HOWTO: Setup vncserver + gdm on Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop

[kcnnc]

Much of the information comes from this threads http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=122402 and http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=191564 and links in the threads. However the threads were started since 2006 and many pages long. After spending a few days digging through the information and links, I hope this information will save you time if you are setting up vncserver and gdm on 8.04.

The setup was done almost immediately after a fresh installation of 8.04 desktop on our office internal network.

Objective:
To have vncserver setup with gdm on the host so that a remote vnc connection to it will be greeted with a gdm login screen for the user to login.


Clarification of terms used:
Host - refers to the PC you are trying to install vncserver on.
Remote - the PC that is going to connect to the host

1. Get required packages installed
On the host, run
sudo apt-get install vnc4server xinetd

Being a server guy, I prefer to ssh into the host and do all the work, so I also
sudo apt-get install openssh-server
This way I can directly test the vnc by using vncclient on my remote desktop to the host.
Of course if you have only a host PC, then you may also need a vncclient to test it.

2. Enable XDMCP
This is the part that is responsible for bring up the gdm login.

sudo vi /etc/gdm/gdm.conf

Uncomment this line
RemoteGreeter=/usr/lib/gdm/gdmlogin

Enable xdmcp, look for [xdmcp] and change Enable to true.
[xdmcp]
Enable=true


Restart gdm,
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

3. Setup xinetd
Create a new service file for xinetd
sudo vi /etc/xinetd.d/Xvnc
(vi is of course one of many editors you can use)

Paste the following into the file and save:
service Xvnc
{
type = UNLISTED
disable = no
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = no
user = nobody
only_from = localhost
server = /usr/bin/Xvnc
server_args = -inetd -query localhost -geometry 1024x768 -depth 16 -cc 3 -once -SecurityTypes=none -extension XFIXES
port = 5901
}

Restart xinetd
sudo /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

4. Connect from remote
Because I added only_from = localhost in /etc/xinetd.d/Xvnc above, I will need to ssh tunnel and forward my remote port (see term clarification above, as this is actually my local PC that I working from) to the host (this is the 'remote' where vncserver is being installed). If you do not need this step (why not?), just remove the line.

I use putty on Windows so just go to
Connections >SSH >Tunnels
Source Port: 5901
Destination: localhost:5901
Add
Then establish a normal ssh connection to the host or use my existing ssh connection.

This link might be helpful for those using other clients https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VNCOverSSH

I use UltraVNC, so this is what I do:
Open Viewer
VNC Server: localhost:5901
Connect

5. Done
The vnc viewer should open up and a gdm login screen presented (with a Debian logo).
Enter your username and password. That's it.


Hopefully this do not generate 45+9 pages of discussion.

Update :
How to connect with an Ubuntu remote using vinagre (Ubuntu's default vnc client) through an ssh tunnel (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=795036&page=2#12)

[KubuntuKilledMe]

Some notes on using this with kdm would be great. I guess i'll have to dig in those threads you found.

[kcnnc]

I have no experience with kdm. Presumably step 2 (Enable XDMCP) is the only point to focus attention on.

[tmaleshafske]

Great how to works perfectly.
Question though how do you make it work to have another remote session on 5902. Which would truely give you multiple remote sessions?

[geezerone]

Thanks for that, nice concise write-up. :)

[kcnnc]

Question though how do you make it work to have another remote session on 5902. Which would truely give you multiple remote sessions?

Just open another vnc connection to the same port.
It works ... I just did it on my desktop.

[geezerone]

What about getting privileges to perform tasks such as Shutdown from the power button icon. Do changes just have to be made under the login window preferences to allow remote connections admin rights or another way?

TIA

[kcnnc]

What about getting privileges to perform tasks such as Shutdown from the power button icon. Do changes just have to be made under the login window preferences to allow remote connections admin rights or another way?

In my case I don't have a need for those so I don't ready know how to do it. Maybe someone has an idea?

[iCara]

Worked perfectly for me on 8.04 desktop (not fresh install, upgraded from 7.10).

Thanks!

