Hello World,

In our previous post about XRDP, we have described how to install the LXQT desktop environment and have it working for XRDP remote connections.  We decided to write the post about LXQT because some of our users were requesting such post. This post is also based on a user request.  Recently, a user posted a comment about using KDE desktop environment in combination with XRDP software solution.

If you want to use another desktop environment than LXQT with your XRDP session, please have a look at our previous posts :

• Ubuntu 14.10 – How to install XRDP and have it working (describe mate-desktop,xfce and LXDE installation on ubuntu 14.10)
• Ubuntu 14.10 – LXQT as alternative Desktop for XRDP

Note :

These posts are also available for Ubuntu 14.04.  We recommend to read the posts mentioned above as they contain the most recent information.

• Ubuntu 14.04 – Gnome Classic alike Desktop for XRDP : MATE-Desktop
• Ubuntu 14.04 – LXDE Desktop Alternative for XRDP
• Ubuntu 14.04 – How to install xrdp in Ubuntu 14.04 (to use xfce desktop interface)

So, if you are ready, let’st install XRDP pacakge and use the LXQT as default desktop environment during your XRDP remote session.

Installing XRDP and KDE on your Ubuntu machine

Install XRDP Package from Ubuntu Repository

In this post, we will be installing the standard xrdp package from the Ubuntu Repository. In order to perform the installation of the xrdp package, you will login into your ubuntu 14.10 machine.

Using the Dash button, in the search box, type Terminal

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Click on the terminal icon and the Terminal console will open

In the Terminal, type the following command

sudo apt-get install xrdp

You will be prompted for your password

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You will be then informed about the package size. To proceed with the installation, press Y

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Wait for the completion

When done, you need to install an alternate desktop environment. In our scenario, we are using lxde

Installing the KDE Desktop environment

I had to google a bit to see how we could install the KDE Desktop environment on a Ubuntu machine. I have seen complex command to be execute. At the end, we have simply decided to install the kubuntu desktop on our ubuntu machine (which contains the kde desktop). To perform this operation, we have simply issued the following commands, from a terminal console

• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

When issuing the first command, you might be prompted for the password (you are using sudo..). Provide the password and wait for the installation to complete.  This process might take some time.

Checking the KDE Desktop interface 

After the installation is been performed, you will need to check that the desktop has been installed correctly and it’s available on the machine.  To ensure that, simply logoff from your current desktop environment and go back to the login interface of ubuntu.

At the  login page, click on the Ubuntu logo in the login box.

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after clicking, you should see a menu similar to the one on the screenshot where you can select a list of alternate desktop interfaces installed on your system

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In our scenario, we will select the option KDE Plasma Workspace. When you have made your choice, you can enter username and password and login into your Ubuntu machine.  The KDE desktop interface should look like something captured on the screenshot below

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Configure xrdp to use KDE desktop environment

At this stage, you have to configure your Ubuntu machine in order for xrdp to know that the KDE desktop will be used instead of the Unity. To configure this, from the terminal console, you will issue the following command

echo startkde >~/.xsession

 

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Restart the xrdp service by issuing the following command

sudo service xrdp restart

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Note :

This configuration 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.  If you need to have all of your users to perform remote desktop session through XRDP and to load the LXQT desktop environment, you should update your /etc/startwm.sh file.   We have described the process in the following post

• XRDP – Enable multiple users to connect via xrdp – HowTo Configuration

Configuring the XRDP keyboard layout 

By default, the xrdp login screen is set to use an english keyboard layout.  If you are using another keyboard layout, you would need to configure the XRDP server in order to use your preferred keyboard layout.  The procedure below will update the keyboard layout used during the xrdp sessions. In order to configure XRDP keyboard layout (the , 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

Step 3 : create a copy of the km-0409.ini file into the same directory. It seems that this is the default file used by xrdp to define the keyboard layout. You will need to use sudo in order to be able to write into the 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

Test your xrdp connection

At this stage, you should be able to perform a remote desktop session to your ubuntu machine and have the LXQT desktop loaded.  To test your xrdp solution, find the ip address of your linux machine (or use the name if you have DNS Infrastructure in place). To find the ip address, issue the command

hostname -I

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Now go to your windows machine, start remote Desktop client and enter the ip address/name of your ubuntu machine

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You should see then the login screen of xrdp presented to you. Remember that by default the keyboard layout is set to English.  If you have not changed your XRDP keyboard settings (see procedure above) to your preferred keyboard layout, you will need to ensure that the password entered is following the english keyboard layout.

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Enter your username and password and Press OK

You will see a dialog box showing the login process

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If everything is configured correctly,you should see your KDE desktop loading and you should be able to perform you work through this desktop environment.

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Reconnect to the same session throug xrdp

If you are using Ubuntu 14.10 or if you are using the XRDP package 0.6.1-1, there is no need to perform any additional configuration in order to reconnect to the same session.

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As described in our previous posts, the xrdp packages have been updated and now out-of-th-box, you can indeed reconnect to the same sessioin.  To have more information about that, please check the following posts :

• XRDP – Reconnect to existing sessions made easier – New xrdp package on Ubuntu repository
• XRDP – Quick Demo Installation & Reconnection

Final Notes

You did it !  You have installed KDE desktop and now you can use your XRDP software in order to remote into your Ubuntu machine. This post was really easy to write as the process to have KDE desktop working with XRDP is similar to the previous post we have published about installing LXQT desktop interface with XRDP.

Linux is offering a variety of desktop environment and we are not able to test all of them. So, if you are using another Desktop environment and if you have make it working and useable with XRDP remote session solution, you can always drop us a line, place a comment, provide a link,….

Sharing this information could be useful to other people out there.

That’s it (for this easy) post

Till next Time

See ya