ishwarjagdale / wslwithgui

This is a detailed tutorial on How to install and use Ubuntu Gnome Desktop on Windows Subsystem Linux 2 using XRDP service.

wslWithGUI

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Run Ubuntu Desktop GUI on Windows Subsystem Linux 2 on Windows 10

Step 1: Activate Windows Subsystem Linux Feature

Open Powershell or CMD as administrator:

• Enable WSL Feature

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

• Enable Virtualization

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

Restart your device if needed, and make sure virtualization is enabled from bios

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Step 2: Update to Windows Subsystem Linux

Download WSL2 Update Package: Download Package

Now Set WSL default to version 2 using the following command In CMD or Powershell

wsl --set-default-version 2

If you have already installed linux, update its version by:

wsl --set-version <linuxName> 2

Now, if everything done correctly wsl will be updated and set default for linux installations

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Step 3: Install Ubuntu

Download the LTS version of Ubuntu from the Microsoft Store : Link

After downloading, open the Ubuntu app it'll install the linux subsystem. Follow the instructions and enter your unix username and password, when the linux is setup install the updates the system.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

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Step 4: Install xrdp service and Ubuntu Gnome Desktop

We'll be using the Remote Desktop Protocol to connect to the display

sudo apt install xrdp ubuntu-gnome-desktop

During installation if prompted to configure display manager, select gdm

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Step 5: Configure XRDP

• Take a backup of the xrdp first

sudo cp /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini.bak

• Change the default rdp port to 3390 (optional)

sudo sed -i 's/3389/3390/g' /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini

• Change the resolution for better quality (optional)

The rdp connection will be local so why not better image quality

sudo sed -i 's/max_bpp=32/#max_bpp=32\nmax_bpp=128/g' /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini
sudo sed -i 's/xserverbpp=24/#xserverbpp=24\nxserverbpp=128/g' /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini

• Edit the xrdp window manager

sudo nano /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh

After opening the file go to the end of the file and comment out the last two lines like this and gnome-session under it.

# test -x /etc/X11/Xsession && exec /etc/X11/Xsession
# exec /bin/sh /etc/X11/Xsession
gnome-session

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Step 6: Install the ubuntu-systemd script

Clone the git repo given below and run it Link to Repo

git clone https://github.com/DamionGans/ubuntu-wsl2-systemd-script.git
cd ubuntu-wsl2-systemd-script/
bash ubuntu-wsl2-systemd-script.sh
# Enter your password and wait until the script has finished

After that exit the shell using exit command, and restart the wsl using

wsl --shutdown

then

wsl

in CMD or PowerShell

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Done!!

Now run the xrdp service using (in shell)

sudo /etc/init.d/xrdp start

Open Windows Remote Desktop Service

search for rdp in start menu

Use Computer as : localhost:3390 or localhost:3389 if you didn't change the port.

Then click Connect

You'll be asked for the unix username and password and keep the session type to xorg

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That's it. Thank you for reading!

wslwithgui's Issues

black screen with gnome

After logging via rdp I got black screen with cursor and no more.

btw, xfce4 works fine

Any idea how to do this when connected to VPN?

If I connect to my work VPN (Cisco Anyconnect) I can no longer connect to WSL with RDP...

Ideas?

[step 6]: Systemd is natively supported on most distros

Certain Linux distributions like Ubuntu, natively support systemd on WSL2 and it is no longer necessary to run systemd script as shown on step 6.

Instead:
Add these lines to the /etc/wsl.conf (e.g: sudo nano /etc/wsl.conf):

[boot]
systemd=true

See Set the systemd flag set in your WSL distro settings

Fix README

minor fix needed in the README.

Change Step #3 from,

sudo apt install update && sudo apt upgrade

to

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade