Take control of your Raspberry Pi remotely!
Desktop connection from Windows

March 24, 2024 • 0 • 0

Once the Raspberry Pi has an Internet connection, it's possible to connect to its desktop remotely and wirelessly. "Connecting to the Raspberry desktop remotely" means having the Raspberry desktop screen on your PC, rather than on an HDMI or other connected screen.
Good news, we won't even need to install any software on our PC, Windows already includes it natively! Its name? Remote Desktop Connection. Couldn't be clearer! We'll see in this tutorial how to configure PC and Raspberry Pi to achieve this goal.

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial, you'll need:

• A Raspberry Pi (Sponsored link)

• A Windows computer

Raspberry Configuration

On the Raspberry Pi side, not much to do. Let's start with a simple update:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Then simply install the xrdp and tightvncserver tools.
xrdp is a free and open-source software that allows the Raspberry Pi (or any Linux-based system) to provide a remote desktop experience compatible with Microsoft's RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol).

To do this, simply enter these two commands:

sudo apt install tightvncserver
sudo apt install xrdp

When asked if you're sure you want to install additional packages, enter 'y' and validate with Enter.

To connect to the Raspberry Pi via xdrp, you need to create an additional user account. To do this, enter the following command and follow the prompt:

sudo adduser CHOOSE_A_NAME

Keep the credentials in mind, as you'll need them to connect in a few minutes.

Windows Configuration

Let's start by launching the "Remote Desktop Connection" tool. It's easily found using the Windows search bar.

Once opened, here's what the software should look like:

Simply enter the Raspberry IP address (available by typing hostname -I in a terminal) then click "Connect".
The next window should open. Log in with the username and password created in the previous step, then validate.

Once connected, the Raspberry desktop displays on the screen and is usable like any computer!

It's on this beautiful Raspbian Buster wallpaper that this tutorial ends!
Don't hesitate to use the comment section if you have any questions!