Debian 9 – How to Set Up Remote Desktop with Cinnamon Desktop

debianrdpvnc

I have two machines:

1 – $Clients:

dual-boot of

Linux Mint 18.2 Cinnamon 64-bit
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

on a laptop.

2 – $Server:

GNU/Linux Debian 9 Cinnamon 64-bit

I would like to connect from $Clients to the $Server via Remote desktop to view the main desktop.

Rationale: I opt for RDP protocol because it is integrated both in Windows and Linux (rdesktop).

But hey: It could be VNC for what it matters, I just need to replace the slow TeamViewer with a local connection to server's desktop.

Note: The server is usually running headless, but now I need to do several time-consuming things in the Desktop environment.

I personally used both VNC and RDP when I used Windows, so I have experience with them, but what all do I have to do for this to work on Linux is so far a mystery to me. I googled many guides, but they all differ more or less. And that's where you step in, I hope for a coherent answer to guide me with all aspects.

Best Answer

SSH into debian from linux-mint

Update

There are some problem to connect through VNC to a remote host with cinnamon desktop using the regular way. The problem can be solved by installing x11vnc on the server and using vncviewer to connect.

Install and configure x11vnc:

apt install x11vnc

To configure the password for remote access :

x11vnc -storepasswd

By default the password will be stored under ~/.vnc/passwd

To force connecting using the password run :

x11vnc -rfbauth ~/.vnc/passwd

To connect without password run x11vnc.

sample output:

The VNC desktop is:      cinnamon:1
PORT=5901

To connect use the following command:

vncviewer ip.address:1

On debian

Install tightvncserver :

apt-get install tightvncserver

Then run :

vncserver

to set up your password.

Adjust your parametres :

vncserver :1 -geometry 1024x600 -depth 16 -pixelformat rgb565

On linux mint:

install xtightvncviewer :

apt install xtightvncviewer

Connect:

vncviewer IP-SERVER:5901

To exit run:

vncserver -kill :1

x11vnc

You can install the package x11vnc and then use this to gain access to the current X11 session on a remote system. It's generally in most of the Red Hat based distro repos so I won't cover installation, but once installed you'd ssh into a system that you want to access the console display (:0.0), and manually run it like so:

$ x11vnc -nopw -display :0.0

There are methods for making this more permanent so that it just runs as part of the session. One such method is discussed in this blog post, titled: x11vnc on CentOS5 with GDM.

X11 + vnc

The second method is to install a module/driver into X11 so that you can connect to any running X11 desktop. The one I'm familiar with is called vnc. This driver needs to be installed into the host system's X setup so that you can access the system's login manager. I'm not sure what it is on Oracle (most likely it's GDM - GNOME Display Manager) since it derives from RHEL.

The good news is that if you'e installed the package vnc-server you already have the X11 driver installed. Simply add this to your host system's X11 setup.

First you'll need to add this line to your xorg.conf's Module section:

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Module"
  Load "vnc"
EndSection

Next you'll need to add several lines to this same files Screen section:

Option "SecurityTypes" "VncAuth"
Option "UserPasswdVerifier" "VncAuth"
Option "PasswordFile" "/root/.vnc/passwd"

Last setup a password for this connection, using the tool vncpasswd, then restart X.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Centos – How to have the login screen through VNC in Oracle Linux

x11vnc

X11 + vnc

References

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