Usage of Windows servers is not recommended, as having more than 1 RDP connection requires setting up RDP licensing. Instead, we can use Linux and XRDP, and script the creation of student user accounts.
Start server with public IP and ports 22 (SSH) and 3389 (RDP) open.
Run commands in bash:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xrdp xubuntu-desktop
Note that this needs manual intervention
Give XRDP permission to SSL cert:
sudo adduser xrdp ssl-cert
(Following change to security layer might not be needed)
Edit xrdp config to change security layer:
sudo nano /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini
Set the following:
security_layer=rdp
Start the correct desktop:
sudo nano /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh
Comment out:
# test -x /etc/X11/Xsession && exec /etc/X11/Xsession
# exec /bin/sh /etc/X11/Xsession
And add:
startxfce4
Restart XRDP with new config:
sudo systemctl restart xrdp
Check status:
sudo systemctl status xrdp
Might need to reboot system:
sudo reboot now
Sources: