Can't get VNC to work for multi-user Ubuntu 16 & 18 desktops (is there a better remote solution?)












1















My engineering team has four special shared computers running a mix of Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 and 18.04 that are in a lab that's a 5-minute walk from our cubes. We need remote desktop access for these machines (we have graphical test tools that can't be run in a SSH session, for example), and we want to be able to use separate user accounts on these systems so we can have separate shares/user directories, etc.



I've tried both Vino and x11vnc. Both of these solutions work fine for a single Ubuntu user account only, but the moment a logged-in VNC user tries to switch to their personal Ubuntu account (when the Ubuntu user selection screen appears), the VNC screen goes black and no keyboard/mouse controls have any effect on the remote system. If I go up to the lab and manually switch back to the original user account on the physical PC, then the VNC session becomes usable again.



Things I have tried:




  • Tried Ubuntu 16 vs 18, and x11vnc vs. Vino. Results the same across the board- the moment the connected user tries to switch accounts (vs. logging off, etc), the moment the user selection screen appears on the physical desktop, the VNC client screen goes blank and unusable.


  • Followed these instructions to configure x11vnc to start at boot (unlike the default Vino setup which only starts after a user with Vino configured logs on). I can log into any ubuntu user account over VNC when I do this, but once I'm logged in, any attempt to switch to another ubuntu account results in the black screen problem for the VNC client. So basically VNC is good for a single user-specific session and then it requires either manual intervention in the lab or a reboot to reset X11vnc to a usable state.

  • Configured Vino to use unique ports for each user instance, then manually logged in to all local user accounts (starting their Vino server instances). This was interesting because only one VNC session was usable at a time (only one could interact with the computer, others either had a black or frozen screen). But the moment I tried to switch accounts, again, all VNC clients became unusable. If I manually switched to one of the other logged in accounts, that user's VNC session would become interactive/usable.


My questions:




  • Is it possible to change this behavior where the user selection screen breaks VNC clients?

  • Is there a different Ubuntu 16/18-compatible remote desktop client that would allow graphical remote desktop in a multi-user environment? (I think TeamCity might work, however that's unfortunately a banned tool in our environment.)


Thanks!










share|improve this question



























    1















    My engineering team has four special shared computers running a mix of Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 and 18.04 that are in a lab that's a 5-minute walk from our cubes. We need remote desktop access for these machines (we have graphical test tools that can't be run in a SSH session, for example), and we want to be able to use separate user accounts on these systems so we can have separate shares/user directories, etc.



    I've tried both Vino and x11vnc. Both of these solutions work fine for a single Ubuntu user account only, but the moment a logged-in VNC user tries to switch to their personal Ubuntu account (when the Ubuntu user selection screen appears), the VNC screen goes black and no keyboard/mouse controls have any effect on the remote system. If I go up to the lab and manually switch back to the original user account on the physical PC, then the VNC session becomes usable again.



    Things I have tried:




    • Tried Ubuntu 16 vs 18, and x11vnc vs. Vino. Results the same across the board- the moment the connected user tries to switch accounts (vs. logging off, etc), the moment the user selection screen appears on the physical desktop, the VNC client screen goes blank and unusable.


    • Followed these instructions to configure x11vnc to start at boot (unlike the default Vino setup which only starts after a user with Vino configured logs on). I can log into any ubuntu user account over VNC when I do this, but once I'm logged in, any attempt to switch to another ubuntu account results in the black screen problem for the VNC client. So basically VNC is good for a single user-specific session and then it requires either manual intervention in the lab or a reboot to reset X11vnc to a usable state.

    • Configured Vino to use unique ports for each user instance, then manually logged in to all local user accounts (starting their Vino server instances). This was interesting because only one VNC session was usable at a time (only one could interact with the computer, others either had a black or frozen screen). But the moment I tried to switch accounts, again, all VNC clients became unusable. If I manually switched to one of the other logged in accounts, that user's VNC session would become interactive/usable.


    My questions:




    • Is it possible to change this behavior where the user selection screen breaks VNC clients?

    • Is there a different Ubuntu 16/18-compatible remote desktop client that would allow graphical remote desktop in a multi-user environment? (I think TeamCity might work, however that's unfortunately a banned tool in our environment.)


    Thanks!










    share|improve this question

























      1












      1








      1








      My engineering team has four special shared computers running a mix of Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 and 18.04 that are in a lab that's a 5-minute walk from our cubes. We need remote desktop access for these machines (we have graphical test tools that can't be run in a SSH session, for example), and we want to be able to use separate user accounts on these systems so we can have separate shares/user directories, etc.



