VNC Gray Screen Ubuntu 14.04

May 3, 2014 127.7k views
siskens
By:
siskens
Hi, I have been trying to follow some tutorials to get the VNC server running. All that the result currently is that I get a gray screen. This seems to be in line with what other users are experiencing as I read through some fora. Has a solution for this been created already? Would be great to see if there is an update for this. Also, don't really know if it has to do with the new Ubuntu! Niels
2 comments
  • abrahamdsl November 15, 2015

    In my case, all of my storage are full. Deleting files to have vacant space plus restarting the service fixed it.

  • selvakr May 6, 2017

    Open xstartup file.

    $ nano ~/.vnc/xstartup

    Add the following line.

    !/bin/sh

    def
    export XKLXMODMAPDISABLE=1
    unset SESSIONMANAGER
    unset DBUS    SESSIONBUSADDRESS

    gnome-panel &
    gnome-settings-daemon &
    metacity &
    nautilus &
    gnome-terminal &

    Save and close it. After that install GNOM

    $ apt-get install ubuntu-gnome-desktop -y

    Once finished, restart the droplet.

    Now, it should work. I had the same issue and solved now.

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11 Answers
machupicchu October 12, 2014

This seems to be a common problem with Ubuntu 14.04 and gnome.

The following tutorial solved the issue for me: Ubuntu VNC Grey Screen

Reply
tope_lourenco May 3, 2014
Hello,

Have you tried this tutorial already?
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/how-to-setup-vnc-for-ubuntu-12

I am using ubuntu 14.04 and that was the tutorial that solved me the gray screen problem.
How To Setup VNC For Ubuntu 12
by Bulat Khamitov
VNC will allow you to connect to your server remotely, as well as be able to use your keyboard, mouse, and monitor to interface with that server. Get it setup on your Ubuntu 12 cloud server.
Reply
siskens May 3, 2014
Yeah, still gray screen
Reply
actiom May 3, 2014
too
Reply
siskens May 4, 2014
I think somehow this is a problem with Ubuntu even though we cannot exclude this is an issue with Digital Oceans images. Let's post a Service Request.
Reply
info658731 May 10, 2014
sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

finally: dconf > desktop > gnome > remote-access > enabled - uncheck !!!

issue fixed.
Remote Desktop sharing working after reboot !!!
Reply
info658731 May 10, 2014
Or: dconf-editor > disable REQUIRE ENCRYPTION
Reply
ra2233 May 24, 2014
I'm trying to get a VNC on Ubuntu 14.04 on EC2 display the Unity desktop.
Should the dconf commands are gnome specific of could they work for Unity?
Those commands seems to be for a GUI desktop. How can I apply those to a vncserver session when my only access to my EC2 is via PuTTY SSH sesshin?

Reply
kamaln7 MOD May 24, 2014
@ra2233: Unity is a shell for the GNOME desktop environment, so the dconf commands should work on Unity.
Reply
rhaddad November 12, 2014

Hi,

I'm also getting a gray screen when I login to VNC. I'm using Ubuntu 14.04. Has anyone solved this? The fixes listed here don't work.

Thanks,
Robert

Reply
johnhuang December 24, 2015

@machupicchu how to find ~/.vnc/xstartup file

Reply
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