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 the vnc-server rpm package:

From the root user:

yum -y install vnc-server

When that is installed, run the server by typing this at the command line.

 vncserver

The first time it runs it will ask for setting up a password. This will be the password for the root user. So, pick a good one.

When the server starts, it will assign a session number (like :1, :2 ...). Remember it. You will need it when you launch the client. If the session number was set to ":1" then in the client you will enter

hda:1

You can also specify a window size of the session, which I typically do a hair smaller than the desktop I plan to use it from. Example for 1280x1024:

 vncserver -geometry 1250x1000

To make the VNC server start automatically after a reboot use this command as root:

 chkconfig vncserver on

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