Having remote access to your Raspberry Pi or any server remotely is a tremendous aid, whenever you are in the same network or if it is kilometers away. If you need access to a graphical application, then this is the way to go; for example, I use it when I develop a GUI application in Python for testing purposes.
This won't work with headless Raspberry Pi installations. If you want to know more about it, click on this link.
On the following sections, you will learn what to configure in your Raspberry Pi for remote desktop and you will use a a client software that uses Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) on Windows and macOS. If you want to use another software, feel free to experiment.
Table of Contents
On the Raspberry Pi.
You are going to use XDRP, which is a free software for remote access to a host computer. You can read more about it following this link.
Before starting a new setup, be sure to make an update to the repositories in your Raspberry Pi.
sudo apt-get updateInstall XRDP
sudo apt-get install xrdp -y
PRO tip: if you are sure about the program that you are installing, add -y at the end of the installation command (which starts with sudo) to auto-confirm the installation.
To quickly know the IP address of your Raspberry Pi, type on the terminal window:
hostname -I
Restart the Raspberry Pi to apply the changes done.
sudo reboot
If you are curious about why sudo reboot and not just reboot, read this question posted by another user who was indeed as curious as you in this forum post.
Remote Access by Windows
You can use the default Remote Desktop Protocol client (RDP) for this purpose; really, it isn't that complicated and I will show you how.
Configuration
Press the Windows logo to toggle the search bar and type “Remote Desktop Connection”. Enter the IP address of your Raspberry Pi and click in connect. If you click on “More options”, you can toggle “Save user credentials” for future use.
A warning shows up saying “The identity of the remote computer “192.168.100.32” can't be verified“. Ignore this since you are in a ‘perfectly' private home network and you know that your Raspberry Pi is the one you are trying to connect.
Testing
When you are connected, you have enter the credentials of your user and password. If you have reached this far with your Raspberry Pi, I hope your are not using ‘pi' and ‘raspberry' as default user and password anymore.
After you click on OK, the connection should be set already and a new window with your Raspberry Pi desktop. By this point, hurray! You should already be celebrating.
Remote Access by macOS
Go to the Mac App Store and download Microsoft Remote Desktop app. Once downloaded it, click to open it
Configuration
You will be prompted to give permission to your microphone and web camera. If you will use it inside the host computer, then confirm. Now, click on add desktop and fill out the information of your Raspberry Pi. Notice that you can add your user and password ahead of the login.
Now click ‘Save' and execute it.
A warning shows up saying “The identity of the remote computer “192.168.100.32” can't be verified“. Ignore this since you are in a ‘perfectly' private home network and you know that your Raspberry Pi is the one you are trying to connect.
And…
Testing
It works! You have a completely functional remote desktop. You can access it comfortably from your computer. Check out other features like folder sharing and clipboard (located in the ‘edit options' in the Saved Desktop screens.
Remote Access by Linux
With Linux, you can use a RDP client called Vinagre or Remmina. The process is quite similar.
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