Remote Desktop Connection centos 7 using xRDP

 

Install xrdp on CentOS 7 / RHEL 7

xrdp is an Open Source Remote desktop Protocol server, which allows you to RDP to your Linux server from Windows machine; it is capable of accepting connections from rdesktop, freerdp, and remote desktop clients.

This post will help you to setup xrdp server on CentOS 7 / RHEL 7.

Prerequisites

1. First, install Gnome GUI on CentOS 7 / RHEL 7

2. xrdp is available in EPEL repository, so Install and configure EPEL repository.

rpm -Uvh https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm

Install xrdp on CentOS 7

Use YUM command to install xrdp package on CentOS 7 / RHEL 7.

yum -y install xrdp tigervnc-server

Output:

Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, langpacks
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: centos.excellmedia.net
 * epel: del-mirrors.extreme-ix.org
 * extras: centos.excellmedia.net
 * updates: centos.excellmedia.net
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package tigervnc-server.x86_64 0:1.8.0-2.el7_4 will be installed
---> Package xrdp.x86_64 1:0.9.5-1.el7 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: xorgxrdp for package: 1:xrdp-0.9.5-1.el7.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package xorgxrdp.x86_64 0:0.2.5-3.el7 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

=================================================================================================
 Package                    Arch              Version                   Repository          Size
=================================================================================================
Installing:
 tigervnc-server            x86_64            1.8.0-2.el7_4             updates            213 k
 xrdp                       x86_64            1:0.9.5-1.el7             epel               413 k
Installing for dependencies:
 xorgxrdp                   x86_64            0.2.5-3.el7               epel                61 k

Transaction Summary
=================================================================================================
Install  2 Packages (+1 Dependent package)

Total download size: 688 k
Installed size: 2.7 M
Downloading packages:
warning: /var/cache/yum/x86_64/7/epel/packages/xrdp-0.9.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID 352c64e5: NOKEY
Public key for xrdp-0.9.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm is not installed
(1/3): xrdp-0.9.5-1.el7.x86_64.rpm                                        | 413 kB  00:00:01
(2/3): tigervnc-server-1.8.0-2.el7_4.x86_64.rpm                           | 213 kB  00:00:01
(3/3): xorgxrdp-0.2.5-3.el7.x86_64.rpm                                    |  61 kB  00:00:01
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                            409 kB/s | 688 kB  00:00:01
Retrieving key from file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7
Importing GPG key 0x352C64E5:
 Userid     : "Fedora EPEL (7) <epel@fedoraproject.org>"
 Fingerprint: 91e9 7d7c 4a5e 96f1 7f3e 888f 6a2f aea2 352c 64e5
 Package    : epel-release-7-11.noarch (installed)
 From       : /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL-7
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction
Warning: RPMDB altered outside of yum.
  Installing : xorgxrdp-0.2.5-3.el7.x86_64                                                   1/3
  Installing : 1:xrdp-0.9.5-1.el7.x86_64                                                     2/3
  Installing : tigervnc-server-1.8.0-2.el7_4.x86_64                                          3/3
  Verifying  : xorgxrdp-0.2.5-3.el7.x86_64                                                   1/3
  Verifying  : tigervnc-server-1.8.0-2.el7_4.x86_64                                          2/3
  Verifying  : 1:xrdp-0.9.5-1.el7.x86_64                                                     3/3

Installed:
  tigervnc-server.x86_64 0:1.8.0-2.el7_4                xrdp.x86_64 1:0.9.5-1.el7

Dependency Installed:
  xorgxrdp.x86_64 0:0.2.5-3.el7

Complete!
</epel@fedoraproject.org>

Once xrdp is installed, start the xrdp service using the following command.

systemctl start xrdp

xrdp should now be listening on 3389. You can confirm this by using netstat command.

netstat -antup | grep xrdp

Output:

tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:3389            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1508/xrdp
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:3350          0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1507/xrdp-sesman

READ: netstat command not found on CentOS 7 / RHEL 7 – Quick Fix

By default, xrdp service won’t start automatically after a system reboot. Run the following command in the terminal to enable the service at system startup.

systemctl enable xrdp

Firewall

Configure the firewall to allow RDP connection from external machines. The following command will add the exception for RDP port (3389).

firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=3389/tcp
firewall-cmd --reload

SELinux

Configure SELinux

chcon --type=bin_t /usr/sbin/xrdp
chcon --type=bin_t /usr/sbin/xrdp-sesman

Test xrdp Remote Connectivity

Connect to Your Machine Using Remote Desktop Connection

With xRDP and your desktop environment installed, you can now connect from your local machine to the remote machine.

How you do this depends on your operating system.

Connect from Windows

To connect to your server from Microsoft Windows, just search and launch the Remote Desktop Connection application and input your hostname or IP:

If this is your first time connecting, then you’ll receive some security warnings. Assuming this is your server and it is secure then just go ahead and confirm them.

