Loaded masked reason Unit Chrome remote desktop service is masked

Install and Setup Chrome Remote Desktop on Ubuntu 20.04

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In this guide, we are going to learn how to install and setup Chrome Remote Desktop on Ubuntu 20.04. Google Chrome Remote Desktop allows users to remotely access and control another computer over the Internet through aprotocol called Chromoting on Google Chrome browsers.

Setting up Chrome Remote Desktop on Ubuntu¶

Note

I have been informed of two other solutions. Most recently, this comment appears to describe a better process more directly supported by Google. In the past I was also pointed to this askubuntu question which appears to have a better (shorter, headless) solution than what I describe here. I have not personally tested either of these, but I recommend starting there.

This was written in September of 2015. Not sure whether it still applies.

The upstream documentation is a little bit scattered, not always entirely complete, and the Ubuntu package provided needs some poking to work. Hence this summary.

The two main sources of information I found are:

• An old product forum post: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/8PMxG69VJ6o

• This documentation (under “Enable remote access to your computer”): https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1649523?hl=en

Prerequisites

• A Ubuntu 20.04 machine with a recommended minimum of 2GB RAM
• A non-root sudo user. Being logged in as root isn’t recommended because you can risk harming your system if you’re not careful.

Step 1 – Install Chrome Remote Desktop on Ubuntu 20.04

1. Update the package index and install wgetsudo apt update sudo apt-get install -y wget
2. Download the Debian Linux Chrome Remote Desktop installation packagesudo wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/chrome-remote-desktop_current_amd64.deb
3. Install the package you just downloaded and its dependenciessudo dpkg --install chrome-remote-desktop_current_amd64.deb sudo apt install -y --fix-broken

Step 2 – Install an X Windows System Desktop Environment

You need to install an X Windows System desktop environment and window manager to be able to use Chrome Remote Desktop.

Some of the most popular ones include:

• XFCE
• Cinnamon
• LXDE
• LXQt
• GNOME
• MATE Desktop
• KDE Plasma 5

Important Note

Chrome Remote Desktop does not support 3D graphics acceleration. If you choose a desktop environment that uses 3D graphics acceleration, then you need to disable it, otherwise the remote desktop service won’t start.

For this example we’ll install XFCE.

1. In your SSH session install XFCE by running the following command:sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt install -y xfce4 desktop-base
2. Configure Chrome Remote Desktop to use XFCE by default:The DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive parameter suppresses a prompt that would have asked you to configure the keyboard layout.sudo bash -c 'echo "exec /etc/X11/Xsession /usr/bin/xfce4-session" > /etc/chrome-remote-desktop-session'
3. XFCE’s default screen locker, called Light Locker, doesn’t work well with Chrome Remote Desktop. The screen goes blank and can’t be unlocked. We’ll install XScreenSaver as an alternative:sudo apt install -y xscreensaver
4. (Optional) So far we installed the minimal installation of XFCE. If you’d like to install the full suite of software that comes with XFCE desktop run the following:sudo apt install -y task-xfce-desktop

Switching Desktop Environments for Chrome Remote Desktop

If you’d like to install multiple desktop environments and switch between them, then you can check this very short write-up on switching the desktop environment from the command line for Chrome Remote Desktop.

How to Install Chrome Remote Desktop on Ubuntu 18.04

With Ubuntu 18.04 recently released, I wanted to install Chrome Remote Desktop on it to remotely access my desktop. Over the years, I keep trying to install Chrome Remote Desktop but end up dredging up a hodge-podge of articles and forum posts that sometimes lead to dead ends. So I decided to try to nail down a concrete set of working steps for myself once and for all.