VNC

Using VNC to use a remote desktop in the HDA

Using VNC is useful if:

• You would like a Linux desktop to the HDA remotely
• You run your HDA headless (no monitor) and like to still use a desktop in it
• You would like to use a GUI to configure printer(s) or have a scanner or other device that requires a desktop program to configure and the machine is headless

What you need

• A server
• A client

Client: Installation

Download the client software and install:

• For Windows
• For MAC
• For Linux, you have the vncviewer package, available in most, if not all distros

Server: Installation

• To start the server in your HDA, you need install tigervnc-server rpm package:

• From the root user:

yum -y install tigervnc-server xinetd
chkconfig vncserver off
service vncserver stop

• Create /etc/gdm/custom.conf file and add the following:

#GDM configuration storage
[xdmcp]
Enable=true
[chooser]
[security]
DisallowTCP=false
[debug]

• Create /etc/xinetd.d/vnc1024 file and add the following:

service vnc1024
{
disable = no
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
group = tty
wait = no
user = nobody
server = /usr/bin/Xvnc
server_args = -inetd -query localhost -geometry 1024×768 -depth 16 -once -fp /usr/share  /X11/fonts/misc -securitytypes=none
}

• Edit /etc/services and comment out the two lines that start out with:

vnc-server

• Add this line below:

vnc1024         5900/tcp                # VNC and GDM

• Now restart the xinetd service

service xinetd restart

• Run your VNC Client and enter your HDA IP address. You should now see your HDA Desktop login screen. If you don't see the login screen, a reboot may be required. This can be done via the dashboard or by executing the following:

reboot now

More detailed instructions are available here.

Running the Full Gnome Desktop

In order to run the full gnome desktop in vnc, you have to edit this file in the home directory of the user you want to run vnc on:

First kill the VNC session: vncserver -kill :1

.vnc/xstartup

and make sure it has these two lines uncommented, per the comment there:

# Uncomment the following two lines for normal desktop:
unset SESSION_MANAGER
exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

Now restart the vncserver: vncserver

I use remote desktop viewer, hit the connect button and type hda:1
That should be it.

Killing the Server

To kill the server in session :1, you can do:

vncserver -kill :1

Setup Automatic Login

Automatic login is useful if you want to run a headless HDA and enjoy the benefits that VNC provides without having to login from the command line via SSH and manually start X.

Add the following to the file /etc/gdm/custom.conf

#Enable Auto login to the GNOME desktop
[daemon]
AutomaticLoginEnable=true
AutomaticLogin=<username>
TimedLoginEnable=true
TimedLogin=<username>
TimedLoginDelay=0

Replace <username> with the username that you want to automatically login to the GNOME desktop.

If you want to have a script help you to accomplish the task, download AutomaticLogin.rb and run the script as root (directions to accomplish this are below).

Login as root then run the following commands:

cd /tmp
wget http://wiki.amahi.org/images/a/a3/AutomaticLogin.rb
chmod +x AutomaticLogin.rb
./AutomaticLogin.rb

Then follow the prompts to guide you in the setup.

Troubleshooting for Vista

This helpful page has helped with blocking VNC