Fedora 33 Problems with VNC Server

[Robert Dill]

Hi,
 
I've recently upraded my OS to Fedora 33 from Fedora 25. I had no issues configuring VNC Server for Fedora 25, but I have had nothing but problems in version 33.
 
First, I tried to do things the same way I did before, by simply running 'vncserver'. It starts, but when I try to log in all I see is a black screen. I went through every post I could find on Stack Overflow to address that issue with no success. For instance, I tried adding 'exec gnome-session' to end of the file, but no luck.
 
Then, I noticed this message:
WARNING: vncserver has been replaced by a systemd unit and is about to be removed in the next Fedora release.
Please read /usr/share/doc/tigervnc/HOWTO.md for more information.
 
I read that file. It looks like the developers intend on removing the vncserver command at some point, and they would rather have us use systemd. So, I editted the /etc/tigervnc/vncserver.users file, and added my ':2=rdill' line. I also added
session=gnome
securitytypes=vncauth,tlsvnc
desktop=sandbox
geometry=800x600
localhost
alwaysshared
 
to /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-defaults. I switched to the user, deleted my previous .vnc folder, and ran 'vncpasswd', switched back root, and 'restorecon -RFv /home/rdill/.vnc'. I then attempted to start the vncserver, but it either didn't run or exitted immediately.
 
Then, I found this article 'https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-and-configure-vnc-remote-access-for-the-gnome-desktop-on-centos-7'. I had a lot of hope on this one, but after 'cp /lib/systemd/system/vncserver@.service /etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:2.service', enabling the service, and running it, once again, nothing is listening on 5902.
 
So here are my issues, I either get a blank/black screen if I run vncserver or the process exits immediately if I use systemctl.
[root@nerd system]# systemctl start vncserver@:2.service
[root@nerd system]# systemctl status vncserver@:2.service
● vncserver@:2.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:2.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: inactive (dead) since Thu 2021-01-14 15:15:08 CST; 3s ago
    Process: 9240 ExecStart=/usr/libexec/vncsession-start :2 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 9246 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
        CPU: 12ms
 
Jan 14 15:15:06 nerd.cameron.edu systemd[1]: Starting Remote desktop service (VNC)...
Jan 14 15:15:06 nerd.cameron.edu systemd[1]: Started Remote desktop service (VNC).
Jan 14 15:15:08 nerd.cameron.edu systemd[1]: vncserver@:2.service: Succeeded.
 
At this point, I'm out of resources. Does anyone have suggestions on how fix this? Here's the service file that came with Fedora 33.
[Unit]
Description=Remote desktop service (VNC)
After=syslog.target network.target
 
[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/usr/libexec/vncsession-start %i
PIDFile=/run/vncsession-%i.pid
SELinuxContext=system_u:system_r:vnc_session_t:s0
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
 
~ Bob

[Michael D. Setzer II]

Agree that he changes are a pain, and it is flaky at best:
First, what might work (maybe) Haven't setup a 33 version yet, so it
might be gone, but works on one of my machines with 32.
Running as root - vncsession username port
vncsession johndoe :2

That seems to work like the old vncserver, but it has to be run by root??

Big problem, is it doesn't suppose to let you use a local session and vnc
session with systemd setup. Think it is an issue with gnome, but I have
vnc setup to use xfce, so with the vncsession option, I can open a session
with a local one open.

If I set it up using the process they say, it on reboot, it would start the
vnc session for the user, but attempts to login locally with the userid and
password, would fail, and it would just bounce back to the sign on
screen.

Recall I had issues with trying to run vnc with gnome and gnome locally,
but never had a problem with vnc xfce and local gnome or local xfce.

Don't know if any of that will work on fc 33??

Good Luck. Have two fc32 machines, and I downgraded the vncserver to
the last version that worked right, and blocked upgrades. They did some
additional updates, but didn't play with them.


On 14 Jan 2021 at 14:03, Robert Dill wrote:

Date sent: Thu, 14 Jan 2021 14:03:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Robert Dill <rd...@cameron.edu>
To: TigerVNC User Discussion/Support <tigervn...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [tigervnc-users] Fedora 33 Problems with VNC Server

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> oups.com .


+------------------------------------------------------------+
Michael D. Setzer II - Computer Science Instructor (Retired)
mailto:mi...@guam.net
mailto:mset...@gmail.com
Guam - Where America's Day Begins
G4L Disk Imaging Project maintainer
http://sourceforge.net/projects/g4l/
+------------------------------------------------------------+

[Michael D. Setzer II]

As a follow up. Looked at what was running from the vncsession
command and this is what it shows. Changed port to xx, and hostname to
hostname

root 212676 1 0 12:45 ? 00:00:00 vncsession msetzerii :xx
root 212677 212676 0 12:45 ? 00:00:00 [vncsession] <defunct>
msetzer+ 212678 212676 0 12:45 ? 00:00:00 xinit
/etc/X11/xinit/Xsession startxfce4 -- /usr/bin/Xvnc :xx -geometry
1270x900 -auth /root/.xauth1Ws3b8 -desktop hostname.dyndns.org:xx
(msetzerii) -fp catalogue:/etc/X11/fontpath.d -pn -rfbauth
/home/msetzerii/.vnc/passwd -rfbport 59xx -rfbwait 30000

So, don't know if the xinit long line would work but it is setup for xfce..
Good Luck.
Tried to kill the defunct 212677 but went the -s 1 to -s 16, and nothing...