[trdc]

Very nice work. I spent a couple hours trying to get this to work using those guides you mentioned, but I could never got the login screen to come up. Your guide worked perfectly though.

[geezerone]

In my case I don't have a need for those so I don't ready know how to do it. Maybe someone has an idea?

Thanks for replying. I know I can sudo shutdown now -P from terminal or create launcher, to shutdown the box but maybe it is because I am logging on twice as the same user? The remote unit auto-logins to allow wireless to come up and thus my remote connection to connect as I am using this remote unit as a download file server.

[Rigrig]

Thanks you for this guide, finally got this working thanks to you.

Something that might be usefull to add:

How to connect with an Ubuntu remote using vinagre (Ubuntu's default vnc client) through an ssh tunnel:

Make sure the right packages are installed on the remote: (Ubuntu should already have vinagre installed by default)
sudo apt-get install openssh-client vinagre

To login through an ssh tunnel:
ssh -fNT user@hostname -L 5900:127.0.0.1:5901 && vinagre localhost:5900 && ps -AO pid,command | grep 'ssh -fNT .*@.* -L 5900:127.0.0.1:5901' | sed 's/^[ ]*//' | cut -d' ' -f1 | xargs kill

Replace user and hostname with the user name and address used to login.

This will start ssh, which will prompt you for your password, and then forward port 5900 to the host.
Then it starts vinagre on the forwarded port.
When you close vinagre the ssh tunnel is closed (the part from && ps to the end is to find the tunneling ssh process, then kill it. There's probably some much simpler way to do this that I missed)
You could also remove the end of the line, starting from && ps -AO to leave the tunnel open, then you can always reconnect by just opening vinagre (in the menu: 'Internet' > 'Remote Desktop Viewer') and connecting to localhost on port 5900.

Because its forwarding port 5900 to 5901, this will also work if you try it out on the same machine as you are running the server.

[XekaLula]

I tried the how-to on a new 8.04 installation.
I must be really close here but for some reason I don't see the login screen, only a gray background with a big X cursor.

Does anyone have an idea what I am doing wrong?

Thanks,
Lu

[cyboc]

Thanks for this HOWTO. It mostly works but one problem is that after I login, I get this error message:

There was an error starting the GNOME Settings Daemon.

Some things, such as themes, sounds, or background settings may not work correctly.

The Settings Daemon restarted too many times.

GNOME will still try to restart the Settings Daemon next time you log in.

Any suggestions on how to fix that error?

Some more questions:

Would this HOWTO also work with tightvncserver instead of vnc4server?
Should I uninstall the vino VNC server?


Cheers

[geezerone]

The last page in THIS (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=577946&page=3) particular post may be of interest with regards to your Gnome error messages.

[cyboc]

geezerone, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, it doesn't fix the error message for me. Note that I ONLY get the error message when I login via VNC. I do NOT get the error message when I login at the console.

[geezerone]

I found THIS (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=333738&highlight=error+starting+GNOME+Settings+Daemon+vnc ) post also which looks like others had the same problem but no solution to that post anyhow. On page 1 of this topic This (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VNCOverSSH) is regarding VNC/SSH in general.

Do you get this problem if you create a different user and login as that via VNC?

[dylansimpson]

Thanks worked great for me.

However how would one keep the session alive so that you could continue to run programs on the remote machine while closing your VNC viewer?

[pumax84]

Hi all... I'm italian, so sorry for my bad english! :P

It worked for me, but i have a problem in vnc session: Gnome theme "switching"... Why? Can you help me?

Thanks,
pumax84

[Amannim]

service xvnc
{
type = UNLISTED
disable = no
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = yes
user = root
server = /usr/bin/Xvnc
server_args = -inetd :1 -query localhost -geometry 1216x960 -depth 24 -once -fp /usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/,/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/,/usr/share/fonts/X11/encodings/,/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc/,/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/,/usr/share/fonts/X11/util/ passwordFile=/home/adam/.vnc/passwd -extension XFIXES -desktop WindowName
port = 5901
}


Here's a copy of the xinetd config I'm using for resumable sessions in 8.04 /w VNC.

