Is possible to use two users in the same computer at the same time with VNC?

Ask Fedora
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1

hello, so i was trying to test an application in other user on my machine, to not mess with my config files, using vnc, but it stay frozen, so i don’t if it’s possible or just a bug with kde KRFB or KRDC, thanks!

2

It definitely should be possible to have two or more users signed in at the same time and running programs on Fedora Linux. As to how well VNC works with the newer Wayland interface, that I am less certain of. It has been quite some time since I used VNC.

Edit: It might even be possible to sign in multiple times on separate VTs. The PC I’m at right now is running Sway and is not running any DM, but if you feel up to trying it, try pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 to switch back to the desktop manager, then try signing in as your second user. If it works, you should be able to switch between your users by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2 to pull up your first sign-on and Ctrl+Alt+F3 to switch to your second sign-on.

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3

yeah, i was asking because i wasn’t sure if it was a bug in KDE or vnc couldn’t work with DE in different TTY, so i’m gonna report it thanks!

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4

actually searching better Running startplasma-wayland in headless mode without physical monitor - Development - KDE Discuss probably it don’t work :confused:

5

I was reading that instead using vnc it should be used connection under gnome because it uses rdp and it works with wayland. I do not know if KDE has an alternative to gnome-remote-desktop or if this even works under KDE ?!

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6

Depending on what exactly you are trying to do, this might also work: Olivier Fourdan / xwayland-run · GitLab

7

the thing is, from what i read, gnome supports the headless mode, so even without a screen it works fine, but kde don’t that’s why it shows the desktop frozen, i tried KRDC and gnome connections as client and both showed the screen frozen

8

Depending on the situation you are trying to solve, purchasing something like a VGA dummy plug might be a viable workaround (or HDMI).

9

i don’t see how that could fix my issue, i have a external monitor, how could i put the other user in there?

10

Ah, right, sorry, I was thinking for a moment that you were trying to configure a headless system. If you already have a monitor, the dummy plug probably won’t be of much use.

11

yeah, from what i read, it would work in gnome because it supports a headless mode, that’s i was trying to find it in kde plasma

12

I found an interesting post here that seems to suggest that you can just launch another instance of the Xwayland binary and then route programs to it by setting the DISPLAY environment variable. That is how the X11 proto used to work. It doesn’t seem to work for me, but I’m on a Sway system. You might have better luck with KDE.

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13

You don’t even need remote access as there are simpler isolation methods:

# Isolating home directory
env HOME=/tmp firefox

# Isolating user
sudo useradd ${NEWUSER}
xhost +
sudo -i -u ${NEWUSER} firefox

Although using VNC is still possible:
How to "Remote Login" from Gnome to KDE? - #6 by vgaetera

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14

VNC is not compatible with a Wayland only install of KDE, at least. even though it has its own X sever called Xvnc. The problem is that it doesn’t come with a window manager, and KDE has none.

To get it to work in F40 I removed the “KDE Plasma Workspaces” environment group and install “LXDE Desktop”. I still had to start openbox (the LXDE window manager) and and lxterminal in the .Xstartup file.

Once you get it to work, you can start as many vncservers as you want, but they will be separate from each other. Two users can connect to the same vncserver, but they will see each other’s mouse movements and keystrokes, which is probably not what you want.

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