I have looked at documentation but so far I can’t get a straight answer which leads to believe that what I am looking for is not possible.
I have a few Linux (Ubuntu/Pop_OS) pcs and one in particular I keep off and turn on remotely with WOL. My problem is that once the machine is on and there is a desktop log in, nothing works to access the desktop remotely. I have tried the built in tool such as remote desktop and also I have installed x2go server but they all need the user to already be logged in for them to actually work. I don’t want to do the automatic log in as it reduces security. Does anyone know if it is possible to “cool boot” or reboot a machine (remotely) and then use a tool to log in to the desktop much like windows remote desktop works or google remote desktop (for windows PCs) work? If there is no way I can give up and just run a VM but I have a specific low power machine that Ilike to use and not use it for a hypervisor. Thank you again. I ask here as in other places some people are condescending and rather than answer the question they criticize that I am asking in the forum. I am just looking for a yes it can = what to use? or no it can’t be done then I will go VM. Thank you
I have not seen this issue with XRDP, I’ve always been able to log in remotely after a power outage. Make sure whatever you are using is set to run as a service, otherwise it won’t run until started. Also make sure the firewall is open (and running as a service). I use UFW for the firewall on most of my Linux because I know a very small amount of it’s commands so I can get work done.
Are you familiar with this process? I’m guessing yes, I’m trying not to sound like a know it all because that is very far from the truth, I get by is all I’ll say about my skills.
If you want, I can detail what I do when I set up a Linux physical or virtual machine for remote access. It’s pretty much limited to Debian right now, and more often than not, Debian 12. I have one to work on today.
I have a box running PopOS, have no issues accessing it using over RDP, though I haven’t tried it following a WoL. Try creating a second user and using RDP to then login.
Thank you. I did not think of this before as the cause why the remote server would not accept the connection. I was under the impression it was running at boot time. On my way out so I will attempt to make either/both remote desktop or x2goserver run as a service. I will read the documentation on this and report back. Thanks
I have done this and tried many different configurations. Including logging on and off with one, two and three users (different times) but I found that I needed to log the user first locally in order to connect. Greg_E suggested to run the program as a service. I am replying to both comments as I am on my way out and will research this when I return to the computer. Thanks
For starting a serving
sudo systemctl enable service name
sudo systemctl start service name
I like to enable before I start the services, seems to work for me.
I install UFW firewall because I like it better than other choices. You’ll need to enable the UFW service and start it, and I think it requires a reboot, I can’t remember right now.
sudo UFW allow 3389 - this may not need sudo, I can’t remember at the moment, it will tell you if it doesn’t need sudo.
Check the status of these services with the following:
systemctl status service name may or may not need sudo again.
And when everything looks good, shut it down and wait a few seconds, then power it up and see if it works.
Good morning. Thank you for the information. The documentation lists the service x2gocleansesionss. I can’t find it anywhere.
That said, I was able to partly achieve what I am looking to do. After further readings and comments/responses from others in other forums, it seem the Pop_OS desktop has some compatibility problems. It was suggested to install LXDE (I used the distribution before) so I ran: “sudo apt install lxde”
After loading it I can log on to the PC even when there is no user logged in. I am now working on getting the size of all the components to look better as the proportions are really bad and very difficult to use . Thank you.
This is one of the reasons I switched to Fedora. It doesn’t have this issue of whether the local session is logged in or not. I assume it’s possible on other distros, but I’m not sure the underlying process it uses to accomplish this. I also switched because multi-monitor support on Ubuntu was hit or miss, (mostly miss) with it almost never remembering which monitor was which after powering off monitors and then powering them on again. It would constantly rearrange the order and the default display. Fedora fixed both of these issues for me.
However, Fedora does get persnickety with ssh protocols, so if you administer network devices, you sometimes have to tell Fedora to allow “older” encryption methods for ssh certificates, even though they’re still very commonly used. That’s probably the only hurdle I had to overcome when changing over from Ubuntu.
If you use Remmina for SSH, you will run into that same protocols issue where you need to tell it to use the older types of encryption.
Good morning, thank you for the information. I am going to spin up a fedora VM this morning and test the RDP. Thanks. It will not be my main machine, just for others to use so I can have it not be POP_Os or ubuntu. Thank (Haven’t use Fedora in years I think)
Thank you. I will keep that in mind as I test further along. Thank you again