TigerVnc 1.14.1 service on Ubuntu 24.10 dies immediatly after start with status 255

[Gerald Rosenberg]

Followed the direction in https://github.com/TigerVNC/tigervnc/blob/master/unix/vncserver/HOWTO.md. 

Cannot fathom what the `255` status code signifies. Any help would be appreciated.

```

{root@Ember:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu} systemctl start vncserver@:2
{root@Ember:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu} systemctl status vncserver@:2
○ vncserver@:2.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vncserver@.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: inactive (dead) since Sun 2025-02-02 15:51:55 PST; 7s ago
   Duration: 23ms
 Invocation: f9e28111feb045848f83dd98b1854ec4
    Process: 39474 ExecStart=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/vncsession-start :2 (code=exited, status=0>
   Main PID: 39481 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Mem peak: 2M
        CPU: 16ms

Feb 02 15:51:55 Ember systemd[1]: Starting vncserver@:2.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)...
Feb 02 15:51:55 Ember vncsession[39481]: pam_systemd(tigervnc:session): New sd-bus connection (sy>
Feb 02 15:51:55 Ember vncsession[39481]: pam_unix(tigervnc:session): session opened for user gbr(>
Feb 02 15:51:55 Ember systemd[1]: Started vncserver@:2.service - Remote desktop service (VNC).
Feb 02 15:51:55 Ember vncsession[39481]: vncsession: vncserver exited with status=255
Feb 02 15:51:55 Ember vncsession[39481]: pam_systemd(tigervnc:session): New sd-bus connection (sy>
Feb 02 15:51:55 Ember vncsession[39481]: pam_unix(tigervnc:session): session closed for user gbr
Feb 02 15:51:55 Ember systemd[1]: vncserver@:2.service: Deactivated successfully.

```

My ` vncserver@.service`

```

  [Unit]
  Description=Remote desktop service (VNC)
  After=network.target systemd-user-sessions.service
 
  [Service]
  Type=forking
  ExecStart=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/vncsession-start %i
  PIDFile=/run/vncsession-%i.pid
 
  [Install]
  WantedBy=multi-user.target 
  ```

My `~/.config/tigervnc/config` contains

```

  session=gnome
  securitytypes=VncAuth,TLSVnc
  geometry=1920x1280
  depth=24
  alwaysshared

```

[Pierre Ossman]

On 03/02/2025 01:57, Gerald Rosenberg wrote:
> Followed the direction in
> https://github.com/TigerVNC/tigervnc/blob/master/unix/vncserver/HOWTO.md.
>
> Cannot fathom what the `255` status code signifies. Any help would be
> appreciated.
>

The code comes from GNOME, which likely had some issue to start up.

Please have a look in ~/.local/state/tigervnc/*.log, and in the user
journal (run "journalctl --user" as the affected user). Hopefully there
is something that states why GNOME doesn't get started.

Regards,
--
Pierre Ossman Software Development
Cendio AB http://cendio.com
Teknikringen 8 http://twitter.com/ThinLinc
583 30 Linköping http://facebook.com/ThinLinc
Phone: +46-13-214600

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