VNC - two users at same time

Question

I've set up VNC on my desktop (Linux) and I'm not sure how to configure it so that there can be two users using the desktop at the same time? Is VNC the correct tool for this or will it only allow one user?

Solution 1

Multiple users can connect to a VNC server but that requires you to modify some options in the 'expert tab' of VNC server. so assuming that you are using a recent version of the Real VNC, to allow concurrent connections do the followings:

• Search for the "AlwaysShared" and set it to "true"
• Search for the "NeverShared" and set it to "false"

after doing them click "apply" to save the settings.

Solution 2

Depends on what you mean by 'using'.

If you want multiple users to remotely use the same computer, each have their own screen/keyboard/mouse control, and they don't need to see what each other is doing, then x2go and NX are much better tools for the job. I routinely use them to do even 3D CAD drawings over LAN; VNC would be far too sluggish and bandwidth hungry for such a job.

If you insist on using VNC (which really is only a remote control protocol), the configurations and capabilities very much depend on the exact VNC server implementation you want to use. It is usually possible to make one user the 'commanding' user, while the others are only there to watch.

Comments

[Zoredache]

Start multiple instances of VNC. One per user.

[Jindra Helcl]

What if by "using", I mean sharing the same session, exactly as if two persons sit next to each other in front of a single PC, sharing keyboard and mouse? (the use case can be perhaps playing an old multi-player game)

[vdegenne]

This should be the accepted response.