Connecting to AWS EC2 instance through remote desktop

Question

I have an Ubuntu AWS EC2 instance running in the AWS cloud and in my Windows machine I am using PuTTy to connect to it. The problem with this way is that I just have one terminal CLI to access/edit all my code in EC2 instance, which has many files and folders.

Is there a way where I can connect to AWS EC2 to my Windows machine and access the code in my IDE? Something like Remote desktop connection?

Note: I can't test my code on my local machine because the services that I want to access have only whitelisted my AWS EC2 IP.

*"The problem with this way is that I just have one terminal CLI to access/edit all my code in EC2 instance"* Why would you not simply create multiple PuTTY sessions? — Michael - sqlbot, May 01 '18 at 15:42
@Michael-sqlbot I have been doing that. But don't you think its slow and tedious to do it this way? — dasfdsa, May 01 '18 at 15:47
Honestly, no. That's exactly how I do it... although, for the past several weeks, I have been using [Ubuntu under WSL on Windows](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/about) and it's been a very pleasant surprise how well everything actually works -- my code is running locally with essentially no issues (other than utilities I've written that require certain low level access to things that simply aren't there). You might also find [AWS Cloud9](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/aws-cloud9-cloud-developer-environments/) interesting, if you haven't seen it. — Michael - sqlbot, May 01 '18 at 16:05

Abhijit Manepatil · Answer 1 · 2021-01-08T18:23:50.087

13

Step 1: Open a ec2 Ubuntu terminal using a PuTTY. Refer for more detail how to connect your Linux instance from Windows using PuTTY https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/putty.html

Step 2: Run the following commands on PuTTY Ubuntu terminal step by step

sudo apt update

Install xrdp to allow RDP connections:

sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop

sudo apt install xrdp

Set a password for the ubuntu user:

sudo passwd ubuntu

Step 3:

Go to AWS console (EC2 Dashboard)
Click on Instances(running)
Select your running Ubuntu instance
Go to Security
Click on Security Groups
Click on Edit inbound rules
In type drop down select RDP
It by default select port 3389
In Source add 0.0.0.0/0 IP
Click on Save rules

Step 4:

Open Remote Desktop Connection on windows machine
Enter Computer: Public IPv4 DNS of Ubuntu ec2 and add username:your_user_name
click on connect will open up GUI version of Ubuntu (linux), It ask for password please enter the set password.

edited Jan 08 '21 at 18:23

answered Jan 08 '21 at 18:15

Abhijit Manepatil

633
8
15

Thank you for the detailed answer! – Jean-Baptiste Martin Nov 29 '21 at 16:57
at final step, after I input username + password and hit enter. The RDC window is force closed without any message. Do you know how to fix that? Thanks – Van Hung Feb 21 '22 at 15:16
Great answer: in all other tutorials I found, the part of enabling RDP in Security Groups was missing and therefore nothing worked – Luca Mar 07 '22 at 23:01
@VanHung just reboot your instance and your problem will resolve. – Hamza Muazzam May 21 '23 at 08:11

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 30 '18 at 12:19

0

You can use VNC for that purpose https://medium.com/@Arafat./graphical-user-interface-using-vnc-with-amazon-ec2-instances-549d9c0969c5

answered Apr 30 '18 at 12:19

Venkat Rao

173
1
10

Yes you need to install VNC client for windows and connect using it – Venkat Rao Apr 30 '18 at 12:30
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25657596/how-to-set-up-gui-on-amazon-ec2-ubuntu-server – Venkat Rao Apr 30 '18 at 12:43
Use this steps to setup the server side at the end download a VNC client for windows and connect to the server using the client. – Venkat Rao Apr 30 '18 at 12:44
I followed the medium guide. Everything done. But when connecting VNC viewer (on my local machine) to `localhost:5902`, I am getting error: `The connection was refused by the computer`. Any ideas? – dasfdsa Apr 30 '18 at 15:06
Have you opened port 5902 in security group? – Venkat Rao Apr 30 '18 at 15:08
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/170094/discussion-between-skg-and-venkat-rao). – dasfdsa Apr 30 '18 at 15:15
I haven't. I am looking for how to do that. Thanks. – dasfdsa Apr 30 '18 at 15:15

Connecting to AWS EC2 instance through remote desktop

2 Answers2