Configuring Linux for Remote Access

To allow Screens to connect to your Linux PC, you’ll need to configure it for remote access. In this guide, we’ll show you how to enable Remote Desktop on Ubuntu 22.04. If you’re using a different Linux distribution, the steps may vary—please refer to your distribution’s user guide for specific instructions.

Important: We recommend using Ubuntu 22.04, as newer versions like Ubuntu 24.04 and 24.10 no longer include a bundled VNC server, which may affect compatibility.

Enable Remote Desktop

Depending on your Linux distribution, configuration details may vary, but most modern Linux desktop environments typically provide a feature called Desktop Sharing or Remote Desktop.

1. Click on the icons that are at the far-right of the system menu bar and click Settings.
2. In the Settings window, select Sharing and click on the top switch button to enable the service.
3. Click Remote Desktop.
4. Enable Remote Desktop (click on the switch).
5. Select Enable Legacy VNC Protocol.
6. Click on the 3 dots and select either New connections must ask for access or Require a password.
7. In the Password field, type a password or use the one that was auto-generated. If you selected Require a password, you will need to use this password when you connect from Screens.
8. In our example, the hostname to use when creating a connection to your computer in Screens would be Ubuntu-22-04.local (without the vnc:// prefix).

Optional: Installing a SSH Server

OpenSSH Installation

To install OpenSSH, open a terminal and run the following commands with superuser permissions.

For distributions using the apt package management system such as Ubuntu, Debian, or Linux Mint

$ sudo apt-get install openssh-server openssh-client

For distributions using the rpm package management system, such as Red Hat Enterprise, CentOS, or Fedora

$ yum -y install openssh-server openssh-client

Testing the Connection

Before proceeding further, use the following Terminal command to confirm that your OpenSSH server is working properly.

$ nc -v -z 127.0.0.1 22

Making your Computer accessible remotely

If you'd like to connect to your computer remotely, we recommend using Tailscale. You'll find detailed instructions in this article.

Selecting a Display

In order to select a particular display on your computer, you need to specify a different port number. You'll find more details in this article.

Configure Screens

Once you are done, you can now create a new custom connection in order to connect to your Linux PC.