The GitHub project description says «High performance, multi-platform VNC client and server» but the README file says:
WARNING: winvnc is currently unmaintainted and and may not function correctly.
winvnc may not work if the Fast User Switching or Remote Desktop features are in use.
Is there any plan to support the TigerVNC Windows server again or we should use other software like TightVNC? If it is no longer supported, it would not be a multi-platform VNC server anymore and the GitHub description should be changed to avoid confusion.
I use Linux but I think a Windows VNC server can be useful to help a Windows user remotely from a Linux computer, as an open-source alternative to proprietary software like TeamViewer. I think the built-in RDP remote desktop feature on Windows can only work over the Internet when using a VPN or configuring the router of the person that wants to share their screen.
With a VNC server like TightVNC, this is not needed when using the reverse VNC feature «Attach Listening Viewer» as long as the VNC client has a public IP address, for example by configuring the router used for the VNC client or with a dedicated server / Virtual Private Server using SSH remote port forwarding. I also used local port forwarding with PuTTY on Windows to make VNC more secure and connect through the localhost SSH tunnel instead of the public IP address directly.
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Description
Hello,
I’m trying to do a remote installation of tigerVNC on windows and this inno setup message is preventing me from doing it, because the installation stops at this point. The function is in /release/winvnc.iss.in
function InitializeSetup: Boolean;
begin
GetWindowsVersionEx(OSVersion);
MsgBox('TigerVNC Windows Server is currently unmaintained and may not function correctly.', mbError, MB_OK);
Result := True;
end;
Even using these inno setup options:
/VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES
could this warning be indicated so that using these two options in the installation would make a true silent installation?
Greetings.
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Learner
unread,
Aug 16, 2022, 12:23:47 AM8/16/22
to TigerVNC User Discussion/Support
Hello,
I used to run TigerVNC to access remote GUI from my PC. It stopped working for some reason and I tried to uninstall and downloaded the most recent version. While I try to install it, I get a message as:
TigerVNC windows server is currently unmainteined and may not function correctly.
Even if I proceed with this warning and install the system, it doesnot work. Has anyone gone through similar issue ?
Thank you!
DRC
unread,
Aug 16, 2022, 12:50:04 AM8/16/22
to tigervn…@googlegroups.com
I would suggest using the UltraVNC Server
with the TigerVNC Viewer. TigerVNC is mainly developed by
people who have a vested interest in the Unix TigerVNC Server
but not in the Windows TigerVNC Server, so the latter has
received little attention in recent years. The principal
developers chose to separate the Windows TigerVNC Server into
its own package but leave it in the distribution in hopes of
encouraging someone to take over maintenance of it, but that
hasn’t happened. It would take a lot of work to bring the
Windows TigerVNC Server into compliance with modern Windows
distributions, and other open source Windows VNC server projects
(UltraVNC and TightVNC, namely) have already done that work.
The UltraVNC Server now contains the TurboVNC performance
enhancements, as does TigerVNC. The Windows TightVNC 2.x Server
has a better interface than UltraVNC, IMHO, but it is
unfortunately a lot slower.
DRC
DRC
unread,
Aug 16, 2022, 2:04:39 AM8/16/22
to tigervn…@googlegroups.com
To wax a bit more
philosophical/historical, all of these projects had a common
root in either TightVNC v1.3.x or RealVNC v4, both of which had
five distinct code bases:
— A Un*x VNC server (Xvnc)
— A Windows VNC server (WinVNC)
— A Un*x VNC viewer with a GUI based on the raw X11 or Xt API
— A Windows VNC viewer with a GUI based on the raw Win32 API
(AKA «Petzold» code, named after the guy who wrote the canonical
Win32 API textbook in the late 1990s)
— A primitive Java viewer applet with a GUI based on AWT
(pre-Swing)
There is a through-line from the RealVNC
v4 servers to the TigerVNC servers, from the TightVNC v1.3.x
Un*x server to the TurboVNC Server and LibVNCServer, and from
the TightVNC v1.3.x Windows server and viewer to UltraVNC.
However, all of those projects have, over the years, naturally
sorted themselves into their respective niches. The WinVNC
servers in TightVNC v1.3.x and RealVNC v4 used screen scraping
techniques that, to the best of my recollection, stopped working
after Windows XP. UltraVNC chose to focus solely on Windows, so
they kept abreast of changes in the operating system and
accommodated those changes in their screen scraper. TightVNC
did that as well, and they also completely refactored their code
base in v2.0 so that it no longer contains any code from
v1.3.x. TurboVNC shipped a WinVNC server for a while, but we
stopped doing so about 10 years ago (around the time that our
WinVNC server stopped working with new Windows releases.) I
contributed the performance enhancements from the Windows
TurboVNC Server to UltraVNC and now simply direct those desiring
a Windows server to the UltraVNC web site. A modern, updated
Windows TigerVNC Server could potentially take advantage of the
protocol enhancements in TigerVNC (the RFB flow control
extensions, for example) and thus perform better than UltraVNC.
