+4 votes
1.4k views
Install VNC on Ubuntu 20.04 | VNC Server

in Linux / Unix by (552k points)
reopened | 1.4k views

1 Answer

+5 votes
Best answer

1. Install VNC on Ubuntu 20.04
2. Enable VNC in Ubuntu 20.04

VNC is one of the current ways that allows us to connect remotely with other computers (Windows, macOS, Linux, etc.) to perform various jobs there, support or administrative, with VNC you can access a shared Linux screen and control everything that is in that equipment, this helps to reduce travel times and to offer a job in real time and with speed..

 

VNC Advantages
The advantages of using VNC are:

 

  • Simple to implement
  • Attended and unattended access options
  • Cloud connectivity
  • Real-time file transfer, printing and chat possible
  • Has 256-bit AES session encryption
  • It is possible to make use of multifactor authentication
  • Detailed access control

 

 

 

We will learn to install VNC in Ubuntu 20.04 and with this method have an alternative to receive or provide remote support.

 

To stay up to date, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel!   SUBSCRIBE

 


1. Install VNC on Ubuntu 20.04

 

Step 1

The first step to take will be to update the system:
 sudo apt update 
image

 

 

Step 2

Once the system has been updated, we are going to install the Lightdm screen manager with the following command:
 sudo apt install lightdm 
image

 

 

Step 3

We enter the letter S to continue with the download and installation, then the following will be displayed:

 

image

 

 

Step 4

There we select "lightdm" and continue the installation. Lightdm's goal is to be the standard for the X11 window system and for Wayland.

 

 

image

 

 

Step 5

After this we restart the system to complete the process, we access the login screen where we see the new structure with lightdm:

 

image

 

 

Step 6

We log in and in the terminal we are going to execute the following:
 sudo apt install x11vnc 
image

 

 

Step 7

We confirm the download with the letter S:

 

image

 

 


2. Enable VNC in Ubuntu 20.04


By using x11vnc, it is possible to view remotely (and be able to work) with real X screens through any of the VNC viewers available today.

 

Some of the features of x11vnc are:

 

  • Has built-in SSL / TLS encryption
  • 2048-bit RSA authentication, including VeNCrypt support
  • UNIX password and account login support
  • Server-side scaling
  • HTTPS / HTTP + VNC single port
  • Zeroconf service advertising
  • TightVNC and UltraVNC file transfer
  • It has an encrypted Terminal Services mode (-create, -svc or -xdmsvc options) based on usernames

 

Step 1

We list the IP of Ubuntu 20.04 with the command:
 ip add 
image

 

 

Step 2

With this address we will access Ubuntu 20.04 from a VNC client. In the terminal we execute the following to start VNC. This will activate VNC on Ubuntu 20.04.
 x11vnc 
image

 

 

Step 3

From a remote computer, in this case Windows 10, we open the VNC client and enter the IP of Ubuntu 20.04:

 

image

 

 

Step 4

We press Enter and we will see the following warning:

 

image

 

 

Step 5

We click on Continue and we will remotely access Ubuntu 20.04:

 

image

 

 

Step 6

Now in Ubuntu 20.04 we are going to create the following file:
 sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/x11vnc.service 
Step 7

There we are going to enter the following:
 [Unit] Description = x11vnc service After = display-manager.service network.target syslog.target [Service] Type = simple ExecStart = / usr / bin / x11vnc -forever -display: 0 -auth guess -passwd password ExecStop = / usr / bin / killall x11vnc Restart = on-failure [Install] WantedBy = multi-user.target 
image

 

 

Note
password can be replaced by the desired password.

