Here’s a quick tutorial on how you can connect your Ubuntu or Fedora Linux from macOS.
Accessing your Linux machine (like Ubuntu or Fedora) from a Mac can be incredibly useful for development, server management, or just seamless productivity.
While tools like SSH or VNC exist, using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) provides a full graphical interface that’s smooth and familiar.
Here’s how you can connect.
Connect Fedora or Ubuntu Linux from mac
Settings on Linux
First, you need to enable RDP in your Linux system. If you are running GNOME desktop in Fedora or Ubuntu, it’s a few clicks.
Open settings and enable RDP as shown below in Fedora. You can have the same settings in Ubuntu sections as well. You can provide a new id/password for your RDP. Or, you can use any existing login.
Once enable, close the settings window.
Open a terminal and find out your IP address using the following command.
ip address
Pickup the IP address against ipv4 from the output.
Settings on mac
On your macbook, open App store.
Search for “Windows App”. Download and install on your mac.
Once installed, open the Windows app.
From the menu, click Connections > Add PC.
Enter the IP address of your Linux system in the “PC Name” box.
Click on Credentials drop-down > Add credentials.
Keep the rest of the settings as default.
Click add. And you should see the icon with your Linux machine is available in the app dashboard.
Click on the three dot and from the menu click export.
Export the configuration as .rdp file in your machine.
Typically, the file name is
Open TextEdit and open the rdp file which you exported.
Find out below line in the file.
use redirection server name:i:0
Change the above line to below.
use redirection server name:i:1
Save and close the TextEdit.
If you don’t do this, you may get an error as below.
We couldn't connect to the remote PC. This might be due to an expired password. If this keeps happening, contact your network administrator for assistance. Error code: 0x207
Now double-click the rdp file and click connect.
And you should be able to see your Linux desktop.
Performance
Overall in my test, the performance, and responsiveness feels okay. There are subtle lag, but I believe that’s due to bandwidth and network speed you have. If you have high-speed internet and an intel i7 grade Linux system, it should be okay to work remotely.
Wrapping up
With these steps, you can easily remote into your Ubuntu or Fedora machine from a Mac using Microsoft Remote Desktop.
If you are using Xfce, KDE Plasma or any other desktop, you need to install xrdp and enable via systemctl.
Cheers.
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