Remote Login with GDM and VNC on Fedora 11

Do you want the ability to VNC into your remote Linux computer and login to the GUI as if you were right next to the machine? Then you need to setup VNC with GDM. These steps were tested on Fedora 11.

Install VNC

You need to install VNC first. If it’s already installed, running the following command may either do nothing or upgrade it.

sudo yum install vnc-server

Turn Off VNC Service

sudo chkconfig vncserver off

sudo service vncserver stop

Install xinetd

You need to have xinetd installed. If it’s already installed, running the following command may either do nothing or upgrade it.

sudo yum install xinetd

Enable XDMCP

sudo vim /etc/gdm/custom.conf

Your file should have following lines (there may be other lines so leave them be)

[xdmcp]
Enable=true

[security]
DisallowTCP=false

Create VNC Service

sudo vim /etc/services

Edit the file so that the lines with vnc-server look like

#vnc-server 5900/tcp # VNC Server
#vnc-server 5900/udp # VNC Server

And add the following line

vnc1024 5900/tcp # VNC and GDM

Create xinetd Service

Create a file as below

sudo vim /etc/xinetd.d/vnc1024

And make sure the file has the following contents

service vnc1024
{
disable = no
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
group = tty
wait = no
user = nobody
server = /usr/bin/Xvnc
server_args = -inetd -query localhost -geometry 1024×768 -depth 16 -once -fp /usr/share/X11/fonts/misc -securitytypes=none
}

Restart xinetd

You should restart the xinetd service.

sudo service xinetd restart

VNC into the Server

Using a VNC client on another computer, try to VNC into the server. If it doesn’t work, you may have to restart the server.

sudo reboot

Hat Tips: Run VNC and GDM for headless boxes; VNC & GDM; Using remote X applications under Fedora Core 3 (re: xhost usage);