Accessing Ubuntu server using XDMCP Clients

Disadvantage of VNC Server

VNC Server will just replicate the session which is already active on the server to be accessed remotely. But if say , you've logged out of the server , then you cannot use VNC server to start a new session. For that you can use any XDMCP clients like XManager or XMing. I will demonstrate here how to use XMing in Windows Vista to start a new remote sessions with Ubuntu Server.

Settings to be done in Ubuntu Server:

You must enable XDMCP server on Ubuntu. For that go to /etc/gdm folder and edit custom.conf file present there. If not present, Create a new custom.conf file. In this add as follows:

[daemon]
RemoteGreeter=/usr/lib/gdm/gdmlogin

[xdmcp]
Enable=true
DisplaysPerHost=2

Now restart your GDM using sudo service gdm restart or get a full restart of the server.

Settings to be done on the windows machine

Get XMing from http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming/ Install XMing using the set up file. Now use XLaunch from the installation directory. Do as follows:

That's it , Now you can open new sessions to the Server.