"TigerVNC is a high-performance, platform-neutral implementation of VNC (Virtual Network Computing), a client/server application that allows users to launch and interact with graphical applications on remote machines. TigerVNC provides the levels of performance necessary to run 3D and video applications, and it attempts to maintain a common look and feel and re-use components, where possible, across the various platforms that it supports. TigerVNC also provides extensions for advanced authentication methods and TLS encryption."
Begin by installing both the server and the viewer.
# urpmi tigervnc tigervnc-server
Then read the document at /usr/share/doc/tigervnc/HOWTO.md for specifics on the Mageia installation. That's important because things have changed and the TigerVNC installation recipies foud on the web have not caught up.
The text is shown below:
# What has changed
The previous Tigervnc versions had a wrapper script called `vncserver` which
could be run as a user manually to start *Xvnc* process. The usage was quite smple as you just run
```
$ vncserver :x [vncserver options] [Xvnc options]
```
and that was it. While this was working just fine, there were issues when users wanted to start a Tigervnc server using *systemd*. For these reasons things were completely changed and there is now a new way how this all is supposed to work.
# How to start Tigervnc server
## Add a user mapping
With this you can map a user to a particular port. The mapping should be done in
`/etc/tigervnc/vncserver.users` configuration file. It should be pretty
straightforward once you open the file as there are some examples, but basically
the mapping is in form
```
:x=user
```
For example you can have
```
:1=test
:2=vncuser
```
## Configure Xvnc options
To configure Xvnc parameters, you need to go to the same directory where you did
the user mapping and open `vncserver-config-defaults` configuration file. This
file is for the default Xvnc configuration and will be applied to every user
unless any of the following applies:
* The user has its own configuration in `$HOME/.vnc/config`
* The same option with different value is configured in
`vncserver-config-mandatory` configuration file, which replaces the default
configuration and has even a higher priority than the per-user configuration.
This option is for system administrators when they want to force particular
*Xvnc* options.
Format of the configuration file is also quite simple as the configuration is
in form of
```
option=value
option
```
for example
```
session=gnome
securitytypes=vncauth,tlsvnc
desktop=sandbox
geometry=2000x1200
localhost
alwaysshared
```
### Note:
There is one important option you need to set and that option is the session you
want to start. E.g when you want to start GNOME desktop, then you have to use
```
session=gnome
```
which should match the name of a session desktop file from `/usr/share/xsessions`
directory.
## Set VNC password
You need to set a password for each user in order to be able to start the
Tigervnc server. In order to create a password, you just run
```
$ vncpasswd
```
as the user you will be starting the server for.
### Note:
If you were using Tigervnc before for your user and you already created a
password, then you will have to make sure the `$HOME/.vnc` folder created by
`vncpasswd` will have the correct *SELinux* context. You either can delete this
folder and recreate it again by creating the password one more time, or
alternatively you can run
```
$ restorecon -RFv /home/<USER>/.vnc
```
## Start the Tigervnc server
Finally you can start the server using systemd service. To do so just run
```
$ systemctl start vncserver@:x
```
as root or
```
$ sudo systemctl start vncserver@:x
```
as a regular user in case it has permissions to run `sudo`. Don't forget to
replace the `:x` by the actual number you configured in the user mapping file.
Following our example by running
```
$ systemctl start vncserver@:1
```
you will start a Tigervnc server for user `test` with a GNOME session.
### Note:
If you were previously using Tigervnc and you were used to start it using
*systemd* then you will need to remove previous *systemd* configuration files,
those you most likely copied to `/etc/systemd/system/vncserver@.service`,
otherwise this service file will be preferred over the new one installed with
latest Tigervnc.
# Limitations
You will not be able to start a Tigervnc server for a user who is already
logged into a graphical session. Avoid running the server as the `root` user as
it's not a safe thing to do. While running the server as the `root` should work
in general, it's not recommended to do so and there might be some things which
are not working properly.
Also, one can read /usr/share/doc/tigervnc-server/HOWTO.md, copied here:
# What has changed
The previous Tigervnc versions had a wrapper script called `vncserver` which
could be run as a user manually to start *Xvnc* process. The usage was quite
simple as you just run
```
$ vncserver :x [vncserver options] [Xvnc options]
```
and that was it. While this was working just fine, there were issues when users
wanted to start a Tigervnc server using *systemd*. For these reasons things were
completely changed and there is now a new way how this all is supposed to work.
