HELP! VNC Autostart - again :(

[Ignatius.A]

Hi, I'm a new user on the forum - in fact i'm a new user on Linux, and though I can normally make a windows server system sit up and take notice, i'm still a baby where Linux is concerned. I installed FC3 just this week.

I can't get vnc to start on a reboot. - i've been through this forum & TCheung's extremely helpful primer and got things almost where I want them - the system is configured and will start quite happily using

[root@pvr ~]# /sbin/service vncserver start
Starting VNC server: 1:mike [ OK ]
[root@pvr ~]#

This allows me to connect in on session 1 from a windows XP machine and run quite happily, so the software itself is configured fine.

I've checked that it's set to run at runlevel 3 and 5 as demonstrated here

[mike@pvr sysconfig]$ /sbin/chkconfig --list | grep vncserver
vncserver 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off

I get a message during boot-up that vnc session 1: is already started - if that helps

any suggestions - as i'm now completely flummoxed


THANKS IN ADVANCE

(PS - yes, i know, i shouldn't use root unless i have to, and i also know that there are some security implications to using VNC on boot-up. Thx )

and just for completeness, here are my config files:

Xstartup
=======

[mike@pvr .vnc]$ cat xstartup
#!/bin/sh

# Uncomment the following two lines for normal desktop:
unset SESSION_MANAGER
exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

[ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup
[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
vncconfig -iconic &
xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
twm &

/etc/sysconfig/vncservers
======================

# The VNCSERVERS variable is a list of display:user pairs.
#
# Uncomment the line below to start a VNC server on display :1
# as my 'myusername' (adjust this to your own). You will also
# need to set a VNC password; run 'man vncpasswd' to see how
# to do that.
#
# DO NOT RUN THIS SERVICE if your local area network is
# untrusted! For a secure way of using VNC, see
# <URL:http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/sshvnc.html>.

VNCSERVERS="1:mike"
VNCSERVERARGS[1]="-geometry 1024x768"

[prashant]

Ya i m not quiet sure of ur problem but thr is one more way u can access ur comp from the other windows machine using the VNC viewer may b that can help ur problem :
There is this thing called Desktop Sharing in the System Settings which can b configured according to ur needs and u can easily access ur comp on VNC viewer using other XP machines too
System Settings --> Desktop Sharing
Just go here and try the changes in the thing it has worked for me on Fedora Core -3

[Ignatius.A]

Originally Posted by prashant

Ya i m not quiet sure of ur problem but thr is one more way u can access ur comp from the other windows machine using the VNC viewer may b that can help ur problem :
There is this thing called Desktop Sharing in the System Settings which can b configured according to ur needs and u can easily access ur comp on VNC viewer using other XP machines too
System Settings --> Desktop Sharing
Just go here and try the changes in the thing it has worked for me on Fedora Core -3

Thanks for this.

I've tried it out, and it appears to rely on somebody having been logged in already before it works - so not an awful lot of help after a reboot. - it does appear to work well, other than that.

[sstone]

I have one problem with the vnc automatic start. VNC works fine the only thing that bothers me is that I must start it manually, I edited runlevel 3&5 to start the vncserver automatically.
I did this:
In /etc/sysconfig/vncserver I added:
VNCSERVERS="1:user"
VNCSERVERARGS[1]="-geometry 1024x768
In /etc/rc.d/rc3.d&rc5.dare the links to the file /etc/rc.d/init.d/vncserver
In /home/user/.vnc/ I made the passwd and xstartup(which are configured correctly I think, because vnc is working exactly as i want, except starting).

Any help would be great.
Thanks

[jayemef]

Try the following:

chkconfig --level 35 vncserver on

This should set the vncserver to start automatically in run levels 3 and 5.

Good luck!

[Ignatius.A]

Originally Posted by jayemef

Try the following:

chkconfig --level 35 vncserver on

This should set the vncserver to start automatically in run levels 3 and 5.

Good luck!

Sorry, as I explained above, i've already done this.

Originally Posted by ignatius.a

I've checked that it's set to run at runlevel 3 and 5 as demonstrated here

[mike@pvr sysconfig]$ /sbin/chkconfig --list | grep vncserver
vncserver 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:off 5:on 6:off

[jayemef]

Sorry, I misread that, thinking they were all showing 'off.' Seems strange then that it's not working. Maybe you ought to try NOT initiating it in runlevel 3. VNC is meant to be graphical anyway, so runlevel 3 isn't really doing anything for you. I personally only run mine in 5.

If that doesn't work, see if running from a different display helps. Try changing your 1's to 2's. If you do this, don't forget that you then have to open port 5902 instead of 5901.

[nightcrawler]

Jayemef: vnc has nothing to do with the X windows for console, it runs it own X windows server. In fact it make more sense for server use run level 3 and have vncserver for remote admin. also good for headless machines

try to run VNC on :2 is a good idea though. maybe there is something strange with your console X window startup and taken over the display 1 resource during bootup.

[jayemef]

Ah, yes, good call. I always forget about that.

[crackers]

I'll almost bet that on shutdown, the user's vncserver lock file (created in $HOME/.vnc) isn't being cleared, which is why you either get the "duplicate" message, or have to run on a different "server" than :1