I was finally able to get a desktop on Ubuntu 14.04 and access it from my Windows 7 PC using MobaXterm. I saw post on the internet about remote access using Windows Remote Desktop Connection and GNOME or Ubuntu2d desktops but were unable to make either one work. I mainly want the desktop to download software from the internet using a browser instead of having to do everything from the command line. I’m new to Linux and find the command line a little cryptic at times. Here are the steps that worked for me to load XUbuntu desktop on the BBB and make it work by accessing remotely using MobaXterm on Windows 7. I really like MobaXterm compared to Putty or doing a SSH session from Windows Remote Desktop Connection.
How to make remote desktop connection from Windows to Beaglebone Black running Ubuntu 14.04
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xrdp
sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop
echo “xfce4-session” > ~/.xsession
reboot Beaglebone
Download and install MobaXterm for Windows
Start the application and choose session
In session choose RDP and put the IP address of the Beaglebone and user id. Use the default port 3389
It took about 45-60 seconds for the Desktop to appear in MobaXterm after the connection was made the first time.
Subsequent connections happen a lot faster.