RealVNC doesn’t work after upgrading to Ubuntu 14.04
Over the weekend I updated from Ubuntu 13.10 to 14.04 LTS and so far I’ve not noticed any significant differences. However, one of my Ubuntu machines is the headless home media server. To remote into that machine while on my internal network I’ve been using RealVNC, sans encryption, to manage the server. Trouble is, post the upgrade, RealVNC wouldn’t connect with an error along the lines of “you’re not using encryption – please use encryption.” Yeah, not something I really wanted to figure out. But after some hunting I found the Ubuntu bug report “Ubuntu 14.04 (Alpha Release) – VNC not working” which did have an answer. Basically:
Run the configuration editor
Search for “require-encryption” (or find it under org > gnome > desktop > applications > remote-access)
Uncheck require-encrption
Close the configuration editor
Reboot
Run Desktop Sharing
Allow remote access to your computer (even if you’ve previously done this)
You should probably at least set a password for access
Michael Sauers is the Director of Logan Library in Logan, UT. Prior to this he was one of the founding staff and Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are my own and are not to be considered those of the City of Logan, UT.
View all posts by Michael Sauers