xrdp is an Open Source Remote desktop Protocol server, which allows you to RDP to your Linux server from Windows machine; it is capable of accepting connections from  rdesktop, freerdp, and remote desktop clients. This how to will help you to setup xrdp server on CentOS 7 / RHEL 7.

Prerequisites:

1. This was written when xrdp is available neither on CentOS repositories nor on EPEL repository, after a lot of Google search; i found desktop repository (http://li.nux.ro/) which was having xrdp for CentOS 7 / RHEL 7. We need to manually setup the repository on CentOS 7.

2. Don’t forget to install Gnome on CentOS 7

Automatic (recommended):

Install EPEL and nux Desktop repository rpms.

# rpm -Uvh https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/e/epel-release-7-5.noarch.rpm

rpm -Uvh http://li.nux.ro/download/nux/dextop/el7/x86_64/nux-dextop-release-0-1.el7.nux.noarch.rpm

Manual:

Create a repository file.

# vi /etc/yum.repos.d/xrdp.repo

Place the following content. Once added, save and close the file.

[xrdp]
name=xrdp
baseurl=http://li.nux.ro/download/nux/dextop/el7/x86_64/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

Installation:

Issue the  following command to install xrdp

# yum -y install xrdp tigervnc-server

You will get the following output, make sure you are getting package from the newly created repository.

--> Running transaction check
---> Package xrdp.x86_64 0:0.6.1-2.el7.nux will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
 
Dependencies Resolved

 

Package        Arch             Version                   Repository      Size

Installing:
xrdp           x86_64           0.6.1-2.el7.nux           xrdp           271 k
 

Transaction Summary

Install  1 Package
 
Total download size: 271 k
Installed size: 1.5 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
xrdp-0.6.1-2.el7.nux.x86_64.rpm                            | 271 kB   00:05
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction
Installing : xrdp-0.6.1-2.el7.nux.x86_64                                  1/1
Verifying  : xrdp-0.6.1-2.el7.nux.x86_64                                  1/1
 
Installed:
xrdp.x86_64 0:0.6.1-2.el7.nux

Once it is installed, lets start the xrdp service.

# systemctl start xrdp.service

xrdp will listen on 3389, lets confirm this by issuing following command.

# netstat -antup | grep xrdp
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:3389            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1508/xrdp
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:3350          0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1507/xrdp-sesman

By default, services wont auto start after system reboot. Issue the following command to enable the service at system start up.

# systemctl enable xrdp.service

Next is to create iptables rule to allow rdp connection from the external machines, following command will add the exception for rdp port (3389).

# firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=3389/tcp

firewall-cmd --reload

Configure SELinux

# chcon --type=bin_t /usr/sbin/xrdp

chcon --type=bin_t /usr/sbin/xrdp-sesman

Test:

Now take rdp from any windows machine using Remote Desktop Connection, enter ip address of Linux server in computer field and click on  connect.

CentOS 7 – xrdp MSTSC

You would be asked to enter the user name and password, you can either use root or any user that you have it on system. Make sure you use module “sesman-Xvnc”.

CentOS 7 – xrdp Login page

If you click ok, you will see the processing. In less than a half min, you will get a desktop.

CentOS 7 – xrdp Desktop

That’s All, you have successfully configured xRDP on CentOS 7 / RHEL 7. We welcome your comments.