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February 25, 2026

🚀 Full Ubuntu Desktop in Browser on AWS Ubuntu 24.04 with Guacamole

Have you ever wanted a full desktop experience on your cloud server, accessible entirely via your browser? Today, I’ll show you how to set…

Arjun Dandagi

4 min read

Have you ever wanted a full desktop experience on your cloud server, accessible entirely via your browser? Today, I'll show you how to set up a full Ubuntu 24.04 desktop, run it with XRDP, and expose it via Apache Guacamole — all inside Docker containers. This allows browser-based, clientless remote desktop access.

Step 1: Launch an Ubuntu 24.04 Server on AWS

  • Create a t3.medium instance (2 vCPUs, 4GB RAM recommended) for smooth desktop performance.
  • Open ports 22 (SSH) and 8080 (HTTP) in your security group.

Step 2: Update System and Install Docker

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.sources <<EOF
Types: deb
URIs: https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu
Suites: $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}")
Components: stable
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
EOF

sudo apt update

sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin -y
sudo systemctl start docker
  • docker.io installs Docker engine.
  • docker-compose allows us to orchestrate multiple containers.

Step 3: Install Full Ubuntu Desktop

Inside your server:

sudo apt install -y ubuntu-desktop gnome-session gdm3
sudo apt install -y dbus-x11 gnome-shell gnome-session ubuntu-session   libcanberra-gtk-module libcanberra-gtk3-module
  • Installs the full GNOME desktop environment.
  • Required for XRDP to provide a proper GUI session.

Note: GNOME is heavy; for lighter and faster browser RDP, you can replace with ubuntu-mate-desktop or cinnamon-desktop-environment.

Step 4: Install XRDP

sudo apt install -y xrdp
sudo systemctl enable xrdp
sudo systemctl start xrdp
sudo adduser xrdp ssl-cert
  • xrdp allows RDP connections to your desktop session.
  • ssl-cert group ensures proper permissions.

Disable Wayland (required for XRDP):

sudo sed -i 's/#WaylandEnable=false/WaylandEnable=false/' /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
sudo systemctl restart gdm3

Step 5: Create a Docker-based Guacamole Stack

Create a directory for your Docker setup:

mkdir ~/guac && cd ~/guac

Create a docker-compose.yml:

version: '3'
services:
  guacd:
    image: guacamole/guacd:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
  guacamole:
    image: guacamole/guacamole:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    environment:
      GUACD_HOSTNAME: guacd
      GUACAMOLE_HOME: /etc/guacamole
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/guacamole
    depends_on:
      - guacd

Step 6: Configure Guacamole User

Create configuration directory:

mkdir -p config
vi config/user-mapping.xml

Paste the following (replace with your Linux username/password):

<user-mapping>
    <authorize username="guacadmin" password="guacadmin">
        <connection name="Ubuntu Desktop">
            <protocol>rdp</protocol>
            <param name="hostname">172.17.0.1</param>
            <param name="port">3389</param>
            <param name="username">YOUR_LINUX_USERNAME</param>
            <param name="password">YOUR_LINUX_PASSWORD</param>
        </connection>
    </authorize>
</user-mapping>
  • guacadmin / guacadmin is web login.
  • YOUR_LINUX_USERNAME/PASSWORD are your Ubuntu credentials for XRDP.
  • Since AWS ubuntu ssh is based on pem , you might have to create a password for this user , sudo passwd ubuntu is the trick to do that 😉

Step 7: Start Guacamole Stack

docker compose up -d

Step 8: Connect from Browser

  1. Open http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8080/guacamole
  2. Login with:
Username: guacadmin
Password: guacadmin

Click the "Ubuntu Desktop" connection → full Ubuntu desktop loads in your browser.

