In PuTTY, select Connection > SSH > Tunnels. You will need the PuTTY client to create an SSH Tunnel. ssh -L 5901:127.0.0.1:5901 -C -N -l john your_server_ipĮnter your Linux password (not your VNC password) and skip to Step 4 below. Replace john with your non-root username and your_server_ip with your server IP. You can create an SSH tunnel easily using terminal. We can do this by binding port 5901 of the remote connection to port 5901 on your local machine. VNC server is now running, but in order to encrypt communications between the VNC client and server, we must create an SSH tunnel and connect through it. Log file is /home/john/.vnc/ubuntu_server:1.log 3. Create SSH Tunnel

vncserver New 'X' desktop is ubuntu_server:1 (press CTRL + X, press Y and then press ENTER) This will tell VNC to start the Xfce desktop environment when VNC starts. cp ~/.vnc/xstartup ~/.vnc/xstartup.bakĪdd the following to the bottom of the file. Log file is /home/john/.vnc/ubuntu_server:1.log Starting applications specified in /home/john/.vnc/xstartup xauth: file /home/john/.Xauthority does not existĬreating default startup script /home/john/.vnc/xstartup You can skip this if you don’t require it. You will also be asked if you want a view-only password where the user can only view and not control the remote server. Generate a password 8 chars long, any longer and it will be truncated. sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies tightvncserver 2. Press y and ENTER if prompted to install. Install Xfce and VNCīegin by updating the package lists. VNC Viewer (RealVNC ), TightVNC, vinagre, krdc 1.Ubuntu Desktop comes preloaded with a VNC-capable client called Remmina.VNC Viewer (RealVNC) or you can use the inbuilt screen sharing utility for Mac.For Windows users, you will also need the PuTTY client in order to create an SSH tunnel MacOS VNC Clients.VNC Viewer (RealVNC), TightVNC or UltraVNC.

We recommend the following: Windows VNC Clients You will also need to download and install a VNC client for your OS.

Initial Server Setup for Ubuntu 16.04 / 17.10 for more details.

Initial Server Setup for Ubuntu 18.04 / 19.10.

You should use a non-root user account with sudo privileges.

Ubuntu 20.04 desktop vnc server