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Fedora 20 – Remote Desktop with TightVNC Viewer from Windows 7

As a new comer to Fedora 20 after years on Ubuntu, I had a hard time enabling remote desktop connection (VNC).

The solution is below:

1) Settings -> System -> Sharing – enable Sharing then for Screen Sharing enable it and then enable all checkboxes and set the password.
2) Add port to firewall as root:

firewall-cmd --add-service=vnc-server

If you now try to connect using TightVNC Viewer, you’ll get an error that “No security types supported. Server sent security types, but we do not support any of their”.

tightvnc error

Checking journalctl I see:

Feb 11 18:49:33 biggie gnome-session[1333]: 11/02/2014 06:49:33 PM [IPv4] Got connection from client 192.168.0.105
Feb 11 18:49:33 biggie gnome-session[1333]: 11/02/2014 06:49:33 PM other clients:
Feb 11 18:49:33 biggie gnome-session[1333]: 11/02/2014 06:49:33 PM 192.168.0.105
Feb 11 18:49:33 biggie gnome-session[1333]: 11/02/2014 06:49:33 PM Client Protocol Version 3.7
Feb 11 18:49:33 biggie gnome-session[1333]: 11/02/2014 06:49:33 PM Advertising security type 18
Feb 11 18:49:38 biggie gnome-session[1333]: 11/02/2014 06:49:38 PM Client 192.168.0.105 gone

Now, it seems that vino-server only advertises TLS security (type 18).

Listing the parameters of the server:

gsettings list-keys org.gnome.Vino

we have:

[root@localhost ~]# gsettings list-keys org.gnome.Vino
alternative-port
authentication-methods
disable-background
disable-xdamage
enabled
icon-visibility
lock-screen-on-disconnect
mailto
network-interface
notify-on-connect
prompt-enabled
require-encryption
use-alternative-port
use-upnp
view-only
vnc-password

require-encryption caught my eye, so let’s see:

[root@localhost ~]# gsettings get org.gnome.Vino require-encryption
true

Aha!

TightVNC does not support that so let’s disable that (but since I’m on a local network, I don’t care about encryption).

[root@localhost ~]# gsettings set org.gnome.Vino require-encryption false

You have to set this from a terminal within Gnome – since if you’re trying to execute it from a remote ssh connection you’ll get:

(process:14322): dconf-WARNING **: failed to commit changes to dconf: Error spawning command line 'dbus-launch --autolaunch=ef20763b7e33442b8a7947074a1858cd --binary-syntax --close-stderr': Child process exited with code 1

Now, you can connect as long as you accept the connection from the PC itself. I still have to figure out how to support unattended connections without using tightvncserver alternative ..

8 Comments

  1. Souliouz

    I had that problem, but setting the “require-encryption ” to false did not help.
    Would you have the initial steps (CLI or GUI) for me to check that I have got the rest right ?
    I’ve been playing around with both vino and TigerVNC, and now I don’t know whether it’s broken somewhere.

  2. Eric Pellegrini

    Under [Settings] -> [Sharing] -> [Screen Sharing] -> set Approve all connections to OFF

    Then you won’t have to locally approve the connection.

    Thanks for the tip on how to turn off encryption. When I am off site I have to use a VPN for all traffic to the computer.

  3. Philipp

    Hi! Thank you very much. That solved my problems!

  4. Curt

    Just wanted to say thanks for this post – helped me solve my issue as well

  5. Reds

    Thanks for the configuration tips.. which help me to fix “security not supported” issue.

  6. Tim

    This is so very helpful, thank you!
    I tried many different sites, this was the only with the real solution

  7. Andrea

    Thanks a lot!!!
    This fixed my problem….

  8. Danielson Junior

    Great, man!!! Thank you so much!! Very helpful!! Best wishes!!!

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