[TUTORIAL] How to create a template for LXC ubuntu desktop with sound

Max07

Member
Jul 29, 2020
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i am just posting this how-to steps to help those like me that are just starting with proxmox and LXC. Hopfully, you can find it useful and contribute to fixing the remainig issue with audio in the container. i post this in Reddit too because i know when i am looking for help i look anywhere i can get help.
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This post is for sharing how i managed to build an LXC template for ubuntu desktop with sound in xrdp. The new template is useful for future containers deployments with a size of 690M. I hope this post will be useful for proxmox beginner users. I spent a lot of time researching and reading other peoples posts. Unfortunately, i didn't find a clear direction, at least to my level of understanding. So i hope this will help someone else.

I also put the instructions here Link so that i can track and update issues i encountered as i learn more about proxmox and LXC.
The biggest problem i have is getting to sound to work in the container. Right now i have to reset the pulseaudio in the container every time i reboot/start the container. if someone has a better way of getting the sound to work please let me know. Here are the steps :

Part A: setting the template
1) create a template for ubuntu, give it 4G of storage, 2 cpu (can change to what you want), specify the ip you want (ex: 192.168.1.20/24), provide a gateway.
2) once you start the new lxc. Log in as root and edit Source.list:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following sources:
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal partner deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal partner

3) Install the desktop environment: during the install you will see a screen asking which desktop you want : select lighdm.
sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies xorg dbus-x11 x11-xserver-utils

4) since we want to access the lxc through remote RDP, install XRDP
sudo apt install xrdp

5) Verify xrdp installed correctly and is running:
sudo systemctl status xrdp

6) once RDP is installed we need to add this code, so that desktop manager know what to use for display:
update-alternatives --set x-session-manager /usr/bin/xfce4-session

7) install Firefox browser or any other software you like to have in your templates (Terminal/chrome browser, for example)
sudo apt-get install firefox -y

8) crate a backup of the new created LXC as as GZIP. first, turn off the lxc container and then do the backup from Proxmox GUI.
Pve-> select container <id> —> Backup now—> compression select GZIP (good)

9) once the backup is completed. Go the Shell of Proxmox: copy the new file created to the folder where Proxmox saves templates and give it a new name.In my case the templates are saved in the following folder, your will be different, look under your zpool or where you saved your selected to save templates when you download them:Template-folder: /your-zfs-pool-name/zfs-iso-template/template/cacheBackup-folder-file: /your-zfs-pool/zfs-backups/dump/vzdump-lxc-111-2020_07_27-14_52_18.tar.gz
cp backup-folder-file template-folder/new-name.tar.gz

10) That's it! Now when you go to create new container, you will have a new template that you can use to create new containers with desktop environment and all software per-installed.

Part B: getting the sound to work:

1) get latest download link of xrd-installer-1.2 from this website:
cd opt
wget http://c-nergy.be/downloads/xRDP/xrdp-installer-1.2.zip unzip xrdp* chmod +x xrdp-installer-1.2.sh

2) create a new user if you don't already have one:
adduser admin usermod -aG sudo admin su admin ./xrdp-installer-1.2.sh -s

3) reboot container.
reboot

4) After rebooting the container, i was getting Dummy output in the Volume control and no sound output. To fix the issue restart pulseaudio server in the container by running the following command:
pulseaudio -k

After pulseaudio is restarted, the sound should start to work with xrdp sink appearing in the volume control.

Part C:
You can use/try a different desktop environment than xfce4, after all this is the beauty of LXC. before turning the new container to a template try different desktop environments. once you make your choice, remove/delete old desktop then set container as template in order to keep it to a small size.
for UBUNTU-MATE desktop use the following:
sudo apt install lightdm ubuntu-mate-core ubuntu-mate-desktop -y sudo update-alternatives --set x-session-manager /usr/bin/mate-session


References/Credits:
I want to give credits to the following developers and their sites. i wouldn't have came up with the steps without the help of information they provided.
https://github.com/neutrinolabs/xrdp
https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install-xrdp-on-ubuntu-18-04/
https://github.com/bmullan/ciab-remote-desktop/blob/master/mk-cn1-environment.sh
https://linuxconfig.org/8-best-ubuntu-desktop-environments-18-04-bionic-beaver-linux
http://c-nergy.be/blog/?p=14888
https://www.closingtags.com/custom-lxc-container-templates-in-proxmox-5-0/
https://blog.simos.info/how-to-run-...pps-in-lxd-containers-on-your-ubuntu-desktop/
 
Hi,

Thanks for sharing your experience! - Maybe you could set the [TUTORIAL] prefix on the Thread (click on the 3 dots '...' on top - then edit thread and select the prefix)
 
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I also put the instructions here Link so that i can track and update issues i encountered as i learn more about proxmox and LXC.
...

Can you pls update this link?

Thanks for your thread, I have not followed the steps yet, but it's very useful !

I wonder if templates lie yours can be shared so other users can use them ?
 
Can you pls update this link?

Thanks for your thread, I have not followed the steps yet, but it's very useful !

I wonder if templates lie yours can be shared so other users can use them ?
Sorry i couldn't get back to you sooner. The website link might have been changed after I made few edits in it and got broken :(. I fixed the link and should be working now.
I only added the link to the website because i was hoping someone from the forum can help with the sound issue. Unfortunately i haven't figure out a permanent solution to the sound issue yet.

In any case, you should use standard LXC images provided in Proxmox and build on top of them the template that works for you as described in the Tutorial. i hope you can find it useful.
 
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