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XRDP vs VNC: The Battle of Remote Desktop Protocols

Explore the key differences and decide which is best for your remote access needs.

Remote Control Showdown: Which Desktop Hero Will You Choose?

This page dives into the technical face-off between XRDP and VNC, two of the leading remote desktop protocols. Discover their strengths, weaknesses, and ideal use cases to determine which protocol reigns supreme for your remote access requirements.

  • 1

    VNC

    Use tigervnc-common, vncserver, x11vnc, TightVNC. They worked well but when I wanted to use Plasma it gave me problems, the only one that worked well was x11vnc.
    • Code Example with Copy Functionality 



    # Iniciar Xvfb
Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1920x1080x24 &

# Esperar un momento para asegurarse de que Xvfb se inicie correctamente
sleep 2

# Configurar la variable de entorno DISPLAY
export DISPLAY=:1

# Iniciar KDE Plasma
startplasma-x11 &

# Esperar un momento para asegurarse de que KDE Plasma se inicie correctamente
sleep 2

# Iniciar x11vnc
x11vnc -forever -usepw -display :1
#x11vnc -forever -usepw -display :1 -add_keysyms -repeat -xkb
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  • 2

    It worked well but it's a little slow, the Win and Alt keys don't work well. So the other option was xrdp.

    Code Example with Copy Functionality 



    
# Crear el archivo .xsession en el directorio de inicio del usuario actual
echo "startplasma-x11" > ~/.xsession

# Hacer una copia de seguridad del archivo startwm.sh original
sudo cp /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh.bk

# Eliminar el archivo startwm.sh original
sudo rm /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh

# Crear un nuevo archivo startwm.sh con el contenido proporcionado
sudo bash -c 'cat << EOF > /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh
#!/bin/sh
# xrdp X session start script

if test -r /etc/profile; then
    . /etc/profile
fi

if test -r ~/.profile; then
    . ~/.profile
fi

# Clean up previously set DBUS session address
unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
unset XDG_RUNTIME_DIR

# Start KDE Plasma session
exec startplasma-x11
EOF'

# Hacer que el nuevo archivo startwm.sh sea ejecutable
sudo chmod +x /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh

# Reiniciar el servicio xrdp
sudo systemctl restart xrdp
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  • The one that worked best was XRDP, so that is what I am using for the new server that I will install in CDMX.

    Microsoft Remote Desktop.app

  • 4

    And thanks to the multi-site connection I feel at home, just add some rules to the firewall and that's it. local access from my network, it also has a VPN with changeable IP.

    My sites

  • 5

    I have access to my HTB machine, quickly and easily from anywhere, thanks to my VPN to access my network-networks.

    Kali for HackTheBox