Linux desktop administration
You manage how the graphical session starts, the display manager, Wayland versus X11, printing, sound and remote desktop, and solve users' desktop problems.
Level 201 · 15 lessons · 18 practice labs
Lessons
The graphics stack
- Display servers: X11 and Wayland
- Display managers and how a session starts
- Desktop environments: GNOME, KDE and Xfce
- XDG: autostart, default apps and directories
- Short task: fix a session that throws you back to the login screen
Devices
- Printing with CUPS
- Sound: PipeWire and PulseAudio
- Multiple displays and resolution
- USB and Bluetooth devices: pairing and restricting
- Short task: set up the office printer for every user
Remote and multi-user
- Remote desktop: VNC and xrdp
- Locking down the desktop: mandatory settings with dconf
- Resetting a broken user profile
- Desktop troubleshooting: session logs
- Capstone: build a standard desktop for a ten-person office
Practice labs
- Fix a session that drops back to login: Find that wrong file ownership in the home directory makes the user's session close instantly, and fix it.
- Remove an unwanted app that opens at every login: Find the suspicious app launched at every login in the XDG autostart directories and disable it system- and user-wide.
- Set the session type for a remote support tool: Identify the session type breaking a screen-sharing tool under Wayland and give only that user an X11 session.
- Set up the office printer for every user: Add the network printer to CUPS, make it the default and send a test page to the queue to confirm it works.
- Clear a stuck print queue: Clear the jobs in a paused, full print queue, enable the printer and find in the log why it stopped.
- Fix a desktop with no sound: Find and fix sound going to the wrong output and the user audio service failing to start in a PipeWire session.
- List connected USB devices and find the unknown one: List the USB devices attached to an office PC and submit the vendor and product ID of the one missing from the inventory.
- Allow USB storage for one device only: Write a rule that blocks all USB sticks except the company stick with the given serial number.
- Mount removable disks read-only and log them: On lab PCs set up a rule that mounts every removable disk read-only and writes each plug-in event to the log.
- Enforce the screen-lock setting for users: Set the screen-lock timeout with dconf and lock it so users cannot change it.
- Let only the support team use remote desktop: Set up xrdp so only the support group can connect, and verify another user is refused.
- Limit and log remote desktop sessions: Apply an idle timeout and screen lock to remote desktop sessions, log accepted and refused connections, and confirm the open session of an account removed from the support group is closed.
- Find the log of a crashing desktop app: Find the error message of a constantly crashing app in the user session logs and submit it.
- Find the broken settings folder by elimination: For a user whose panel will not load, temporarily rename the hidden settings folders one at a time to find which one causes the problem, reset only that one and keep the other settings.
- Reset a broken profile without losing data: Back up and reset the hidden settings folders of a user with a broken desktop while keeping their documents.
- Add a shared shortcut to new accounts: Put the shared folder shortcut under /etc/skel, create a new test account and confirm the shortcut is already on its desktop.
- Prepare a standard desktop template for new accounts: Use /etc/skel and system dconf defaults so new accounts open with the same wallpaper, bookmarks and panel.
- Build a standard desktop for a ten-person office: Apply the printer, screen lock, USB restriction and shared folder access with one setup script and verify with two accounts.
About this course
You manage how the graphical session starts, the display manager, Wayland versus X11, printing, sound and remote desktop, and solve users' desktop problems.
What you will learn
- The graphics stack
- Devices
- Remote and multi-user
Prerequisites
Finishing the level 101 courses of the same path, or knowing those topics, is enough.
Lab environment
Lessons run on your own Kali Linux desktop in the browser, with the tools ready in their windowed interfaces. Nothing to install; a computer screen is recommended.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this course right for my level?
- The course is at level 201; it assumes you know the topics of the lower-level courses.
- Is there anything to install?
- No. Every lesson runs in your own lab environment that opens in the browser.
- How do lessons work?
- Each lesson has 8 to 10 steps and a short quiz. Early steps show the command to type, later steps give less help; if two attempts fail, the solution opens.
- Can I try it for free?
- Yes. The first three lessons of every course are free.