Starting a VNC Server on startup

Added: 1st September 2006

There is a standard VNC server which comes as part of Ubuntu. This is called 'vino' and it comes as part of the Gnome desktop. There are several guides to using vino, so I won't go into that in detail here, but just point you to the Gnome Journal article: Remote Desktop Administration Using Vino

Vino will not start by default until after you are logged in. This is fine if you have access to the actual machine and can just go and login. However, this is not an option in some cases - you may want to VNC to a machine with no monitor, or one a long way away. So what you need is a VNC server that starts before the machine is logged in.

I've not been able to do this with vino, but what you can do is to install another VNC server, which will give you a second display, which doesn't appear on your monitor, but is just used for VNC purposes. This can then be set to start before you log in. Full instructions for doing that can be found on the Ubuntu forums: HOWTO: Set up VNC server with resumable sessions.

That might not cover what you are after though - What about controlling a PC with a monitor but no keyboard and mouse, such as a HTPC? Well, you have one more option - You can set your machine to log you in automatically - so vino will be ready for you as soon as you boot. Just select System - Administration - Login Window from the menu, and choose 'Enable automatic login' - remember to choose which user you wish to log in as, if you have more than one.