How to setup VNC over SSH on Ubuntu server

Want an alternative to SSH or just fancy a change? No worries – here’s a quick guide I’ve put together to setup a VNC server on your Ubuntu server and connect through an SSH tunnel:

1. SSH to your box and and install tightvncserver (on a clean Ubuntu install I had to apt-get update and upgrade first):

me@myserver:~$ sudo apt-get install tightvncserver


2. Install session manager (I like GNOME, you can use what you like:)

me@myserver:~$ sudo apt-get install gnome-session


3. Add the session manager to your xstartup in ~/.vnc on the server:

#!/bin/sh
xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid blackxport
export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1
gnome-session &

4. Start the server (the geometry and depth flags let you define the display resolution and the colour depth respectively):

me@myserver:~$ vncserver -geometry 1280x1024 -depth 16

5. Create the SSH tunnel from the local machine:

me@mylaptop:~$ ssh me@myserver -L 5901/127.0.0.1/5901

4. Fire up your VNC client – I’m using Chicken of the VNC on this Mac – and enter your connection info. Make sure to enter 127.0.0.1:5901 as the server to connect to:

5. Hit connect and you should see your desktop on the server:

One more thing I needed to do was disable a keyboard shortcut that had my D key held hostage. Go to System > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts and look under Window Management for ‘Hide all Windows and set focus to the Desktop’ and disable it:

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