How to access KDE desktop remotely

Question

The machine aba-cat17.aba.oc.edu is running Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS. If I were physically in front of it, I would see a login screen to KDE 5.

I would like to access it remotely and get to the same desktop I would get if I had physical access to it. Can you please help me to do that?

Further info:

1 - I can already access a command line on the remote machine using ssh over VPN:

ssh -X [email protected]

2 - On the remote machine, /etc/ssh/sshd_config has the lines

X11Forwarding yes
X11UseLocalhost no

3 - DISPLAY is set

cat17@aba-cat17:~$ echo $DISPLAY
aba-cat17:10.0

Solution

You can use Krfb Desktop Sharing, this is a server application that allows you to share your current session with a user on another machine, who can use a VNC client to view or even control the desktop.

Install it using the following command:

sudo apt-get install krfb

Here is a link to more info about it: Krfb Desktop Sharing

Another option is to use xrdp and set this to use KDE.

You can install it by executing:

sudo apt-get install xrdp

Then, execute this command to configure xrdp to use KDE desktop environment>

echo startkde >~/.xsession

After that, restart the xrdp service with:

sudo service xrdp restart

NOTE: This config will only allow one user to connect to XRDP and use the KDE desktop environment. This would be the user for which you have updated the xsession file.

Hope it helps.

Comments

[SubOptimal]

This HOWTO helped me for a Debian Buster system. Only the ~/.xsession* Files were not needed to create.

[toliveira]

Thank you! I tried to use Krfb: I connected to the remote machine using ssh -X, ran krfb, set the password, ran Remmina on the local machine and set a connection to the remote machine using VNC; inside Remmina I could see the same windows that were open at the local machine, nothing of the remote machine.

[toliveira]

I tried to use xrdp as well: I connected to the remote machine using ssh -X, ran Remmina on the local machine and set a connection to the remote machine using RDP; inside Remmina I logged in to xrdp using the module sesman-Xvnc, and could see a desktop, but I am not sure it is KDE or Gnome; the taskbar is not visible, the background is not set, and it is not using the NVIDIA X driver. Please let me know if you have further comments.