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I'm attempting to setup an Ubuntu 10.10 box so that anyone can connect to port 5900 and be greeted by the gdm login manager. To do so, I added a vnc entry in /etc/services and I am starting Xvnc4 using this xinetd config file:

service vnc
{
  protocol = tcp
  socket_type = stream
  wait = no
  user = nobody
  server = /usr/bin/Xvnc
  server_args = -geometry 1000x700 -depth 24 -broadcast -inetd -once -securitytypes None
}

This kind of works...I can start multiple sessions all to port 5900, and I get an X screen. The problem is that I only get an empty, gray X screen with no applications started.

I know when you run vncserver from the command line it will look to your ~/.vnc/ directory for your passwd and xstartup files, and I think what I want to do is put "gnome-session" into the xstart file. However, which xstartup file? The running user is "nobody" who obviously doesn't have a ~/.vnc/ directory. I tried a /root/.vnc/xstartup file and a ~scott/.vnc/xstartup file and it doesn't look like they were even read.

I changed the xinetd vnc service so that it would "strace" Xvnc4. I looked thru all the "open" lines and didn't get a clue as to what file it was trying to read for xstart.

Can anyone help? I just want a terminal server where the user is presented with a gdm login screen.

Scott Thomason
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1 Answers1

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You need to run it as the user whose VNC session you want to start. You also probably need to set $HOME so it can find the .vnc directory. Try something along the lines of this:

service vnc
{
  protocol = tcp
  socket_type = stream
  wait = no
  user = someuser
  server = /usr/bin/env
  server_args = HOME=/home/someuser /usr/bin/Xvnc -geometry 1000x700 -depth 24 -broadcast -inetd -once -securitytypes None
}

You also probably want other environment settings; probably source ~/.bash_profile in xstartup, and you may also need to set $USER explicitly.

geekosaur
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  • Isn't there some way I can set it up so I don't have to "fix" the user to a single individual? I want it to start at the gdm screen so they can login from there. You know, the same way multiple users can connect using ssh, except graphical with VNC / X. – Scott Thomason Mar 20 '11 at 21:02
  • For that, you're almost right; there's no listener for `-broadcast`, though, as `gdm` doesn't enable XDMCP by default. You need to modify `/etc/gdm/custom.conf` to enable it. [This Arch Wiki page](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xdmcp "Xdmcp") describes the change to make; restarting `gdm` may be different on your distribution. – geekosaur Mar 20 '11 at 21:11
  • There is no /etc/gdm/custom.conf on ubuntu 10.10....any hits? – Scott Thomason Mar 21 '11 at 03:44
  • If you never had a reason to run `gdmsetup` (for example, to set up autologin), it probably won't exist; just create it with the `[xdmcp]` stuff in it. – geekosaur Mar 21 '11 at 04:33