On 14 Jan 2021 at 14:03, Robert Dill wrote:

Date sent: Thu, 14 Jan 2021 14:03:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Robert Dill <rd...@cameron.edu>
To: TigerVNC User Discussion/Support <tigervn...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [tigervnc-users] Fedora 33 Problems with VNC Server

>

[Robert Dill]

Thanks Michael and Jim,

I appreciate your feedback. I ended up just installing x2go instead. It does everything VNC can do and more. I would like to try some of these troubleshooting tips, but I've got a million other things to do right now. As long as I have a remote desktop solution, I'm good. I'll leave this up to the next guy that has to have VNC server working on Fedora 33.

I will add some further notes just to help the next guy out. I had the same black screen when using x2go and GNOME. Ultimately, I installed XFCE, and it seems to work fine with x2go. Since neither x2go nor VNC server work with GNOME on Fedora 33, this problem must have something to do with changes that were made to GNOME on Fedora 33.

Thanks for you help. I wish the next guy that finds this post next the best of luck. Please share your solution if you find one.

~ Bob

[Michael D. Setzer II]

Glad you found a solution that works for you. Might end up doing the
same thing when I have to upgrade to FC 33. Strange that tigervnc had a
product that worked with the exception of allowing for both a local and
vnc connection under gnome. There decision to make it impossible to
run any other combination seems to be short sighted. But guess making
GNOME happy is more important than working right for the users.

Many many years ago, I only had 1 linux machine on campus, and at one
point had 20 students in my main classroom vnced into the same
machine with 20 different ports and uniq ids. It was very slow since it
was a 350Mhz AMD K6 system. But it worked. Was probable tightvnc
back then. Later I could vnc into all 20 of my classroom machines using
vnc by going thru my iptables firewall. Only 4 machines in building had
public IPs. Well, again good luck, and will look at x2go..

On 15 Jan 2021 at 7:23, Robert Dill wrote:

Date sent: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 07:23:18 -0800 (PST)

From: Robert Dill <rd...@cameron.edu>
To: TigerVNC User Discussion/Support <tigervn...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: [tigervnc-users] Fedora 33 Problems with VNC Server

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tigervnc-users/119fae5a-4d16-48ce-9e51-00a02838e7adn%40googleg
> roups.com .

[Michael D. Setzer II]

Glad you found a solution that works for you. Might end up doing the
same thing when I have to upgrade to FC 33. Strange that tigervnc had a
product that worked with the exception of allowing for both a local and
vnc connection under gnome. There decision to make it impossible to
run any other combination seems to be short sighted. But guess making
GNOME happy is more important than working right for the users.

Many many years ago, I only had 1 linux machine on campus, and at one
point had 20 students in my main classroom vnced into the same
machine with 20 different ports and uniq ids. It was very slow since it
was a 350Mhz AMD K6 system. But it worked. Was probable tightvnc
back then. Later I could vnc into all 20 of my classroom machines using
vnc by going thru my iptables firewall. Only 4 machines in building had
public IPs. Well, again good luck, and will look at x2go..

On 15 Jan 2021 at 7:23, Robert Dill wrote:

Date sent: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 07:23:18 -0800 (PST)

From: Robert Dill <rd...@cameron.edu>
To: TigerVNC User Discussion/Support
<tigervn...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: [tigervnc-users] Fedora 33 Problems with VNC Server

> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tigervnc-users/119fae5a-4d16-48ce-9e51-00a02838e7adn%40googleg
> roups.com .

[kelley bryan]

FYi I finally go this working in Fedora 33 like the tiger VNC doc says it should,

As root cp the file from cp /lib/systemd/system/vncserver@.service /etc/systemd/system/vncserver@.service

I DID NOT edit it as we have in the past left it alone.

I did edit the /etc/tigervnc/vncserver.users file un-commented :2 line added user name ":2=o10222"

I did edit the /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-defaults file to add me desired desktop that was listed in  /usr/share/xsessions

and set my geometry.

# Several common settings are shown below. Uncomment and modify to your
# liking.

# securitytypes=vncauth,tlsvnc
desktop=lxde
geometry=1280x1024
# localhost
# alwaysshared

NOW HERE IS THE THING THAT CHANGED as root ran "systemctl start  vncserver@:2"  as that is the session/user I want to grant access to from the vncserver.users file.

From remote Ubuntu system vncveiwer  hostname:2 and I was able to get a non Black screen now errors  and the F8 key works to end the session like it should.

Hope this helps