How can I setup xRDP on Zorin OS 17 and keep the custom Zorin UI?

Question

I'm new to Zorin, but not to Windows or Linux Distros. I use RDP for personal networks and for work.

I've been wanting a Linux Distro that is Windows-like, can run windows programs, and has a similar look and feel. I was excited when I got Zorin OS.

My current setup is to test out Zorin in Hyper-V. But I wasn't getting the full screen. I wasn't getting good copy and paste between the Hyper-V connection and the Zorin VM.

That all lead me to look at xrdp.

I got it working without too much fuss with a bash script from GitHub: option 1 option 2

Then I got the ugly default gnome UI, not the Zorin custom UI I came for.

Any one have ideas about altering the scripts I found to get the some Zorin UI in xRDP?

Answer 1

By trial and error I figured out a solution that works for me. It took about 3 reinstalls of ZorinOS before I finally just set some Checkpoints (MS speak for snapshots) to revert to so I could iterate though the install script for xrdp.

End result I got it working in all its glory, but it wasn't easy. I hope my script can help someone else out and save a lot of headache trying out Zorin OS as their daily driver/windows replacement.

I did build out an uninstall script that will remove everything that was added by the installer.

For my system, a clean install, this is completely safe. HOWEVER, please review the 'rm' commands to see if it is also safe for your system before running it.

GitHub gists:

install-xrdp.sh

uninstall-xrdp.sh

I think the only thing left to do is replace the default ui for the xrdp log in to something nicer.

Attributions for sources are in the top of the install script.