Drag and Drop failing with VNC

[stanf]

Hello,

I have been using Ubuntu 10.04 (32 bit) as a headless workstation, running a VNC screen. Worked perfectly for about 3 weeks, then suddenly, I lost the Drag and Drop capability, for all applications.

For example:

• Dragging and dropping to move items on the desktop does not work. The item simply pops back to the original location.
• Dragging and dropping to move items from one folder to another does not work. Same behavior -- the item just pops back to the original location.
• Dragging and dropping Bookmarks in Firefox does not work. The attempted Drag and Drop is ignored.
• Copy and paste still works fine.
• The problem does NOT occur when using an attached monitor (primary display screen :0).

After much Googling (including these forums), I suspected that the changed behavior was caused by an update (from Ubuntu Update Manager). I confirmed this with the following:

• Reinstalled Ubuntu 10.04 fresh from the live cd.
• Configured minimal networking and installed VNC server.
• Tested Drag and drop -- works okay
• Applied pending updates (116) from Ubuntu Update Manager
• Tested Drag and drop -- not working

I am using vnc4server and openssh-server installed from the repositories using Synaptic.

Has anyone else observed this problem? Any Ideas?

Thanks in advance.,

Stan

[tacted]

Stan,
I'm getting the same behavior, too. Files spring back to their original location when dropped. This happens from the Downloads directory to the desktop and to the Trash in the places side pane.

Thanks,
Ted

[stanf]

Ted,

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like the same issue. Any GUI operation that requires drag and drop fails.

I have tested this with several VNC viewer clients (linux and windows) and the problem occurs with all. So it does not appear to be a viewer problem.

I'm now setting up the same test with Linux Mint (ubuntu derivative) to see if I get the same result; I'll post the result here.

Stan

[stanf]

I have the luxury of testing with a bare metal machine -- did a fresh install of Linux Mint 9 from the live CD, accepted all updates from the Update Manager (there were 9).

The same problem occurs in the Mint 9 installation. Drag and drop does not work over VNC after updating the system.

I have been using Mint 8 (based on Ubuntu 9.10) on another PC for about 6 months, up-to-date and have not seen this problem. Using the same VNC server on the Mint 8 box, and same viewers on the remote clients.

[stanf]

Still have not been able to figure this one out, it's a show stopper for me on 10.04. So for now I have gone back to Ubuntu 9.10 and all upgrades. VNC has full GUI drag and drop functions.

When time permits, I'll investigate this further in Virtual Machine environment. Hoping this thread attacts some additional info on this problem.

[tacted]

I removed vncserver and am using x11vnc instead. Drag and drop is working again. I can start it when I need it with...
sudo x11vnc -safer -geometry 1024x768 -xkb -display :0 &

There's lots of options for starting x11vnc. You may need to find what works for you. http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/x11vnc_opts.html

-Ted

[stanf]

Ted,

Thanks for the suggestion. I installed and fired up x11vnc and it worked right off the bat. Still having some challenges getting it to work full screen and adjusting the geometry. As you said, there are a lot of options to try out!

Again, thanks for pointing out this alternative!

Stan

[jspenguin]

This is still broken in 10.10. Both RealVNC and TightVNC servers fail, so I think something may have changed in Xlib.

I tried with Xvfb and x11vnc, and drag & drop works. This provides an inefficient, temporary workaround for a headless system.

If Xvfb can make it work, why not XTightVNC?

[stanf]

jspenguin - Thanks for the new info on Ubuntu 10.10 - I ended up staying with 9.10 because the vnc4server gave me cleaner and more responsive window behavior (than with x11vnc) on my particular setup. I'm using the Ubuntu to host VirtualBox, and that's pretty much all it is used for. Does a good job on that with the vnc4server.

Sooner or later I'll need to upgrade, I'm really a procrastinator. So when the time comes, I'll try this again. I think I will probably go for a straight Debian host OS on this machine.

Stan

[shearerc]

I can confirm this bug also present in Debian testing(squeeze), both 32-bit and 64-bit.

package: tightvncserver 1.3.9-6.1+b1 (vnc process is Xtightvnc)


As soon as I moved to NX, I can drag n drop again. Hell, even Xvfb + x11vnc combo works fine.