Linux Networking Cookbook

8.20. Connecting VNC to an Existing X Session

Problem

You want to be able to connect to your Linux workstation remotely, and you want to attach to your existing X session instead of starting a new independent one. You want to be able to roam about and log in from other locations, picking up where you left off. Or, you want to use this as a helpdesk tool so you can take control of user's Linux PCs remotely and fix problems yourself, instead of spending way too much time trying to talk users through a diagnosis and repair over the telephone.

Solution

Easy as pie with x11vnc. You need x11vnc on the remote server, and a VNC viewer on your local Linux workstation. After installing x11vnc, create a login password. In this example, it is stored in /home/carla/x11vnc/passwd. Make sure it is readable only by the user:

	carla@windbag:~/x11vnc$ x11vnc -storepasswd 'password' passwd
	stored passwd in file passwdcarla@windbag:~/x11vnc$ chmod 0600 passwd

Now, create a ~/.x11vncrc file. This is the user-specific configuration file that x11vnc will automatically look for. Put a line in this file pointing to your password file:

	rfbauth /home/carla/x11vnc/passwd

Then, start up x11vnc:

	$ x11vnc 07/01/2007 21:25:12 passing arg to libvncserver: -rfbauth 07/01/2007 21:25:12 passing arg to libvncserver: /home/carla/x11vnc/passwd [...] Using X display :0 Read initial data from X display into framebuffer. 07/01/2007 18:51:01 Using X display with 16bpp depth=16 true color 07/01/2007 18:51:01 Autoprobing TCP port ...