Daemon is dead - TigerVNC

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1

Hello,

I’m a new user, have been using Fedora Workstation 42 from May, moving out from Windows. I wanted to try setting up VNC between my phone and laptop, as a trial run before getting a Raspberry Pi. Hence, I looked around how to set a VNC server.

The TigerVNC article on Fedora website is outdated (this one I saw at least : https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/f40/system-administrators-guide/infrastructure-services/TigerVNC/#TigerVNC.adoc#configuring-vncserver), so it couldn’t help me resolve some errors I had with restarting the daemon.

Could someone indicate me an updated tutorial with the good way to edit the config files ?

I had at least this error : https://community.oracle.com/customerconnect/discussion/859753/linux-tigervnc-configuration-fails-with-error-no-user-configured-for-display

But even when I corrected it with adding myself as user in the config file, nothing good happened and the daemon didn’t restart at all. His status was dead.

I also tried to follow that post, but it didn’t work and in the end it confused me because I wasn’t sure where to edit the copied files : https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/755436/tigervnc-unable-to-start-systemd-service

Because of the confusion induced by this article, I don’t even know what files I could’ve copied here because there are copies in different directories of the same file. Sorry for this, I know it can be helpful to track issues.

Since it didn’t change anything, I Timeshifted on my prior state, so it removed TigerVNC.
But now, no daemon is to be found at all when I run the systemctl command. Not even status dead, nothing (command not found), and after reboot too. I’m worried. Is it normal because it’s uninstalled, or did I break something?

Is there any way I can recover the daemon, and then set VNC up in a way I’m not confused by ? I don’t mind about changing from Tiger VNC to another one btw, since anyway I have to go from the ground up.

Thank you in advance for any help.

2

Okay after a night of sleep I wanted to retry.

So far, I’ve done this :

First, I have activated the options in that thread (Cannot Create VNC Server - #3 by taran42) beforehand in :
Gnome Settings - Share

image
image624×317 16.8 KB

And Gnome Settings, Security, Share my desktop

image
image618×698 45.3 KB

But nothing when I systemctl-ed, so I re-installed. Afterwards, it gave me this.

systemctl status vncserver@\:1service
○ vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/vncserver@.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: inactive (dead)

systemctl enable vncserver@\:1service
Created symlink '/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/vncserver@:1service.service' → '/usr/lib/systemd/system/vncserver@.service'.

So then, I added myself as user :

cat vncserver.users
# TigerVNC user assignment
#
# This file assigns users to specific VNC display numbers.
# The syntax is <display>=<username>. E.g.:
#
# :2=andrew
# :3=lisa
:1=louise

The status doesn’t change no matter if I enable it, or reload daemons.

And then I systemctl start :

systemctl start vncserver@\:1service
Job for vncserver@:1service.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status vncserver@:1service.service" and "journalctl -xeu vncserver@:1service.service" for details.

And finally, the journal :

journalctl -xeu vncserver@:1service.service
juil. 04 08:59:21 Fedora systemd[1]: Starting vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)...
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer.
juil. 04 08:59:22 Fedora vncsession-restore[6770]: No user configured for display :1service
juil. 04 08:59:22 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ An ExecStartPre= process belonging to unit vncserver@:1service.service has exited.
░░ 
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
juil. 04 08:59:22 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ The unit vncserver@:1service.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
juil. 04 08:59:22 Fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC).
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué, avec le résultat failed.

But yeah, something isn’t going well at all. Without TigerVNC installed, even activating the options didn’t give me the daemon. And even installed, the daemon is dead. Help ?

1 Like
3

@vgaetera hello, I’ve browsed the forum a little bit and I’ve seen you answered to few similar topics. Can you perhaps help me ?