I had to kill my .gconf folder in order for everything to work after upgrading from 7.10. Kind of bummed about that, but after logging in through gdm the vnc server would segfault and throw me out. Creating a new user and logging in as them worked fine. Tried my best to reset everything to default but I just wasn't getting it all.

Both the new test account and my personal account I get the gnome-settings warning box, but frankly I'd take that message over the system not working. :)

[kcnnc]

Catching up on the reply ...

Rigrig,
Updated the additional in the main text.

XekaLula,
Perhaps check your gdm.conf to see if you have all the changes. Uncomment the line etc.

cyboc,
I have no idea about the error and have not try tightvnc. Would assume that tightvnc would be pretty similar.
You don't have to remove vino. It is used for remote desktop for the user, a somewhat different purpose.

dylansimpson,
#20 should be the solution.
Basically set wait = yes
See man xinetd somewhere near the end about this.

pumax84,
Sorry don't quite understand the problem here.

[Pjukern]

Im having a problems connecting with vnc after i followed this guide.

In the first place i could not login with vns unless i logged in at the console first. This server is headless and has only power and ethernet connected. So I need to be able to log in with vnc after reboot without having to connect a monitor/keyboard/mouse.

I followed this guide, but i was doing thorugh vns, and when i came to the point where i should restart GDM i lost the connection.
I did the last steps through ssh, but still cant log in with vnc..

[geezerone]

If you have an ethernet connection you will be able to setup autologin (System > Administration > Login Window > Security ; then tick "Enable automatic login" for your desired username. Test this before moving to location without kbd/mouse/screen.

This may work with wireless connection but I found that the wireless key needed to be unlocked and hence a keyboard attached which defeats the whole idea.

HTH

[Pjukern]

If you have an ethernet connection you will be able to setup autologin (System > Administration > Login Window > Security ; then tick "Enable automatic login" for your desired username. Test this before moving to location without kbd/mouse/screen.

This may work with wireless connection but I found that the wireless key needed to be unlocked and hence a keyboard attached which defeats the whole idea.

HTH

Is there a way to enable this through ssh?

[geezerone]

You ssh first to create your secure tunnel and then vnc over this. You need to configure auto-login first with kbd/mouse attached and then test. Once configured, remove mouse/kdb and this should work ok.

[Pjukern]

You ssh first to create your secure tunnel and then vnc over this. You need to configure auto-login first with kbd/mouse attached and then test. Once configured, remove mouse/kdb and this should work ok.

I actually got it figured out.
In /etc/gdm/gdm.conf i just replaced "autologin=false" with "autologin=true"
Also entered my username in the line below, autologinuser=username
then i restarted GDM.

I can now connect with vnc. Didnt have to open a tunnel with ssh.

[geezerone]

Glad it is sorted. I understand the OP was setup with experience of servers in a workplace and using ssh is just a more secure way of moving data.

[Pjukern]

Glad it is sorted. I understand the OP was setup with experience of servers in a workplace and using ssh is just a more secure way of moving data.

Yeah i understood that, and I totally agree with that solution, it would also just require you to open up for ssh in firewall, you wouldnt need to open for 5900/5901.

I just gave it a second try, i added the "only_from = localhost" in the /etc/xinetd.d/Xvnc, but im still able to log in with vnc without having a tunell in putty..

will look more into this. maybe I need a restart.

edit: figured it out, i wasnt using localhost in vnc.. i was still using my servers ip (knocks my head in table)

Anyway forgot to mention, great guide! even me, a totally newbie got this up and working (yeah except for the vnc/ssh)
now i can log into the box after powerloss etc.. without having to log on to the console first.

[megamaced]

Is there a way to automatically disable all GNOME theming when connecting via VNC?

Sometimes the GNOME theme just "crashes" anyway when using TightVNC and displays a very basic looking GNOME. This is better for me as it makes my desktop much faster to use over WAN.

[drewster1829]

Great write up! I had to find a way to get my wifi card enabled without network manager (so it would have network access before login), here, at the bottom (http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-598880.html), and it works (but then it makes network manager worthless, which is fine with me).

