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Remote desktop

Important note for earlier users of remote desktop

Remote desktop’s Qt Creator has been updated during the summer 2025. If you have used remote desktop and its Qt Creator last time before the summer 2025, execute the command:

mv ~/.config/QtProject/ ~/.config/QtProject_old/

It is enough to execute the command once, before starting Qt.

If you have never used remote desktop earlier, you need not run the command above. Or if you have already executed the command after the summer 2025 (e.g. last spring or last autumn), you need not execute it again.

For programming on this course you will need both Qt Creator programming environment and Git version control system. Both of them are available at Linux remote desktop. Linux remote desktop enables you to use Linux commands in computers with an other operating system (Windows, Mac).

Working at remote desktop means that by using a suitable utility software you can make a connection from your computer to the server machine at the university and work there.

Another choice for programming is to install Qt Creator and Git on your own computer. This choice will be described in the next material section, so you can directly move there if you wish.

Obs! When you consider above mentioned choices, note that environment in the remote desktop is more like that used in automated tests. If you install Qt Creator on your own computer (and especially if you have Windows), it can happen so that a program works on your own computer, but it does not pass automated tests. In such cases, there is an error in your program, e.g. an uninitialized variable or over-indexing of a vector. (You can notice over-indexing by using at function instead of brackets in indexing.)

In this section, we will give some guidance on how to use remote desktop. Computer classrooms at the university have TigerVNC Viewer already installed. If you are using remote desktop in a computer classroom at the university, it is enough to see from Intra (follow the link below) only the points Using remote desktop server -> Accessing a remote desktop server and Using the remote desktop.

Instructions in Intra

From Intra you can find instructions for using remote desktop.

Note also the last section called Tips for using remote desktop.

From Intra instructions, see especially the following points:

  • Login and user rights

  • Using remote desktop servers

    • TigerVNC program

    • certificate file

  • Using the remote desktop.

You can save certificate file on your own computer by clicking the link with right mouse button and choosing “Save link as …” or something like that. Alternatively you can open the link and save the content by clicking right mouse button and choosing “Save page as …” or something like that.

After saving certificate file linux-desktop.pem (or linux-desktop.txt) on your own computer in a suitable place, remember that at point “Path to X509 CA certificate”, you must write (or copy and paste) the whole file name with directories and suffixes, such as C:\Users\aps\linux-desktop.pem. In the path, do not use empty spaces nor Scandinavian vowels.

That’s all. Remote desktop should now be ready to use.

Ideal situation is as described above. In practice, there can delays in login (even some tens of seconds). The delay can be so long that the screen saver switches on (you can see clock time with very large numbers). Exit from the screen saver by pressing Enter/Return button.

Check list

If you still have problems in logging in remote desktop, check the following points:

  • You have access rights (remote desktop server).

    • It can take some time to get access rights. They can yet be invalid, even if they should be valid based on the site id.tuni.fi. Therefore, try again after a while.

  • You tried to log in with your intranet username, not with your e-mail address.

  • You wrote your password correctly.

  • The root certification file has been saved in correct way.

    • You shall not save the root certification file as copy-paste, but by selecting “Save link as…”.

  • The location of the root certification file is correct.

    • The path and the real location must match. The instructions above gave an example path. If the location of your own file is different from that, then the path shall be different as well.

    • The path (or the location) should not contain empty spaces nor Scandinavian vowels.

Tips for using remote desktop

If the remote desktop has many users, login may take a long time. At rush hours, you may need watch black window even 20-30 seconds before seeing the login dialog and again after login. If login takes more time, it may be an error there.

Remote desktop in maintained by the university IT services, and thus, the course personnel cannot do any maintaining actions to it. If you have problems with remote desktop or vncviever, you should send email to it-helpdesk@tuni.fi. (If your problem is related to the programming environment used in remote desktop, you can send email to prog2@tuni.fi.)

If you think that remote desktop is too slow to use via network, you can work at the university instead. Network connection to remote desktop inside the university is much faster than taking connection from outside it. You can also use Linux directly from computer classroom TC217, which has Qt Creator and Git installed.

The best tip ever: Do not postpone working with the assignments on the deadline day. Many students do so, and there will rush on these days and taking connection can be difficult. Although the exercise deadlines are at midnight, the course personnel does not work in night, evening, nor weekend shifts, and thus, at these hours you cannot expect to get help in doing exercises.