quietearth [General News 08.16.06]



Here's how to enable xdmcp in the terminal server client (tsclient/rdesktop) for Ubuntu (tested under dapper). By default the terminal server client program has xdmcp disabled. To fix this just install xnest:
# apt-get install xnest

Alternatively, if you are looking to enable xdmcp in ubuntu:


1. Go to System -> Administration -> Login window (or run gdmsetup).
2. Under the Remote tab change Style to same as local. The different choices just change what login screen the user sees.
3. You will need to restart GDM which will kill your X session.
# kill -HUP `cat /var/run/gdm.pid`

Or if you prefer to edit the files by hand:

1. Edit /etc/gdm/gdm.conf (make sure there is no overriding settings in gdm.conf-custom)
2. Uncomment RemoteGreeter in the daemon section.
3. Under the xdmcp section, change Enable to true.
4. Do step 3 above to restart gdm.

Unfortunately we cannot use gdmflexiserver to update the gdm process, we must restart gdm.

Jeff Gipson (5 years ago) Reply

Thanks for this consise and well-written brief.

Jeff Foster (4 years ago) Reply

This is great - thank you !

John (4 years ago) Reply

I spent ages looking fir how to do this! Good work.

elvys (4 years ago) Reply

Thanks for sharing this hard to find tip!

Alex (4 years ago) Reply

thanks, its working)

LImesh Parekh (4 years ago) Reply

That is fantastic, no one would think it can be so simple.

nick humphrey (3 years ago) Reply

thanks bro. short and sweet. wicked awesome.

Nathaniel (3 years ago) Reply

excellent. I edited the /etc/gdm/gdm.conf with midnight commander. Changed the gdm.conf under xdmcp as listed above and all I had to do was restart the computer

Joseph.CN (3 years ago) Reply

Thank you very much!
connected to remote X server successful.

ternion (3 years ago) Reply

I've tried this but still can't pull up the desktop using Exceed XDMCP Query. When I put the IP address of the Ubuntu machine into the Exceed XDMCD Query window and hit "OK", the window goes away, then comes right back. This has worked fine on previous versions of Ubuntu, but can't seem to connect to the new Ibex.
Thanks for any help anyone can give!
Ternion

TernionTernion (3 years ago) Reply

Ok, just to update everyone here:
I finally got it working. Had to manually change some settings in the gdm.conf file as follows:
* Uncomment and edit line in the [xdmcp] section to read "Enable=true"
* In System -> Administration -> LoginWindow
-- @ Remote tab
Change style to "Plain face with browser"
-- @ Security tab
Deselect "Deny TCP connections..."

Then rebooted and could finally pull up the Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex desktop from my XP machine using Exceed.
Hopefully this will help someone else with a similar problem.

thanks, Ternion

Matthew (2 years ago) Reply

Thanks, saved my life man.

KDM (2 years ago) Reply

I had this working, then I made the mistake of updating to ubuntu 9.10. Now XDMCP doesn't work and the Login Window (as presented by gdmsetup doesn't HAVE a "Remote" tab! Further, the new version of GDM doesn't seem to use a gdm.conf (I think it's now custom.conf) and by defualt, the entire XDMCP section is absent!

Abdul ghafur (2 years ago) Reply

Its really helpful.. i was searhing this solution for more that 48hrs finally got it.. please keep posting these kind of updates or solutions.. God bless u..:-)

Leave a comment

Your Comment

Related articles