Hello World,

In our previous post, we have described how to perform a standard installation of xrdp on Ubuntu 16.04. If you are a regular reader, you will have noticed that there is no changes since the previous release of Ubuntu (15.x).  If you follow us, you probably also know that we like to perform a custom installation of xrdp using the latest version of the xrdp package (which is 0.9.0) that available on the Github web site.

In this post, we will check that the current script we have developed to perform the custom installation is still working and provide the desired results.

The Custom Installation Script (version 1.5)

Overview

The xrdp standard installation process under Ubuntu 16.04 is working fine and you will be able to reconnect to existing session out-of-the-box. If you are like us, you might want to check the progress made by the team behind xrdp solution.  To get the bleeding edge xrdp version, you will need to get it from the xrdp Github pages and compile it.

Assumptions

Before running this script, be aware of the following assumptions

• We have tested the script on Ubuntu 16.04 Alpha 2
• We are installing Mate-Desktop as alternative Desktop.  If you want to use another, you will have to update the script provided hereafter
• We have performed the test on a Virtual Machine running on Hyper-V Server

If you want to understand what the script does, you can have a look at this location (Ubuntu 14.04 – Perform a custom XRDP Install (using X11VNC).

Pre-requisites

We assume that you have internet connection on the Ubuntu machine.  The internet connection is needed to download the latest version xrdp package.  If you are not connected to internet, you can still manually download the xrdp package and modify the install-xrdp.sh script accordingly

The script version 1.5

Important Note :

If you copy/paste the script, you might encounter some issues because font formatting might be not maintained during the copy/paste operation. Please ensure that format is  accurate before launching the script.

Version 1.5 of the script will try to configure automatically the keyboard layout to be used during xrdp session.  This is experimental.  You can uncomment the lines about keyboard layout at the end of the script before the restart section. The script will also try to configure the system in order to enable multiple users configuration for xrdp. Do not hesitate to provide feedback on these small adjustements and let us know if this is working for you as well.

Disclaimer : As usual, use this at your own risk !! 

################################################################
 # Script_Name : xrdp-install.sh
 # Description : Perform an automated custom installation of xrdp
 # on ubuntu 15.04 when systemd is used
 # Date : May 2015
 # written by : Griffon
 # Web Site :http://www.c-nergy.be - http://www.c-nergy.be/blog
 # Version : 1.5
 #
 # Disclaimer : Script provided AS IS. Use it at your own risk....
 #
 ##################################################################
 
 
 #-Go to your Download folder
 echo "Moving to the ~/Download folders..."
 echo "-----------------------------------"
 cd ~/Downloads

 #Download the xrdp latest files
 echo "Ready to start the download of xrdp package"
 echo "-------------------------------------------"

 wget https://github.com/neutrinolabs/xrdp/archive/master.zip

 #Unzip xrdp package

 echo "Extracting content of xrdp package..."
 echo "-----------------------------------"
 unzip master.zip

 #Install prereqs for compilation

 echo "Installing prereqs for compiling xrdp..."
 echo "----------------------------------------"
 sudo apt-get -y install autoconf libtool libpam0g-dev libx11-dev libxfixes-dev libssl-dev libxrandr-dev

 #Install the desktop of you choice - I'm Using Mate Desktop

 echo "Installing alternate desktop to be used with xrdp..."
 echo "----------------------------------------------------"
 sudo apt-get -y update
 sudo apt-get -y install mate-core mate-desktop-environment mate-notification-daemon --force-yes
 echo "Desktop Install Done"
 #Configure the Xsession file
 #echo mate-session> ~/.xsession

 #Install the X11VNC
 echo "Installing X11VNC..."
 echo "----------------------------------------"

 sudo apt-get -y install x11vnc

 #Add/Remove Ubuntu xrdp packages (used to create startup service)

 echo "Add/Remove xrdp packages..."
 echo "---------------------------"

 sudo apt-get -y install xrdp
 sudo apt-get -y remove xrdp

 #Compile and make xrdp

 echo "Installing and compiling xrdp..."
 echo "--------------------------------"

 cd xrdp-master
 # needed because libtool not found in Ubuntu 15.04
 # Need to use libtoolize

 sudo sed -i.bak 's/which libtool/which libtoolize/g' bootstrap

 sudo ./bootstrap
 sudo ./configure
 sudo make
 sudo make install

 #Final Post Setup configuration
 echo "---------------------------"
 echo "Post Setup Configuration..."
 echo "---------------------------"

 echo "Set Default xVnc-Sesman"
 echo "-----------------------"

 sudo sed -i.bak '/\[xrdp1\]/i [xrdp0] \nname=Xvnc-Sesman-Griffon \nlib=libvnc.so \nusername=ask \npassword=ask \nip=127.0.0.1 \nport=-1 \ndelay_ms=2000' /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini

 echo "Symbolic links for xrdp"
 echo "-----------------------"

 sudo mv /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh.backup
 sudo ln -s /etc/X11/Xsession /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh
 sudo mkdir /usr/share/doc/xrdp
 sudo cp /etc/xrdp/rsakeys.ini /usr/share/doc/xrdp/rsakeys.ini

 
 

 ## Needed in order to have systemd working properly with xrdp
 echo "-----------------------"
 echo "Modify xrdp.service "
 echo "-----------------------"

 #Comment the EnvironmentFile - Ubuntu does not have sysconfig folder
 sudo sed -i.bak 's/EnvironmentFile/#EnvironmentFile/g' /lib/systemd/system/xrdp.service

