Remote Desktop Access¶

You can monitor the VNC service with:

systemctl status vncserver

Although any VNC viewer may work, the latest official TigerVNC viewer can be downloaded here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/tigervnc/files/stable/

Connection Details¶

• Use the IP address of your DietPi device, e.g.: 192.168.0.100.
  If you can’t connect, try connecting to screen 1, e.g.: 192.168.0.100:1.
• Use the password you entered during the installation. If you would like to change the password execute from the console/terminal, run vncpasswd.
• The default port is 5901.
  Note: To enable access from outside of your local network, this port needs to be forwarded from your router.

Shared desktop¶

The shared desktop mode is used to have more than one single VNC viewer connected to the same desktop session. To enable this mode, edit /boot/dietpi.txt, e.g. via nano /boot/dietpi.txt. Change to value 1 the following line:

SOFTWARE_VNCSERVER_SHARE_DESKTOP=1

A running desktop is required for this mode, therefore enable desktop autostart via dietpi-autostart 2, or assure that a local desktop session is active before starting TigerVNC manually.

Resolution settings¶

The following shows an example how to run VNC server on screen :1 by creating a new desktop with 1280x720 resolution by editing /boot/dietpi.txt:

nano /boot/dietpi.txt

and change the following settings:

SOFTWARE_VNCSERVER_WIDTH=1280
SOFTWARE_VNCSERVER_HEIGHT=720
SOFTWARE_VNCSERVER_DEPTH=32
SOFTWARE_VNCSERVER_DISPLAY_INDEX=1

At last restart the service to activate the new settings:

systemctl restart vncserver

TigerVNC is enabled by default to start automatically at boot. Run systemctl disable vncserver to disable this behaviour and systemctl start vncserver to start it manually from console.

To re-enabled TigerVNC autostart, run systemctl enable vncserver, to stop it manually systemctl stop vncserver can be used.

Basics¶

By default DietPi will start a virtual VNC session on boot at screen :1 for user root.
The screen index can be changed via SOFTWARE_VNCSERVER_DISPLAY_INDEX in /boot/dietpi.txt. Logs can be viewed via journalctl -t Xvnc:1 -t vncserver and in /root/.vnc/. When you logout (instead of only closing the VNC Viewer window), the session will exit. Restart it via systemctl restart vncserver.

Shared desktop¶

If you set SOFTWARE_VNCSERVER_SHARE_DESKTOP=1 in /boot/dietpi.txt or select desktop auto login via dietpi-autostart (index 2), RealVNC server will be started on boot in shared desktop mode, attaching to the first found local desktop session.
Check the service status via systemctl status vncserver-x11-serviced. Check all logs via journalctl -u vncserver-x11-serviced.

RealVNC enterprise subscription¶

If you have an enterprise subscription on RealVNC, you can have virtual VNC sessions spawning automatically on demand per-client connection and closing once the client disconnects. That way no resource-intense X11/desktop session needs to be persistently active on the server to allow VNC connections.
To enable this, after adding your enterprise subscription credentials, do the following:

• systemctl disable --now vncserver disables the persistent virtual VNC session on screen :1.
• systemctl enable --now vncserver-virtuald enables the on demand VNC session daemon.

Simply select a VNC viewer for your system and download: https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/download/viewer/

Connection details¶

• To connect on the persistent VNC session on screen :1, add the screen index to your local IP or hostname, e.g. 192.168.0.100:1.
• To connect to a shared desktop session, skip the screen index, e.g. 192.168.0.100.
• Username = root
• Password = <root password> (default: dietpi)

This may be the case e.g. if you want to run Minecraft remotely.

• Enable shared desktop mode:
  • Run dietpi-autostart 2 to autostart into a desktop session and have RealVNC attached to it automatically.
  • Then reboot the system to have the changes taking effect.
• Follow the instructions within the section Running directly rendered apps such as Minecraft remotely in https://help.realvnc.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002249917-VNC-Connect-and-Raspberry-Pi.

Download the NoMachine client software from:

• URL = https://www.nomachine.com

Once the NoMachine client is installed, and running on your system, you should see a device named DietPi. Execute the following steps:

1. Double click it.
2. Select Yes for Remote host identification has changed.
3. Select Yes for Verify host authenticity.
4. Enter the username root and password dietpi.
5. Select Yes for Do you want NoMachine to create a new display.

You will now be connected to your device.

While the DietPi-Software installation run, if not done yet, you may create an account at the Remote.It web portal: https://app.remote.it/

After the DietPi-Software installation finished, you can register the device at your Remote.It desktop application. For this, retrieve your claim code via:

mawk -F\" '/claim/{print $4}' /etc/remoteit/config.json

Then follow these instructions: https://docs.remote.it/software/device-package/installation#id-3.-claim-and-register-the-device

The VirtualHere server listens on the TCP port 7575 by default for client connections.

The service is started automatically at boot. As systemd service, it can be controlled with the following commands:

systemctl status virtualhere

systemctl start virtualhere

systemctl stop virtualhere

systemctl restart virtualhere

The configuration file can be found at:

/opt/virtualhere/config.ini

When doing changes, apply them by restart the service:

systemctl restart virtualhere

Since VirtualHere runs as systemd service, its logs can be viewed via:

journalctl -u virtualhere

When a new version is available, VirtualHere can be updated by simply reinstalling it:

dietpi-software reinstall 138