# How to start Tigervnc server
## Add a user mapping
With this you can map a user to a particular port. The mapping should be done in
`/etc/tigervnc/vncserver.users` configuration file. It should be pretty
straightforward once you open the file as there are some examples, but basically
the mapping is in form
```
:x=user
```
For example you can have
```
:1=test
:2=vncuser
```
## Configure Xvnc options
To configure Xvnc parameters, you need to go to the same directory where you did
the user mapping and open `vncserver-config-defaults` configuration file. This
file is for the default Xvnc configuration and will be applied to every user
unless any of the following applies:
* The user has its own configuration in `$HOME/.vnc/config`
* The same option with different value is configured in
`vncserver-config-mandatory` configuration file, which replaces the default
configuration and has even a higher priority than the per-user configuration.
This option is for system administrators when they want to force particular
*Xvnc* options.
Format of the configuration file is also quite simple as the configuration is
in form of
```
option=value
option
```
for example
```
session=gnome
securitytypes=vncauth,tlsvnc
desktop=sandbox
geometry=2000x1200
localhost
alwaysshared
```
### Note:
There is one important option you need to set and that option is the session you
want to start. E.g when you want to start GNOME desktop, then you have to use
```
session=gnome
```
which should match the name of a session desktop file from `/usr/share/xsessions`
directory.
## Set VNC password
You need to set a password for each user in order to be able to start the
Tigervnc server. In order to create a password, you just run
```
$ vncpasswd
```
as the user you will be starting the server for.
### Note:
If you were using Tigervnc before for your user and you already created a
password, then you will have to make sure the `$HOME/.vnc` folder created by
`vncpasswd` will have the correct *SELinux* context. You either can delete this
folder and recreate it again by creating the password one more time, or
alternatively you can run
```
$ restorecon -RFv /home/<USER>/.vnc
```
## Start the Tigervnc server
Finally you can start the server using systemd service. To do so just run
```
$ systemctl start vncserver@:x
```
as root or
```
$ sudo systemctl start vncserver@:x
```
as a regular user in case it has permissions to run `sudo`. Don't forget to
replace the `:x` by the actual number you configured in the user mapping file.
Following our example by running
```
$ systemctl start vncserver@:1
```
you will start a Tigervnc server for user `test` with a GNOME session.
### Note:
If you were previously using Tigervnc and you were used to start it using
*systemd* then you will need to remove previous *systemd* configuration files,
those you most likely copied to `/etc/systemd/system/vncserver@.service`,
otherwise this service file will be preferred over the new one installed with
latest Tigervnc.
# Limitations
You will not be able to start a Tigervnc server for a user who is already
logged into a graphical session. Avoid running the server as the `root` user as
it's not a safe thing to do. While running the server as the `root` should work
in general, it's not recommended to do so and there might be some things which
are not working properly.
We will configure a simple system for user Jack with sudo privileges on the server and user Jack with sudo privileges on the viewer.
On the server, with IP 192.168.1.100,
$ sudo urpmi tigervnc-server
Create a password for Jack.
$ vncpasswd
No need for a "visual password" at this level of simplicity. This creates ~/.vnc with the password file.
The server configuration can be in any of four places according to the tigervnc docs, and we will use ~/.vnc. The session entry is important and must match the style shown in /usr/share/xsessions/, and on the server, this reveals:
01plasma.desktop icewm.desktop icewm-session.desktop LXDE.desktop openbox.desktop
we will be selecting LXDE.
A display geometry must be chosen. Here, 1280x1024 meets our needs.
The file ~/.vnc/config needs to be created and using a favorite editor, populated with:
session=LXDE
geometery=1280x1024
securitytypes=vncauth,tlsvnc
localhost
alwaysshared
Having read those and done that, there are also good instructions to be found at Arch Wiki.
Starting TigerVNC Server
To enable the service to launch at system boot using systemctl:
# systemctl enable vncserver@1.service
That number must match the assigned number in /etc/tigervnc/vncserver.users
Check the service status using systemctl:
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