I also had to do some voodoo to get vnc4server to work properly (editing the font paths in /etc/vnc.conf), and I followed this HowTo to the T...but I still am having the problem XekaLula was having...all I get when I log into the other machine is a blank screen with an X. (I'm suprised I was able to forward the port to get the SSH tunneling to work...I tried it both with and without tunneling with no problems. I only discovered SSH and it's wonderful usefulness yesterday :))

I'm almost certain it's an XDMCP problem (and, yes, I did edit /etc/gdm/gdm.conf, removing the comment mark before "Remote Greeter=/usr/lib/gdm/gdmlogin" and changing Enable to "true" in the [xdmcp] section. Of course, I've restarted gdm and xinetd (on the server) about a thousand times trying to get all of the above to work, and even rebooted the server a few times, too, for good measure.

By going to the gdm login window in the client machine, and attempting to use the GUI to login to the server machine with XDMCP results in a quit network search, with no xdmcp hosts found. Trying to type in either the IP address or the host name also doesn't work (yes, both machines are on the same LAN, both Wifi connections). I remember having trouble getting XDMCP to work in Gutsy, and I just gave up. Yes, Hardy is on both the client and the server, and the server still gives me the grey screen with the black X cursor, and nothing else (when it should be the XDMCP login screen). What am I doing wrong?

[brttdls]

i can login via ssh and vnc with no problem, but when the welcome window opens, it is a grey screen with a command prompt. do you have any ideas?

[pmsumner]

Thank you! This worked for me grand. First time I got the grey screen, until I logged out of the SSH session and logged back in. Now working fine (but dog slow compared to the Vino setup..).

[dtown240]

To the OP, Thank you

[kcnnc]

To those that get the gray screen, I really do not know how to fix that.

I did get it while following the other howto in the forum. Eventually I figured out the right combination, did a clean install, wrote this howto and use it for all my desktop setup ever since.

Perhaps it was something left over from configurations you had tried. The most likely places to look are /etc/gdm/gdm.conf and server_args = part in /etc/xinetd.d/Xvnc. Try remove those vnc setup directories in the user directory that was created if you followed some of the other howto, I don't think they are needed.

[coldfusion212]

Hi all... I'm italian, so sorry for my bad english! :P

It worked for me, but i have a problem in vnc session: Gnome theme "switching"... Why? Can you help me?

Thanks,
pumax84

Hello all, new to the forums here.

I have just followed kcnnc's instructions for setting up a gnome vnc session (thanks!) and I am also experiencing what pumax84 refers to as "theme switching".

After logging in to the remote session or opening any applications in the session the gnome theme will jump to the default un-themed windows and bars at which point it re-themes all of the open windows and bars. I have seen this happen while scrolling through a file browser window as well. I have tried removing the gnome2

Any help or advice in fixing this little issue would be much appreciated, thanks!

EDIT: As I was typing this the gnome settings daemon crashed, reporting that it had restarted too many times. I will search on this topic and see if I can find a solution.

EDIT2: It looks like there is an issue with the gnome-settings-daemon keyboard.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-settings-daemon/+bug/199245

[reviver]

I was also getting the dead, grey X window when I would try to connect even though I followed the guide completely. What I figured out is there was one more line that needed to be uncommented in /etc/gdm/gdm.conf for it to work for me. Right under the [xdmcp]
Enable=true
line, there's another line that might need to be uncommented. I uncommented HonorIndirect=true
restarted gdm and then tried to connect again. Voila, no grey screen, just gdm ready and waiting for login info! =]

[kcnnc]

line, there's another line that might need to be uncommented. I uncommented HonorIndirect=true
restarted gdm and then tried to connect again. Voila, no grey screen, just gdm ready and waiting for login info! =]

I am no expert at gdm so I have no idea what that line does. My configuration has it commented out.

This page might be help for those that are tuning the configuration: http://www.gnome.org/projects/gdm/docs/2.20/configuration.html#xdmcpsection

[mikeduffy13]

thanks for the tut. i have a slightly different problem. I have the ssh tunnel setup correctly, and followed all of the other instructions, but when I use vncviewer to connect to localhost:5901, I get a quick splash of an X11 terminal and then it closes right away...