      I've tried both Vino and x11vnc. Both of these solutions work fine for a single Ubuntu user account only, but the moment a logged-in VNC user tries to switch to their personal Ubuntu account (when the Ubuntu user selection screen appears), the VNC screen goes black and no keyboard/mouse controls have any effect on the remote system. If I go up to the lab and manually switch back to the original user account on the physical PC, then the VNC session becomes usable again.



      Things I have tried:




      • Tried Ubuntu 16 vs 18, and x11vnc vs. Vino. Results the same across the board- the moment the connected user tries to switch accounts (vs. logging off, etc), the moment the user selection screen appears on the physical desktop, the VNC client screen goes blank and unusable.


      • Followed these instructions to configure x11vnc to start at boot (unlike the default Vino setup which only starts after a user with Vino configured logs on). I can log into any ubuntu user account over VNC when I do this, but once I'm logged in, any attempt to switch to another ubuntu account results in the black screen problem for the VNC client. So basically VNC is good for a single user-specific session and then it requires either manual intervention in the lab or a reboot to reset X11vnc to a usable state.

      • Configured Vino to use unique ports for each user instance, then manually logged in to all local user accounts (starting their Vino server instances). This was interesting because only one VNC session was usable at a time (only one could interact with the computer, others either had a black or frozen screen). But the moment I tried to switch accounts, again, all VNC clients became unusable. If I manually switched to one of the other logged in accounts, that user's VNC session would become interactive/usable.


      My questions:




      • Is it possible to change this behavior where the user selection screen breaks VNC clients?

      • Is there a different Ubuntu 16/18-compatible remote desktop client that would allow graphical remote desktop in a multi-user environment? (I think TeamCity might work, however that's unfortunately a banned tool in our environment.)


      Thanks!










      share|improve this question














      My engineering team has four special shared computers running a mix of Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 and 18.04 that are in a lab that's a 5-minute walk from our cubes. We need remote desktop access for these machines (we have graphical test tools that can't be run in a SSH session, for example), and we want to be able to use separate user accounts on these systems so we can have separate shares/user directories, etc.



      I've tried both Vino and x11vnc. Both of these solutions work fine for a single Ubuntu user account only, but the moment a logged-in VNC user tries to switch to their personal Ubuntu account (when the Ubuntu user selection screen appears), the VNC screen goes black and no keyboard/mouse controls have any effect on the remote system. If I go up to the lab and manually switch back to the original user account on the physical PC, then the VNC session becomes usable again.



      Things I have tried:




      • Tried Ubuntu 16 vs 18, and x11vnc vs. Vino. Results the same across the board- the moment the connected user tries to switch accounts (vs. logging off, etc), the moment the user selection screen appears on the physical desktop, the VNC client screen goes blank and unusable.


      • Followed these instructions to configure x11vnc to start at boot (unlike the default Vino setup which only starts after a user with Vino configured logs on). I can log into any ubuntu user account over VNC when I do this, but once I'm logged in, any attempt to switch to another ubuntu account results in the black screen problem for the VNC client. So basically VNC is good for a single user-specific session and then it requires either manual intervention in the lab or a reboot to reset X11vnc to a usable state.

      • Configured Vino to use unique ports for each user instance, then manually logged in to all local user accounts (starting their Vino server instances). This was interesting because only one VNC session was usable at a time (only one could interact with the computer, others either had a black or frozen screen). But the moment I tried to switch accounts, again, all VNC clients became unusable. If I manually switched to one of the other logged in accounts, that user's VNC session would become interactive/usable.


      My questions:




      • Is it possible to change this behavior where the user selection screen breaks VNC clients?

      • Is there a different Ubuntu 16/18-compatible remote desktop client that would allow graphical remote desktop in a multi-user environment? (I think TeamCity might work, however that's unfortunately a banned tool in our environment.)


      Thanks!







      remote-desktop vnc multiple-users






      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question











      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question










      asked May 22 '18 at 15:14









      UltimateOutsiderUltimateOutsider

      61




      61






















          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          0














          I had the same problem with Ubuntu 18.04 and x11vnc. I solved it by using lightdm instead of gdm3. Make sure to configure your x11vnc service accordingly.






          share|improve this answer































            0














            Likely due GUI session controls locks, I had update .vnc/xstartup to unset session variables before starting a window manager, and that did the trick to get multiple user sessions working on 18.04.



            unset SESSION_MANAGER
            unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS



