I just upgraded from CentOS 6.6 with Gnome 2 at work to CentOS 7.1 and KDE. I'm still resolving some issues with the new environment, one of them being remote desktop access. Under CentOS 6.6/Gnome 2, I was using vino as a VNC server on my PC to allow me to get a remote desktop session from my home PC to my work PC, using TigerVNC as my remote client.

Vino doesn't appear to exist under CentOS 7/KDE. In my research I've discovered krfb as an alternative VNC server, and while this does work it's not really practical. I can't configure the server to run permanently on my system, and what's worse, when a remote connection is made, a prompt is displayed on my office PC asking if it is okay to allow the connection. Considering I'm at home, it's kind of difficult to click that OK button.

So, I hope there's a better solution. Is there a VNC server that runs under CentOS 7/KDE that can be configured to run permanently and allow remote VNC connections without a challenge response?

What about tigervnc
http://tigervnc.org/
it's in the base repo's

Hmmm, that's a good idea. I've been using TigerVNC for my client but never thought of trying TigerVNC server for the other end. I've installed it at the office now; I'll give it a try when I get back home...

You could also try ThinLinc
It's free to up to 10 concurrent users. I've used that since I've heard of it a couple of years ago, works great

I'll check it out. I only need one connection to one PC so I should be good.

Thanks.

Peter

I remember now why I'd switched to using Vino Server in favor of TigerVNC server. The reason I want remote desktop is so that I can resume work I've started at the office on my home PC. I want to connect to my office PC's real desktop, and not just be given a new session.

It's easy to get TigerVNC to give a new session, but I'd always found it a pain to get it to share my PC's primary display. Vino does that without having to go through hoops. What about ThinLinc? Does it work like TigerVNC and give you new desktop sessions or can you configure it to let you connect to your real desktop?

I use x11vnc to share the actual console display remotely. FWIW, I do all remote access over ssh, I ssh into the target linux computer and run a script that hooks x11vnc to display 1. Then just add a ssh tunnel to the vnc port your script sets up, and open your viewer to localhostort.

Would you mind sharing your script? I'm far from an expert when it comes to X. With vino I didn't have to do anything, it was configured to share the main desktop by default. I've always been surprised that these remote console programs are designed the way they are. When I've used Windows systems, the Remote Desktop facility works flawlessly out of the box. After this many years, you'd think Linux would have something as simple to use. Every job I've ever had has required remote desktop access to our Linux boxes and we're always complaining about how poor Linux is (in this regard) compared to Windows. Vino came very close actually in terms of ease of setup and use. Sadly it is not available for KDE.

Here's what I use:
Set $rfbport to your desired vnc port. You may need to change the -auth location if you're using a different display manager, this is from Fedora that uses lightdm. The :0 hooks to the actual console display.

You will probably need to install x11vnc also, it's not installed by default in Fedora or Centos.

You must run as root to hook to the console before there is a login on the console.

man x11vnc has explanations of all the arguments.

This command works perfectly--I can now see my default desktop with a minimum of hassle. Thanks for the solution!