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Google Cloud virtual instance: Chrome remote desktop indicates remote computer is offline, however Google Cloud Platform shows instance is running – Debian

I am running a virtual machine in Google Cloud. I have installed the default Debian OS, and configured the desktop environment for remote connection, as explained here: https://cloud.google.com/solutions/chrome-desktop-remote-on-compute-engine

I have been able to connect to the instance via Chrome Remote Desktop, however periodically I have the problem that the Remote Desktop says the vm instance is online, however if I try to connect to it I get:

enter image description here

Looking at the Google Cloud console, the instance is clearly running. Normally if I restart the instance the problem is solved, however I have processes running on the instance that I do not want to stop.

UPDATE:

Following the advice from Serhii Rohoza I ran

sudo systemctl status chrome-remote-desktop

The status looked normal, listing:

Active: active (exited) since...

I then ran

sudo systemctl restart chrome-remote-desktop

and this solved the problem, I could log into remote desktop again, but it seemed the VM instance had restarted, which is a big problem since I am running processes on it that should not shut down. I guess this is a problem to send to Google Cloud Services support.

UPDATE 2:

I’m still running into this problem. I normally have a Jupyter Notebook running on the VM – this Notebook must keep running. When I saw the message saying that the remote computer is offline, I logged in via ssh and checked if the Jupyter Notebook is running:

jupyter notebook list

This returned:

http://localhost:8888/?token=9110bf40789971b5e252a272e9497039b4f3b45e506348df :: /home/qgenixtech

So the Notebook was running. I then ran:

sudo systemctl restart chrome-remote-desktop

and after that again:

jupyter notebook list

and then it shows no Notebooks running. So the restart command closed down the Notebook (and also all other open windows on the desktop).

UPDATE 3:

I spoke to a support technician at Google. The problem is on the Remote Desktop side, not the virtual machine. According to the technician this is a known problem, by he didn’t have a solution for it. He referred me to these two links from Google Support:

https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/10213547?hl=en

https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/3333421?hl=en

The next option for me is to look at something like X2go

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2

Answers


  1. 0

    To solve your issue you should follow documentation Troubleshooting and check status of the Chrome Remote Desktop service with command:

     sudo systemctl status chrome-remote-desktop

    and check log messages at /tmp/chrome_remote_desktop_DATE_TIME_*.

    To investigate why your VM instance was restarted you should look for some clues at the logs:

    1. Go to Compute Engine -> VM instances -> click on NAME_OF_YOUR_VM -> find section Logs -> click on Stackdriver Logging. More information you can find in the documentation Viewing logs (Classic)

    2. Go to Compute Engine -> VM instances -> click on NAME_OF_YOUR_VM -> find section Logs -> click on Serial port 1 (console). More information in the documentation Viewing Serial Port Output

    You can contact with Google Cloud Support as well.

    In addition, have a look at the documentation Setting instance availability policies.

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  2. 0

    same issue. when checking logs i see:

    2021-01-05 14:29:38,319:INFO:Starting Xvfb on display :20
xdpyinfo:  unable to open display ":20".
2021-01-05 14:29:40,837:INFO:X server is active.

    restarting service or even VM doesn’t work.

    i need to delete connection on "client" and re-auth with /headless link

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