Is it possible to use remote desktop from Windows 7 to Ubuntu?

Question

I'm brand new to Ubuntu and Linux in general and I installed Ubuntu on a second PC (just to be sure that if I mess something up, I still have my Windows 7 PC).

Is there an easy way for me to use remote desktop or an equivalent on my Windows 7 PC to connect to my Ubuntu PC? I want to be able to work on Ubuntu without having two keyboards/mice.

So far, what I've found on the web take for granted that I'm already good with Linux, which is not my case. So I'm looking for a answer for dummies. ;)

Solution 1

I believe you can use various VNC applications on Windows that are compatible with the built in one on Ubuntu. I really can not recommend any specific ones, as I have not used them since 2005. Remember to go to System -> Preferences -> Remote Desktop to set it up if Ubuntu is the guest.

Solution 2

The protocol that Windows desktop sharing uses is called RDP. There is an RDP server implementation for Linux called xrdp but development has fallen behind and the RDP client in Windows 7 won't talk to the older version of RDP that it uses.

So if you want to connect to xrdp from Windows 7 you have to copy the old RDP client (mstsc.exe and mstscax.dll) from a WinXP install to the Windows 7 box and run it independently. At that point you might as well just be using a VNC client instead, really. VNC servers for Linux are much better-supported.

Solution 3

The most user friendly solution, that requires practically no set up at all, is an application called teamviewer

install a client on every machine you want to access and your off. It runs over port 80 so theres usually no firewall config necessary. A few caveats:

• its not foss (although it is free as in beer)
• it runs over the web (even for connections on the local network) and the data it sends in unencrypted, so its not suitable if your transferring anything sensitive.

the company i used to work for used it quite a lot for remote support at work

Solution 4

You can use VNC.. And, it's already integrated in Ubuntu.

Open up "Desktop Sharing".

There, you can easily set up your computer to be accessible through the LAN.

You can connect to it from a Windows PC using a VNC viewer such as UltraVNC.

Solution 5

You can try teamviewer. it works for me perfectly.

To install team view on your Ubuntu Machine, go to TeamViewer Download page of Linux. Download the Ubuntu package, 32-bit or 64-bit, depending on your setup. Once installed, just run the TeamViewer utility. It provides you with a ID and password to connect with from your workplace. you can also setup TeamViewer in Ubuntu to autostart in background, autohide notification, setup a single permanent password etc. Have a look at the options, there is a lot to configure and very straight forward.

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Comments

[Admin]

On Ubuntu 15.10 I have successfully used Remote Desktop Client to connect to a Windows Server 2012

[lgarzo]

As of today connections are encrypted: see teamviewer.com/en/products/security.aspx. „TeamViewer works with a complete encryption based on RSA public/private key exchange and AES (256 Bit) session encoding. This technology is used in a comparable form for https/SSL and can be considered completely safe by today's standards. As the private key never leaves the client computer, it is ensured by this procedure that interconnected computers - including the TeamViewer routing servers - cannot decipher the data stream.”

[George Stocker]

This is an incredibly vague answer; I'm not sure why it's gotten so many upvotes.

[Admin]

teamviewer not work well for mint 13 :\

[Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com]

Ah, the beauty of proprietary protocols: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Desktop_Protocol#Patents

[reox]

not sure why you need to copy some executable from XP, but xrdp works for me out of the box with the Windows 7 RDP client...