Trying to install TigerVNC for remote dektop access (as root) on a centos7 machine, based on this article. Have the following configs
[root@HW01 ~]# cat /etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:1.service # The vncserver service unit file # # Quick HowTo: # 1. Copy this file to /etc/systemd/system/vncserver@.service # 2. Replace <USER> with the actual user name and edit vncserver # parameters appropriately # (ExecStart=/usr/sbin/runuser -l <USER> -c "/usr/bin/vncserver %i" # PIDFile=/home/<USER>/.vnc/%H%i.pid) # 3. Run `systemctl daemon-reload` # 4. Run `systemctl enable vncserver@:<display>.service` # # DO NOT RUN THIS SERVICE if your local area network is # untrusted! For a secure way of using VNC, you should # limit connections to the local host and then tunnel from # the machine you want to view VNC on (host A) to the machine # whose VNC output you want to view (host B) # # [user@hostA ~]$ ssh -v -C -L 590N:localhost:590M hostB # # this will open a connection on port 590N of your hostA to hostB's port 590M # (in fact, it ssh-connects to hostB and then connects to localhost (on hostB). # See the ssh man page for details on port forwarding) # # You can then point a VNC client on hostA at vncdisplay N of localhost and with # the help of ssh, you end up seeing what hostB makes available on port 590M # # Use "-nolisten tcp" to prevent X connections to your VNC server via TCP. # # Use "-localhost" to prevent remote VNC clients connecting except when # doing so through a secure tunnel. See the "-via" option in the # `man vncviewer' manual page. [Unit] Description=Remote desktop service (VNC) After=syslog.target network.target [Service] Type=forking # Clean any existing files in /tmp/.X11-unix environment ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || :' ExecStart=/usr/sbin/runuser -l root -c "/usr/bin/vncserver %i" PIDFile=/root/.vnc/%H%i.pid ExecStop=/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || :' [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target did...
[root@HW01 ~]# vncpasswd Password: Password not changed [root@HW01 ~]# to confirm no password for root, but am getting the following errors...
[root@HW01 ~]# systemctl start vncserver@:1.service Job for vncserver@:1.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status vncserver@:1.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details. [root@HW01 ~]# systemctl status vncserver@:1.service ● vncserver@:1.service - Remote desktop service (VNC) Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:1.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2019-07-19 16:03:11 HST; 14s ago Process: 72135 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/runuser -l root -c /usr/bin/vncserver %i (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Process: 72129 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || : (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Jul 19 16:03:11 HW01.ucera.local systemd[1]: Starting Remote desktop service (VNC)... Jul 19 16:03:11 HW01.co.local runuser[72135]: Password: Jul 19 16:03:11 HW01.co.local systemd[1]: vncserver@:1.service: control process exited, cod...s=1 Jul 19 16:03:11 HW01.co.local systemd[1]: Failed to start Remote desktop service (VNC). Jul 19 16:03:11 HW01.co.local systemd[1]: Unit vncserver@:1.service entered failed state. Jul 19 16:03:11 HW01.co.local systemd[1]: vncserver@:1.service failed. Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full. Anyone know what could be going wrong here? Any debugging suggestions?
1 Answer
Based on post on the RHEL7 forums and the previously linked article, the problem appears to be that I did not reset the vncpasswd for the user (I had intentionally not done this before since wanted to keep the password empty (appears that this is not possible or that I am misunderstanding what the vncpasswd is really doing)). So doing this...
... from the article before starting the service helped fix the problem.
[root@HW04 ~]# vncpasswd Password: Verify: Would you like to enter a view-only password (y/n)? n A view-only password is not used [root@HW04 ~]# systemctl start vncserver@:1.service [root@HW04 ~]# systemctl status vncserver@:1.service ● vncserver@:1.service - Remote desktop service (VNC) Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:1.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled) Active: inactive (dead) since Mon 2019-07-22 12:39:17 HST; 5min ago Process: 2170 ExecStop=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || : (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Process: 2125 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/runuser -l root -c /usr/bin/vncserver %i (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Process: 2122 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || : (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 2143 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Jul 22 12:39:09 HW04.co.local systemd[1]: Starting Remote desktop service (VNC)... Jul 22 12:39:17 HW04.co.local systemd[1]: Started Remote desktop service (VNC). 
