Raspberry Remote Desktop: How To

This short guide describes how to enable a Raspberry remote desktop. You may already know that Raspberry Pi is an incredible computer that supports a modified version of Linux. We can use it as a real computer because we can connect a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and so on. Raspberry can be used in IoT projects, too. As you may already know, IoT is a new ecosystem where smart objects (like Raspberry, Arduino, and so on) are connected together to exchange data. If you want to use your Raspberry with a remote server and implement your projects, this guide will help you.

Most of the time, at least in my experience, I don’t want to use a Raspberry Pi connected to a monitor, but I prefer to use it remotely using Raspberry Remote Desktop. In this way, we can connect to the Pi as we do with a remote server and clone its desktop. This is very useful.

As you may already know, there are several remote desktop applications that can be used. For example, there are Microsoft Remote Desktop, VNC, and so on. This guide describes how to install a server that supports RDP so that we can connect using an RDP client.

Raspberry Remote Desktop Server

The first thing to do is turn on your Raspberry and log in using a telnet client (like PuTTY).

sudo apt-get install xrdp

This way, we install an X RDP server that we will use to connect with the RDP protocol. Of course, you need an admin password to install X RDP.

Wait a bit while your Raspberry Pi is installing the server. When it finishes the installation, you are ready.

Connect to Raspberry Remote Desktop Server

If you use a Microsft OS, the remote desktop client is already installed, so you can run it.

If you use a Mac with OS X, you have to install a client. I used the Microsoft Remote Desktop, which you can download from the app store.

Here some screenshots:

Here, you are configuring your connection. For the PC name, you have to use the Raspberry IP. Don’t forget that the username is pi and the password is raspberry.

Once you are ready, connect to the Pi using remote desktop:

Now you can use your Raspberry Pi as if it was connected to your monitor.

Have fun!