Linux remote desktop on X11 and Wayland: what works today

Every Linux desktop needs a display system: the layer that puts windows on the screen and hands keyboard and mouse input to the right program. For decades that was X11, usually the Xorg server. Wayland is its successor, and most major desktops now start on it by default, with X11 often still offered as a choice at the login screen.

For everyday use you'd barely notice which one you're on. For remote desktop, the difference is huge, because the two answer one question in opposite ways: may one program see and control everything on the screen?

On X11, any program running in your session can read the whole screen and send keystrokes and mouse clicks as if they came from you. Remote desktop software uses exactly that. Our Linux Agent captures the screen with the X server's shared-memory extension, follows the pointer, and types and clicks through the XTest extension. It's well understood, fast, and it works on every X11 desktop.

The flip side is that any program in the session could do the same, which is one of the reasons Wayland exists. That's also why we don't rely on X11 for safety: the Agent asks the person at the screen with Allow remote access?, shows a banner during every session, and keeps remote input away from its own prompts.

On Wayland, programs can't see each other's windows or inject input. Screen sharing and remote control go through the desktop itself instead, via the xdg-desktop-portal service: a program asks to share the screen (with the picture delivered over PipeWire) or to control input, and the desktop shows its own dialog asking the person at the screen to agree.

• It's better privacy: nothing records your screen without the desktop knowing.
• It's more work for remote desktop: screen and input each go through a separate permission, and desktops have implemented the portals at different paces.
• It's harder when nobody is at the screen: a dialog the desktop shows needs someone to answer it. That's why the approval is given once and remembered.

RemoteAccessApp for Linux works on X11 and on Wayland, from the same package. It sees which one you're signed in to and uses the right route by itself, so there's nothing to choose or switch. We test on Ubuntu 26.04 with GNOME on Wayland, Ubuntu's default desktop.

• On X11, it works straight away. Our Allow remote access? prompt is the only question the person at the PC is asked.
• On Wayland, the desktop asks once too. The first time someone connects, after our Allow prompt, the desktop shows its own Remote Desktop dialog at the PC. Turn on Allow Remote Interaction (so you can use the mouse and keyboard, not just watch), keep Remember This Selection ticked and click Share.
• After that, it's remembered. Later sessions start without the desktop's dialog, so unattended access works with nobody at the PC. Our own rules still apply every time: the Allow prompt unless unattended access lets you in, and the banner with End.

The desktop's dialog comes on top of our Allow prompt, never instead of it. While a session is open, GNOME shows its screen-sharing icon in the top bar, and Stop sharing there ends the session, so the person at the PC always has one more way to see and stop it.

A locked screen works on both. On X11 you type the password into the desktop's own lock screen. On Wayland the desktop doesn't let anyone see or use a locked screen remotely, so the Agent shows you its own lock screen instead: type the Linux user's password, the system checks it, and the PC unlocks. Either way it only works in a session the PC allowed, with remote control on.

You don't need to, but if you're curious, open a terminal and run:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

x11 means there's nothing more to it. wayland means you'll see the desktop's one-time Remote Desktop dialog the first time someone connects, or you can get it out of the way now: see how to approve screen sharing once on Ubuntu (Wayland).

Wayland screen sharing depends on the desktop offering it to apps. GNOME does, and so do most major desktops. A few smaller Wayland desktops don't yet. On one of those, the Agent says the desktop can't be shared rather than showing you a blank screen.

The install guide takes a couple of minutes, and remote access to an Ubuntu desktop walks through the whole setup on Ubuntu, including the one-time approval. For an always-reachable PC, see unattended access on Linux.