Cannot open programs in XRDP session

[CrazyNatey]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to Linux but have a technical background and am a fast learner. I have recently setup a Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon desktop pc that is running a 32bit distribution. I am trying to setup XRDP and TightVNC so that I can remote control this computer from my windows pcs that are also on my network. I followed a guide on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKKUEHLDaAc. I have this setup using the fallback desktop, but have a couple issues.

1. when I login to the computer first, there is just a black screen. If I press the 'd' key then it will take me to the desktop and I can see my desktop shortcuts. however the panel is gone and I cannot access the menus.
2. Whenever I try to open a program from my desktop, nothing happens. I have checked the .xsession-errors file and found this:

Code: Select all

(nemo:5312): Gtk-WARNING **: Attempting to read the recently used resources file at `/home/natey/.local/share/recently-used.xbel', but the parser failed: Failed to open file '/home/natey/.local/share/recently-used.xbel': Permission denied.

(gedit:5485): Gtk-WARNING **: Attempting to read the recently used resources file at `/home/natey/.local/share/recently-used.xbel', but the parser failed: Failed to open file '/home/natey/.local/share/recently-used.xbel': Permission denied.
Xlib:  extension "RANDR" missing on display ":13.0".
Terminated

(mintUpdate.py:8962): libglade-WARNING **: unknown attribute `swapped' for <signal>.

(mintUpdate.py:8962): libglade-WARNING **: unknown attribute `swapped' for <signal>.

(mintUpdate.py:8962): libglade-WARNING **: unknown attribute `swapped' for <signal>.

(mintUpdate.py:8962): libglade-WARNING **: unknown attribute `swapped' for <signal>.
Xlib:  extension "RANDR" missing on display ":13.0".
Xlib:  extension "RANDR" missing on display ":13.0".

I thought this might be permissions related so I set my user 'natey' as the owner of /home/natey and all recursive files. This does not seem to have had any affect though as I still get the same message. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can fix these issues? Any help is much appreciated.

[ktheking]

Did you do this ? : http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1188

Check the part for Cinnamon at the bottom too !

[CrazyNatey]

Did you do this ? : http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1188

Check the part for Cinnamon at the bottom too !

Thank you ktheking. I tried these steps and we are getting somewhere. Now I have the applications and places menus, and can access those. However I cannot access shut down or logoff options. Also, when trying to open Firefox i get the error message "Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your system." This happened because Firefox was already running in my other session, and closing firefox in my direct login session allowed me to open it on the RDP session.

Whenever I press the 's' key it automatically opens the 'Applications' menu, This prevents me from using my 's' key on the keyboard.

Whenever I RDP from my windows PC it does not connect directly to the already open session. It creates a new session instead.

I went through the steps in the link above, and got the session started to share my screen on port 5901. I tried to RDP to this port from Windows, but that did not work. Is there anyway to connect to this VNC session from a windows RDP session?

[ktheking]

I suppose by RDP you mean VNC right ?

I know with VNC , vnc has a difficult time sending over keystrokes (most of the remote desktop software as a matter of fact).
Choosing the proper vnc client can help. One could be better the other one.

An alternative you could try also is Teamviewer. Alltough being a commercial package it's free to use if non-commercial.
Downside of teamviewer is that it's going through the internet ,and this requires an internet connection on all involved computers.
Upside is that you could remote control your machine from anywhere

check this nice overview of alternatives : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... p_software
Also check this article : http://superuser.com/questions/563632/r ... -computers

[CrazyNatey]

I got this working by setting up XFCE instead of the fallback desktop. Using XFCE I have full access to programs, terminal, etc. I did not really want to use a VNC session or TeamViewer. I wanted to be able to remotely control my Linux Machine using an RDP session from a windows computer. The guide on youtube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKKUEHLDaAc has the instructions that I followed to get xfce working. You'll need to scroll to about the 11minute mark to skip the items for installing xrdp to use the fallback desktop. XFCE has a much more user friendly presentation.

[ktheking]

Nice find ,and thanks for sharing the solution.
I wasn't aware that there was an xrdp server. I though this was a windows thing.
As for XFCE ,and I big supporter of it. Way lighter and faster ,without all the bloatware.