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How to Configure Screen Sharing and Remote Desktop on Wayland

Wayland screen sharing uses portal-mediated PipeWire capture, while remote input and network desktop hosting require separate permissions and services. Set up GNOME or KDE access and troubleshoot the portal, session, and connection details.

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On Wayland, an app’s screen-sharing request and a remote desktop connection are related but separate tasks. Compatible apps generally use XDG Desktop Portal ScreenCast to request a PipeWire screen stream; remote control requires the RemoteDesktop portal capability as well. To connect to a computer over a network, you also need a remote desktop service configured for the session you want to reach. GNOME and KDE provide desktop-specific routes; manually assembled compositor setups may require additional portal and session configuration.

Choose the kind of access you need

First decide whether you want an application to share screen content, someone to control your logged-in desktop, or a remote connection that starts at a login screen or uses a headless session. These options can share underlying components, but setting up one does not automatically provide the others.

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What you want What it does Wayland component or route
Share screen content with an app Provides a selected screen or window as a stream to a compatible application. XDG Desktop Portal ScreenCast, with PipeWire integration and a desktop portal backend.
Let someone interact with your active desktop Combines screen access with permitted remote input, such as pointer or keyboard events. RemoteDesktop portal capability; GNOME’s Desktop Sharing settings can also enable Remote Control.
Connect to a login screen Lets a remote user reach a graphical login before signing in. GNOME Remote Login, an RDP service integrated with GDM.
Host a separate headless session Provides remote access to a configured graphical user session without relying on the currently active desktop. GNOME Remote Desktop’s headless user mode, configured separately.

How Wayland screen sharing works

Wayland applications generally do not capture the desktop directly. A compatible application asks the XDG Desktop Portal for screen-capture access. The portal mediates the request and lets the user select what to share; its ScreenCast interface supplies a PipeWire stream to the application.

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Remote input is a distinct capability. The RemoteDesktop portal can request input devices and can be combined with ScreenCast when a session needs both video and control. A successful screen-capture permission does not, by itself, grant remote input or create a network-accessible desktop server.

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The portal needs a backend connected to the active desktop so it can present the appropriate selection and work with the compositor’s capture facilities. GNOME and KDE installations that integrate their components normally handle session setup automatically. A desktop assembled from individual components may need an appropriate portal backend installed and selected, and session variables such as WAYLAND_DISPLAY and XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP made available to D-Bus-activated portal processes.

Enable sharing in GNOME

Share the active desktop

  1. Open Settings → System → Remote Desktop.
  2. Enable Desktop Sharing to allow another device to connect to the current desktop.
  3. Enable Remote Control only if the other person should interact with the desktop. Depending on the security settings, this can include moving the cursor, using applications, and browsing files.
  4. Use the connection details shown in the panel: hostname, port, username, and password. If the client offers an encryption-fingerprint check, verify it against the fingerprint shown on the host.
  5. Connect from a client that supports the configured protocol. GNOME lists Remmina, Connections, and xfreerdp for Linux; mstsc for Windows; and Thincast for Linux, Windows, or macOS.

To end sharing, open the system menu, choose Screen is being shared, then select Turn off.

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Account for ports when Remote Login is also enabled

GNOME Help documents Remote Login on port 3389 and Desktop Sharing on a different port, such as 3390, when both are enabled. Use the actual port displayed by the host in the client; do not assume Desktop Sharing is on 3389. Some networks may require adding .local to the hostname.

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H.264 availability is not universal: GNOME’s documentation conditions it on the graphics pipeline, client support, and availability of an NVIDIA NVENC encoder.

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Choose the right GNOME Remote Desktop mode

GNOME Remote Desktop documents distinct modes. The mode determines which session a connection reaches and whether configuration is per-user or system-level.

