Tutorial: Remote Desktop Using TeamViewer from Windows to Ubuntu (2020)
There are a lot of approaches to remote access the Ubuntu desktop using RDP, xRDP, and VNC, etc. However, Many steps involved. And sometimes, the setup may not be successful after following all the steps. The setups of them are not easy. The easiest one would be using TeamViewer. (Sik-Ho Tsang @ Medium)
Advantages: Easy to setup; Can be connected even after rebooted.
Disadvantages: Need to get online; Fixed password which makes the PC easily hacked.
In this tutorial, we will:
- Download and install TeamViewer;
- Remote Desktop;
- Automatically start TeamViewer when computer is rebooted;
- Use a static password so that password will not be randomly drawn
- Force the login screen to use Xorg if it is still not okay after steps 3 & 4.(Updated on 18 Jan 2020)
1. Download and install TeamViewer
For my case, I use Windows 10 and Ubuntu 18.
- Just go to https://www.teamviewer.com/en/ to download and then install TeamViewer at Windows. I’ve just downloaded the free version as I only use for non-commercial purpose.
- The same for Ubuntu. Download and install TeamViewer at Ubuntu.
2. Remote Desktop
- For both Windows and Ubuntu, there are ID and password:
Thus, another computer can remote access this computer using the ID and password.
4. Just input the ID and password of the computer that we want to remote, we can already remote the computer.
3. Automatically start TeamViewer when computer is rebooted
- But every time the computer restart, TeamViewer will not be launched automatically. So, for example, there is update and reboot for the computer, we cannot remote again. We just need to go to options, tick the box “Start TeamViewer with system”. Then, TeamViewer will be launched automatically.
4. Use a static password so that password will not be randomly drawn
- However, there is still a problem, the password will change every time TeamViewer is newly started. To have a static password, just go to option and have a person password as below:
5. Force the login screen to use Xorg if it is still not okay after steps 3 & 4. (Updated on 18 Jan 2020)
- For my case, after updating TeamViewer to the latest version (15.1.3937), I cannot use TeamViewer to connect the Ubuntu after Ubuntu is rebooted.
- To solve this, I found a solution in the internet that I need to force the login screen to use Xorg. (See the reference at the bottom if interested.)
- Go to edit the file /etc/gdm/custom.conf
sudo nano /etc/gdm/custom.conf- Uncomment the line WaylandEnable=false
- Reboot it and try to use TeamViewer to connect the Ubuntu from Windows, it should be okay now. :)
So, we can gain access no matter how the Ubuntu is restarted or not, as we already have a static password, and TeamViewer is launched automatically for every time the system is restarted. :)
