2

I am learning about virtual machines (VMs); based on early google hits, I created a virtual machine with a program called "Hyper-V Manger" that was already installed on my Windows 10 laptop. I chose Ubuntu 18.04 LTS as the guest OS. Installation appeared to be uneventful and successful.

After setup, I see the familiar Ubuntu login screen, but it's overlayed by a Windows window titled "Connect to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS":

enter image description here

Since Connect seems the only useful button, I click it and I'm taken to this "xrdp just connecting screen":

enter image description here

If I log in, I remain at an empty blue desktop with no icons, and nothing to interact with:

enter image description here

After being stumped by what to do here yesterday, today, I noticed that In the VM's toolbar, there is a button that lets you toggle between "Enhanced session" and "Basic session" -- and when I toggle it to "Basic session" I arrive back at the "normal" Ubuntu interface that I'd have expected on a "PC" running Ubuntu, i.e. the login screen, GNOME Shell desktop, etc.:

enter image description here

Question:

What is the purpose of the "Enhanced connection" that just takes you to a blank desktop with nothing to interact with?

StoneThrow
  • 1,317

1 Answers1

2

In the enhanced session mode, you can resize the screen of the VM and copy and paste text from a host to guest and vice versa.

Unfortunately, this mode only works for host and guest both being on a reasonably recent Windows version. When the guest is Linux, it must be configured for this mode.

See the article Detailed Walkthrough: Install Ubuntu 20.04 on Hyper-V with Enhanced Session for a very detailed description with many screenshots. There is also supplied a shell script to configure the VM.

harrymc
  • 498,455