Documentation

Read it in order, or jump to what you need. New to Waydesk: start with Install and first login, it takes about ten minutes from a fresh server. Every page is a file in the repository, written from what was run on real servers.

Get started

  • Install and first loginInstall Waydesk on Debian 13, Ubuntu 26.04 or Arch Linux, make the first administrator, connect, and add more people. About ten minutes from a fresh server.
  • ConnectThe ways an RDP client can reach a Waydesk server: an SSH tunnel, the local network, a WireGuard VPN, and certificates a client can verify.
  • Set up your RDP clientStep by step for the Windows App on macOS, mstsc on Windows and FreeRDP on Linux: the tunnel, the account, the certificate and the first connection.
  • VPN and securing accessWhat protects the RDP login, and how to put the port behind a WireGuard VPN with three commands: init, add a client, scan the QR code.

Run it

  • The command lineEvery waydesk-admin command with its real output: accounts, sessions, limits, status and --watch, access, certificates and the VPN.
  • RecipesSix set-ups made from the documented commands: a shared server for a small team, a server behind a WireGuard VPN, a long or lossy link, a GPU server that also runs a shared model, hosted AI with one key per account, and workstations that use that model.
  • Using a GPUWhat Waydesk does with a GPU (Intel, AMD, NVIDIA), how to set it up, how to see what each session runs, what happens when it fails, and what was measured.
  • Other desktopsWaydesk gives every account the Waydesk desktop by default. An account can have COSMIC, KDE Plasma or Hyprland instead (all three tested on Arch): how each one runs, what you install, what was tested and what was not.
  • Files and settingsThe tested systems, clients, files, ports and settings of Waydesk, in tables.

Understand it

  • ArchitectureHow a login reaches a session, what each of the three parts may do, and how the capture and the encoder work.
  • MeasurementsMemory per user, capacity of an 8 GB server, bandwidth on a bad link and the GPU figures, each with its method.
  • How it comparesWaydesk next to xrdp, the GNOME remote desktop, X2Go, NoMachine and VNC: what each is for, and when to choose Waydesk.
  • Limits and statusWhat Waydesk is not yet: early software, the clients and GPUs it was tried with, what happens without a GPU, and how many users a server holds.

Help

  • When something is wrongWhat to check when a client cannot connect, a session is refused, the image is slow or wrong, or the GPU is not used. Where the logs are.
  • Questions and answersShort answers: whether a GPU is needed, why Sway, what happens when you disconnect, which apps run, how many users fit, and who makes Waydesk.