You’re in one room, sitting at a PC; the information you desire remains in another, on a computer system running Ubuntu. If both computer systems remain in the very same home, no problem; however what if they’re in various workplaces? It might be a little bit of a walk!

The response, for that reason, is establishing a remote desktop connection. Find out how to establish a remote desktop from Windows to Ubuntu.

Prepare Windows RDP to Ubuntu Connections

Remote gain access to options are basic to establish and handle throughout the very same network. Nevertheless, if you’re working from house, this immediately makes complex things.

To utilize VNC and RDP with a PC on a various network, you’ll require to make it possible for access to the remote computer system through its router. You can do so by utilizing “port forwarding.” Nevertheless, you’ll require the IP address prior to you set this up.

Find Your Ubuntu PC’s IP Address

Before you can establish remote access to your Ubuntu device from Windows over RDP or VNC, you’ll need the IP address.

The first way is the easiest. Physically go to the Ubuntu machine, press Ctrl + Alt + T to open the Terminal, and input the command: ipconfig

Look for the “inet addr” against the connection you’re currently using. For instance, if you’re on Wi-Fi, look for wlan0. If the computer is connected to the network via Ethernet, look for eth0.

Another way to find the IP address is to find the network connection icon in the panel, right-click, and select Connection Information. You’ll find the IP address listed here.

Is neither of these options open? You can also connect to your router directly via your computer’s browser.

Once signed into the router’s admin console, you’ll be able to see which devices are connected. Just look for your Ubuntu device name, find the IP address, and make a note of it for later.

Enable Port Forwarding

To access a computer on another network (e.g., your work network), you need to enable port forwarding on the router where your Ubuntu PC is located.

Start by establishing the IP address of the router. You can use the ip r command for this, with grep to specify the default: ip r | grep default

Set Up Access Using SSH

To save time, you might want to install PuTTY on your PC . It enables you to set up an SSH connection, which gives remote access to the Ubuntu command line.

To be clear: this isn’t a remote desktop option; there is no mouse control. But it is helpful to install the tools you’ll be using remotely. SSH is often disabled by default, however, so if it is not installed, you’ll need to fix it.

In short, it depends on which Ubuntu version you’re using and whether you’ve used SSH previously.

Once installed via the terminal (sudo apt install openssh-server), you’ll be able to make a remote connection into the Ubuntu desktop. Simply enter the IP address and the Ubuntu username and password. You can then use the terminal to install the tools you need for RDP and VNC.

Connect to Ubuntu From Windows With VNC

Another option with full remote desktop functionality is VNC (Virtual Network Computing). It requires a client application on the Windows PC and a server on Ubuntu.

On the remote PC, install the TightVNC Server component after checking for updates: sudo apt update

Then install the server utility: sudo apt install tightvncserver

You’ll then need to run it: sudo tightvncserver

At this point, you’ll be prompted to set a password for the connection. Make a note of the desktop number, usually :1.

Now that TightVNC Server is set up on Ubuntu, you’ll need to install the client on Windows. You can download it from the official website—make sure you choose the correct version, as it is available in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors.

TightVNC tools are only available as a bundle, so once installed, look for TightVNC Viewer in Windows search.

Once you’ve launched the viewer, input the IP address of the Ubuntu box in Remote Host, followed by the desktop number. So, it might look like this: 192.168.0.99:1