Connect from Linux

To connect from a Linux machine, a great option for using remote desktop connection is Remmina. Remmina is a wonderful free and open-source remote desktop client that supports Remote Desktop Protocol, VNC, NX, XDMCP, SPICE and SSH protocols.

To use Remmina to connect from Linux to your remote machine, just run Remmina after installing it, click the `+` in the top left corner and fill in your remote machine’s IP/Hostname, Username and Password.

If you’re running Debian/Ubuntu/CentOS/Fedora locally, you can install Remmina using the following commands:

Debian/Ubuntu

$ sudo apt-get install remmina remmina-plugin-*

CentOS/RHEL

$ yum install remmina remmina-plugins-*

Fedora 22

$ sudo dnf copr enable hubbitus/remmina-next
$ sudo dnf upgrade --refresh 'remmina*' 'freerdp*'

You'll notice we are also installing `remmina-plugins-*` because our main interest is installing the Remmina RDP plugin, as it may not be installed by default.You can find more detailed installation instructions, and instructions for other distros on their website, here How to install Remmina - Remmina.

Connect from OSX

To connect from your Mac, you'll first have to download the Microsoft Remote Desktop App from the App Store

After launching the app for the first time, you'll first want to create a new connection. To do this click on the `+` in the top left corner of the app window.The essential information you need here is for PC Name, User name and Password.

Just fill in the info for the 3 mentioned fields as follows:

PC Name - The IP or Host name of your remote machine. Most likely you'll want to use your IP.
User name - The username you used when installing xRDP and the desktop environment on your remote machine. Either `root` or your `sudo user`.
Password - Your CentOS user's login password.

After which the connection should be saved and you should be able to start the connection to the remote machine.

For additional info and support, you can read the instructions for Remote Desktop on Mac on Microsoft's Website.

Inchase you don't have Desktop Environment

Just Install Your Preferred Desktop Environment

Now we can install the desktop environment we’ll be using. In this guide we’ll try out XFCE, MATE, and GNOME.

If you’re looking for a lightweight and resource friendly solution, install XFCE.

NOTE: If you can’t connect via Remote Desktop Connection after you’ve installed the desktop environment, then open port 3389/tcp using the firewall-cmd command mentioned above.

1. Install XFCE Desktop Environment

XFCE is one of the most lightweight desktop environments. It’s fast, low on system resources, while still visually appealing. Additionally, it has a very active community, so there are many customization options available.

To install XFCE, run the following commands:

$ sudo yum install -y epel-release
$ sudo yum groupinstall -y "Xfce"
$ sudo reboot

Next, create the .Xclients file in the directory of the user you’re connecting with:

$ echo "xfce4-session" > ~/.Xclients
$ chmod a+x ~/.Xclients

Now you can connect to the server using Remote Desktop Connection.

Here is what XFCE looks like:

Uninstalling XFCE

To uninstall XFCE from your CentOS 7 machine, run the following commands:

$ sudo yum groupremove -y "Xfce"
$ sudo yum remove -y libxfce4*

2. Install MATE Desktop Environment

To install MATE, run the following commands:

$ sudo yum install -y epel-release
$ sudo yum groupinstall -y "MATE Desktop"
$ sudo reboot

Next, create the .Xclients file in the directory of the user you’re connecting with:

$ echo "mate-session" > ~/.Xclients
$ chmod a+x ~/.Xclients

Now you can connect to the server using Remote Desktop Connection.

Here is what MATE looks like:

Uninstalling MATE

To uninstall MATE from your CentOS 7 machine, run the following commands:

$ sudo yum groupremove -y "MATE Desktop"
$ sudo yum autoremove -y

3. Install GNOME Desktop Evironment

We’ll now install GNOME 3.

To do this, we’ll just have to install the GNOME Desktop package group, which will install all the packages required for the GUI installation.

$ sudo yum groupinstall "GNOME DESKTOP" -y

This may take a while. There were ~1000 packages installed on a minimal CentOS 7 installation.

Start the GUI

Although we installed the GNOME Desktop package group, the GUI will not be loaded by default on reboot.

We can check this by running:

$ systemctl get-default

Output:

multi-user.target

If our default target is multi-user.target, it means that the GUI will not be loaded. What we want is to set the default target to graphical.target.

To do this, run the following commands:

$ sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target

Output:

Removed symlink /etc/systemd/system/default.target.
Created symlink from /etc/systemd/system/default.target to /usr/lib/systemd/system/graphical.target.

After which, run the following command to change to the GUI immediately:

$ sudo systemctl isolate graphical.target

That’s it. You can now connect via xRDP to your CentOS 7 machine using GNOME.

Here is what GNOME 3 looks like, the first time you connect after installing. Just follow the initial configuration steps to finish setting up.

Uninstalling GNOME

To uninstall GNOME from your CentOS 7 machine, run the following commands:

$ sudo yum groupremove -y "GNOME Desktop"
$ sudo yum autoremove -y

Source and reference :

https://www.itzgeek.com/how-tos/linux/centos-how-tos/install-xrdp-on-centos-7-rhel-7.html

https://draculaservers.com/tutorials/install-xrdp-centos/