            Follow more helpful/complete instruction at
            https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/TigerVNC#Running_vncserver_for_virtual_(headless)_sessions






            share|improve this answer























              Your Answer








              StackExchange.ready(function() {
              var channelOptions = {
              tags: "".split(" "),
              id: "89"
              };
              initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

              StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
              // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
              if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
              StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
              createEditor();
              });
              }
              else {
              createEditor();
              }
              });

              function createEditor() {
              StackExchange.prepareEditor({
              heartbeatType: 'answer',
              autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
              convertImagesToLinks: true,
              noModals: true,
              showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
              reputationToPostImages: 10,
              bindNavPrevention: true,
              postfix: "",
              imageUploader: {
              brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
              contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
              allowUrls: true
              },
              onDemand: true,
              discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
              ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
              });


              }
              });














              draft saved

              draft discarded


















              StackExchange.ready(
              function () {
              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2faskubuntu.com%2fquestions%2f1039077%2fcant-get-vnc-to-work-for-multi-user-ubuntu-16-18-desktops-is-there-a-better%23new-answer', 'question_page');
              }
              );

              Post as a guest















              Required, but never shown

























              2 Answers
              2






              active

              oldest

              votes








              2 Answers
              2






              active

              oldest

              votes









              active

              oldest

              votes






              active

              oldest

              votes









              0














              I had the same problem with Ubuntu 18.04 and x11vnc. I solved it by using lightdm instead of gdm3. Make sure to configure your x11vnc service accordingly.






              share|improve this answer




























                0














                I had the same problem with Ubuntu 18.04 and x11vnc. I solved it by using lightdm instead of gdm3. Make sure to configure your x11vnc service accordingly.






                share|improve this answer


























                  0












                  0








                  0







                  I had the same problem with Ubuntu 18.04 and x11vnc. I solved it by using lightdm instead of gdm3. Make sure to configure your x11vnc service accordingly.






                  share|improve this answer













                  I had the same problem with Ubuntu 18.04 and x11vnc. I solved it by using lightdm instead of gdm3. Make sure to configure your x11vnc service accordingly.







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered Jul 6 '18 at 8:11









                  Jonathan VorndammeJonathan Vorndamme

                  1




                  1

























                      0














                      Likely due GUI session controls locks, I had update .vnc/xstartup to unset session variables before starting a window manager, and that did the trick to get multiple user sessions working on 18.04.



                      unset SESSION_MANAGER
                      unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS



                      Follow more helpful/complete instruction at
                      https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/TigerVNC#Running_vncserver_for_virtual_(headless)_sessions






                      share|improve this answer




























                        0














                        Likely due GUI session controls locks, I had update .vnc/xstartup to unset session variables before starting a window manager, and that did the trick to get multiple user sessions working on 18.04.



                        unset SESSION_MANAGER
                        unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS



                        Follow more helpful/complete instruction at
                        https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/TigerVNC#Running_vncserver_for_virtual_(headless)_sessions






                        share|improve this answer


























                          0












                          0








                          0







                          Likely due GUI session controls locks, I had update .vnc/xstartup to unset session variables before starting a window manager, and that did the trick to get multiple user sessions working on 18.04.



                          unset SESSION_MANAGER
                          unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS



                          Follow more helpful/complete instruction at
                          https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/TigerVNC#Running_vncserver_for_virtual_(headless)_sessions






                          share|improve this answer













                          Likely due GUI session controls locks, I had update .vnc/xstartup to unset session variables before starting a window manager, and that did the trick to get multiple user sessions working on 18.04.



                          unset SESSION_MANAGER
                          unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS



                          Follow more helpful/complete instruction at
                          https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/TigerVNC#Running_vncserver_for_virtual_(headless)_sessions







                          share|improve this answer












                          share|improve this answer



                          share|improve this answer










                          answered Jan 4 at 9:05









                          user3412721user3412721

                          1




                          1






























                              draft saved

                              draft discarded




















































                              Thanks for contributing an answer to Ask Ubuntu!


                              • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                              But avoid



                              • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                              • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                              To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                              draft saved


                              draft discarded














                              StackExchange.ready(
                              function () {
                              StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2faskubuntu.com%2fquestions%2f1039077%2fcant-get-vnc-to-work-for-multi-user-ubuntu-16-18-desktops-is-there-a-better%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                              }
                              );

                              Post as a guest















                              Required, but never shown





















































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown

































                              Required, but never shown














                              Required, but never shown












                              Required, but never shown







                              Required, but never shown







                              Popular posts from this blog

                              Ellipse (mathématiques)

                              Quarter-circle Tiles

                              Mont Emei