Most of the tutorials on setting up an xRDP server are based on the older versions. This tutorial definitely works on Ubuntu 18.04

I am using MATE as my desktop environment as its light on resources and I don’t always have a good internet connection when working remotely. You can choose another environment of your choice, like MATE.

Note — xRDP has problems working with Unity and GNOME desktop environment.

Step 1- Install xRDP

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xrdp 

Step 2- Install MATE desktop environment

sudo apt-get install mate-core mate-desktop-environment mate-notification-daemon

Step 3- Tell xRDP to use MATE environment

sudo sed -i.bak '/fi/a #xrdp multiple users configuration mate-session \' /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh

Step 4- Firewall permission

# allow just RDP through the local firewall

sudo ufw allow 3389/tcp# restart xrdp 
sudo /etc/init.d/xrdp restart

You should be able to connect now. I use Remmina to connect from my laptop running Ubuntu. Windows users have an RDP connection application by default on their machines. To find it search for “Remote Desktop Connection” from the start menu.

When you log in with MAte for the first time, the system will ask if you want default panel settings or an empty panel. Choose the default settings unless you know what you want.