These are the steps I took to configure Xrdp on CentOS to allow me to hear audio over Microsoft Remote Desktop on OSX. YMMV.

Install the [pulseaudio-module-xrdp](https://github.com/neutrinolabs/pulseaudio-module-xrdp) module using the instructions based on those provided by [neutrinolabs](https://github.com/neutrinolabs/pulseaudio-module-xrdp/wiki/README) with modifications that I needed to make it work on my install.

## CentOS 8

### **Prerequisites**

Xrdp needs to have been installed.

Some build tools and package development tools are required. Make sure you install the tools.

```bash
yum groupinstall "Development Tools"
yum install rpmdevtools yum-utils
rpmdev-setuptree
```

### **Prepare & build**

Install pulseaudio and requisite packages to build pulseaudio.

**Note:** The *powertools* and *okay* repos needed to be added for `yum-builddep`. The *okay* repo was current at time of writing, you may need to update this.

```bash
yum install pulseaudio pulseaudio-libs pulseaudio-libs-devel
yum config-manager --set-enabled powertools
rpm -ivh http://repo.okay.com.mx/centos/8/x86_64/release/okay-release-1-3.el8.noarch.rpm?
yum-builddep pulseaudio
```

Fetch the pulseaudio source and extract. You'll see `~/rpmbuild/BUILD/`

```bash
yumdownloader --source pulseaudio
rpm --install pulseaudio*.src.rpm
```

If the source download fails due to being unavailable, manually download the source rpm. Use the name that it says it failed to find and have a dig around for the source. I found the version I needed here, but you can dig further up the tree to see if you can find yours:

[https://vault.centos.org/8.3.2011/AppStream/Source/SPackages/pulseaudio-13.99.1-1.el8.src.rpm](https://vault.centos.org/8.3.2011/AppStream/Source/SPackages/pulseaudio-13.99.1-1.el8.src.rpm)

When executing `rpm --install` you might see:

```bash
warning: user mockbuild does not exist - using root
warning: group mockbuild does not exist - using root
```

It's okay, these are just warnings, it probably worked. You'll find out shortly.

Build the pulseaudio source. In this phase, pulseaudio is not necessarily needed to be built but configured however there's no way to do only configure.

```bash
rpmbuild -bb --noclean ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/pulseaudio.spec
```

Finally, let's build Xrdp source / sink modules. You'll have two .so files `module-xrdp-sink.so` and `module-xrdp-source.so`.

```bash
git clone https://github.com/neutrinolabs/pulseaudio-module-xrdp.git
cd pulseaudio-module-xrdp
./bootstrap && ./configure PULSE_DIR=~/rpmbuild/BUILD/pulseaudio-[YOUR VERSION]
make
```

## **Install**

Just `make install` should install built modules to the correct directory.

You can confirm if the modules properly installed by following command:

```bash
ls $(pkg-config --variable=modlibexecdir libpulse)
```

If you can see lots of `module-*.so` and `module-xrdp-sink.so`, `module-xrdp-source.so`, PulseAudio modules should be properly built and installed.

`module-xrdp-sink.la` and `module-xrdp-source.so` may be installed to the target directory, these files are not necessary and you can remove them safely.

Enjoy!

## **See if it works**

To see if it works, run `pavumeter` in the xrdp session. Playback any YouTube video in Firefox. You'll see "Showing signal levels of **xrdp sink**" and volume meter moving.

## Troubleshooting

* Audio pitch is lower than it should be

    Modify `/etc/pulse/daemon.conf`, uncomment or add `default-sample-rate = 44100`

* Choppy audio

    No actual solution set, unfortunately. YouTube playback is choppy, but straight audio playback is fine.


## Additional Sources

* [https://okay.network/blog-news/rpm-repositories-for-centos-6-and-7.html](https://okay.network/blog-news/rpm-repositories-for-centos-6-and-7.html)


Configuring Xrdp on CentOS for use over Microsoft Remote Desktop.

1 posts tagged “xrdp”

Configure audio over Xrdp on CentOS