Ubuntu20.04 VNC installation and configuration implementation

VNC is a remote desktop protocol. Follow the instructions in this article to remotely control Ubuntu 20.04 using VNC. The general VNC installation method cannot be used when the host is not connected to a monitor. The following operations can work properly whether the host has a monitor or not.

First install x11vnc

sudo apt-get install x11vnc -y

Set vnc password

sudo x11vnc -storepasswd /etc/x11vnc.pass

Create x11vnc autostart service

Create /etc/systemd/system/x11vnc.service and write the following content

[Unit]
Description=Start x11vnc at startup.
After=multi-user.target
[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/x11vnc -auth /run/user/1000/gdm/Xauthority -forever -loop -noxdamage -repeat -rfbauth /etc/x11vnc.pass -rfbport 5900 -shared
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start x11vnc service

sudo systemctl enable x11vnc
sudo service x11vnc start

At this point, if a monitor is connected to the remote host, it can be accessed through VNC on the LAN.

In order to ensure that the remote host can be accessed remotely through VNC regardless of whether it has a display, we need to make the following changes

Create a default xorg.conf file

sudo Xorg :1 -configure

At this time, the program will generate the /root/xorg.conf.new file

My default file content is as follows

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier "X.org Configured"
 Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
 InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
 InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
 ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
 FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
 FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
 FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
 FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
 FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
 FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
 FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
 FontPath "built-ins"
EndSection

Section "Module"
 Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Keyboard0"
 Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Mouse0"
 Driver "mouse"
 Option "Protocol" "auto"
 Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
 Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Monitor0"
 VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
 ModelName "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    ### Available Driver options are:-
    ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
    ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz",
    ### <percent>: "<f>%"
    ### [arg]: arg optional
    #Option "Accel" # [<bool>]
    #Option "AccelMethod" # <str>
    #Option "Backlight" # <str>
    #Option "CustomEDID" # <str>
    #Option "DRI" # <str>
    #Option "Present" # [<bool>]
    #Option "ColorKey" # <i>
    #Option "VideoKey" # <i>
    #Option "Tiling" # [<bool>]
    #Option "LinearFramebuffer" # [<bool>]
    #Option "HWRotation" # [<bool>]
    #Option "VSync" # [<bool>]
    #Option "PageFlip" # [<bool>]
    #Option "SwapbuffersWait" # [<bool>]
    #Option "TripleBuffer" # [<bool>]
    #Option "XvPreferOverlay" # [<bool>]
    #Option "HotPlug" # [<bool>]
    #Option "ReprobeOutputs" # [<bool>]
    #Option "XvMC" # [<bool>]
    #Option "ZaphodHeads" # <str>
    #Option "VirtualHeads" # <i>
    #Option "TearFree" # [<bool>]
    #Option "PerCrtcPixmaps" # [<bool>]
    #Option "FallbackDebug" # [<bool>]
    #Option "DebugFlushBatches" # [<bool>]
    #Option "DebugFlushCaches" # [<bool>]
    #Option "DebugWait" # [<bool>]
    #Option "BufferCache" # [<bool>]
 Identifier "Card0"
 Driver "intel"
 BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Screen0"
 Device "Card0"
 Monitor "Monitor0"
 SubSection "Display"
 Viewport 0 0
 Depth 1
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
 Viewport 0 0
 Depth 4
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
 Viewport 0 0
 Depth 8
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
 Viewport 0 0
 Depth 15
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
 Viewport 0 0
 Depth 16
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
 Viewport 0 0
 Depth 24
 EndSubSection
EndSection

Copy this file to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/xorg.conf

This file ensures that when a monitor is plugged into the host, the system interface can be displayed normally on the monitor. Next, we will add a virtual display to the system. When the host has no display, the system will use this virtual display.

Install virtual graphics driver

sudo apt install xserver-xorg-video-dummy

Add the following content at the end of this file

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Monitor1"
 HorizSync 1.0 - 2000.0
 VertRefresh 1.0 - 200.0
 # Add 16:9 modes, others are automatically detected.
 Modeline "1280x720" 74.48 1280 1336 1472 1664 720 721 724 746
 Modeline "1920x1080" 172.80 1920 2040 2248 2576 1080 1081 1084 1118
EndSection


Section "Device"
 Identifier "Card1"
 Driver "dummy"
 VideoRam 256000
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 DefaultDepth 24
 Identifier "Screen1"
 Device "Card1"
 Monitor "Monitor1"
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 24
  Modes "1920x1080"
 EndSubSection
EndSection

In this way, we have created a virtual display using the virtual graphics card. In order to make both the virtual display and the real display work, we need to change the top ServerLayout

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "X.org Configured"
    Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
 Screen 1 "Screen1" 0 0
EndSection

Now restart the remote computer and you can remote in without a monitor.

There is another problem with the above method. That is, if the user is not logged in, there is no way to remotely control it. So you need to set the user to log in automatically.

This is the end of this article about Ubuntu 20.04 VNC installation and setup. For more information about Ubuntu 20.04 VNC installation and setup, please search for previous articles on 123WORDPRESS.COM or continue to browse the related articles below. I hope you will support 123WORDPRESS.COM in the future!

You may also be interested in: