Another one of these things I always end up forgetting: setting up a Linux (in this case: Ubuntu) server so that users can login using a VNC client and get a (slim) desktop.

First thing you need to do is make sure you have a VNC server (tightvncserver), desktop apps and window manager installed. E.g.:

apt-get -y install ubuntu-desktop tightvncserver xfce4 xfce4-goodies

Next, add a user (if you haven’t already) for the remote user going to login:

adduser remote_user
passwd remote_user

Add to sudoers if required.

Next, set a VNC password. Best to set this to something else than normal password:

su - remote_user
vncpasswd

Next, create a vncserver.sh helper script to start to VNC server for a user:

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#!/bin/bash
PATH="$PATH:/usr/bin/"
export USER="$2"
export PWD="/home/${USER}"
DISPLAY="$3"
DEPTH="16"
GEOMETRY="1024x768"
OPTIONS="-depth ${DEPTH} -geometry ${GEOMETRY} :${DISPLAY}"
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

case "$1" in
start)
log_action_begin_msg "Starting vncserver for user '${USER}' on localhost:${DISPLAY}"
su ${USER} -c "/usr/bin/vncserver ${OPTIONS}"
;;

stop)
log_action_begin_msg "Stoping vncserver for user '${USER}' on localhost:${DISPLAY}"
su ${USER} -c "/usr/bin/vncserver -kill :${DISPLAY}"
;;

restart)
$0 stop
$0 start
;;
esac
exit 0

And start with:

./vncserver.sh start remote_user 1

The remote user is then able to login to port 5901.

Edit /home/remote_user/.vnc/xstartup to your liking. I’m using LXDE:

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#!/bin/sh
xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid black
lxterminal &
/usr/bin/lxsession -s LXDE &