✅ Single-Shot Script for a Fresh Ubuntu 24.04 Server

Copy-paste this on a bare Ubuntu 24.04 server:

#download the script and run it OR see the entire script in next code block and adjust it
wget https://gist.githubusercontent.com/ArjunDandagi/d48cff36a062e18201f37fa90d9bdad7/raw/a12365d23205dd4958eb1122a2c19750594b345d/ubuntu-desktop.sh
bash ubuntu-desktop.sh

#!/bin/bash
# set up locale with US so installation goes without user input
export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
sudo apt install -y locales
sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8
sudo update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8
echo 'locales locales/default_environment_locale select en_US.UTF-8' | sudo debconf-set-selections
echo 'locales locales/locales_to_be_generated multiselect en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8' | sudo debconf-set-selections
echo 'keyboard-configuration keyboard-configuration/layoutcode string us' | sudo debconf-set-selections
echo 'keyboard-configuration keyboard-configuration/modelcode string pc105' | sudo debconf-set-selections
echo 'keyboard-configuration keyboard-configuration/variantcode string' | sudo debconf-set-selections
sudo apt install -y keyboard-configuration
echo "gdm3 shared/default-x-display-manager select gdm3" | sudo debconf-set-selections

# Full Desktop + XRDP + Guacamole on Ubuntu 24.04
set -e
# Update
sudo apt update -y && sudo apt upgrade -y
# Install desktop and XRDP
sudo apt install -y ubuntu-desktop gnome-session gdm3 xrdp
sudo apt install -y dbus-x11 gnome-shell gnome-session ubuntu-session   libcanberra-gtk-module libcanberra-gtk3-module
sudo apt install -y pipewire-module-xrdp

sudo systemctl enable xrdp
sudo systemctl start xrdp
sudo adduser xrdp ssl-cert
# Disable Wayland for XRDP
sudo sed -i 's/#WaylandEnable=false/WaylandEnable=false/' /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
# Fix GNOME session for XRDP (prevents silent window manager crash)

sudo tee /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh > /dev/null << 'STARTWM'
#!/bin/sh
if test -r /etc/profile; then
  . /etc/profile
fi
if test -r ~/.profile; then
  . ~/.profile
fi

export GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=ubuntu
export XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11
export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME
export XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=ubuntu
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/$(id -u)
mkdir -p "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR"
chmod 700 "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR"

# Start D-Bus first (without exec, so the script continues)
eval $(dbus-launch --sh-syntax)
export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS

# Now D-Bus is up — start PipeWire stack
systemctl --user start pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber 2>/dev/null
sleep 1

# Launch the desktop session
exec gnome-session
STARTWM
sudo chmod 755 /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh

# Set XRDP security layer to RDP
sudo sed -i 's/security_layer=negotiate/security_layer=rdp/' /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini

# Disable Wayland in GDM3 config (kept for reference) then disable GDM3
# GDM3 conflicts with xrdp on Ubuntu 24.04 - holds DBus/XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
sudo systemctl disable gdm3
sudo systemctl stop gdm3

sudo systemctl restart xrdp xrdp-sesman

# Install Docker
# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.sources <<EOF
Types: deb
URIs: https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu
Suites: $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}")
Components: stable
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
EOF

sudo apt update

sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin -y
sudo systemctl start docker

# Create Guacamole folder
mkdir -p ~/guac/config && cd ~/guac
# Create user-mapping.xml
cat <<EOF > ./config/user-mapping.xml
<user-mapping>
    <authorize username="guacadmin" password="guacadmin">
        <connection name="Ubuntu Desktop">
            <protocol>rdp</protocol>
            <param name="security">rdp</param>
            <param name="hostname">172.17.0.1</param>
            <param name="port">3389</param>
            <param name="username">YOUR_LINUX_USERNAME</param>
            <param name="password">YOUR_LINUX_PASSWORD</param>
        </connection>
    </authorize>
</user-mapping>
EOF
# Create docker-compose.yml
cat <<EOF > docker-compose.yml
version: '3'
services:
  guacd:
    image: guacamole/guacd:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
  guacamole:
    image: guacamole/guacamole:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    environment:
      GUACD_HOSTNAME: guacd
      GUACAMOLE_HOME: /etc/guacamole
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/guacamole
    depends_on:
      - guacd
EOF

# install brave browser? :)
curl -fsS https://dl.brave.com/install.sh | sh

# Start Guacamole stack
sudo docker compose up -d
echo "Setup complete! Visit http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8080/guacamole"
echo "Login with guacadmin / guacadmin"

Replace YOUR_LINUX_USERNAME and YOUR_LINUX_PASSWORD before running.

✅ Conclusion

You now have:

  • Full Ubuntu 24.04 Desktop in the cloud
  • XRDP server for remote desktop
  • Guacamole web gateway for browser-based access
  • Single script to spin up everything from scratch

This is perfect for labs, demos, or cloud-based GUI access without installing a local RDP client.

Cheers!!