How to Install XRDP on CentOS 7

What XRDP is and How to Install XRDP on CentOS 7

For the uninitiated, RDP stands for Remote Desktop Protocol. And just like the expanded form suggests, it’s a protocol for a machine to accept remote desktop connections from other machines. XRDP is a server for CentOS 7 that implements this protocol and allows you to use different types of software to connect with your CentOS 7 server.

Before we move on, though, let us answer a natural question: why do XRDP when we have SSH sessions? A very good question, except that SSH vs. RDP is not really a debate. While SSH is based on a text-driven environment, RDP is concerned with fully graphical (GUI-based) control of your CentOS 7 machine. That means you can launch programs, send email, even play games, just as if you were sitting right in front of your machine.

Installing XRDP on CentOS 7

The first step is to install the EPEL repository so that its packages can be included into your system packages:

# wget http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/e/epel-release-7-5.noarch.rpm

# rpm -ivh epel-release-7-5.noarch.rpm

Then you need to update the yum package manager:

# yum update

The next step is to actually install XRDP. You’ll also need the tigervnc-server package:

# yum -y install xrdp tigervnc-server

Once done, you need to start the XRDP service and set it up to auto-launch when the system starts:

# systemctl start xrdp.service

# systemctl enable xrdp.service

Finally, if you’re using a firewall, you’ll need to add an exception for the port 3389, which is what XRDP uses:

# firewall-cmd –permanent –zone=public –add-port=3389/tcp

# firewall-cmd –reload

And with that, you have XRDP up and running on your CentOS 7 machine.