDP) Access (Ubuntu Desktop GUI)

Some days ago Chris Pietschmann wrote about How to Setup an Ubuntu Linux VM in Azure with Remote Desktop (RDP) Access (great job certainly), and in a little ping pong messages I ask about how to enable another Desktop GUI that be more «attractive» to the users (GNOME or Ubuntu Desktop)… Chris said that he tried with Ubuntu desktop, but something goes wrong with xRDP (the server for RDP for X Window)… and the challenge was born!… and here we are…

First that all… I want to recognize that I didn’t reinvent the wheel… I just put some pieces of the puzzle together :0).

I’ll to obviate the explanation about the support for RDP in Linux and the process to create an Ubuntu VM in Azure, for more detail go to the blog entry mentioned above…

When you get your Ubuntu VM up and running… connect via ssh (I use the Ubuntu bash in my Windows 10…) and do the next:

First you need to install Unity Desktop GUI (obviously):

• To install Unity run the next commands in your terminal session:
  
  • sudo apt-get update
    
  • sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
    

     

• Restart the VM by the Azure portal
  

You can see that the Unity Desktop is installed by using Boot diagnostics in the Azure portal

The next task that we need to do is to install and configure xRDP

• Create a Downloads folder under your home directory, and go to there:
  
  • mkdir Downloads
    
  • cd Downloads
    
• Download the next zip file (that contains the script to install and configure xRDP for Unity Interface).. I’ll give credits to Griffon who’s wrote the original one install-xrdp-1.9.1.zip
  
  • wget -O /home/terminator/Downloads https://tym1zq.bn.files.1drv.com/y4mWThEWEC0iKojSq34rQCdsw4GdG0dkbpLTLPMHJRT6AXndOq1f8rZ2VvTAi2g9lpg3CFrHKnG9XcF5FXPeR9FdOjdg9Oyvu8BIlxY4xXLR1HsI-1vRM4SIGr5Ik39gzKceZL3fqgROkVn3aMmYZEQI6xrFfVLYyMfC-RvBFjYGxLCNp8BpuqRu_LFVsVfAdi-/install-xrdp-1.9.1.zip
    

     

• Because I need it in the next step, install unzip
  
  • sudo apt-get install unzip
    

     

• Ok, now unzip the file to get the script
  
  • unzip install-xrdp-1.9.1.zip
    

     

• Change the file permissions by:
  
  • chmod +x ~/Downloads/install-xrdp-1.9.1.sh
    

   

  

  The last image resumes the previous steps…
  

   

  And execute that! :O) (you can go to take a coffee in the while…)
  

  • sudo ./install-xrdp-1.9.1.sh
    

     

  … when the process ends (and you have tasted your coffee…) test the connection… is I posted in a Tweet reply to @BuildAzure if you use the Windows RDP client (mstsc.exe) the performance get slow… but if you use another one (for example FreeRDP) the connection works fine… according to some post in some blogs the issue is with the RemoteFX feature (in the client side)…
  

That’s all folks!

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