XRDP on Fedora (Budgie)

So, it seems like I’m becoming the second generation of the XRDP guy. And frankly, I’m okay with that.

At any rate, today’s adventure takes us to Fedora, with the goal of RDP’ing in. In particular, I’m using Ultramarine Linux, which is a Fedora variant, and whose flagship edition ships with the Budgie desktop. I’ll confess that I’m not a huge fan of Budgie, but I’ve decided to give it a fair shake.

And naturally, that fair shake started with an error message:

Oh no! Something has gone wrong.

Très helpful.

So let’s get this thing working.

Step 0: Install XRDP and Friends

sudo yum update -y
sudo yum install -y xrdp xorgxrdp tigervnc-server
sudo systemctl enable xrdp && sudo sytemctl start xrdp

I’m not sure whether the vnc server is strictly necessary, but it can’t hurt.

Step 1: Apply the Fixes

echo "allowed_users = anybody" | sudo tee -a /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config
echo "exec budgie-desktop" > ~/.Xclients
chmod a+x ~/.Xclients

What do they do?

• The first line permits us to log in without being at the machine itself – important for remoting in.
• The second line tells the X11 window manager to start a Budgie session, which is why we’re getting that error in the first place.
• The third line sets the appropriate permissions for the above to happen.

Step 2: Have a lovely beverage

Let me know if this gives you any grief. No guarantees of help, but I’m starting to understand this XRDP whatnot better than most, so maybe I’ll be of use.