(xRDP) Desktop looks different when connecting remotely

I've looked around online some about this issue and haven't really found anything that helps me. I'm relatively new to Ubuntu and recently set up a tower so that I could connect to it over the internet via xRDP. That aspect of it works fine, but for some reason, the desktop looks different on the remote login- the gnome dock isn't present on the home screen and looks different when I open the activities thing; plus I'm missing the dock customization section in the settings application. That's really all I've immediately noticed, but I also don't have the experience with Ubuntu to really know what else might be missing.

Is there some way to fix this? I only have one user set up on the computer and use it to log in when connecting remotely, I don't know if that's of any importance or not.

Solution 1:

We are assuming that you are running Ubuntu 18.04 or later as you are connecting to the Gnome Desktop. The problem you are describing is expected when you perform a manual installation (with no further actions).

To solve your issue, you have multiple options

option 1 - manually change the look'n feel within your remote session.

This post provide a step by step explanation on what you need to do. In a nutshell,

1. install Tweak tool (sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool)
2. Open the tool, go to Extensions node, and enable the Dock bar
3. Go to Appearance node and select the Theme to be used (often it's Yaru)

Option 2 - Create a login script file

Copy the code below into your Terminal console and let it execute. This will create a file called .xsessionrc. This file is kind of login script will load your desktop configuration into the remote session. After the file is created, login back to xRDP session and see if the desktop look like the one you have when logged on locally.

cat <<EOF > ~/.xsessionrc
echo export GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=ubuntu
export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME
export XDG_CONFIG_DIRS=/etc/xdg/xdg-ubuntu:/etc/xdg
EOF 

Option 3 - Use Scripted installation

Next time, you perform a xrdp installation, you could use the script that can be found here to automate the installation and perform for you the post-configuration actions that make the desktop interface look similar when connected locally or remotely through xrdp… There is also on how to guide provided as well with the script (see [http://c-nergy.be/blog/?p=14093])2

Please note that the script is updated on a regular base, so please be sure to check if a new version of the script is available...

Hope this help Till next time

Solution 2:

The reason it didn't worked for you SaTa is because of the echo at the beginning of the second line. Try it like this:

cat <<EOF > ~/.xsessionrc
export GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=ubuntu
export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME
export XDG_CONFIG_DIRS=/etc/xdg/xdg-ubuntu:/etc/xdg
EOF