HOWEVER - even if I first log into Ubuntu w/ kb/mouse and then VNC in from a client with localhost:5901 I still get the X11 splash. When I am logged in, I can just VNC with the servers IP address so I assume that works just because XDCMP or whatever is enabled.

EDIT: when not logged in via console, and I use VNC over SSH tunnel with xx.xx.xx.xx :localhost:5901 --> I get "unable to connect to host: Connection refused (10061)". I should also mention that I am using 7.10...maybe I need to upgrade?

[kcnnc]

mikeduffy13:
Maybe take a look at this and the few post above it
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5258830&postcount=26

[musides]

There was an error starting the GNOME Settings Daemon.

Some things, such as themes, sounds, or background settings may not work correctly.

The Settings Daemon restarted too many times.

GNOME will still try to restart the Settings Daemon next time you log in.

Any suggestions on how to fix that error?


Cheers

I found a workaround at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-settings-daemon/+bug/199245
Disabling the "keyboard" and "mouse" g-s-d plugin solved my problem.

[martijntje]

I followed this guide, and also have the problem with an empty screen with the X cursor. I even tried to enable HonorIndirect without any luck.

All the necessary changes are made, it just won't work. Does anybody here have a clue on how to fix this?

[syborfical]

Ive done this i just get this!! its really annoying..

Because VNC was working now its not ...

http://members.wideband.net.au/syborfical/Xvnc.png

[adski-tux]

I cant remember where I found this fix but it soved my grey screen problem. Took me hours of trawling to find it.

Edit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases and find the line containing

alias net-pf-10 ipv6

and replace ipv6 with off.
After reboot everything should work!


:guitar:

Hope this helps

[vinhomn]

Ive done this i just get this!! its really annoying..

Because VNC was working now its not ...

http://members.wideband.net.au/syborfical/Xvnc.png

I have a problem like you, I tried to fix this by:

Edit /etc/gdm/gdm.conf-custom
sudo vim /etc/gdm/gdm.conf-custom
(try another editor if you can't use the vim editor)

find:
[daemon]
add after:
RemoteGreeter=/usr/lib/gdm/gdmgreeter

find:
[security]
add after:
AllowRemoteRoot=true
AllowRoot=true

find:
[xdmcp]
add after:
Enable=true

restart gdm
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

Hope this helps :)
Sorry for my bad English :P.

[composites]

Thanks worked great for me.

However how would one keep the session alive so that you could continue to run programs on the remote machine while closing your VNC viewer?


dylansimpson,
#20 should be the solution.
Basically set wait = yes
See man xinetd somewhere near the end about this.

Thanks for the tutorial. Everything has worked great, expect I wanted to have the session I started to be resumable, so I could start a session, start a couple programs, close vnc, then later open vnc and manage the programs.

However, with wait = yes I am not able to open vnc at all. It just gives the error "The connection closed unexpectedly. Do you wish to attempt to reconnect to localhost:5901". If I change it back to wait = no then I am able to load vnc again (but session aren't resumable.)

[JohnnyVW]

I had the same gray screen or connection refused when trying to connect to my Xubuntu laptop from my Ubuntu desktop.

I undid everything in this how-to and successfully did this:

http://www.vincentkong.com/2008/02/remote-desktop-on-xubuntu/

Hope this helps out a few gray-screen victims!

[MrSalti]

As far as the "Theme Switching", or more accurately the Gnome settings-daemon recursively crashing then giving up, I have stumbled upon this page.

http://www.francescosantini.com/index.php?page=linux&lang=en

Will let you know what happens.

[piyushj]

i don't know if it will help any1--i got it working in 8.04.2 ubuntu with latest updates.

install vnc4server
make .vnc/xstartup file as
---
unset SESSION_MANAGER
exec sh /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
---
note the additional 'sh' above
------
run this
sudo mkdir /usr/X11R6/lib/X11
sudo mkdir /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/lib
sudo ln -s /usr/share/fonts/X11 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts
-----
u are done !!
set vncpasswd first and u r done !!

