I have an old pc on which I run jellyfin and some other stuff. It’s only connected through lan. I used to use window’s remotedesktop to connect to it, but that stopped working.
Now I’m looking for a good remote desktop. Because it s tucked away in a corner, fysical acces to it is cumbersome.
My server runs mint with xfce. My laptop runs windows 11, because of work reasons.
I’m inclined to use something like anydesk, but I’m unsure how to trust that company.
Edit: I got rustdesk up and running and it’s a good solution for my usecase. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.
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I’ve had good experiences with Rustdesk. The client is open-source and the no-cost server components (ID and Relay servers) are self-hostable. The remote server works on X11 and Windows. I use this script to run XFCE+Rustdesk in a headless session:
export SERVERNUM=69 export SCREEN_SIZE='-screen 0 2560x1440x24' export DISPLAY=":${SERVERNUM}" export XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11 xvfb-run --server-num="${SERVERNUM}" --server-args "${SCREEN_SIZE}" startxfce4 & disown sleep 1 flatpak run com.rustdesk.RustDesk & disownSunshine + Moonlight is also a good choice. I have Sunshine installed on a box at home and use Tailscale to connect to it from the Moonlight client. At 1440p 60 FPS it has no visible compression artifacts and responsive enough for gaming.
I’d figure out why RDP stopped working. Sounds like something changed.
Anything else could be stymied by the same things that blocked RDP - firewall change, etc.
I’ve used other tools since before RDP even existed as Citrix Remote Desktop in the 90’s… Frankly for LAN only there’s little reason to consider anything else with Windows boxes unless you want remote management features like services, shares, etc. Even then I often just use RDP because it just works.
Edit: ah, I had it backwards, your server is Linux and your laptop is Windows.
I’d use VNC, or just ssh for most stuff.
Sunshine and Moonlight.
It is made for gaming, but can be used for remote desktop. I use it when my laptop cannot handle a Blender scene and I want to use my desktop. It also works good with Headscale (or Tailscale if you use that). You can enable end to end encryption too.
If you want a direct replacement for Anydesk, check out Rustdesk. It is FOSS, but does not have good reputation.
Fwiw I use a fork called Apollo because it enables a headless setup
Sadly Windows-only last time I checked
Where does rustdesk not have a good reputation? I see it being recommended regularly and also use it myself heavily. Never had issues or heard about issues (that I would attribute to reputation).
Something something something China bad. It’s a bit overblown, but there was some drama about the dev earlier in its lifespan. I think something to do with not all of its code being open source? Like the official servers were running a closed version or something. I’m definitely butchering the information. It’s good software and works as intended.
I personally use Sunshine and Moonlight, but not because I have any particular problem with RustDesk, just couldn’t get it working well, and Sunshine also works for in house game streaming if I want.
Ah ok, thanks for the clarification. In the end I also use Sunshine for game streaming, but for pure remote desktop access RustDesk is far nicer, since I can also quickly move files back and forth. RDP is even nicer in that regard, where I can remote-mount local devices.
I guess another vote for RustDesk. I use it to administer several personal computers that my friends have. They are old heads like me, but unlike me, their tech savvy is lacking. So if they have an issue, I can pop in and help in any way I can. I was using Remote Desktop Assistant for a while, but kept hearing about RustDesk so I gave it a go.
Oh my god, you’re brilliant! I can have my parents install the rustdesk client on their pc! This is a life changer!
Um…I would not classify myself as brilliant, but yea…it works.
Sunshine and moonlight. Or just ssh if it’s for administrative tasks.
Install Tailscale on all devices.
Then ssh into whatever you need.
If you need desktop remote access the Windows RDP should work for Windows to Windows machines.
For Linux host to Windows client I’ve had good experiences with Remmina Desktop.
Tailscale is american. There are European alternatives like netbird.io or self hosted headscale.
That’s misinformation. Tailscale is Canadian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailscale
My bad, sorry Canadians!
