Ubuntu Remote Desktop from Windows XP

[micrmac]

I am a very new Ubuntu user. I have a machine with 9.04 loaded. I need to operate it by remote desktop on my local network from a Windows XP machine. The Howto instructions from several sources are all similar. They tell me to configure my Ubuntu from the menu at System - Preferences - Remote Desktop as follows:

1. Allow other users to view your desktop
2. Allow other users to control your desktop
3. Require the user to enter this password: wwwwwww
4. Configure the network automatically to accept connections.

On my Windows machine I have tried both RealVNC and UltraVNC. I have turned off my firewalls. I have tried to connect using my local address 192.168.2.nnn:0. I get a message on the Windows client that the connection cannot be established.

I am stuck.

Mike

[id10t]

On a local network I'd just enable GDM and get a win32 xserver (cygwin-x, etc). Unfortunately, GDM over network is broken in 9.04 :(

You can still ssh in with putty and forward X to your windows machine (still need win32 xserver as above) and launch various applications... not sure what would happen if you tried to launch gnome-desktop...

[Franz]

I have tried to connect using my local address 192.168.2.nnn:0. I get a message on the Windows client that the connection cannot be established.


You have to connect on port 5900, not 0:

192.168.2.nnn:5900

or just
192.168.2.nnn
becauseport 5900 is default

[micrmac]

Thanks to both id10t and Franz for their suggestions. :)

The problem turned out to be Firestarter. I had installed it before attempting remote desktop, then I "turned it off". The catch was that it didn't actually turn off. To unblock port 5900 I had to remove it. Since the computer is behind a router, a firewall isn't actually necessary.

I am up and running using Ultra VNC on the Windows machine.

I think Franz overlooked something in his suggestion. On the login line on a typical VNC viewer, the form 192.168.2.nnn:w does not specify the port in the w value. It specifies a screen number. If I were specifying the port the form would be 192.168.2.nnn::5900, with two colons.

[jb1023]

I am able to connect to my remote Ubuntu server with UltraVNC just fine. My issue is if there is no user logged onto the server then the connection attempt fails. If there is a user logged on then the connection succeeds. Is there a setting to start the server as a system service rather than a user service, assuming this is what is happening? The reason this is an issue is because if I am working on the server on a weekend/evening, remotely, and I have to reboot the server or even log off for whatever reason then I cannot get back on unless there happens to be somebody in the office and that is highly unlikely. Thanks in advance.