I'm looking for a program to remote desktop from my macbook pro to the ubuntu VM I have set up on my home computer. I've read chicken of the VNC works but after using it, it seems to be incredibly laggy. Is there a better solution out there or do I just have to deal with it?
211 Answers
This site lists a number of servers, such as Vino and krfb. On the mac, you can just use the Screen Sharing client (in Finder's Go menu, click Connect to Server, then enter the address *vnc://****192.168.0.6* or whatever IP address the Ubuntu system is on, making sure to retain the **vnc:// portion).
6I successfully logged-in remotely from my iMac macOS Mojave desktop into my hackintosh, which is a retrofitted 2012 Apple Macbook Pro running smoothly Ubuntu 16.04:
From the Ubuntu Desktop
- Download and install vino by running
sudo apt-get install vinowithin the Ubuntu terminal. - Next run
vino-preferences. - After the vino application preferences window prompts, ensure that the "Allow other users to view your desktop" and "Allow other users to control your desktop" options are selected beneath the "Sharing" field; it is also recommended to select the "You must confirm each access to the this machine" and "Require the user to enter system-password".
- Run
sudo-rebootand then log-in to the Ubuntu 16.04 desktop. - Retrieve and the device-IP address by running
ifconfig -a; the local-IP address of the device will be returned within the terminal-output under the field: "inet addr:" (e.g.inet addr: 10.3.1.233). After noting the local-IP address of the device, proceed with the next set of instructions from your macOS desktop.
From Ubuntu 18.04-2 LTS
- Evidently, vino functionality was merged in Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS Gnome Control Center, so it's much easier- simply go to "Settings".
- Within "Settings", scroll down to the "Sharing" tab within the left-hand side of the window.
- Turn on "Screen Sharing"- select "Allow connections to control the screen" and "Require a password" underneath "Access Options" then proceed with the below instructions to remotely access your Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS desktop from your macOS desktop.
Logging-in From macOS Mojave
- Access the "Spotlight" by typing "CMD" + "Space-bar"
- Within the Spotlight field, enter
vnc://your_server_ip:5900(e.g.vnc://10.3.1.233:5900). - If successful, the Screen Sharing application should automatically launch within your macOS desktop to remotely view your Ubuntu 16.04 or Ubuntu 18.04.2-LTS device on your local-network as depicted by the screen-shot below- enjoy!
Disable Encryption
If you encounter error message stating something like: "the remote computer is incompatible with the version of your VNC client". For example the built-in Screen Sharing app on Mac, or the VNC Viewer for Windows. You should be able to fix it by asking Vino server to disable encryption. You do this by entering the command:
sudo gsettings set org.gnome.Vino require-encryption false
and then restart the Vino server with command:
sudo systemctl restart vino-server --user
JollysFastVNC is reportedly the fastest VNC server available for OSX.
That said, in my experience slow connections in/out from Ubuntu often mean it's trying to do IPv6 when it shouldn't be.
Consider using NX - it should be a lot faster than VNC.
Just tunnel your X11 session over SSH. Nice and fast - because you're sending drawing commands, etc. Not whole bitmaps.
ssh -X user@hostname (or IP address)And then just type the name of a program, eg:
nautilusYou can run a whole desktop as well.
4TeamViewer is a very fast VNC-like software - it also bypasses firewall and port-forwarding issues, so incredibly easy to set up. I have only ever used it Windows to Windows, but they have a Mac and Linux version. You should be able to install the unattended version on the Ubuntu VM, so the username and password are always the same.
You can use Microsoft Remote Desktop from App Store. Set up your Ubuntu this way:
From DigitalOcean community page.
sudo apt-get update
If you don't have desktop installed:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
After that install XRDP:
sudo apt-get install xrdp
Enable XRDP to start on boot:
sudo systemctl enable xrdp
If you have a firewall make sure that the 3389 port is open:
sudo ufw allow 3389/tcp
Now connect with Microsoft Remote desktop to your Linux machine.
1Greetings from Thailand :)
I have just sorted out this same challenge and had some great success, so wanted to share.
Goal: get screen sharing on my 2015 MacBook Pro (MacOS 11.4 Big Sur) to show me the screen of a fresh install of Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS on my Mac Mini i7, over the house WIFI.
Steps to success for me were:
- Get computers on the same wifi (no Vlan separations etc.)
- Update both machines to most current version
- On the Ubuntu Desktop:
- Open Settings -> Sharing
- Toggle the switch at the top to 'ON' (It should switch to Purple)
- Activate Screen Sharing
- Note the 'Computer Name' shown near the top of the window, you will need it on the Mac (you can also use the IP address if you )
- Ensure 'Allow connections to control the screen' and 'Require a password' are selected
- Make sure the right network is shown at the bottom of that window
- You can close the settings app now.
- Open a terminal and type: settings set org.gnome.Vino require-encryption false
- You can close the terminal app.
- On the Mac
- From the Finder, select Go -> Connect to Server ... (or select Command+K)
- In the window that comes up, type vnc://<ubuntu_computer_name>.local
- When prompted, enter the password you chose on the Ubuntu machine
and that should do it :)
Btw: This should also work on most home wifi/ethernet combinations, but check your network settings to make sure they are not isolated from each other.
1On Ubuntu 12.04 you can use "Desktop Sharing" (type it into the search bar) as the server and take FeifanZ's suggestion for the Mac client. I set the whole thing up in 30 seconds.
I've tried cople of options like RealVNC and the builtin one in Ubuntu. And I think that TeamViewer is best one.
0NoMachine (NX) is an excellent Remote Desktop solution - good overview here...
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