Ubuntu Mate 24.04 TigerVNCserver and AnyDesk incompatible?

Support and Help
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1

Hi,
I installed Ubuntu mate 24.04 on a miniPC and on an old HP-desktop and Ubuntu mate 22.04 on another old HP desktop. The latter because with 24.04 as I always got a grey screen preventing me to continue the installation. I encountered several problems with lightdm, which is my favorite DM. In one case I also had to install metacity instead of MARCO as WM but finally everything now seems to run smoothly.

HOWEVER:

I was unable to run TigerVNCserver in parallel with AnyDesk. When both are present I either cannot connect from remote to the VNC server although “vncserver -list” shows that it runs on the server. On the other hand, the connection to AnyDesk seems to work as it is shown on a remote station, but after entering the PW it says “connecting” but nothing happens. I have both running on a windows PC without too much problems as this gives me the security to access this PC even when one of them crashes.

I suspect that this problem is related to the particular DM/WM lightdm (that runs x11) or to an incorrect assignment of the windows.

If anybody is willing to help I can provide more details. Thanks!!!

2

What are you wanting to do on the remote system that needs the full desktop session? There may be a sleeker solution to what you want to achieve

3

My experience tells me you are most likely correct in your suspicions. There’s a simple way to test this: install another display manager.

Also it would be nice to make really clear what machine is running what where. You mention something being remote and three different machines but I can’t tell which is where.

Also, logs and configurations would help.

:warning: What follows isn’t useful at helping with your stated problem because it skirts around it by suggesting something else. :warning:

I would suggest NoMachine. It’s a freeware but proprietary/closed source software, the latter of which would normally keep me from recommending it. However, my company uses it on a daily basis and my experience with it has been so positive that it’s hard not to sing its praises. We’ve tried all sorts of solutions in the past including VNC, RDP, X2Go (also based on NX technology, but an older version), more obscure open source solutions, and numerous other closed source options. None of them are as hassle free as NoMachine.

Another super quick and easy option if you just need to access an application or two and you’re on a local network would be X forwarding over ssh.

4

I encountered a similar effect with AnyDesk 6.4.0-1 on a 24.04-2 machine. Older Revision 6.3.2-1 of the AnyDesk .deb works, every new update crashes the working installation and must be ‘reverted’.

Connections to ubuntu are effected, as well as connections to Windows. JFI, my intention was not to spam on your thread.

Peter

1 Like
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Thank you all! Since many years I have been using very similar setups and I always succeeded with TigerVNC but I shall probably try nomachine in the next weeks.

As requested, let me concentrate onto the one PC that is currently physically accessible for me:

This is the output of neofetch:

me@me-HP-Elite

OS: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS x86_64
Host: HP Elite 7100 Microtower PC xxx0204GRxxxxxxxx0
Kernel: 6.8.0-54-generic
Uptime: 1 day, 19 hours, 35 l
Packages: 2413 (dpkg), 11 (snap)
Shell: bash 5.1.16
Resolution: 1920x1200
DE: MATE 1.26.0
WM: Metacity
Theme: Yaru-MATE-light [GTK2/3]
Icons: Yaru-MATE-light [GTK2/3]
Terminal: /dev/pts/0
CPU: Intel i3 540 (4) @ 3.067GHz
GPU: Intel Core Processor
Memory: 1741MiB / 7677MiB

Installing Ubuntu mate 24.04 from a USB stick prepared with balenaEcher ended with a grey screen not allowing me to continue the installation. I finally succeeded installing Ubuntu mate 22.04 but did not dare to version-upgrade being afraid to get stuck again.

There were a number of display problems which I tried remedy by trying all five proposed configurations for the MARCO WM by using MateTweak but none of them gave me the well-known and usual appearance of the UBUNTU mate desktop. I finally installed Metacity, which resulted in a blue Desktop with a frame and showing several icons on the bottom (one including a lifebuoy). I never saw this desktop and unfortunately cannot send a picture of it but believe that it is Metacity). HOWEVER, when clicking e.g. “Terminal”, this desktop changed to the one I know very well and have it on all my other boxes. This is also the one shown when I connect via VNC. The MateTweak Window Manager told me “You are currently using an unknown and unsupported window manager. Thus we cannot guarantee that changes made here will be effective”. Nevertheless I am currently using this setup from remote via the TigerVNCserver. When connecting from remote I either do get the ‘normal’ desktop or the one described above but clicking ‘Terminal’ reverts it to the one I want. So far this is the only way of having a usable system at hand. From remote I use:

vncserver -version
Xvnc TigerVNC 1.12.0 - built 2024-01-23 19:20
Copyright (C) 1999-2021 TigerVNC Team and many others (see README.rst)
See https://www.tigervnc.org for information on TigerVNC.
Underlying X server release 12101004, X.Org

and the latest RealVNC viewer (or any other VNC client with the same result).
I start it with “vncserver :1 -localhost no”. I do not get any connection without the latter parameter.

Please note that all the following I do from remote with the VNC client:
I installed AnyDesk as described here: https://coderise.io/install-anydesk-on-ubuntu/. This time I did not care about the version and sequentially worked the points given on this page. Strangely, AnyDesk seems to work now. The problem I had must thus be related to the version!

In conclusion, I would be happy to hear what is wrong with the Ubuntu Mate setup giving rise to this mess with the DM and my failure to install Ubuntu Mate 24.04.
Thanks!

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What are you wanting to do on the remote system that needs the full desktop session? There may be a sleeker solution to what you want to achieve

7

What I’m seeing is some fundamental issues with the core MATE setup that may also be part and parcel of the issue you’re inquiring about. That said, I’d start with trying to get a handle on that before moving on to remote access.

Unfortunately, this is not the best place to discuss MATE issues (yet). Have you tried their own Discourse?

8

Finally I found the reason why AnyDesk 6.4.n doesn’t work on my fresh installed u_24.04.2 System:

look at point:

  • ² For Linux-based devices, only outgoing sessions are supported if using Wayland. Incoming sessions are only possible when using Xorg. *

in documentation from AnyDesk.

Version 6.3.2-1 works since several weeks flawless under Xorg, automatic updates are disabled.

Peter

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