[Crugster]

... I am also experiencing what pumax84 refers to as "theme switching".

After logging in to the remote session or opening any applications in the session the gnome theme will jump to the default un-themed windows and bars at which point it re-themes all of the open windows and bars. I have seen this happen while scrolling through a file browser window as well. I have tried removing the gnome2

Any help or advice in fixing this little issue would be much appreciated, thanks!

EDIT: As I was typing this the gnome settings daemon crashed, reporting that it had restarted too many times. I will search on this topic and see if I can find a solution.

EDIT2: It looks like there is an issue with the gnome-settings-daemon keyboard.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-settings-daemon/+bug/199245

I am experiencing the theme-switching as well and have been googling for 3 days now and this was the best related page/post (however also without a solution) I could find thus far. I was wondering (seeing it has been a year and I am on 9.04) whether this is solved yet, or if someone found a work around. Thanks in advance guys!

Just found this url stating it is probably a bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-settings-daemon/+bug/199245

Anyone able to verify / give advice anyway?

[azzopardim]

Running Ubuntu 9.04 and I have the same problem of not seeing the gdm but only get the grey X11 screen. Tried the configuration mentioned for gm.conf and Xvnc. Can anybody help ?

gdm.conf

[daemon]
RemoteGreeter=/usr/lib/gdm/gdmlogin

[xdmcp]
Enable=true

[security]
AllowRoot=true
AllowRemoteRoot=true

Xvnc
service Xvnc
{
type = UNLISTED
disable = no
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
wait = no
user = nobody
server = /usr/bin/Xvnc
server_args = -inetd -query localhost -geometry 1024x768 -depth 16 -cc 3 -once -SecurityTypes=none -extension XFIXES
port = 5901
}

[SeetheZA]

According to a post over at https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gdm/+question/62380 there might be a bug in Jaunty's (9.04) IPV6 code that is causing Xvnc to not launch GDM.

After following this guide I was also experiencing the problem on 9.04 (64 bit version), whereby I could open a VNC session but just got the grey screen with an X cursor. Changing -query localhost in the server_args parameter of /etc/xinet.d/Xvnc to -query 127.0.0.1 as recommended in the referenced post did the trick for me.

The full line that's working for me is:
server_args = -inetd -query 127.0.0.1 -geometry 1024x768 -depth 16 -cc 3 -once -SecurityTypes=none -extension XFIXES

Finding that fix is four hours of my life that I'll never get back - hope this helps you!

[Crugster]

Running Ubuntu 9.04 and I have the same problem of not seeing the gdm but only get the grey X11 screen. Tried the configuration mentioned for gm.conf and Xvnc. Can anybody help ?


@ Azzopardim: If you DO get an X-server (gray with the old style mous-pointer) you might want to adding the following (for gnome) to the top of your xstartup file:

unset SESSION_MANAGER
exec sh /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrcNote the sh, btw! However, I (as well as others) am experiencing theme-switching. The theme-chooser will very shortly change the theme, but when I stop using the chooser itself it refers back to the default icon/theme appearance. Anyone got an idea/link? EDIT: Apperantly this is a bug in 9.04

[jeffmings]

tightvncserver problems with Ubuntu server 8.04

Hi!

Just wanted to add that tightvncserver has some sort of character encoding problem with 8.04 LTS. As stated earlier in this thread, use vnc4server instead.
I.e., if your keyboard input is received as the wrong characters by your vnc server, you may have installed tightvncserver instead of vnc4server.
E.g., if you hit the keys asdf and you see abhk or something similar, be sure to use the RealVNC variant of the VNC server, which is labelled vnc4server in most cases.
This information would have saved me a lot of trouble, and I just wanted to make sure other users know about it.

Aloha,
-Jeff Mings

[the_one(2)]

I got the grey screen as well. I fixed it by making the changes in /etc/gdm/gdm.conf-custom instead of /etc/gdm/gdm.conf