Black screen when trying to run (Tiger)VNC with Gnome under Fedora 30

fedora gnome vnc tigervnc

7,820

I finally got it working by changing the --session type to gnome-classic. So my working startup file is now as shown below:

#!/bin/sh

export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1
unset SESSION_MANAGER
unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS

[ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup
[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources

xsetroot -solid grey
vncconfig -iconic &

export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP="GNOME-Flashback:GNOME"
export XDG_MENU_PREFIX="gnome-flashback-"

gnome-session --session=gnome-classic --disable-acceleration-check &

Once I made this change it became clear that the checkboxes that I had seen previously were actually the dialog for the VNCConfig application.

7,820

Andy

Professional software developer with around 40 years experience. Used most of the more common languages, but not so many of the more esoteric ones (no value judgement there - it's just that my employers tend to be fairly conservative in their choices, for sound commercial reasons). Started off in embedded real-time systems, moved into SCADA, thence into OO specialisation in banking/finance, working for a Big Bank, mainly in Python. Now retired and getting the opportunity to play with more of the stuff that interests me - FP/Scala/Elixir/Phoenix - no limits really, apart from the realisation of my own lowly intellect.

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Andy over 1 year
I have seen variants of this issue logged all over the place, but none of the reported solutions seem to work for me. I am running Fedora 30 as a client under VMWware ESXi and want to access the client using VNC, with Gnome being my preferred desktop. I am using TigerVNC on both ends.

I have installed TigerVNC-server on my client and opened the firewall. I have started the server using:
```
vncserver :1
```
And my ~/.vnc/xstartup file is as shown below:
```
#!/bin/sh

export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1
unset SESSION_MANAGER
unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS

[ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup
[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
vncconfig -iconic &

gnome-panel &
gnome-settings-daemon &
metacity &
nautilus &
gnome-terminal &

# extra stuff
export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP="GNOME-Flashback:GNOME"
export XDG_MENU_PREFIX="gnome-flashback-"
```
My Gnome is V3.32.2. Note that the above is but one of several variants that I have found and tried - all with equal lack of success :-(

Does anybody have a working solution?
- Andy over 4 years
  
  OK, I managed to make some major progress by installing the MATE desktop and following the instructions here: server-world.info/en/note?os=Fedora_28&p=desktop&f=6. I had previously followed the similar instructions for GNOME but with no success. Looks like gnome 3.x might be the issue. I'm still getting lots of errors in the log file, but I can probably address those incrementally. But at least I can now see the desktop :-)
- muktupavels over 4 years
  
  Do not start apps manually and let gnome-session do its work! Put gnome-session --session=gnome-flashback-metacity --disable-acceleration-check & after exporting env and remove lines from gnome-panel to gnome-terminal.
- Andy over 4 years
  
  OK, I've done that, but now all I get is a grey screen with a series of check boxes, such as "Accept clipboard from viewers", "Also set primary selection" and a couple more. Wish I knew how to include images here :-(
muktupavels over 4 years

For GNOME Classic environment variables are incorrect. XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP should be just GNOME and XDG_MENU_PREFIX should be gnome-.