Chrome Remote Desktop on Debian Server

README.md

Chrome Remote Desktop on Debian/Ubuntu Server

Get a remote connection to your cloud server! This utility script by default installs XFCE, Chrome and Chrome Remote Desktop.

Based on this guide, made ready to install with one command and use xfce by default.

Steps:

1. Install requirements (please check if the script is safe before you execute this command!)

wget -qO- https://gist.githubusercontent.com/horosin/82f1dbcff64c788df04ac5fad1d7b46c/raw/install.sh | sudo bash

2. (optional) Create and switch to a non-root user on your server and add it to sudo group

adduser remote
usermod -aG sudo remote
sudo su - remote

3. Set up the connection - https://remotedesktop.google.com/headless

4. Connect to your server from https://remotedesktop.google.com/

You're done!

install.sh

#!/bin/bash -x
#
# Startup script to install Chrome remote desktop and a desktop environment.
#
# See environmental variables at then end of the script for configuration
#

function install_desktop_env {
  PACKAGES="desktop-base xscreensaver"

  if [[ "$INSTALL_XFCE" != "yes" && "$INSTALL_CINNAMON" != "yes" ]] ; then
    # neither XFCE nor cinnamon specified; install both
    INSTALL_XFCE=yes
    INSTALL_CINNAMON=yes
  fi

  if [[ "$INSTALL_XFCE" = "yes" ]] ; then
    PACKAGES="$PACKAGES xfce4"
    echo "exec xfce4-session" > /etc/chrome-remote-desktop-session
    [[ "$INSTALL_FULL_DESKTOP" = "yes" ]] && \
      PACKAGES="$PACKAGES task-xfce-desktop"
  fi

  if [[ "$INSTALL_CINNAMON" = "yes" ]] ; then
    PACKAGES="$PACKAGES cinnamon-core"
    echo "exec cinnamon-session-cinnamon2d" > /etc/chrome-remote-desktop-session
    [[ "$INSTALL_FULL_DESKTOP" = "yes" ]] && \
      PACKAGES="$PACKAGES task-cinnamon-desktop"
  fi

  DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
    apt-get install --assume-yes $PACKAGES

  systemctl disable lightdm.service
}

function download_and_install { # args URL FILENAME
  curl -L -o "$2" "$1"
  dpkg --install "$2"
  apt-get install --assume-yes --fix-broken
}

function is_installed {  # args PACKAGE_NAME
  dpkg-query --list "$1" | grep -q "^ii" 2>/dev/null
  return $?
}

# Configure the following environmental variables as required:
INSTALL_XFCE=yes
INSTALL_CINNAMON=no
INSTALL_CHROME=yes
INSTALL_FULL_DESKTOP=no

# Any additional packages that should be installed on startup can be added here
EXTRA_PACKAGES="less bzip2 zip unzip terminator curl dbus-x11 pulseaudio vlc"

apt-get update
apt-get install --assume-yes $EXTRA_PACKAGES

! is_installed chrome-remote-desktop && \
  download_and_install \
    https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/chrome-remote-desktop_current_amd64.deb \
    /tmp/chrome-remote-desktop_current_amd64.deb

install_desktop_env

[[ "$INSTALL_CHROME" = "yes" ]] && \
  ! is_installed google-chrome-stable && \
  download_and_install \
    https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb \
    /tmp/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

echo "Chrome remote desktop installation completed"