4

I’ve also tried this tutorial on Fedora Magazine : Sharing the computer screen in Gnome - Fedora Magazine

After installing Remmina and reloading the daemon, it seems at least it isn’t dead anymore but still not working :

systemctl start vncserver@\:1service
Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of vncserver@:1service.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units.
Job for vncserver@:1service.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status vncserver@:1service.service" and "journalctl -xeu vncserver@:1service.service" for details.
louise@Fedora:~$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload

The result of the two systemctl commands :

systemctl status vncserver@:1service.service
× vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/vncserver@.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2025-07-04 15:17:32 CEST; 2min 23s ago
 Invocation: c5423b1bde8a47f6a6363fc263367d3a
    Process: 5473 ExecStartPre=/usr/libexec/vncsession-restore :1service (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Mem peak: 2.3M
        CPU: 19ms

juil. 04 15:17:32 Fedora systemd[1]: Starting vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)...
juil. 04 15:17:32 Fedora vncsession-restore[5473]: No user configured for display :1service
juil. 04 15:17:32 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
juil. 04 15:17:32 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
juil. 04 15:17:32 Fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC).

journalctl -xeu vncserver@:1service.service
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ An ExecStartPre= process belonging to unit vncserver@:1service.service has exited.
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora systemd[1]: Starting vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)...
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer.
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora vncsession-restore[1506]: No user configured for display :1service
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ An ExecStartPre= process belonging to unit vncserver@:1service.service has exited.
░░ 
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ The unit vncserver@:1service.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC).
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué, avec le résultat failed.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: Starting vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)...
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora vncsession-restore[5145]: No user configured for display :1service
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ An ExecStartPre= process belonging to unit vncserver@:1service.service has exited.
░░ 
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ The unit vncserver@:1service.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC).
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué, avec le résultat failed.
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora systemd[1]: Starting vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)...
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer.
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora vncsession-restore[1506]: No user configured for display :1service
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ An ExecStartPre= process belonging to unit vncserver@:1service.service has exited.
░░ 
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ The unit vncserver@:1service.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC).
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué, avec le résultat failed.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: Starting vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)...
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora vncsession-restore[5145]: No user configured for display :1service
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ An ExecStartPre= process belonging to unit vncserver@:1service.service has exited.
░░ 
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ The unit vncserver@:1service.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC).
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer.
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora vncsession-restore[1506]: No user configured for display :1service
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ An ExecStartPre= process belonging to unit vncserver@:1service.service has exited.
░░ 
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ The unit vncserver@:1service.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
juil. 04 15:02:35 Fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC).
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué, avec le résultat failed.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: Starting vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)...
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora vncsession-restore[5145]: No user configured for display :1service
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ An ExecStartPre= process belonging to unit vncserver@:1service.service has exited.
░░ 
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ The unit vncserver@:1service.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
juil. 04 15:17:13 Fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC).
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué, avec le résultat failed.
juil. 04 15:17:32 Fedora systemd[1]: Starting vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)...
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a commencé à démarrer.
juil. 04 15:17:32 Fedora vncsession-restore[5473]: No user configured for display :1service
juil. 04 15:17:32 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ An ExecStartPre= process belonging to unit vncserver@:1service.service has exited.
░░ 
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
juil. 04 15:17:32 Fedora systemd[1]: vncserver@:1service.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ The unit vncserver@:1service.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
juil. 04 15:17:32 Fedora systemd[1]: Failed to start vncserver@:1service.service - Remote desktop service (VNC).
░░ Subject: L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
░░ 
░░ L'unité (unit) vncserver@:1service.service a échoué, avec le résultat failed.

The only thing that changed is that Gnome indicated me that it changed from port 3389 to 3390 for RDP, but I doubt it’s what would help. At least the computer shows signs of doing stuff. Plus it changed it into the “Sharing desktop” tab, and not in the “Remote connection” tab. Weird.

Normally, if the setup would’ve worked, I should’ve been able to put my computer’s IP and see it inside of Connections, Remmina or whatever we can use, right ? No matter if I would’ve run it to see the same device ?

5

And strangely enough, no sshd too :

systemctl status sshd
○ sshd.service - OpenSSH server daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/sshd.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: inactive (dead)
       Docs: man:sshd(8)
             man:sshd_config(5)

.. but I could re-neable it through enable --now command so at least for it, it seems okay

@anotheruser @glb any ideas ? help ?

