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A few machines running Ubuntu 18.04 have to be accessed remotely through VNC.

On Ubuntu, I can use Remmina Remote Desktop Client to connect to the VNC server. The VNC server on Ubuntu is setup via the default Desktop Sharing:

Desktop Sharing in Ubuntu

I want to connect to that Ubuntu session via VNC from a macOS client.

I tried using the "hidden" default VNC client by going through Finder and using ⌘+k, and:

vnc://ubuntu-server-hostname.local

and: 

vnc://ubuntu-server-hostname.local:5900

and 

vnc://{UBUNTU-SERVER-IP}:5900

yet it states that version of the server cannot be identified. I am assuming the the default client works only for macOS servers.

Is there, and if so which, a VNC server can connect to an Linux server? I prefer the solution to be open source or freeware. A paid solution is not an option for me, yet feel free to name it to give a working solution.

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    Doesn't work with Mac OS X Mojave & Ubuntu 18.04. According Screen Sharing, the ubuntu software is now incompatible
    – Ramonster
    Nov 29, 2019 at 9:48

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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There exist many modern VNC clients for macOS that supports connecting to Linux servers. Free ones include TigerVNC and RealVNC Viewer.

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    Both clients do not reckognize the security setting: Unable to connect to VNC Server using your chosen security setting or in case of tigerVnc: No matching security types.
    – k0pernikus
    Apr 2, 2019 at 11:58
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    You can solve this by running the following on the server: “gsettings set org.gnome.Vino require-encryption false”. If you prefer not doing that, post your VNC server configuration details so that we can see how you have it configured.
    – jksoegaard
    Apr 2, 2019 at 16:32
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    I confirm that after setting this variable to false I was able to connect to the Ubuntu 18 server with both RealVNC Viewer and the integrated macOS Screen Sharing application.
    – Liviu Ionescu
    Jun 14, 2019 at 16:49
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    Setting require-encryption to false is a very bad idea as it means the data in transit to your server (including credentials) is sent in clear.
    – sunknudsen
    Sep 16, 2019 at 22:26
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    I thought it was obvious that it disables encryption - but yes, ofcourse. It doesn't mean it is a bad idea per say - rather it means that you should wrap the connection in encryption if you're working on an exposed network (such as connecting to a server over the internet). You can do that by for example using an SSH tunnel or various styles of tunnel/VPN programs. In my experience, VNC is usually used on local network servers in home networks where the exposure is very limited.
    – jksoegaard
    Sep 16, 2019 at 23:55

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