Desktop sharing does not work

[cbsman]

Ubuntu Version:
24.04.04 LTS

Desktop Environment (if applicable):
Gnome

Problem Description:
”Desktop Sharing” does not work. Enabling the feature in Settings > System > Desktop Sharing does not fill in “Port” field, the field is still disabled for entry.

“systemctl status gnome-remote-desktop.service” and “grdctl status” indicate the desktop sharing service is running.

“telnet localhost 3389”, “telnet localhost 3390” and “netstat -nltp” indicate no listener on these ports.

/var/log/syslog content indicate 5 automated attempts to start the RDP service when the “Desktop Sharing” is turned on by the user, each failing with “core-dump” termination.

Settings > System > Remote Login works correctly, while enabled “Port” field is filled in with value “3389”, the machine is accessible via RDP on port 3389, as per the design of this feature.

Problem replicated on a fresh install of 24.04.04 LTS on the second, test machine with only snap-installed Steam application.

Relevant System Information:

Screenshots or Error Messages:

“systemctl status gnome-remote-desktop.service” output:

Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of gnome-remote-desktop.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units.
● gnome-remote-desktop.service - GNOME Remote Desktop
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/gnome-remote-desktop.service; disabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2026-02-14 12:36:22 IST; 22min ago
   Main PID: 144970 (gnome-remote-de)
      Tasks: 4 (limit: 38044)
     Memory: 3.2M (peak: 5.1M)
        CPU: 212ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/gnome-remote-desktop.service
             └─144970 /usr/libexec/gnome-remote-desktop-daemon --system

Feb 14 12:36:22 ASUS4060 systemd[1]: Starting gnome-remote-desktop.service - GNOME Remote Desktop...
Feb 14 12:36:22 ASUS4060 gnome-remote-de[144970]: Init TPM credentials failed because Failed to initialize transmission interface context: tcti:IO failure, using GKeyFile as fallback
Feb 14 12:36:22 ASUS4060 systemd[1]: Started gnome-remote-desktop.service - GNOME Remote Desktop.

“grdctl status” output:

Overall:
	Unit status: inactive
RDP:
	Status: enabled
	Port: 3389
	TLS certificate: /home/cbsman/.local/share/gnome-remote-desktop/certificates/rdp-tls.crt
	TLS fingerprint: b6:3d:ac:8a:50:28:7e:67:ae:0f:15:69:95:ba:01:ec:ec:81:ce:2f:aa:dc:fa:70:55:28:f6:f1:7f:5a:25:7e
	TLS key: /home/cbsman/.local/share/gnome-remote-desktop/certificates/rdp-tls.key
	View-only: no
	Negotiate port: yes
	Username: (hidden)
	Password: (hidden)

“netstat -nltp” output:

(Not all processes could be identified, non-owned process info
 will not be shown, you would have to be root to see it all.)
Active Internet connections (only servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State       PID/Program name    
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:631           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      -                   
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:36689         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      18457/steam         
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:37085         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      18457/steam         
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:57343         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      18457/steam         
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.53:53           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      -                   
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:27036           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      18457/steam         
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:27060         0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      18457/steam         
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.54:53           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      -                   
tcp6       0      0 ::1:631                 :::*                    LISTEN      -  

/var/log/syslog content:

2026-02-14T12:46:16.219192+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4504]: Starting gnome-remote-desktop.service - GNOME Remote Desktop...
2026-02-14T12:46:16.244727+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4504]: Started gnome-remote-desktop.service - GNOME Remote Desktop.
2026-02-14T12:46:16.288910+05:30 ASUS4060 kernel: GRD EGL thread[147714]: segfault at 20 ip 00007a685af6b5eb sp 00007a6855df7f10 error 4 in libwayland-client.so.0.22.0[75eb,7a685af69000+6000] likely on CPU 10 (core 5, socket 0)
2026-02-14T12:46:16.288930+05:30 ASUS4060 kernel: Code: 7b fb ff ff 4c 89 e7 4d 8d 65 50 e8 3f fa ff ff 49 8b 45 58 48 83 e8 50 4d 39 e6 75 aa eb 88 f3 0f 1e fa 55 48 89 e5 41 54 53 <48> 8b 47 20 48 89 fb 4c 8d a0 18 01 00 00 4c 89 e7 e8 5f df ff ff
2026-02-14T12:46:17.437713+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4504]: gnome-remote-desktop.service: Main process exited, code=dumped, status=11/SEGV
2026-02-14T12:46:17.437868+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4504]: gnome-remote-desktop.service: Failed with result 'core-dump'.
2026-02-14T12:46:17.709036+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4504]: gnome-remote-desktop.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
2026-02-14T12:46:17.709145+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4504]: gnome-remote-desktop.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
2026-02-14T12:46:17.709199+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4504]: gnome-remote-desktop.service: Failed with result 'core-dump'.
2026-02-14T12:46:17.709261+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4504]: Failed to start gnome-remote-desktop.service - GNOME Remote Desktop.

