Consolidated from multiple sources to exclude erroneous steps.

Tested on Amazon Web Services fresh Ubuntu LTS 12.04.3 instance.

Decided upon ubuntu vs centOS simply to avoid having to compile xrdp and manage dependencies manually. Chose 3rd party linux over Amazon AMI in this case for benefit of included repos, use cases and support in their respective communities (ubuntuforums, etc), as well as not having to compile xrdp in Amazon AMI.

sudo useradd -m {name}
passwd {name}

#you may want to consider setting a root passwd in case you mess up sudoers. if you make a mistake with sudoers terminate your instance and relaunch 🙂 ... or you could mount the HD with another system if it's unencrypted and modify sudoers
passwd root

#edit /etc/sudoers.d and add your new user
{name} ALL=(ALL) ALL

#edit sshd /etc/ssh/sshd_config disable root login and allow password authentication (if you like)
service ssh restart

#http://www.liberiangeek.net/2012/05/connect-to-ubuntu-12-04-precise-pangolin-via-windows-remote-desktop/
sudo apt-get install xrdp

sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback

#two options, 2d unity no longer available, previously
echo "gnome-session --session=ubuntu-2d" > ~/.xsession
#http://askubuntu.com/questions/247501/i-get-failed-to-load-session-ubuntu-2d-when-using-xrdp
echo gnome-session --session=gnome-fallback > ~/.xsession

#make sure your user has permission to this file if you have to create it with sudo etc
chown {name}:{name} .xsession

#http://www.filiwiese.com/installing-gnome-on-ubuntu-12-04-precise-pangolin/
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

#http://askubuntu.com/questions/251041/how-to-install-lightdm-set-defaults
sudo apt-get install lightdm

#http://askubuntu.com/questions/71126/how-do-i-set-the-gnome-classic-login-to-be-the-default-with-autologin
sudo /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-set-defaults -s gnome-fallback

Don’t forget AWS Firewall:

22 (SSH)	your ip/32