Tightvnc - Create and Access a Remote Desktop On Your Instance https://community.hpcloud.com/article/tightvnc-create-and-access-remote-desktop-your-instance By Scott Heuer, 5 months 1 week ago TightVNC coupled with Gnome, KDE, or other options is a way for your to access a desktop GUI for your instance. These are 3rd party tools and while we are providing you some working examples in this document please understand that these are not officially supported. We will always do our best to assist you if you run into issues though so don't hesitate to reach out to Supportif you need assistance. You can find a lot of great resources on the internet for setting up VNC on Linux! NOTE: Prior to these instructions you will need to open port 5901 on your security groups. Please ensure that once you open up Port 5901 that you reboot your instance as well. Instructions can be found here. There are two steps to setting up a remote desktop. Step 1 - Installing & Setting up the VNC Server on your HPCloud Instance Step 2 - Installing & Setting up the VNC Viewer on your Local Machine Step 1 - Installing & Setting up the VNC Server on your HPCloud Instance Using Ubuntu 11.04 & Debian Squeeze: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install gnome-desktop-environment x-window-system-core sudo apt-get install tightvncserver sudo vncserver It will then prompt you to create a password that will be needed to access your remote desktop: Verify: YourPassword
Once you enter the password and your vnc configurations are complete, it will display what path the startup file had been written to as shown below. Take note of this startup file path location, you will need it for the next couple steps. Here is the example output showing were the vnc startup file has been written to: Next, shut down the vnc server to further configure the startup file: vncserver -kill :1 Take note of the path name displayed for the startup file, because you will need it for the following step, and it will vary image to image. Open the startup file using the same path displayed right after you entered a password for tightvnc. Here is an example of opening the startup file with the previously stated path: sudo nano /root/.vnc/xstartup Add the following two lines to the bottom of the startup file: unset SESSION_MANAGER exec /etc/x11/xinit/xinitrc Exit and Save the file sudo vncserver Skip down to Step #2 at the bottom Using Ubuntu 12.04 sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install gnome-desktop-environment x-window-system-core sudo apt-get install tightvncserver
sudo vncserver It will then prompt you to create a password that will be needed to access your remote desktop: Verify: YourPassword Once you enter the password and your vnc configurations are complete, it will display what path the startup file had been written to as shown below. Take note of this startup file path location, you will need it for the next couple steps. Here is the example output showing were the vnc startup file has been written to: Next, shut down the vnc server to further configure the startup file: vncserver -kill :1 Take note of the path name displayed for the startup file, because you will need it for the following step, and it will vary image to image. Open the startup file using the same path displayed right after you entered a password for tightvnc. Here is an example of opening the startup file with the previously stated path: sudo nano.vnc/xstartup Erase everything in the file and replace it with the following text: #!/bin/sh unset SESSION_MANAGER gnome-session --session=gnome-classic & [ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup [ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources xsetroot -solid grey vncconfig -iconic & Exit and Save the file sudo vncserver
Skip down to Step #2 at the bottom Using CentOS 5.6 or 6.2: CentOS has provided step-by-step instructions on their Wiki page: CentOS - How To - VNC Server Skip down to Step #2 at the bottom Using Fedora: yum update yum install tigervnc-server yum groupinstall "Desktop" "X Window System" "Fonts" vncserver It will then prompt you to create a password that will be needed to access your remote desktop: Verify: YourPassword Run this to kill your current session: vncserver -kill :1 This will Install KDE: yum install @kde Now we need to edit the VNC startup file: nano /root/.vnc/xstartup Erase the entire contents of the file and replace with this:
#!/bin/sh unset SESSION_MANAGER exec /etc/x11/xinit/xinitrc [ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup [ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources startkde & Then type vncserver to start up a new session: vncserver Skip down to Step #2 at the bottom Step 2 - Installing & Setting up the VNC Viewer on your Local Machine Using Ubuntu & Debian Squeeze: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install xtightvncviewer xtightvncviewer You will need to input the password you used when setting up your remote desktop on the instance. VNC Server: PublicIPAddress:1 Example: VNC Server: 15.185.1.1:1 Password: password Using Windows O/S: 1. Download and Install Tight VNC Viewer (Right-click, save as the link or you can go to the TightVNC Download page and choose the Self-installing Package for Windows download) 2. Open Tight VNC Viewer
You will need to input the following information: VNC Server: PublicIPAddress:1 Example: VNC Server: 15.185.1.1:1 Password: password