Quick fix: Can’t log in to Ubuntu 12.04 Gnome via RDP – failed to load session ubuntu

AS I type, i’m setting up an Ubuntu server to use a virtual server host on my test rig. Slight problem though, after getting bored/frustrated with command line configuring (odd because usually command line is my preference) I got lazy and decided to install Gnome and virt-manager. All good, so I thought, I added xrdp to allow me to RDP in but got a message “failed to load session ubuntu“.

A little digging on the internet and the solution which worked for me was to install unity-2d:

sudo apt-get install unity-2d

Then i just restarted GDM:

sudo restart gdm

And I can now log in via RDP to my Ubuntu 12.04 server!

Hope that helps someone.