Ubuntu Desktop on Docker Container

FROM ubuntu:rolling
EXPOSE 3389/tcp
ARG USER=test
ARG PASS=1234
ARG X11Forwarding=false

RUN DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get update && \
        apt-get install -y ubuntu-desktop-minimal dbus-x11 xrdp sudo; \
    [ $X11Forwarding = 'true' ] && apt-get install -y openssh-server; \
    apt-get autoremove --purge; \
    apt-get clean; \
    rm /run/reboot-required*
RUN useradd -s /bin/bash -m $USER -p $(openssl passwd "$PASS"); \
    usermod -aG sudo $USER; \
    adduser xrdp ssl-cert; \
    # Setting the required environment variables
    echo 'LANG=en_US.UTF-8' >> /etc/default/locale; \
    echo 'export GNOME_SHELL_SESSION_MODE=ubuntu' > /home/$USER/.xsessionrc; \
    echo 'export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME' >> /home/$USER/.xsessionrc; \
    echo 'export XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11' >> /home/$USER/.xsessionrc; \
    # Enabling log to the stdout
    sed -i "s/#EnableConsole=false/EnableConsole=true/g" /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini; \
    # Disabling system animations and reducing the
    # image quality to improve the performance
    sed -i 's/max_bpp=32/max_bpp=16/g' /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini; \
    gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface enable-animations true; \
    # Listening on wildcard address for X forwarding
    [ $X11Forwarding = 'true' ] && \
        sed -i 's/#X11UseLocalhost yes/X11UseLocalhost no/g' /etc/ssh/sshd_config || \
        :;

CMD rm -f /var/run/xrdp/xrdp*.pid >/dev/null 2>&1; \
    service dbus restart >/dev/null 2>&1; \
    /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-logind >/dev/null 2>&1 & \
    [ -f /usr/sbin/sshd ] && /usr/sbin/sshd; \
    xrdp-sesman --config /etc/xrdp/sesman.ini; \
    xrdp --nodaemon --config /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini

Store the above Dockerfile and run the following command to create the container. The connection from the Remote Desktop client should be initiated with the provided username and password.

docker build -t ubuntu-gnome --build-arg USER=test --build-arg PASS=1234 .
docker run -d -p 3389:3389 ubuntu-gnome

🚩 Note
To enable X forwarding over SSH, X11Forwarding=true should be passed as an argument while creating the container:

docker build -t ubuntu-gnome --build-arg X11Forwarding=true .
docker run -d -p 3389:3389 -p 22022:22 ubuntu-gnome

and to open gnome-terminal on the local machine: (this also works on WSL)

ssh -X -p 22022 test@ip
gnome-terminal

🚩 Note
To run Visual Studio Code inside the container, after the installation, press Alt + F2 and enter code --no-sandbox to open it.