Re: The vnc viewer displays a grey screen after setting up TightVNC on Ubuntu Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS.

I looked at the referenced web page. I had to laugh when I read "One of the scariest things about Linux for most people is the use of commandline line work." The scariest thing for me is getting VNC to work on a new distro :-( I have been using VNC for 25 years or more and still have no idea what I am doing. The issue is generally the xstartup script. I will admit I do not understand it. I simply take a working one, compare it to other examples and tweak it until it works or I give up and try a different VNC package. vnc4server was great on Ubuntu 18.04 but it is not available on 20.04 That said, I am running Ubuntu Mate 20.04 with tightvncserver. Here is my xstartup. Note that I am running the Mate desktop. It also works on Ubuntu Mint Mate 20.

ken@t29:~$ cat .vnc/xstartup
#!/bin/sh
xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
#unset SESSION_MANAGER
unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
#xsetroot -solid grey
autocutsel -fork
mate-session &
mate-panel &

As to the errors in the log... I do not think I have ever run VNC without getting a bunch of scary errors every time it starts up. Even when the remote connection works fine.

I have never added an attachment to a reply to a mailing list but let me try. The attachnent is my collection of xstartup examples along with links to where I found them and some random notes. Perhaps something in there will work.

As a last resort you could try x11vnc. It seems to ALWAYS work but it is a bit heavy on CPU utilization.

Ken

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‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Monday, February 22, 2021 5:56 PM, Ma Zhenhua <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> The vnc viewer displays a grey screen after setting up TightVNC on Ubuntu Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS.
> I use the method in this article and its solution to the grey screen doesn't work:
> https://www.smarthomebeginner.com/setup-vnc-server-on-ubuntu-linux/
>
> https://www.smarthomebeginner.com/setup-vnc-server-on-ubuntu-linux/	[Setup VNC Server on Ubuntu: Complete Ubuntu Remote Desktop Guide - SmartHomeBeginner](https://www.smarthomebeginner.com/setup-vnc-server-on-ubuntu-linux/)
> This post shows how to setup VNC Server on Ubuntu Linux to add a remote desktop to your home server. Tight VNC Server for Linux is an awesome option for this purpose. Let's take a look at how to install TightVNC server on Ubuntu, as well as learn how to use VNC Viewer to access your server remotely.
> www.smarthomebeginner.com
>
> $ cat xstartup
> #!/bin/sh
>
> xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
> xsetroot -solid grey
> #x-terminal-emulator -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
> #x-window-manager &
> # Fix to make GNOME work
> export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1
> /etc/X11/Xsession
>
> the related log:
> 22/02/21 14:50:03 Copyright (C) 1999 AT&T Laboratories Cambridge
> 22/02/21 14:50:03 All Rights Reserved.
> 22/02/21 14:50:03 See http://www.tightvnc.com/ for information on TightVNC
> 22/02/21 14:50:03 Desktop name 'X' (VAN-913695-PC2:1)
> 22/02/21 14:50:03 Protocol versions supported: 3.3, 3.7, 3.8, 3.7t, 3.8t
> 22/02/21 14:50:03 Listening for VNC connections on TCP port 5901
> Font directory '/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/' not found - ignoring
> Font directory '/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/' not found - ignoring
> xrdb: No such file or directory
> xrdb: can't open file '/home/zma/.Xresources'
>
> 22/02/21 14:50:30 Got connection from client 172.16.198.253
> 22/02/21 14:50:30 Using protocol version 3.8
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 Full-control authentication passed by 172.16.198.253
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 Pixel format for client 172.16.198.253:
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 32 bpp, depth 24, little endian
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 true colour: max r 255 g 255 b 255, shift r 16 g 8 b 0
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 no translation needed
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding 16
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding 29
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding 27
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding 26
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding 25
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding 19
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding 18
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding 17
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding 10
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding 9
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding 8
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 Using tight encoding for client 172.16.198.253
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 Using compression level 6 for client 172.16.198.253
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 Enabling full-color cursor updates for client 172.16.198.253
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 Enabling cursor position updates for client 172.16.198.253
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 Using image quality level 8 for client 172.16.198.253
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding -65525
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 Enabling LastRect protocol extension for client 172.16.198.253
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding -223
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding -308
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding -32768
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding -32767
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding -32764
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding -32766
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding -32765
> 22/02/21 14:50:34 rfbProcessClientNormalMessage: ignoring unknown encoding -1063131698
>
> Best regards,
> Allen

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