VNC with the Pi

Step 1: get packages

You’ll need TigerVNC, NetworkManager, network-manager-applet and you’ll need to run a system update and reinstall polkit. It sounds like a lot, but it can all be done in just a few commands:

Reply y when prompted.

pacman –Syu

pacman –S systemd polkit

Reboot (your pi will likely sit there and do nothing for 30 seconds to a minute before it does anything. Reinstalling polkit should fix this once it boots back up)

pacman –S tigervnc networkmanager network-manager-applet

Step 2: configure VNC

As user ME…

vncserver

Enter a password (don’t forget it)

Enter a view only password if you want

vncserver –kill :1

cd ~/.vnc

gvim xstartup

comment out or delete all the if statement lines, starting with "if [ $OS = ‘Linux’ ]” and ending with the “fi" before "[ -r $Home/.Xresources ]"

delete everything after  "xsetroot - solid grey”, then add:

vncconfig -iconic & 

xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources 

startxfce4 &

Save and close

cd ..

chmod 700 ~/.vnc

Step3: configure the system service.

As Root…

cd /usr/lib/systemd/system

gvim vncserver.service

Here we just need to change 3 lines. NOTE: The geometry flag is just the resolution of the monitor that VNC creates, and can be set to whatever you want (1920x1080?).

change "User=" to 

User=me

change: “execstart" and “execstop" to 

ExecStart=/usr/bin/vncserver %i -geometry 1024x768

ExecStop=/usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i -geometry 1024x768

SAVE AS vncserver@:1.service then close

Step4: disable old network service and enable network manager and VNC to run when the Pi starts

As Root…

systemctl disable systemd.networkd

systemctl enable NetworkManager

systemctl enable vncserver@:1.service

reboot

Step5: Wireless and Static IP

See videos. Ignore talking….

The “install network manager and get on wifi” is only relevant now after 2:30

Step6: Connecting via VNC: 

For Macs, they can use the built in screensharing app (it’s not in the applications folder, the easiest way to find it is to search for it in spotlight [command + spacebar on most Macs]). If you don’t want to use that, you can always download another app like ChickenOfTheVNC

For Windows, you will have to download a vnc client app light Tightvnc, RealVNC, or UVNC.

To connect, enter the IP that you chose, then a :, then 5900+the number you chose for the VNC service. Using the instructions above: that would be192.168.0.100:5901. You should be prompted for a the password you created the first time you ran vncserver.