Whitney Krape

Category: Ubuntu 25.10

  • Ubuntu 25.10 Handles Multiple WiFi and Ethernet Connections Really Well (seemingly…)

    In seeming opposite to the pain of trying to set up remote visual management, Ubuntu seems to handle dual WiFi and dual ethernet connections surprisingly well right out of the box. With a dual 2.5 gig N100 Mini PC, I have it set up so each pair has an input and share.

    Normally the PC does not have a connection but inserting a WiFi USB enables the WAN connection. The WiFi hotspot is always enabled, though hidden, so remote management and files are always available.

    For the wired connection, a similar setup with one 2.5 NIC as an input and the other shared to any systems that are connected. (Link aggregation not configured.)

    Definitely need to document a few scenarios but the out-of-the-box set up is very useful.

    Updated and Retried on 25.10 11/26/25

  • Ubuntu 25.10 SSH doesn’t enable easily

    While this seems like a bug, I’m not sure if it is or not. Installing a fresh 25.10 the SSH option in System doesn’t turn on SSH right out of the box. Might be worth adding to an ansible playbook or other initial set up script.

    Link to Jeff Geerling’s post below but it’s really down to just installing openssh-server. After that the option slider should work. 

    sudo apt install openssh-server -y

    Setting up Ubuntu SSH Server.

    Updated and Retried on 25.10 11/20/25

  • Ubuntu 25.10 Remote Desktop with Fixed Password and Full Screen Window (VNC alternative)

    Stop: This doesn’t work. Unfortunately on further testing, the keyring doesn’t unlock without interacting via monitor/keyboard.

    This feels unnecessarily difficult. While ideally you interact most servers via CLI the reality is there will be some visual interaction needed for some systms and currently Ubuntu 25.10 does not seem to have easy headless management with x11 gone. Sure you might be able to rip out the keyring but that doesn’t feel good. Annoying. Will keep testing and following up.

    Starting from a reinstall of Ubuntu 25.10 on the N100 Mini PC, more on this interesting little PC later, the script that resets the password works a treat though I don’t have it running automatically.

    There are 2 options in 25.10 Remote Desktop and Remote Login. Now it seems like Remote Login should be what we need, it’s password does not change, but as of this post that login is not working for me whether I have it enabled with Remote Desktop or not. Will dig into that and see if there’s a bug report already.

    Remote Desktop Password Reset Script

    Again credit to LarkinZero for the password updating script. For now, running this on connect. This system will be mobile so having a secure password is a good idea. Just running this via SSH works well. 

    #!/bin/bash

SCHEMA="org.gnome.RemoteDesktop.RdpCredentials"
LABEL="GNOME Remote Desktop RDP credentials"
USERNAME="abc"
PASSWORD="123456"
EXPECTED_VALUE="{'username': <'$USERNAME'>, 'password': <'$PASSWORD'>}"

echo "Step 1: Clearing old credentials..."
secret-tool clear xdg:schema "$SCHEMA"

echo "Step 2: Storing new credentials..."
echo -n "$EXPECTED_VALUE" | secret-tool store --label="$LABEL" xdg:schema "$SCHEMA"

echo "Step 3: Verifying stored credentials..."
RESULT=$(secret-tool lookup xdg:schema "$SCHEMA")

if [ "$RESULT" == "$EXPECTED_VALUE" ]; then
    echo "Success: Stored credentials match the expected value."
    exit 0
else
    echo "Error: Stored credentials do not match the expected value."
    exit 1
fi

    Full Screen

    At first, I over-complicated this thinking there needed to be virtual monitor or a dummy plug but really, one setting.

    gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.remote-desktop.rdp screen-share-mode extend

    Not sure why that’s not set out-of-the-box. Without that setting, the RDP connects, is blank, and disconnects. With that setting, all works as expected.

    Updated and Retried on 25.10 11/21/25

  • Ubuntu 25.10 Remote Desktop Auto-Setup

    Warning: Potentially Insecure Scripts Below

    Following up on a previous post trying to get the x11-less Ubuntu 25.10 set up with GUI management it looks like it’s possible to get Remote Desktop working. (Spice, unfortunately, has not been updated much in a long time and the install command seems to not work.)

    This doesn’t work fully yet, still running into keychain issues, but it’s close. On Reddit, user LarkinZero has a script that resets the password on boot. (Below.) Now, this is a keychain change which doesn’t unlock on boot. Trying another script from jdonohoo on GitHub almost works but still getting an error, auto-login on or off.

    With both scripts there are potential security issues such as having a password in plaintext and auto keyring unlocking (besides it still not working fully.) Will keep following up on this.

    Now I will say, this does seem to unlock via just a couple CLI commands so this might be good enough. Will revisit soon.

    Warning: Unorganized below, currently reworking.

    Remote Credentials Update.

    Keyring unlock script.

    ```
sudo apt-get install -y gnome-keyring libsecret-tools dbus-x11 vim
```

1. Place your unlock script here:
```
nano ~/.config/unlock-keyring.sh
```
```
#!/bin/bash

export DISPLAY=:0
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/$(id -u)

password=$(<"$HOME/.keyring_pass")
/usr/bin/gnome-keyring-daemon --unlock <<< "$password"
```

```
chmod +x ~/.config/unlock-keyring.sh
```
2. Create keyring password file
```
vim ~/.keyring_pass
```
```
chmod 600 ~/.keyring_pass
```

3. Create the systemd unit:

```
nano ~/.config/systemd/user/unlock-keyring.service
```

```
[Unit]
Description=Unlock GNOME Keyring
After=graphical-session.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=%h/.config/unlock-keyring.sh
RemainAfterExit=true
Environment=DISPLAY=:0
Environment=XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/%U

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
```

4. Enable the service:
```
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable unlock-keyring.service
```
5. Ditch login keyring to make new one on next boot
```
rm ~/.local/share/keyrings/login.keyring
```
Set login passphrase to same as default / what you have in ~/.keyring_pass

Optional test:

```
systemctl --user start unlock-keyring.service
```

    Put in rc.local

    #!/bin/bash

SCHEMA="org.gnome.RemoteDesktop.RdpCredentials"
LABEL="GNOME Remote Desktop RDP credentials"
USERNAME="abc"
PASSWORD="123456"
EXPECTED_VALUE="{'username': <'$USERNAME'>, 'password': <'$PASSWORD'>}"

echo "Step 1: Clearing old credentials..."
secret-tool clear xdg:schema "$SCHEMA"

echo "Step 2: Storing new credentials..."
echo -n "$EXPECTED_VALUE" | secret-tool store --label="$LABEL" xdg:schema "$SCHEMA"

echo "Step 3: Verifying stored credentials..."
RESULT=$(secret-tool lookup xdg:schema "$SCHEMA")

if [ "$RESULT" == "$EXPECTED_VALUE" ]; then
    echo "Success: Stored credentials match the expected value."
    exit 0
else
    echo "Error: Stored credentials do not match the expected value."
    exit 1
fi

    Updated and Retried on 25.10 11/14/25