Fix xrdp Black Screen on Ubuntu 24.04: Session Startup
TL;DR: Install XFCE, set ~/.xsession to start it, then terminate only the affected xrdp session and reconnect. The problem After an RDP login to Ubuntu 24.04, the connection succeeds but the screen stays black instead of showing a desktop. Authentication has worked; the black screen does not mean that the user has been logged out. The useful next step is to trace what the session tries to start,…
After logging into Ubuntu 24.04 via RDP, users may encounter a black screen instead of a functional desktop. This issue arises when the session startup file, ~/.xsession, is set to execute an infinite sleep process rather than launch a graphical desktop environment. To resolve this problem, focus on correcting the startup configuration without altering unrelated sessions.
The solution involves installing the XFCE desktop environment, updating the session startup file to launch XFCE, and terminating the specific xrdp session that is misbehaving. By following these steps, the next RDP connection should provide a working XFCE desktop environment.
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