[Actionparsnip]

What are you wanting to do on the remote system that needs the full desktop session? There may be a sleeker solution to what you want to do

[cbsman]

Hi @Actionparsnip, I need the exact functionality “Desktop Sharing” is expected to provide. To RDP log in into an existing local desktop session from a different machine, without termination of that session or starting a new one. Ideally without a need to install additional software (i.e. xrdp) on top of the default Ubuntu installation.

[tea-for-one]

@cbsman

Overall:
	Unit status: inactive

The service is not running, can you try

grdctl rdp enable

[Actionparsnip]

To achieve what? What would you do on the remote system once connected? Manage files? Updates?….?

[cbsman]

@tea-for-one manual launch via “grdctl rdp enable” results in the same “core-dump” failures to start gnome-remote-desktop.service reported in /var/log/syslog:

2026-02-15T16:44:07.293776+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4525]: Starting gnome-remote-desktop.service - GNOME Remote Desktop...
2026-02-15T16:44:07.318067+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4525]: Started gnome-remote-desktop.service - GNOME Remote Desktop.
2026-02-15T16:44:07.360556+05:30 ASUS4060 kernel: GRD EGL thread[22777]: segfault at 20 ip 000074300816a5eb sp 0000742ff67faf10 error 4 in libwayland-client.so.0.22.0[75eb,743008168000+6000] likely on CPU 10 (core 5, socket 0)
2026-02-15T16:44:07.360575+05:30 ASUS4060 kernel: Code: 7b fb ff ff 4c 89 e7 4d 8d 65 50 e8 3f fa ff ff 49 8b 45 58 48 83 e8 50 4d 39 e6 75 aa eb 88 f3 0f 1e fa 55 48 89 e5 41 54 53 <48> 8b 47 20 48 89 fb 4c 8d a0 18 01 00 00 4c 89 e7 e8 5f df ff ff
2026-02-15T16:44:08.502691+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4525]: gnome-remote-desktop.service: Main process exited, code=dumped, status=11/SEGV
2026-02-15T16:44:08.502791+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4525]: gnome-remote-desktop.service: Failed with result 'core-dump'.
2026-02-15T16:44:08.773801+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4525]: gnome-remote-desktop.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
2026-02-15T16:44:08.773907+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4525]: gnome-remote-desktop.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
2026-02-15T16:44:08.773977+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4525]: gnome-remote-desktop.service: Failed with result 'core-dump'.
2026-02-15T16:44:08.774040+05:30 ASUS4060 systemd[4525]: Failed to start gnome-remote-desktop.service - GNOME Remote Desktop.

It seems there is some incompatibility between RDP service, Wayland and (I guess) NVidia v590 drivers after one of the recent updates of any of these.

[cbsman]

@Actionparsnip I have my workstation in one room and it is pretty immobile, even though formally it is a “laptop”. I want to be able to go to a different room in my house and connect to the workstation from a “satellite” machine and continue to work in the already active desktop session on the workstation.

[tea-for-one]

@cbsman

It seems there is some incompatibility between RDP service, Wayland and (I guess) NVidia v590 drivers

According to your screenshot (System Details), your session is X11.

Perhaps, log out and select Ubuntu (default Wayland)?
If Nvidia is the culprit, can you use the built-in AMD Ryzen 7 7435 graphics?

[Actionparsnip]

Like word processing and so on?

[cbsman]

@tea-for-one, and yet it is libwayland-client.so.0.22.0 that core-dumps. Crazy, I tell you

I am not sure if Ryzen 7 7435 on my workstation has on-chip GPU enabled/at all. In my satellite machine its CPU Ryzen 7 4800 has the on-chip GPU active and recognized both in Ubuntu and in Windows. I will try to play with that later to see if it is NVidia’s fault. I guess everything is NVidia’s fault these days anyway. Good idea, thanks!

[cbsman]

@Actionparsnip, anything and everything one does via graphics desktop on a modern i86/amd64 machine. GUI access via RDP/VNC is needed. Thus it crushes my hopes and dreams that this feature somehow stopped working in last weeks/moths, as it was for sure working around mid-2025.

[tea-for-one]

@cbsman

this feature somehow stopped working in last weeks

Yes, it’s very disappointing when a feature that used to work subsequently fails.

Try a previous kernel?
Check your satellite to workstation connection with ssh or sftp?

[Actionparsnip]

Can you ping the remote host?

Is the client and server on the same network?

[cbsman]

@tea-for-one just did a fresh install on a simple Dell laptop with AMD’s integrated GPU and “Desktop sharing” works perfectly there. This means it is NVidia-Wayland problem.

I will try to play a bit with NVidia driver and Linux kernel versions.

[cbsman]

So, that was fast. The newest v590 NVidia driver is at fault. Downgrading to v580 resolved the problem, “Desktop sharing” works correctly again.