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I don't remember this being difficult last time I used vnc. This is what I've tried (I'm running fedora 21)...

First off, install a vnc server.

sudo yum install tigervnc-server
... y

Now to unblock the port. Not sure if vnc-server is correct here, but this page says it is. BTW, I initially tried firewall-config, but for the life of me couldn't get it to work via SSH with X forwarding.

> sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service vnc-server
> sudo firewall-cmd --list-all
# vnc-server not listed. damn. maybe if I try again, but pressing the keys harder
> sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service vnc-server
Warning: ALREADY_ENABLED: vnc-server
# ...? whatever...
> sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=5900/tcp
# the port's there, that should do

I can understand why many give up and sudo service firewalld stop as a last resort. Now to run the vnc server,

> vncpasswd
Password: *
Verify: *
> vncserver
# seems to have started

Connecting remotely doesn't work. Even connecting locally doesn't work (unable connect to socket: Connection refused (111), although despite refused it's the same message when no server is running, so it probably meant something a little less like it found something to talk to in the first place).

For the moment I don't care about setting up a service to have the server start automatically. How do I do the basics?

[EDIT]
To connect I was simply typing the hostname into RealVNC Viewer on windows or running vncviewer localhost to test connecting locally.

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OK, unlike some windows vnc servers I've used where the server shares the one desktop, there can be many virtual X desktops. Rather than have a single server that manages multiple desktops, there are multiple servers which each use a different port.

  • Port 5900 (:0) - local screen/login (not sure of correct terminology here)
  • Port 5901 (:1) - virtual desktop 1
  • Port 5902 (:2) - virtual desktop 2
  • ...

I guess a shorthand or maybe user friendly way to connect to these is adding the :0 or :1 etc. to the host name you're connecting to. This adds a number to the port before connecting.

Now without any arguments to vncserver, the default is to start a virtual display :1 (on port 5901) and by default vncviewer connects to 5900, which explains why I couldn't connect. A program such as x11vnc can share the main :0 desktop (e.g. x11vnc -ncache 10 -rfbauth /home/user/.vnc/passwd -display :0), but tigrevnc complains if you try vncserver :0.

TLDR:
I should have connected to display 1 or used port 5901:

vncviewer localhost:1
vncviewer localhost::5901

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