However, the effort involved in updating the TigerVNC screen
scraper is probably a lot more than the effort involved in
porting TigerVNC’s protocol enhancements to UltraVNC. (Someone
correct me if I’m wrong.)
DRC
The Virtual Network Computer (VNC) enables people to access the remote desktop environment. It is a graphical desktop sharing system that uses the Remote Frame Buffer protocol (RFB). This post introduces install and configure TigerVNC server in Debian 12/bookworm and Windows client.
1. Pre-requisites
- A Debian server ( with desktop environment installed.
- Debian version 12/bookworm
- XFce4 desktop environment
- A Windows computer will install VNC client
2. Install and configure TigerVNC server on Debian
TigerVNC is available in the Debian package repository.
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install tigervnc-common tigervnc-standalone-server tigervnc-tools
Next set a VNC password
$ vncpasswd
Password:
Verify:
Would you like to enter a view-only password (y/n)? n
Now we can start the VNC server by:
Output:
New Xtigervnc server 'servername:1 (user)' on port 5901 for display :1.
Use xtigervncviewer -SecurityTypes VncAuth -passwd /tmp/tigervnc.7VAx04/passwd :1 to connect to the VNC server.
The VNC server status Can be checked by:
$ vncserver -list
TigerVNC server sessions:
X DISPLAY # RFB PORT # RFB UNIX PATH PROCESS ID # SERVER
1 5901 23736 Xtigervnc
TigerVNC server could be stopped by:
$ vncserver -kill :1
Killing Xtigervnc process ID 23736... success!
Note:
If there were multiple desktop environment available in the server, we can do a bit more»
$ vncserver -xstartup /usr/bin/gnome-session -geometry 1024x768 -localhost no :1It creates a tigervnc server ‘dlp.srv.world:1 (user)’ on port 5901 for display
:1.
3. Download VNC viewer for Windows
There are many free VNC viewer available, e.g.,
- UltraVNC
- RealVNC Viewer
4. Connect to the VNC Desktop Securely
By default, VNC does not use secure protocols when connecting. Here we will use an SSH tunnel to connect to the Debian server.
In the Windows computer, open a Command or PowerShell terminal, and input:
> ssh -L 5901:127.0.0.1:5901 -N -f -l <username> -t <server>
# If remote SSH port were not the default 22, simply append -p option:
> ssh -L 5901:127.0.0.1:5901 -N -f -l <username> -t <server> -p <port>
Here the username is the login username you configured the vncserver above, and the server is the remote Debian server IP address.
Launch the VNC viewer, and connect to the server as:
localhost:5901
or
localhost:1
Then input the vnc password you have set in section 1. Now the remote desctop is ready.
References
- TigerVNC
- Install and Configure TigerVNC VNC Server on Debian 11/10
- Install and Configure VNC Server to connect to Debian Desktop from remote clients
I updated TigerVNC to the newest version (1.11.0-5) and can no longer start the service correctly. Following the wiki, I made the following changes:
looks as follows:
#%PAM-1.0
session required pam_loginuid.so
session required pam_namespace.so
session optional pam_keyinit.so force revoke
session required pam_limits.so
-session optional pam_systemd.so
session required pam_unix.so
-session optional pam_reauthorize.so prepareI ran
to create a new password and edited
/etc/tigervnc/vncserver.usersto allow my user:
# /etc/tigervnc/vncserver.users
:1=MY_USERNAMEFinally, my
is
securitytypes=vncauth,tlsvnc
session=lxqt
geometry=1792x1008
#localhost
alwayssharedI’m not sure if ‘securitytypes’ and ‘localhost’ should be enabled or not, but I can’t run vnc service regardless of whether these options are on or off. I also disabled all custom vnc services and removed corresponding config files from
and restarted my machine. Now when I run
systemctl start vncserver@:1and check status, I’m getting the following:
● vncserver@:1.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/vncserver@.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: inactive (dead) since Fri 2020-10-30 11:46:56 GMT; 15min ago
Process: 1298 ExecStart=/usr/bin/vncsession-start :1 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 1304 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Oct 30 11:46:54 ****** systemd[1]: Starting Remote desktop service (VNC)...
Oct 30 11:46:54 ****** systemd[1]: Started Remote desktop service (VNC).
Oct 30 11:46:56 ****** systemd[1]: vncserver@:1.service: Succeeded.I can’t connect and ‘ps’ does not report any vnc process running. I tried to run
sudo strace -ff /usr/bin/vncsession server :1 &> trace.logand the only suspicious lines in the log file are
connect(3, {sa_family=AF_UNIX, sun_path="/var/run/nscd/socket"}, 110) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)and at the very end:
write(2, "User \"server\" does not exist\n", 29User "server" does not exist
) = 29
exit_group(71) = ?
+++ exited with 71 +++I don’t have any user «server», but I don’t see why would I need one.
What else can I do to debug this?
Last edited by mvymazal (2020-11-01 23:14:17)