Mode Session reached Protocol and configuration notes
Remote assistance / Desktop Sharing An already active user session. The project documents RDP and VNC support for this mode. The graphical Settings route exposes Desktop Sharing.
Remote Login A graphical login screen before the remote user signs in. RDP through GDM; system configuration and administrative privileges are required.
Headless single-user desktop A separately configured headless graphical user session. The project documents RDP and VNC configuration for this mode.

The project’s command-line tool, grdctl, is used to set credentials and enable the relevant service. Configuration differs by mode: remote assistance and the headless user service use a systemd user service, while Remote Login uses a system service. RDP setup also requires a TLS key and certificate. The project documentation describes certificate-generation options using FreeRDP’s winpr-makecert, GnuTLS certtool, or OpenSSL; choose instructions that match the installed version and the mode being configured rather than applying one mode’s commands to another.

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GNOME Remote Desktop uses PipeWire for pixel streaming, libei for input-event plumbing, and Mutter’s remote desktop API for high-level management. Its documented protocol implementations are RDP through FreeRDP and VNC through LibVNCServer.

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Configure desktop sharing in KDE

The KRFB handbook’s workflow is to enable Desktop Sharing in its main window, use the displayed address and port as the connection details, set a password, and configure unattended access if needed. These steps describe KRFB’s documented workflow and should not be treated as universal instructions for every Plasma release or every Wayland remote-desktop service.

Plasma also documents a permission-store mechanism for pre-authorizing remote desktop access, introduced in Plasma 6.3. The developer documentation gives org.kde.krdpserver as an example application ID. This is a Plasma-specific advanced option, not a general Wayland setting; ordinary interactive permission prompts remain the safer default when pre-authorization is not deliberately required.

Set up a manually assembled compositor environment

If a compatible application cannot share a screen in a desktop assembled from separate components, check the session integration before changing the application. The portal service, desktop-specific backend, PipeWire, and compositor must be connected in the active user session.

  • Identify the compositor, desktop environment, distribution, and session type.
  • Confirm that xdg-desktop-portal and a backend appropriate to that desktop are installed and selected.
  • Check that PipeWire is available and that portal services are running in the user session.
  • Verify that D-Bus-activated portal processes receive the session environment, particularly WAYLAND_DISPLAY and XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP where needed.
  • Use the current documentation for the specific compositor and distribution for package names, backend selection, and service setup.

There is no single package-install command that applies to every distribution and compositor. For wlroots-based compositors in particular, use current compositor- and distribution-specific instructions rather than assuming GNOME or KDE setup applies.

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Troubleshoot a connection or missing permission

  1. Identify the task. Determine whether the failure is app screen capture, remote input to the active session, Remote Login, or headless hosting. The fixes are not interchangeable.
  2. Check desktop integration. Confirm the active desktop/compositor and distribution, then verify that the corresponding portal backend is installed and selected.
  3. Check the user session. Confirm PipeWire and portal services are available and that the portal’s activated processes can see the Wayland session environment.
  4. Verify the connection details. On a remote desktop host, use the exact hostname or IP address and port displayed by its settings, then confirm the credentials and encryption fingerprint.
  5. Check which GNOME service is enabled. When Remote Login and Desktop Sharing are both on, use the port for the intended service; they do not necessarily share a port.
  6. Check network reachability. Verify that the relevant service is reachable through the local firewall and network. Do not open a remote desktop port to the public internet as a routine troubleshooting step.
  7. Separate video from input. If the viewer sees the screen but cannot interact, check whether Remote Control or the remote input permission was requested and granted.

Limit access to what you intend to share

View-only access and interactive control are different security choices. Enable Remote Control only when the other party needs to operate the desktop, and review what that permits in the host’s security settings. GNOME provides an encryption-fingerprint check for its connection details; compare it with the value shown on the host when the client supports that check.

Keep network scope deliberate. A service reachable only on a trusted local network has a different exposure from one whose firewall access is opened to the public internet. GNOME Remote Desktop cautions against opening the firewall to the open internet. For KRFB, do not send the address and password together in unencrypted email, since someone who can read the message could use the connection details.

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