 

Step 8

The fields entered are:

 

  • Activity occurs only after some other services have been started and destination points have been reached
  • x11vnc creates a thread from -forever.
  • ExecStart and Stop allow x11vnc to self-start in case of failures
  • The service will start before the process reaches the multi-user goal

 

Step 9

We save the changes using the following key combination:

 

Ctrl + O

 

We leave the editor using:

 

Ctrl + X

 

 

Step 10

We restart the daemon to apply the changes:
 systemctl daemon-reload 
image

 

 

Step 11

We enable the x11vnc service:
 systemctl enable x11vnc.service 
Step 12

We must enter the password to apply the changes:

 

 

image

 

 

Step 13

As a result we will see the following:

 

image

 

 

Step 14

Now we start the x11vnc service:
 systemctl start x11vnc.service 
image

 

 

Step 15

We check its current status:
 systemctl status x11vnc.service 
image

 

 

Step 16

We see that its status is active and running. We go back to Windows 10 and when trying to establish the connection through VNC we must enter a password that we have established in the file created in Ubuntu 20.04:

 

 

image

 

 

Step 17

We start a remote session with Ubuntu 20.04:

 

image

 

 

Step 18

A key point is to validate that you can log in remotely from the "login" screen, for this we go to Settings and in "Privacy - Screen lock" we are going to deactivate the available options and set the delay time to 1 minute :

 

 

image

 

 

Step 19

We close the session and from Windows 10 we validate that it is possible to establish the connection, register the password and log in to Ubuntu 20.04:

 

image

 

With these steps we will be ready to use VNC to and from Ubuntu 20.04 in all tasks that involve remote management or support..

 

 


by (3.5m points)
Your settings gave me an error:
● x11vnc.service - x11vnc service
     Loaded: bad-setting (Reason: Unit x11vnc.service has a bad unit file setting.)
     Active: inactive (dead) since Tue 2021-03-16 17:18:00 CET; 37min ago
   Main PID: 934 (code=killed, signal=TERM)

mar 16 17:18:00 lorenzou-imedia-S3800 systemd[1]: Stopped x11vnc service.
mar 16 17:19:08 lorenzou-imedia-S3800 systemd[1]: /lib/systemd/system/x11vnc.service:7: Executable path specifies a directory: /
mar 16 17:19:08 lorenzou-imedia-S3800 systemd[1]: x11vnc.service: Unit configuration has fatal error, unit will not be started.
mar 16 17:27:11 lorenzou-imedia-S3800 systemd[1]: /lib/systemd/system/x11vnc.service:3: Failed to add dependency on #, ignoring: Invalid argument
mar 16 17:27:11 lorenzou-imedia-S3800 systemd[1]: /lib/systemd/system/x11vnc.service:7: Executable path specifies a directory: /
mar 16 17:27:11 lorenzou-imedia-S3800 systemd[1]: x11vnc.service: Unit configuration has fatal error, unit will not be started.
mar 16 17:50:12 lorenzou-imedia-S3800 systemd[1]: /lib/systemd/system/x11vnc.service:8: Executable path specifies a directory: /
mar 16 17:50:12 lorenzou-imedia-S3800 systemd[1]: x11vnc.service: Unit configuration has fatal error, unit will not be started.
mar 16 17:51:07 lorenzou-imedia-S3800 systemd[1]: /lib/systemd/system/x11vnc.service:8: Executable path specifies a directory: /
mar 16 17:51:07 lorenzou-imedia-S3800 systemd[1]: x11vnc.service: Unit configuration has fatal error, unit will not be started.

Related questions

+3 votes
1 answer
asked Sep 3, 2020 in Linux / Unix by backtothefuture (552k points) | 1.3k views
+4 votes
1 answer
asked Apr 29, 2020 in Linux / Unix by backtothefuture (552k points) | 340 views
+3 votes
1 answer
asked Mar 13, 2020 in Linux / Unix by backtothefuture (552k points) | 2.3k views
+5 votes
1 answer
asked Oct 6, 2020 in Linux / Unix by backtothefuture (552k points) | 895 views
+3 votes
1 answer
asked Sep 28, 2020 in Linux / Unix by backtothefuture (552k points) | 502 views
Sponsored articles cost $40 per post. You can contact us via Feedback

Most popular questions within the last 30 days

10,659 questions
10,791 answers
510 comments
3 users