6

Hi Louise:

I haven’t used VNC in a while. IIUC, it is supposed to (still) work via GNOME Remote Desktop.[1]

I don’t think GNOME Remote Desktop would install or activate that vncserver@<instance>.service though. It uses its own mechanism. Try running systemctl --user status gnome-remote-desktop.service to see if GNOME Remote Desktop is running.

Also, be aware that VNC and RDP are different protocols and they use different ports. By default, VNC listens on port 5900 and RDP listens on port 3389. If you are running RDP, you’ll need to use a client that supports that protocol.

HTH. :slightly_smiling_face:

  1. ↩︎

1 Like
7 
systemctl --user status gnome-remote-desktop.service
Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of gnome-remote-desktop.service changed on disk. >
● gnome-remote-desktop.service - GNOME Remote Desktop
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/gnome-remote-desktop.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/service.d
             └─10-timeout-abort.conf
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2025-07-04 15:08:37 CEST; 3h 13min ago
 Invocation: b5f764b241934aab918efe0546e1a584
   Main PID: 4452 (gnome-remote-de)
      Tasks: 11 (limit: 9235)
     Memory: 13.2M (peak: 16.8M)
        CPU: 419ms
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/app.slice/gnome-remote-desktop.service
             └─4452 /usr/libexec/gnome-remote-desktop-daemon

juil. 04 15:08:37 Fedora systemd[2268]: Started gnome-remote-desktop.service - GNOME Remote Desktop.
juil. 04 15:08:37 Fedora gnome-remote-desktop-daemon[4452]: Cannot load libcuda.so.1
juil. 04 15:08:37 Fedora gnome-remote-desktop-daemon[4452]: Cannot load libnvidia-encode.so.1
juil. 04 15:08:37 Fedora gnome-remote-de[4452]: [HWAccel.Vulkan] Initialization of Vulkan was successful
juil. 04 15:08:37 Fedora gnome-remote-de[4452]: RDP server started
juil. 04 15:16:51 Fedora gnome-remote-de[4452]: RDP server stopped
juil. 04 15:16:54 Fedora gnome-remote-desktop-daemon[4452]: Cannot load libcuda.so.1
juil. 04 15:16:54 Fedora gnome-remote-desktop-daemon[4452]: Cannot load libnvidia-encode.so.1
juil. 04 15:16:54 Fedora gnome-remote-de[4452]: [HWAccel.Vulkan] Initialization of Vulkan was successful

So.. what does all of this mean ?

8

It looks like it is running. You could also confirm that it is listening on the expected port with a command like sudo ss -anlp | grep ':3389 '. If you still cannot connect, check your firewall settings and make sure your client is connecting to the right port number and using the right protocol.

9

Seems good I guess ?

ss -anlp | grep 3389.
tcp   LISTEN 0      10                                                       *:3389                   *:*

So if I understood, through this my desktop is available through ssh or vnc ?

How do i do if for example, I wanna use this computer to remote access some other computer ? I tried few different sources but all mentioned VNC so I was rounding around aimless since vnc server wouldn’t do anything :")

10

Yeah, it looks OK to me (assuming your firewall isn’t blocking it).

As for clients, it looks like Wikipedia has a list here: List of Remote Desktop Protocol clients - Wikipedia

I’d try freerdp since that appears to be available in the Fedora repos. Also, the below excerpt from Wikipedia suggests the FreeRDP client might be the most compatible with Wayland servers.

Excerpt:

Weston, the compositor in Wayland, uses FreeRDP to implement an rdp server it terms “rdp-backend”.

1 Like
11

I’ll look around and let you know, thanks !

12

Honestly, FreeRDP was a bit overwhelming since no GUI.
I found out a similar service called DW Service, it’s also free for my number of devices (max 2 or 3 and I wouldn’t use them at once anyway), made in Europe and apparently open source too ! It’s here
It runs agent installed or just as an executable, and the interface is quite easy to understand.
It doesn’t peculiarly need VNC and my devices showed the authorisation messages and all, it works well so far.
It’s here : DWService - Accès à distance, Administration à distance, Support à distance
Had I known lol :rofl: Thanks for your help though !

1 Like