Parrot OS 4.11 - XRDP Session not Displaying Menu / Headers

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Hi Community

I need some assistance with my Parrot OS VM which isn’t displaying menu bar when using XRDP to access the host.

I’m using a Windows 10 Machine to RDP to the VM on ESXI host.
Session: Xorg
Username/Password

Connection establishes and I’m presented with the screen and all, but not the menu at the top/bottom


  • Parrot version in use (if you are not aware of it, open terminal and type cat /etc/os-release | grep VERSION):

PRETTY_NAME=“Parrot OS 4.11”
NAME=“Parrot OS”
ID=parrot
ID_LIKE=debian
VERSION=“4.11”
VERSION_ID=“4.11”

  • Hypervisor used:
    VMWare ESXI 6.0

  • Logs/Terminal output (use pastebin or similar services):
    #cat /var/log/xrdp.log
    [20210718-13:43:28] [INFO ] address [0.0.0.0] port [3389] mode 1
    [20210718-13:43:28] [INFO ] listening to port 3389 on 0.0.0.0
    [20210718-13:43:28] [INFO ] xrdp_listen_pp done
    [20210718-13:43:28] [DEBUG] Closed socket 7 (AF_INET6 :: port 3389)
    [20210718-13:43:30] [INFO ] starting xrdp with pid 58327
    [20210718-13:43:30] [INFO ] address [0.0.0.0] port [3389] mode 1
    [20210718-13:43:30] [INFO ] listening to port 3389 on 0.0.0.0
    [20210718-13:43:30] [INFO ] xrdp_listen_pp done
    [20210718-13:44:32] [INFO ] Socket 12: AF_INET6 connection received from ::ffff:192.168.68.100 port 1050
    [20210718-13:44:32] [DEBUG] Closed socket 12 (AF_INET6 ::ffff:192.168.68.152 port 3389)
    [20210718-13:44:32] [DEBUG] Closed socket 11 (AF_INET6 :: port 3389)
    [20210718-13:44:32] [INFO ] Using default X.509 certificate: /etc/xrdp/cert.pem
    [20210718-13:44:32] [INFO ] Using default X.509 key file: /etc/xrdp/key.pem
    [20210718-13:44:32] [ERROR] Cannot read private key file /etc/xrdp/key.pem: Permission denied
    [20210718-13:44:32] [DEBUG] TLSv1.3 enabled
    [20210718-13:44:32] [DEBUG] TLSv1.2 enabled
    [20210718-13:44:32] [DEBUG] Security layer: requested 11, selected 0
    [20210718-13:44:32] [DEBUG] Closed socket 12 (AF_INET6 ::ffff:192.168.68.152 port 3389)
    [20210718-13:44:33] [INFO ] Socket 12: AF_INET6 connection received from ::ffff:192.168.68.100 port 1051
    [20210718-13:44:33] [DEBUG] Closed socket 12 (AF_INET6 ::ffff:192.168.68.152 port 3389)
    [20210718-13:44:33] [DEBUG] Closed socket 11 (AF_INET6 :: port 3389)
    [20210718-13:44:33] [INFO ] Using default X.509 certificate: /etc/xrdp/cert.pem
    [20210718-13:44:33] [INFO ] Using default X.509 key file: /etc/xrdp/key.pem
    [20210718-13:44:33] [ERROR] Cannot read private key file /etc/xrdp/key.pem: Permission denied
    [20210718-13:44:33] [DEBUG] TLSv1.3 enabled
    [20210718-13:44:33] [DEBUG] TLSv1.2 enabled
    [20210718-13:44:33] [DEBUG] Security layer: requested 0, selected 0
    [20210718-13:44:33] [INFO ] connected client computer name: DESKTOP-1TCRK2M
    [20210718-13:44:33] [INFO ] adding channel item name rdpdr chan_id 1004 flags 0x80800000
    [20210718-13:44:33] [INFO ] adding channel item name rdpsnd chan_id 1005 flags 0xc0000000
    [20210718-13:44:33] [INFO ] adding channel item name cliprdr chan_id 1006 flags 0xc0a00000
    [20210718-13:44:33] [INFO ] adding channel item name drdynvc chan_id 1007 flags 0xc0800000
    [20210718-13:44:33] [INFO ] Non-TLS connection established from ::ffff:192.168.68.100 port 1051: encrypted with standard RDP security
    [20210718-13:44:34] [DEBUG] xrdp_0000e526_wm_login_mode_event_00000001
    [20210718-13:44:34] [INFO ] Loading keymap file /etc/xrdp/km-00000409.ini
    [20210718-13:44:34] [WARN ] local keymap file for 0x00000409 found and doesn’t match built in keymap, using local keymap file
    [20210718-13:44:40] [DEBUG] xrdp_wm_log_msg: connecting to sesman ip 127.0.0.1 port 3350
    [20210718-13:44:41] [INFO ] xrdp_wm_log_msg: sesman connect ok
    [20210718-13:44:41] [DEBUG] xrdp_wm_log_msg: sending login info to session manager, please wait…
    [20210718-13:44:41] [DEBUG] return value from xrdp_mm_connect 0
    [20210718-13:44:41] [INFO ] xrdp_wm_log_msg: login successful for display 10
    [20210718-13:44:41] [DEBUG] xrdp_wm_log_msg: started connecting
    [20210718-13:44:41] [INFO ] lib_mod_log_peer: xrdp_pid=58662 connected to X11rdp_pid=58669 X11rdp_uid=1000 X11rdp_gid=1001 client_ip=::ffff:192.168.68.100 client_port=1051
    [20210718-13:44:41] [DEBUG] xrdp_wm_log_msg: connected ok
    [20210718-13:44:41] [DEBUG] xrdp_mm_connect_chansrv: chansrv connect successful
    [20210718-13:44:41] [DEBUG] Closed socket 16 (AF_INET6 ::1 port 37516)

  • Screenshots:

I’m not familiar with using RDP so i can’t say but why don’t you use something like VNC? Maybe it is a bug of server protocol

I always use rdp to remote my machine whatever in VM or bare metal, I install Parrot OS in KVM with host OS is fedora 34. This SS is I remote Parrot in KVM from my laptop. I am using remmina, and there is no problem. Maybe your os it has bug, or maybe your VMWare for windows has bug or maybe your remote desktop software for windows also has bug. Maybe I sugest you must try remote your Parrot VM from linux system with remmina.

Thanks Afiadi

It seems the RDP session between Windows 10 & Parrot OS. From my Ubuntu machine using remmina it works perfectly fine

Hi Community,

Thanks for the quick responses, it seems the problem was related to inherited resolution from the RDP session. Once I change the RDP settings from 4K to 1080 the session worked fine.

I suspect it’s the protocol bug between Windows & Parrot. Parrot OS works perfectly fine with 4K natively :slight_smile:

Finally i can see someone uses Remmina which i suggested Palinuro to add as default remote app eyars ago lol

what is the default RDP on parrot os??,i m nt able to find remmina

Remmia is preinstalled on Parrot and you can find it in the menu