I just read a thread on hackernews where a bunch of Europeans where switching to netbird because of migration away from US tech, so I guess that was a mistake on their part.
The Hackernews company gets shit on a lot by Lemmy and Reddit. From my understanding, they have a lot of bad people who run the company.
I would just use Lemmy and Reddit instead.
Last I checked Tailscale is Canadian actually….but maybe they got bought out somewhere??
Didn’t know that, I always read it was American.
Sorry Canadians - my apologies.
I hate having to continuously point this out, but DO NOT DO THIS unless you have a deeper understanding of networking.
“Just installing Tailscale” without proper configuration of the default routes is going to cause all kinds of routing inefficiencies and loopbacks in your internal network that is absolutely unnecessary, especially for what OP asking for.
This is just bad advice.
as someone considering going down this path, can you give some things to look up or watch out for?
Well, firstly, it’s not what Tailscale is meant for. I’m getting downvoted by the people using the wrong tool for the wrong job.
You don’t install a VPN on all your local machines just to talk to each other. That’s insane. You especially don’t install one that, while misconfigured, is sending all of its traffic OUTSIDE of your local network, then back in. This is what Tailscale on a number of local machines will do by default.
The way Tailscale works is by installing a Wireguard client on a machine. It then checks in with their DERP servers to figure out it’s network situation (behind NAT, peers in the network, routing tables…etc). So when you have more than one client on the Tailscale network, it automagically assumes some things, the first being that these two machines dont have a more direct route to talk to each other.
So then it will attempt to bridge a path between the DERP server each client is checked into, and pass traffic that way. Which means you then have two machines on the same local network sending traffic OUTSIDE of that network, then back in to complete a VPN network.
This is stupid.
You setup multiple different networks and use exit nodes to bridge two networks together with Tailscale. That’s the entire point. This means setting up routes to let the orchestration layer know that a set of certain machines exist in the same network, and shouldn’t use Tailscale to communicate with each other. Then it will only be using routes for REMOTE networks, where other clients exist, to pass traffic over the Tailscale network.
May I ask what you were planning on doing with Tailscale? I can point you in the right direction.
using it to talk to machines when I’m not on the local network!
Are people really installing it for just local networked machines?
I initially misread your question as “What good is remote desktop software?” and I thought, "look at this person, humble bragging that they are fit enough to occasionally walk across the room.
I guess now I need to go exercise.
I use freerdp. it’s simple, works well, just use it via the terminal. I have it alias’d so I don’t even have to think about it.
ssh
Also
ssh -Xis nice.Will that still be supported with Wayland?
Good question.
Seems like
waypipeis needed for Wayland. https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/9/html/getting_started_with_the_gnome_desktop_environment/remotely-accessing-an-individual-application-wayland_getting-started-with-the-gnome-desktop-environment
Nomachine with local & Wireguard access only.
I think Anydesk can be trusted as much as any company. They did notify users when a breach occurred a couple of years ago. By contrast Teamviewer was hacked and blamed their customer’s “password reuse” for years before finally admitted they had a breach. The company cannot be trusted.
I use Anydesk occasionally to help friends but never leave it running if it’s not actively in use.
You sure you can’t do what you need from bash/ssh?
If you only need ssh, anything can be terminal as everything has a ssh client.
vnc? TightVNC is open source i think.
Also, you could ssh to it instead of remote desktop. just a thought :)
At work we use Meshcentral. It requires you to host your own server, but it’s very powerful, and very reliable. We’re managing something like 400 remote systems with it currently. We also use Netbird as a secondary access layer (I prefer it to Tailscale for the simplicity of setting up ACLs, and the really easy deployment).
For most home server usage though, I wouldn’t bother with Meshcentral. It’s a lot of overhead if you’re only managing a couple of systems. If you really need remote desktop (why do your servers even have desktops?) use RustDesk instead.
Another vote for Rustdesk
I use it mostly for family tech support where MY PC is running Linux and THEY are on Windows though it works great in both directions
Nomachine
