WebVNC

The WebVNC application sets up a web page to access a Java applet for VNC connections. VNC is graphical remote control desktop software. VNC allows you to connect to a desktop on the the Amahi server from a remote computer (Windows or Linux).

To establish remote desktop connectivity on a Fedora-based Amahi install, two elements are required:

1. installation of the WebVNC application on the Amahi server and
2. installation of a VNC client on the remote computer.

Note: The procedure below allows anyone in your network to access a desktop on your Amahi server if they know the password. Be sure this is what you want.

Install the WebVNC Package

• Go to http://setup
• Select the Apps tab
• Select the Available option
• Click on WebVNC
• Click the install icon to install the WebVNC server package on your HDA

Note: You must have a desktop session open on your HDA to be able to open a WebVNC session. If you have a headless HDA server, see below.

Setup VNC Server

Sorry, some manual work is needed to run the server:

• Log into the computer running HDA, e.g. as a normal user
• Edit the file /etc/sysconfig/vncservers with your favorite text editor. Add the following two lines to the bottom of the file:

VNCSERVERS="1:yourusername"

VNCSERVERARGS[1]="-geometry 1024x768 -depth 16"

yourusername is the desktop user you use to login to your HDA desktop. Make sure there is no comment symbol # in front of your entries.

Turn on Desktop Sharing

Unless you do this, your VNC session or your desktop will have a message asking someone to accept or refuse connections, and your client will be stuck waiting!

• Log into the computer running HDA, e.g. as a normal user
• Select SYSTEM menu, then Preferences, then Internet and Network, then Remote Desktop
• Turn on the top two "sharing" options, turn off the "Ask for confirmation" option, but set a password below it.

NOTE: This allows anyone with network access to this machine to connect to your session, if they know the password. Be sure this is what you want.

Using the App

You should now be able to access: http://webvnc. Give it a minute to start up, then enter your password.

Reminder: You must have a desktop session started on your HDA for WebVNC to display.

• Leave any questions or discussion on the Talk:WebVNC page.

• Screenshot of desktop sharing setup below (sorry it's so huge).

Troubleshooting

A very basic issue -- you must have a desktop session open on your HDA to be able to open a WebVNC session.

• Two typical scenarios pop up as problematic:

1. Make sure you have a password defined as above.
2. Ensure the confirmation checkbox is deactivated, unless you are sitting in front of the HDA itself. Otherwise it will just sit there indefinitely waiting for someone to click a button on the screen of the HDA.

• Please note that at the present time, and according to the above, only port 5900 (VNC display :0) is supported. If you want to change that, then manually edit /var/hda/web-apps/webvnc/html/index.html and change 5900 to desired number (e.g. :1 = 5901, :2=5902, etc).

• If when trying to connect with WebVNC you get a message on the Amahi box "Enter password for default keyring to unlock" then you need to delete or rename the default keyring:

To delete:

rm ~/.gnome2/keyrings/default.keyring

or backup:

mv ~/.gnome2/keyrings/default.keyring ~/.gnome2/keyrings/default.keyring.bak

Headless Servers

If your HDA server is headless, then WebVNC is not for you (because you will not have a desktop session running). Instead, install a VNC client on your remote computer and VNC Server on the HDA.