Log in remotely to your device

You can log in to your user account from another device by using a remote desktop connection application. Configure Remote Login to access your device and set the security preferences.

If you want to let others to view or control your desktop, see Desktop Sharing.

  1. Open the Activities overview and start typing System.

  2. Select Settings ▸ System from the results. This will open the System panel.

  3. Select Remote Desktop ▸ Remote Login.

  4. Click Unlock and authenticate to change the settings.

  5. To be able to login to your user account remotely, switch on Remote Login.

Connecting

The How to Connect section displays the Hostname and Port that can be used on the connecting device. Click the button next to each entry if you want to place it in the clipboard. A connection can also be established using your IP address.

If Remote Login is switched on, it sets its port number to 3389. If you also use Desktop Sharing, it will use a different port, for example, 3390.

Authentication

The Login Details section displays the user name and password you will need to enter in the client software used for connecting to your user account.

Click Verify Encryption to display the encryption fingerprint. Compare it with the value displayed by the client when connecting: they should be identical.

Clients

To connect to your desktop from another device, the following clients are known to work.

From Linux:

  • Remmina, a GTK client, is available as a package in most distributions, and also as a flatpak. Use default settings, particularly Color depth “Automatic” in the connection profile settings.

  • Connections, a GTK client, is available as a package in most distributions, and also as a flatpak.

  • xfreerdp is a command line client available as a package in most distributions. The option /network:auto should be passed to the client on the command line.

From Microsoft Windows:

  • mstsc is the built-in Windows client. Default settings are recommended.

From Linux, Windows, or macOS:

  • Thincast is a proprietary client. The Linux version is available as a flatpak. Default settings are recommended.

Checking connection

To check that the connection works, follow the steps below.

  1. In your chosen client, enter the Hostname or IP address.

  2. Fill in the user name and password for Remote Login.