How to remote access Linux from a Linux system
Are you trying to figure out how to access your Linux desktop from your Linux laptop? Don’t know the first thing about remote access? We can help! Follow along with this guide as we show you how to access your Linux desktop from your Linux laptop!
Method 1 – Teamviewer
Teamviewer is the number 1 way you can access your Linux desktop from your Linux laptop. Why? Teamviewer is incredibly easy to use software that requires no prior Linux knowledge, and there’s no need to set up a remote access server. Best of all, you can access your Linux desktop from your Linux laptop even if you aren’t on the same network.
To set up access to your Linux desktop from your Linux laptop, you must install the latest Teamviewer for Linux. As of writing this, Teamviewer 15 is the newest version. To install it, open up a terminal window and follow the installation instructions down below.
Please note that the installation of Teamviewer 15 must happen on both the Linux laptop and the Linux desktop. You will not be able to remotely access your desktop from your laptop without having the app set up on both.
Ubuntu/Debian
On Ubuntu and Debian, you can install Teamviewer by downloading and setting up the latest Teamviewer 15 DEB package.
wget https://download.teamviewer.com/download/linux/teamviewer_amd64.deb sudo apt install ./teamviewer_amd64.deb
Arch Linux
On Arch Linux, you can get Teamviewer 15 via the AUR.
sudo pacman -S git base-devel git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git cd trizen makepkg -sri trizen -S teamviewer sudo systemctl enable teamviewerd sudo systemctl start teamviewerd
Fedora
On Fedora, you can get the latest Teamviewer via an RPM package from the official website.
wget https://download.teamviewer.com/download/linux/teamviewer.x86_64.rpm sudo dnf install teamviewer.x86_64.rpm sudo systemctl enable teamviewerd sudo systemctl start teamviewerd
OpenSUSE
On OpenSUSE, you can get Teamviewer 15 by downloading and installing the official SUSE RPM package.
wget https://download.teamviewer.com/download/linux/teamviewer-suse.x86_64.rpm
sudo zypper install teamviewer-suse.x86_64.rpm
sudo systemctl enable teamviewerd
sudo systemctl start teamviewerd
Remote access Linux with Teamviewer
With the Teamviewer app installed on both your Linux laptop and Linux desktop, follow the step-by-step instructions below to learn how to access your desktop from your laptop remotely.
Step 1: Launch Teamviewer on the laptop, and accept the Teamviewer EULA by selecting the “Accept License Agreement” button.
Step 2: Launch Teamviewer on the desktop, and accept the Teamviewer EULA just like on the laptop by selecting the “Accept License Agreement” button.
Step 3: Once the app is loaded up on both machines, go to Teamviewer on the Linux desktop. Then, look for “Your ID.” Take the ID code and send it to the Linux laptop.
Then, look for “Password” and send the password code to the Linux laptop.
Step 4: Go to the Linux laptop, and find “Partner ID.” Then, enter the ID code from the Linux desktop, and click on the “Connect” button.
Step 5: Once you’ve selected the “Connect” button, a prompt will appear on the Linux laptop asking for a password. Enter the password from the Linux desktop to gain remote access to your Linux desktop.
Once connected to the Linux desktop via Teamviewer, you will be able to use and manipulate your Linux desktop from your Linux laptop as if you were sitting right at it!
Method 2 – Google Remote Desktop
If you’re not a fan of Teamviewer, another excellent way to access your Linux desktop from your Linux laptop is through Google Remote Desktop. It can be done with the Google Chrome web browser on Linux, is easy to use, and allows for out of network connections like Teamviewer.
To start remote access with Google Remote Desktop, you will need to install the Google Chrome web browser. To do that, open up a terminal window and enter the commands below.
Note: in addition to installing Chrome and the Chrome Remote Desktop apps, you will need to install the Chrome Remote Desktop extension to Chrome on both machines. Get it here.
Ubuntu/Debian
First, head over to the Google Chrome download page, and click on the “Download Chrome” button. Then, select ” 64 bit .deb (For Debian/Ubuntu),” followed by “Accept and Install” to download the Chrome DEB package. Then, enter the commands below to get Chrome.
cd ~/Downloads/ sudo apt install ./google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/chrome-remote-desktop_current_amd64.deb sudo apt install ./chrome-remote-desktop_current_amd64.deb
Fedora/OpenSUSE
Go to the Google Chrome download page, click on the “Download Chrome” button, and select ” 64 bit .rpm (For Fedora/openSUSE),” followed by “Accept and Install” to download the Chrome RPM file. From there, enter the commands below to get Chrome.
Fedora
cd ~/Downloads/ sudo dnf install google-chrome-stable_current_x86_64.rpm sudo dnf install chrome-remote-desktop
systemctl enable --user chrome-remote-desktop
systemctl start --user chrome-remote-desktop
OpenSUSE
cd ~/Downloads/ sudo zypper install google-chrome-stable_current_x86_64.rpm wget https://download-ib01.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/33/Everything/x86_64/os/Packages/c/chrome-remote-desktop-85.0.4183.121-1.fc33.x86_64.rpm
sudo zypper install chrome-remote-desktop-85.0.4183.121-1.fc33.x86_64.rpm
systemctl enable --user chrome-remote-desktop
systemctl start --user chrome-remote-desktop
Remote access Linux with Chrome Remote Desktop
Once everything is installed, follow the step-by-step instructions below to access your Linux desktop from your Linux laptop.
Step 1: On both the Linux desktop hosting the connection and the Linux laptop accessing remotely, open up a new browser tab and head over to remotedesktop.google.com.
Step 2: On the Linux desktop, select the “Remote Support” button at the top. Then, sign in to your Google account using your user account and password.
Step 3: On the Linux laptop, select the “Remote Support” button at the top. Then, sign in with your Google account information.
Step 4: On the Linux desktop, look for the “Get Support” section. Then, click “GENERATE CODE” to generate a support token for the Linux laptop.
Step 5: On the Linux laptop, look for the “Give Support” section of the page. Then, enter the support code into the text box, and click “Connect” to access your Linux desktop from your Linux laptop.