 #Replace /sbin/xrdp with /sbin/local/xrdp as this is the correct location
 sudo sed -i.bak 's/sbin\/xrdp/local\/sbin\/xrdp/g' /lib/systemd/system/xrdp.service
 echo "-----------------------"
 echo "Modify xrdp-sesman.service "
 echo "-----------------------"

 #Comment the EnvironmentFile - Ubuntu does not have sysconfig folder
 sudo sed -i.bak 's/EnvironmentFile/#EnvironmentFile/g' /lib/systemd/system/xrdp-sesman.service

 #Replace /sbin/xrdp with /sbin/local/xrdp as this is the correct location
 sudo sed -i.bak 's/sbin\/xrdp/local\/sbin\/xrdp/g' /lib/systemd/system/xrdp-sesman.service

 #Issue systemctl command to reflect change and enable the service
 sudo systemctl daemon-reload
 sudo systemctl enable xrdp.service
 
 
 # Set keyboard layout in xrdp sessions
 cd /etc/xrdp 
 test=$(setxkbmap -query | awk -F":" '/layout/ {print $2}') 
 echo "your current keyboard layout is.." $test
 setxkbmap -layout $test
 sudo cp /etc/xrdp/km-0409.ini /etc/xrdp/km-0409.ini.bak
 sudo xrdp-genkeymap km-0409.ini

 ## Try configuring multiple users system 
 sudo sed -i.bak '/set -e/a mate-session' /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh
 
 echo "Restart the Computer"
 echo "----------------------------"
 sudo shutdown -r now

Set Execute rights on the script

You will need to copy/past the script into a text file in your home directory and save it as xrdp-install.sh.  In order to be able to execute the script, you will need to mark the script as executable as well under you Ubuntu machine.  To make the script executable, you will perform the following action.

 Right-click on the file, go to properties, then select permissions and tick the box allow executable….

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or you can use the command line to perform the same action. Open your Terminal console and issue the following command

chmod +x  ~/Downloads/install-xrdp.sh  

(if the file is located in your home directory in the Download Directory. Adapt the path accordingly…)

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Execute the script

You are ready to proceed  with the custom xrdp installation.  As mentioned before,  we assume that you have internet connection and you will be able to download all the necessary packages needed to perform this configuration.

When you are ready, you can execute the script by issuing the following command in the command prompt.

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We assume that you have downloaded or created the file in the your home folder under the Download folders.  If this is not the case, browse to the location and execute the script from there.

Wait for completion of the script.  The machine will reboot automatically when done.

Test your xRDP Connection

It’s time to check if the script ran properly.  The easiest test to perform is to go to your windows machine and perform an rdp connection to the ubuntu machine where you have run the script.  You will need to provide your login information and if the xrdp installation completed successfully, you should see the xRDP login screen (see screenshot)

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In the login screen, if you are using a keyboard layout different than EN-US, you will need to check that the script has set the proper keyboard layout for the xrdp login dialog box.  In the username field, check that your keyboard layout is set correctly. If this is not the case, go to the section below to perform a manual configuration of your xrdp keyboard layout.

Finally, to test that reconnection to the same session works, you will need to open a first session, start an application and disconnect.  Try to connect again, and if everything is working as expected, you should see the application you have started in your previous session.

To test that, you can reconnect to the same session, open some applications and then disconnect. You should see that the applications that you have opened are still there up and running.

Manually configure your xRDP keyboard layout

As in the past, the xRDP login screen will use by default an en-us keyboard layout. You remote session will also be using the en-us keyboard layout. The script will try to automatically detect the keyboard layout your are using and try to map this into the xrdp session.  If the script fail to set your keyboard layout properly, you can try to perform the following steps :

In my case, I’m using a Belgian French keyboard, so I had to tell xrdp to use the belgian french keyboard as well.  To do that, you need to perform the following actions :

Step 1 : You go to the /etc/xrdp directory

Step 2 : you issue the command setxkbmap -layout <%your layout%> to define which keyboard map/layout to use

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Step 3 : create a copy of the km-0409.ini file into the same directory.

Step 4 : Check that you have a backup of your file by typing the dir or ls command

Step 5 : update the file by issuing the following command sudo xrdp-genkeymap km-0409.ini

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Minor Issue

After installing the mate-desktop, you might notice that your ubuntu session (on the console not via xrdp) is a little bit different.  You might see something like this.

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No stress ! This can be fixed quite easily.  Sometimes after installing mate-desktop environment, the ubuntu theme is changed. You can set it back right-clicking on your desktop and select change desktop background.  This will open the appearance applet where you can reset the default Theme (see screenshot below)

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You can see that at the theme level, no option is selected.  Select the default theme for Ubuntu (which is called Ambiance) or any other theme you would like to use.

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After a few seconds, you should see the familiar look n feel of your Ubuntu desktop

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Final Notes

In this post, we have performed a custom installation of xrdp using an updated version of our little script.  The process didn’t changed compared to Ubuntu 15.x.  The same logic still applies.  As mentioned, the script has been updated with some minor improvements and reached version 1.5.  This version of the script tries to detect the keyboard layout in use and try to set it for the xrdp sessions. The previous script was also configuring the system for a single user connection. This version of the script change this setting and configure the system for multiple users by default now.

I hope you will enjoy the small improvements….

Till next time

See ya