Kali Linux tightvncserver Troubleshooting

Kali Linux Forums Kali Linux Troubleshooting
1

What have you tried:
I’ve tried running tightvncserver on Kali.

What is the error:

  1. Remotely I always get a root terminal by default. How do I get a non-root terminal?
  2. If I logout of my desktop manager. I can’t log back in even after killing tightvncserver and rebooting. If I try to login the screen goes blank for a couple of seconds and returns to the login screen.

What device is this on:
Kali 2025.1 raspberrypi 5 8gb.

2

Quick update.

I can login remotely using RealVNC to my kali system. Either as a root user or a regular non-root user or both at the same time. It seems that when using tightvncserver I can run it as a sudo user giving me remote access as root or run it as a non-root user giving me non-root access.

The strange thing is that running tightvncserver as a non-root user doesn’t completely work the first time around. I can connect remotely but the terminal screen is blank (a dull beige color). If I reboot tightvncserver is killed and I can’t login to kali from my main wired computer terminal.

Interestingly, I can use SSH on my remote system to access kali. I can start tightvncserver as a root server and as a non-root server and access either one or the other or both at the same time remotely using RealVNC.

This is great! So, why can’t I get my main wired computer terminal to kali to let me log in. It seems that it is maybe by design? Only the “Design gods” know is my guess.