Ubuntu 18.04 xrdp - login then connection problem, giving up - Matrox Issue?

Question

Trying to install Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop (clean install) on a Dell T610. It's being used headless for the most part but I need to RDP from a windows machine. Following the instructions at http://c-nergy.be/blog/?p=12283 I installed xrdp. I can login but it never loads a desktop I just get a blank blue screen till the error shows "connection problem, giving up", "xrdp_wm_log_msg: some problem".

I found there were some fixes in a more recent version so I complied and installed the latest xrdp from the website. No change. I also noticed the graphical performance is extremely poor. The login screen only refreshes once every few seconds. I tried the fixes here "Ubuntu 18.04 LTS GUI is unusably slow with Matrox G200eR2 (Dell r720xd server)" but no changes.

The log /var/log/xrdp.log show nothing of use.

[20190217-02:10:59] [DEBUG] Closed socket 19 (AF_UNIX)
[20190217-02:11:03] [DEBUG] Closed socket 19 (AF_UNIX)
[20190217-02:11:06] [DEBUG] Closed socket 19 (AF_UNIX)
[20190217-02:11:09] [DEBUG] xrdp_wm_log_msg: connection problem, giving up
[20190217-02:11:09] [DEBUG] Closed socket 19 (AF_UNIX)
[20190217-02:11:09] [DEBUG] xrdp_wm_log_msg: some problem
[20190217-02:11:09] [DEBUG] xrdp_mm_module_cleanup
[20190217-02:11:09] [DEBUG] Closed socket 18 (AF_INET 127.0.0.1:35366)
[20190217-02:11:09] [DEBUG] Closed socket 12 (AF_INET x.x.x.x:3389)
[20190217-02:11:09] [DEBUG] xrdp_mm_module_cleanup

I can't tell if I have a gfx card issue or an xrdp issue. Not sure where to go next? I may order a cheap gfx card but I still feel like ubuntu should be running on this hardware.

Also I'm unsure if I need the desktop version in order to RDP/VNC in. Could I just install xrdp and mate on the ubuntu server version?

Answer 1

Note : This is only applicable to Ubuntu version 18.04.2

If you are using the Ubuntu 18.04.2 version, introduction of the new xserver-xorg-core-hwe18.04 package prevent installation of xorgxrdp backend software which is needed to have working remote desktop connection to Linux.

To fix this issue, you can perform one of the following actions

1. Downgrade to previous xserver-xorg-core packages
2. use unofficial xrdp packages including support for newer xserver-xorg-core-hwe18.04 package

To downgrade to previous package, you simply need to execute the following commands

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-core
sudo apt-get -y install xserver-xorg-input-all

Then perform the xrdp installation process

To use the unofficial packages, you can have a look at this post which provide the location for the ppa where packages are stored

Finally, note that new version of the scripts are available and include the fix as well. All information about this issue and updated version of the script can be checked on these locations

• Latest version of the script with fix http://c-nergy.be/blog/?p=13487

• Issue Description http://c-nergy.be/blog/?p=13390

• Unofficial Package xrdp for U18.04.2 http://c-nergy.be/blog/?p=13455

  Hope this help See ya