Wheezy/XFCE: difficulties trying to provide remote desktop service with VNC server
I'm hitting a problem trying to achieve remote desktop sharing for a
new-build box with Wheezy/XFCE.
The box is connected to the LAN for setting up and testing, and is
assigned a static IPv4 address 192.168.0.100 . A normal XFCE user
screen is presented (on a connected monitor) after login. I cannot
seem to present this screen remotely. I use remote desktop a lot and
have had no problem with previous Debian versions using Gnome or KDE,
or with XFCE (although only previously with XFCE on Fedora, and served
by vino); in each of these cases the remote screen is exactly the same
as on a connected monitor, same user, same mouse position, etc. But I
don't achieve this result.
I've tried two approaches on this Wheezy/XFCE system:
(a) Installing vnc4server, and alternatively
(b) Enabling vnc service in LightDM's conf file.
Installing VNC4server
vnc4server is installed, and then started with
$ vncserver
which replies with
xauth: /home/ward/.Xauthority not writable, changes will be ignored
New 'D7box:1 (ward)' desktop is D7box:1
Starting applications specified in /home/ward/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /home/ward/.vnc/D7box:1.log
Using vncviewer from a Windows desktop, connecting to 192.168.0.100:1
results in 'failed to connect'.
Connecting to 192.168.0.100 (ie, without the :1) results in
'No password configured for VNC auth'.
vncpasswd has been run, and a password set.
The vnc4server log file for this attempt shows:
xsetroot: unable to open display 'D7box:1'
/home/ward/.vnc/xstartup: 15: exec: gnome-session: not found
(x-window-manager:3269): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: D7box:1
(xfce4-terminal:3268): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: D7box:1
vncconfig: unable to open display "D7box:1"
I then shut down the service that I'd started:
ward@D7box:~$ vncserver -kill :1
But, I should say that though this is the current behaviour - since
enabling vnc service in LightDM configuration - this was not the
behaviour first experienced immediately after installing vnc4server.
On the initial attempts, vncviewer did receive a remote desktop (and
from ...100:1 in fact), but not the XFCE user desktop. Only a
mid-grey background was seen, with a single 'terminal' window
providing a CLI prompt. Trying to fix that, I'd found many postings
on various lists and fora describing that circumstance, but no posts
that I had found had been followed-up with solution or work-around
posts. So I parked the problem at that point, and tackled a separate
issue of auto-login, where I also found the option to configure
LightDM with a vnc service.
Enabling VNC through LightDM conf file
LightDM's conf file ( /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf ) also permits the
enabling of a VNC service, which I've done. Here's the relevant
section, with the remote geometry set to match the attached monitor
used by the local XFCE desktop:
#
# VNC Server configuration
#
# enabled = True if VNC connections should be allowed
# port = TCP/IP port to listen for connections on
#
[VNCServer]
enabled=true
port=5900
width=1440
height=900
depth=24
Logging in to this service (from vncviewer on a Windows desktop),
results in the same auth failure as above:
'No password configured for VNC Auth'
But I have run vncpasswd and set a password. Interestingly, there is
no log file produced for this attempt - not that I can find in any
/home/* directory, anyway. I did wonder whether this might be a clue
that the remote desktop request is not 'defaulting' to the auto-login
setting - but neither is it presenting a login screen, so I'm not sure.
I'm not at all sure of my ground, here, and would be grateful for any
suggestions that might help me debug the issue further. Please feel
free to assume I know even less than you suspect I do :) so even the
most basic of thoughts might be of help.
regards, Ron
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