Connect Debian VNC Virtual Desktop Remotely from MacOS

Gary

3 months ago

I have a Debian server without monitor, and I wan to access it remotely from my MacOS.

Following is the steps to archive this.

Install and start Virtual Desktop

# Install updates
sudo apt update

# install the Xfce desktop
sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies

Edit file ~/.vnc/xstartup and set content to following:

#!/bin/bash
xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
startxfce4 &

Install and start VNC Server

#  install the TightVNC server
sudo apt install tightvncserver

#  install the dbus-x11 dependency to ensure a proper connection to your VNC server:
sudo apt install dbus-x11

# start vncserver
vncserver

Connect Debian from local MacOS

Open terminal and run ssh tunel:

# turn on the tunnel,
# format: ssh -L [LOCAL_PORT]:[REMOTE_HOST]:[REMOTE_PORT] user@ssh-server
ssh -L 5901:localhost:5901 gary@110.110.110.110

# MacOS open screen sharing and type:
localhost:5901

Restart VNC server

vncserver -kill :1 
vncserver :1

Set vnc server auto running at startup

Check who you are:

whoami

Edit file

sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/vncserver@.service

content:

[Unit]
Description=Start TightVNC server at startup
After=syslog.target network.target

[Service]
Type=forking
User=gary
Group=gary
WorkingDirectory=/home/gary

PIDFile=/home/gary/.vnc/%H:%i.pid
ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/vncserver -kill :%i > /dev/null 2>&1
ExecStart=/usr/bin/vncserver -depth 24 -geometry 1280x800 :%i
ExecStop=/usr/bin/vncserver -kill :%i

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

and then

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable vncserver@1.service

vncserver -kill :1
sudo systemctl start vncserver@1
sudo systemctl status vncserver@1