Found a solution. Setting XFSM_VERBOSE=1 in /etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc mentions DBus. I found a post here discussing a solution by setting an alternate X Session.
Per the linked post, I created a file /usr/share/xsessions/xfcevnc.desktop that prefixes the launch of startxfce4 with dbus-launch. Kinda hate this, but it works.
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Xfce4vnc Session
Comment=Use this session to run Xfce in a virtual vnc server
Exec=dbus-launch startxfce4
Icon=
Type=Application
DesktopNames=XFCE4VNC
Yup, I’m tracking the offsets to 5900. I’m watching the process exit and netstat -ltp showing nothing on 5900, 5901, 5902 or 5903.
Something is a bit off on this, though, and I’m simply not seeing it clearly. Again, vncsession called directly works without trouble so why this oddity?
Oh well… moving on, I suppose. Thanks for the ideas!
I face this problem today in Fedora 39 KDE. At first, I didn’t even get anything proper in the ~/.vnc/ log file (saying basically there is already a server listening at this port, unfortunately didn’t copy the message for the next unfortunate soul wandering around trying to get simple VNC to work). After following @vgaetera’s solution involving VNC users and vncpasswd I reached to this point.
I have two rather fundamental questions that I need to understand before trying any further fixes. Requesting inputs:
Does VNC work with Wayland? Wayland is default on Fedora for some releases now, and I read somewhere that VNC only works with X. In that case I should turn to RDP-based solutions.
Do these solutions that specifically mention gnome and Xfce, work with KDE?
I hope you are not running any Fedora 39 any more. If you really do, please update your Fedora as soon as possible. You are behind security updates for at least half a year, maybe even for a full year. At the current point in time, you should be at Fedora 41 as Fedora 40 is going out of support soon.
