X2Go: An Open Source Remote Desktop Solution For Linux

• Graphical Remote Desktop that works well over both low bandwidth and high bandwidth connections;
• The ability to disconnect and reconnect to a session, even from another client;
• Support for sound;
• Support for as many simultaneous users as the computer’s resources will support;
• Traffic is securely tunneled over SSH;
• File and printer Sharing from client to server;
• Easily select from multiple desktop environments (e.g., MATE, GNOME, KDE);
• Remote support possible via Desktop Sharing;
• The ability to access single applications by specifying the name of the desired executable in the client configuration or selecting one of the pre-defined common applications;
• Server-side list of available applications is displayed on the client, and you can run any number of them from within the same session like Citrix MetaFrame/Presentation Server/XenApp;
• The ability to access a Windows computer that supports RDP via X2Go-proxied RDP;
• X2Go client can also serve as a graphical front-end to a client-side rdesktop/xfreerdp installation;
• A Thin Client Environment is available;
• A Session Broker that supports centralized configuration and load balancing;
• And many.

Install X2Go Server

X2Go server and client installation is much easier compared to other remote desktop applications. X2Go development team has made separate repositories for different operating systems.

The following instructions describes how to install X2Go server on various distributions. As I mentioned before, the X2Go can only be installed in Linux based systems.

On Ubuntu 14.04:

Run the following commands to add X2Go repository and install it in Ubuntu 14.04 or higher versions.

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:x2go/stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install x2goserver x2goserver-xsession

On Ubuntu 12.04:

For Ubuntu 12.04 and previous versions, you can add X2Go repository and install it as shown below.

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:x2go/stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install x2goserver x2goserver-xsession

On Debian 7:

First add X2Go repository. To do that, edit,

sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/x2go.list

Add the following lines:

# X2Go Repository (release builds)
deb http://packages.x2go.org/debian wheezy main
# X2Go Repository (sources of release builds)
deb-src http://packages.x2go.org/debian wheezy main

# X2Go Repository (nightly builds)
#deb http://packages.x2go.org/debian wheezy heuler
# X2Go Repository (sources of nightly builds)
#deb-src http://packages.x2go.org/debian wheezy heuler

Add X2Go GPG key:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keys.gnupg.net E1F958385BFE2B6E

Then, update software repository list and install X2Go server using the following commands:

sudo apt-get install x2goserver x2goserver-xsession

On Fedora 19 and later:

X2Go server and client packages are available in the default repositories of Fedora 19 and later versions. So, install X2Go server using command:

sudo yum install x2goserver

On RHEL 7/Scientific Linux 7/CentOS 7 systems:

Add EPEL repository first.

yum install epel-release

Then, install X2Go server package using command:

yum install fuse-sshfs

yum install x2goserver x2goserver-xsession

On RHEL 6/Scientific Linux 6/CentOS 6 systems:

Similarly, add EPEL repository in CentOS/RHEL/Scientific Linux 6.x systems:

yum install epel-release

Then, install X2Go server package using command:

yum install fuse-sshfs

yum install x2goserver x2goserver-xsession

On openSUSE systems:

Add X2Go repository as shown below. Replace the version number with your own.

zypper ar http://packages.x2go.org/opensuse/<distro-version>/extras x2go-extras
zypper ar http://packages.x2go.org/opensuse/<distro-version>/main x2go-release

Then, install X2Go server using command:

zypper in x2goserver x2goserver-xsession

On SUSE systems:

Add X2Go repository as shown below. Replace the version number with your own.

zypper ar http://packages.x2go.org/sle/<distro-version>/extras x2go-extras
zypper ar http://packages.x2go.org/sle/<distro-version>/main x2go-release

Then, install X2Go server using command:

zypper in x2goserver x2goserver-xsession

su

sudo -i

visudo

net-misc/openssh -hpn

emerge -1 net-misc/openssh
dispatch-conf
/etc/init.d/sshd restart

Note: A local X.Org installation is not required on the X2Go Server

Install X2Go Client

X2Go Client is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and many Linux distributions.

Add X2Go repository as shown above in the X2Go server installation section depending upon the distribution you use.

Then, install X2Go client using command:

On Debian and Ubuntu like systems:

sudo apt-get install x2goclient

On RHEL and CentOS like systems:

yum install x2goclient

On SUSE and openSUSE like systems:

zypper in x2goclient

Usage

From your client systems, launch X2Go client either from Menu or Unity Dash.

Enter the Session name, remote system’s IP address, remote system’s user name, and desktop environments (Ex.LXDE,  KDE etc.).

For example, here I select “Connect to local desktop” session.

Finally, click Ok to continue.

Click on the session name to continue.

Now, enter the remote system’s password and click Ok to continue.

You might the get the following warning message.

Host key verification failed

Host key for server changed.
It is now: 192.168.1.150:22 - 8a:b6:ca:43:fb:fe:e2:53:2f:39:89:31:0b:23:04:0e
This can be an indication of a man-in-the-middle attack.
Somebody might be eavesdropping on you.
For security reasons, it is recommended to stop the connection.
Do you want to terminate the connection?

Just ignore the warning by clicking on the “No” button and continue.

Click Yes to continue.

Select the type of access: Full or view only.

Here, I select “Full access”.

Congratulations! Now, you can access your remote desktop. This is how my Lubuntu 14.10 remote desktop session looks.

Now, you can explore your remote system as the way you do locally. Also, you can create multiple different sessions with different DEs. And, many users can access the same session simultaneously.

Conclusion

X2Go is a perfect tool for thin client environment. While testing this tool, I faced some problems. I can’t access other desktop environments like Unity, KDE, LXDE. But, I hope there must be a work around to solve those issues. Apart from that, other session types, such as Openbox, Terminal, Internet browser are worked well as expected. X2Go has options to select different resolutions for the remote sessions. Also, you can mount local shares to remote sessions if you want. All traffics are forwarded via SSH, so security won’t be big issue while using X2Go.

In case of any problems, X2Go team offers both community and professional support. If you have any problems, post your queries there.

Give it a try. I hope you won’t be disappointed.

Cheers!