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How to Fix Unable to Start VNC Server Issue

Jamsher Khan

How to Fix Unable to Start VNC Server Issue

In the previous blog, we saw steps required to install and configure VNC Server Click here to read more. In this article, we will see How we can fix VNC Server service startup issue. The below issue can occur if the Server was stopped suddenly and VNC Server was unable to stop gracefully.


Step 1. Start VNC Server Service: As you can see when we tried to start the VNC Server service, it failed to start.

[root@test-machine01 ~]#
[root@test-machine01 ~]#systemctl start vncserver@:1.service
[root@test-machine01 ~]#
[root@test-machine01 ~]# systemctl status vncserver@:1.service
â vncserver@:1.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:1.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2021-09-06 20:04:33 +03; 1min 7s ago
  Process: 2026 ExecStop=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || : (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 1807 ExecStart=/usr/bin/vncserver_wrapper ucas_build %i (code=exited, status=2)
  Process: 1786 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || : (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 1807 (code=exited, status=2)

Sep 06 20:04:33 test-machine01.local systemd[1]: Starting Remote desktop service (VNC)...
Sep 06 20:04:33 test-machine01.local systemd[1]: Started Remote desktop service (VNC).
Sep 06 20:04:33 test-machine01.local vncserver_wrapper[1807]: Warning: jedsupportal1.saudiacatering.local:1 is taken because of /tmp/.X11-unix/X1
Sep 06 20:04:33 test-machine01.local vncserver_wrapper[1807]: Remove this file if there is no X server test-machine01.local:1
Sep 06 20:04:33 test-machine01.local vncserver_wrapper[1807]: A VNC server is already running as :1
Sep 06 20:04:33 test-machine01.local vncserver_wrapper[1807]: FATAL: 'runuser -l ucas_build' failed!
Sep 06 20:04:33 test-machine01.local systemd[1]: vncserver@:1.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=2/INVALIDARGUMENT
Sep 06 20:04:33 test-machine01.local systemd[1]: Unit vncserver@:1.service entered failed state.
Sep 06 20:04:33 test-machine01.local systemd[1]: vncserver@:1.service failed.
[root@test-machine01 ~]#


Step 2. Fixing Issue: Go to /tmp directory and use OS Command ls -lart to list hidden files and directory. Remove folder .X11-unix.

[root@test-machine01 ~]#
[root@test-machine01 ~]# cd /tmp

[root@test-machine01 tmp]# ls -lart
total 384
-rw-------.  1 root                root                     0 Aug 30 17:12 yum.log
drwxrwxrwt.  2 root                root                     6 Aug 30 17:14 .XIM-unix
drwxrwxrwt.  2 root                root                     6 Aug 30 17:14 .Test-unix
drwxrwxrwt.  2 root                root                     6 Aug 30 17:14 .font-unix
-rwx------.  1 root                root                   836 Aug 30 17:28 ks-script-USxeD7
-rw-r--r--.  1 root                root                     0 Aug 30 17:29 storage.log
drwxr-xr-x.  3 root                root                    18 Sep  1 11:56 tomcat.3843266527360572887.443
drwx------.  3 root                root                    17 Sep  6 20:04 systemd-private-f762a1c4e88a40c7a41718af600e42dc-rtkit-daemon.service-QNeVrW
drwx------.  3 root                root                    17 Sep  6 20:04 systemd-private-f762a1c4e88a40c7a41718af600e42dc-cups.service-GbLXKc
-r--r--r--.  1 root                root                    11 Sep  6 20:04 .X0-lock
drwxrwxrwt.  2 root                root                    26 Sep  6 20:04 .X11-unix
drwxrwxrwt.  2 root                root                    79 Sep  6 20:04 .ICE-unix
drwx------.  3 root                root                    17 Sep  6 20:04 systemd-private-

[root@test-machine01 tmp]#
[root@test-machine01 tmp]# rm -rf .X11-unix
[root@test-machine01 tmp]#


Step 3. Start VNC Server again: Once the above steps are done. Try to start VNC Server again. And this time it started successfully. 

[root@test-machine01 tmp]# systemctl start vncserver@:1.service
[root@test-machine01 tmp]#
[root@test-machine01 tmp]# systemctl status vncserver@:1.service
â vncserver@:1.service - Remote desktop service (VNC)
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/vncserver@:1.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2021-09-06 20:07:46 +03; 8s ago
  Process: 2026 ExecStop=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || : (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 2890 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/vncserver -kill %i > /dev/null 2>&1 || : (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 2893 (vncserver_wrapp)
   CGroup: /system.slice/system-vncserver.slice/vncserver@:1.service
           ââ2893 /bin/sh /usr/bin/vncserver_wrapper app_user :1
           ââ3748 sleep 0.1

Sep 06 20:07:46 test-machine01.local systemd[1]: Starting Remote desktop service (VNC)...
Sep 06 20:07:46 test-machine01.local systemd[1]: Started Remote desktop service (VNC).
Sep 06 20:07:49 test-machine01.local vncserver_wrapper[2893]: New 'test-machine01.local:1 (app_user)' desktop is test-machine01.local:1
Sep 06 20:07:49 test-machine01.local vncserver_wrapper[2893]: Starting applications specified in /home/app_user/.vnc/xstartup
Sep 06 20:07:49 test-machine01.local vncserver_wrapper[2893]: Log file is /home/app_user/.vnc/test-machine01.local:1.log
[root@test-machine01 tmp]#

This document is just for learning purpose and always validate in the LAB environment first before applying in the LIVE environment.


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