Remote Desktop

There are two ways to control the desktop of the Raspberry Pi remotely:

VNC and XRDP, you can use any of them.

VNC

You can use the function of remote desktop through VNC.

Enable VNC service

The VNC service has been installed in the system. By default, VNC is disabled. You need to enable it in config.

Step 1

Input the following command:

sudo raspi-config
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Step 2

Choose 3 Interfacing Options by press the down arrow key on your keyboard, then press the Enter key.

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Step 3

P3 VNC

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Step 4

Select Yes -> OK -> Finish to exit the configuration.

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Login to VNC

Step 1

You need to download and install the VNC Viewer on personal computer. After the installation is done, open it.

Step 2

Then select New connection.

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Step 3

Input <Hostname>.local or <IP address> of Raspberry Pi and any Name.

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Step 4

Double click the connection just created:

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Step 5

Enter Username and Password.

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Step 6

Now you can see the desktop of the Raspberry Pi:

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That’s the end of the VNC part.

XRDP

Another method of remote desktop is XRDP, it provides a graphical login to remote machines using RDP (Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol).

Install XRDP

Step 1

Login to Raspberry Pi by using SSH.

Step 2

Input the following instructions to install XRDP.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xrdp

Step 3

Later, the installation starts.

Enter Y, press key Enter to confirm.

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Step 4

Finished the installation, you should login to your Raspberry Pi by using Windows remote desktop applications.

Login to XRDP

Step 1

If you are a Windows user, you can use the Remote Desktop feature that comes with Windows. If you are a Mac user, you can download and use Microsoft Remote Desktop from the APP Store, and there is not much difference between the two. The next example is Windows remote desktop.

Step 2

Type in mstsc in Run (WIN+R) to open the Remote Desktop Connection, and input the <Hostname>.local or <IP address> of Raspberry Pi, then click on Connect.

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Step 3

Then the xrdp login page pops out. Please type in your username and password. After that, please click OK.

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Step 4

Here, you successfully login to RPi by using the remote desktop.

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