Hello Alice nonce
Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Platform, thanks for posting your query here.
Based on the details shared, you're running into an issue with the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client not properly displaying the Gnome desktop environment.
One thing you can try is adjusting the settings in the RDP client to optimize performance for the Gnome desktop. In the Display tab, try setting the color depth to High Color (15 bit) and in the Experience tab, set the connection speed to Modem (56 kbps).
Additionally, you can check the logs in /var/log on your Ubuntu VM for indications as to why the service may not be responding.
You can also monitor the syslog during a remote desktop connection attempt to view any errors.
Ref:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/linux/use-remote-desktop?tabs=azure-cli
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/lab-services/connect-virtual-machine-windows-rdp
Also, make sure that the Gnome shell is installed, Install xRDP Gnome Extension.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
sudo apt-get install chrome-gnome-shell
Install Gnome Tweaks and change the default desktop environment:
sudo apt-get install gnome-tweaks
sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
In the file, add the following line under the [SeatDefaults] section and restaret xrdp service.
user-session=gnome
sudo service xrdp restart
Enable the xRDP Gnome Extension:
Open Gnome Tweaks -> Go to Extensions ->Search for xRDP->Enable the xRDP extension
Log out and log back in, or restart the computer.
Try connecting to the Ubuntu machine using xRDP and see if Gnome is now working as expected.
Hope this helps.
If you need further help on this, tag me in a comment.
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