Kali 2.0 + vncserver, grey window sad computer

[exxy]

hi all, just upgraded to new kali and have found that VNC is no longer working - was working perfectly fine on 1.x

using the same command:
#vncserver -geometry 1024x768

it starts the server and from my computer i attempt to vnc to the box.

the connection starts but get the grey screen with a sad computer face saying

"Oh no! Something has gone wrong.

a problem has occurred and the system can't recover
please logout and try again"

it has a big logout buttton with the big black X.

any help would be appreciated

[sps_rstrayer]

I'm having the exact same issue. Don't seem to find any errors in the logs either. Would be interested in finding a solution as well.

[qitian100]

hello,I've meet this issue,too. when I use xmanager like kali1.0,it doesn't work too. Is there anyone has resolved this problem?

[qitian100]

After I installed gnome-panel and modified the .vnc/xstartup file like this , the vnc-viewer displayed,but the desktop is black now (chmod 777 xstartup doesn't work),and there is only two menus at the corner of the screen and a terminal ,no desktop,no panels on desktop. Has no one resolved this problem?

export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1
unset SESSION_MANAGER
unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
gnome-panel &
gnome-settings-daemon &
metacity &
nautilus &
xsetroot -solid grey
gnome-terminal &


hello,I've meet this issue,too. when I use xmanager like kali1.0,it doesn't work too. Is there anyone has resolved this problem?

[sajjapan]

I've got the same problem. XRDP is working fine on Kali 1.1.0 but once I upgraded my Kali to 2.0 it doesn't work. I've got big X on screen.

[v-mos]

this is an issue no directly for Kali, is an issue to in Debian 8 and gnome the problem is with the tigervnc, i read that the solution is change the desktop environment but i try to uninstall gnome and install mate but it seem like no change was made, i think maybe here you will have a better solution than that but i guest no

they say this

For system administrators and normal users: IF you want to use remote desktop
server in Jessie, DO NOT use default desktop (GNOME). If you really like GNOME
or other GNOME3's fork (Unity, Cinnamon, etc), then DO NOT use Debian or
other Debian based distributions (Ubuntu, Mint, etc). Alternatively, try Red hat
based or SUSE based distributions (CentOS, Fedora, OpenSUSE, SLE, etc). They
already have tigervnc and can work pretty well.

here is the link with the discussion of this issue in Debian

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=776746

maybe developers can fix it in Kali

Regards

[v-mos]

ok is confirmed, i remove gnome and install lxde and now i can use xrdp to conect remote to mi Kali Headless machine

for remove gnome you have to remove gnome-core and gnome-sessions

apt-get remove gnome-core
apt-get purge gnome-sessions
apt-get autoremove

and for install lxde

apt-get install lxde-core lxde kali-defaults kali-root-login desktop-base

[amorandi]

Excuse me but removing a window manager because ONE remote desktop app is not working is the same as buying a new car if yours get a flat tire.

Install xfreerdp-x11, it isn't a cute graphical thingy but supports compression, NLA, crypto, port redirects etc. Or use vnc4server if you're into VNC.

Best of luck. Cheers!

[Sopalajo de Arrierez]

Worked for me without the need to remove Gnome.
Just install LXDE as v-mos said, and start it by adding "exec startlxde" on "~/xstartup".
Worked for me.

[Geo99M6Z]

Yes! This worked for me. But I didn't remove gnome-core. Just did the installations


ok is confirmed, i remove gnome and install lxde and now i can use xrdp to conect remote to mi Kali Headless machine

for remove gnome you have to remove gnome-core and gnome-sessions

apt-get remove gnome-core
apt-get purge gnome-sessions
apt-get autoremove

and for install lxde

apt-get install lxde-core lxde kali-defaults kali-root-login desktop-base

[slaxd]

kudos amorandi i much like the simplest methods im yet to try your suggestion xfreerdp-x11 is not available according to my sana (likely a repository i have not found :( if you can share that repo thats awesome) but vnc4server IS available on stock 32bit sana repos so i will try it.

a lead on a possibly simpler solution, i recently found that mikogo works well with kali gnome -mikogo is a third party remote access software. the interesting thing is mikogo seems to be based on vnc protocols so the million dollar question is why does mikogo vnc work but sana/debian does not ??

[thebestd92]

i have the same issue but i can't download lxde or anything ... i have a network connection problem's .how can i fix it ?

[slaxd]

i have the same issue but i can't download lxde or anything ... i have a network connection problem's .how can i fix it ?
If your problems is a connection issue this is the wrong thread to post to. search connection problems kali rolling.
If you have not found a clear way to solve the grey window vnc issue i can offer the following:

Two methods i have found that REALLY work to fix the grey window sad computer vnc issue. one is install mate on system you will be loging into (server) other method is installing lxde
( http://www.torrycrass.com/2016/01/25/vnc-tunnel-to-kali-linux-with-mremoteng/ )
So given the Gnome problems with Debian, the first thing you’ll need is to install Mate as shown below:

sudo apt-get install mate-core mate-desktop-environment-extra mate-desktop-environment-extras mate-themes

Next, you need to start VNC in order for it to generate the configuration file, it will also ask you for a password here, make sure you remember what you set it to or store it in a secure manner.

tightvncserver :1

kill the session immediately after testing by the command below.

tightvncserver -kill :1

Now you’ll need to edit your VNC configuration file located in .vnc/xstartup as shown below. Essentially, you’re going to change it from using…

/etc/X11/Xsession

To

/usr/bin/mate-session

For LXDE i recommend following this ubuntu tutorial
https://www.vultr.com/docs/how-to-install-vnc-desktop-on-ubuntu-14-04

good luck -