VNC Server

[Guest]

I've been trying to run VNC server on Vista beta 2 without success. I can
control an XP PC using VNC viewer from Vista but not the other way round. Any
suggestions?

 

[jonah]

I've been trying to run VNC server on Vista beta 2 without success. I can
control an XP PC using VNC viewer from Vista but not the other way round. Any
suggestions?

I had VNC running XP > Vista on a network by turning off UAC and the
Windows Firewall and also disabling Windows Defender which does not
like VNC much and still seemingly caused problems even though I told
it to allow VNC.

I used Ultra VNC 1.0.1

http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/

It worked fine but then for some reason slowed to a crawl, I had been
fiddling with Vista a lot so I am not sure exactly what the problem
was. I have re-installed Vista for the nth time this week but not put
VNC back in yet so I cannot help you further at the moment.

Jonah

 

[Robert Robinson]

We have tested VNC version 4.2.5 on Vista #5384. Client runs fine, but
server fails to start. Only VNC error message is license key: digest
mismatch. All Vista security is turned off including the firewall.
Interestingly, the Vista firewall lists VNC as an exception; that is,
the check option is port use is permitted even if the firewall is
active. Vista user is Administrator.

Robbie

 

[Guest]

We have tested VNC version 4.2.5 on Vista #5384. Client runs fine, but
server fails to start. Only VNC error message is license key: digest
mismatch. All Vista security is turned off including the firewall.
Interestingly, the Vista firewall lists VNC as an exception; that is,
the check option is port use is permitted even if the firewall is
active. Vista user is Administrator.

Robbie

I'm trying to run VNC Server 4 on Vista build 5384.

When I try to run Configure VNC Server, I get a (Vista?) error message
saying “You do not have sufficient access rights to run the VNC Configuration
applet†- this does not make sense as I'm signed on as an administrator.

I don't like the idea of switching off Windows Firewall, Defender and UAC as
this seems a little drastic.

Any other suggestions appreciated.

 

[Robert Robinson]

I'm trying to run VNC Server 4 on Vista build 5384.

When I try to run Configure VNC Server, I get a (Vista?) error message
saying “You do not have sufficient access rights to run the VNC Configuration
applet†- this does not make sense as I'm signed on as an administrator.

I don't like the idea of switching off Windows Firewall, Defender and UAC as
this seems a little drastic.

Any other suggestions appreciated.

Are you logged on as the "real Administrator" not just a user with
Administrator privileges ? I haven't had any problems with access
rights, but VNC Server still doesn't work.
We use a hardware firewall, Firefox, and Thunderbird. There is no
Firefox support for ActiveX and we disable Java and images. We also
don't open attachments except under exceptional circumstances. This
provides a fairly good level of Internet security.
Robbie

 

[jonah]

Are you logged on as the "real Administrator" not just a user with
Administrator privileges ? I haven't had any problems with access
rights, but VNC Server still doesn't work.
We use a hardware firewall, Firefox, and Thunderbird. There is no
Firefox support for ActiveX and we disable Java and images. We also
don't open attachments except under exceptional circumstances. This
provides a fairly good level of Internet security.
Robbie

Robbie what exactly is happening with your server, just re-installed
it on the new public beta version after a clean re-install and it
won't run properly now. I had it running fine on a previous beta
installation.

Running as admin, all security off, UAC disabled and the security
centre dlls disabled / service off, defender disabled.Can connect via
XP or Linux clients but ridiculously slow.

Jonah

 

[Robert Robinson]

Hi Jonah,

The only VNC server start-up message is License key: Digest Mismatch.
There are no other error messages, but the server never starts. A check
of the Internet shows that no one has VNC Server running successfully on
Vista beta 2.

Robbie

 

[Guest]

Are you logged on as the "real Administrator" not just a user with
Administrator privileges ? I haven't had any problems with access
rights, but VNC Server still doesn't work.
We use a hardware firewall, Firefox, and Thunderbird. There is no
Firefox support for ActiveX and we disable Java and images. We also
don't open attachments except under exceptional circumstances. This
provides a fairly good level of Internet security.
Robbie

I don't know what you mean by "real Administrator". I only have one user
account on Vista, which is the one created when I first installed Vista, and
the account is obviously has administrator privelages.

 

[Robert Robinson]

I don't know what you mean by "real Administrator". I only have one user
account on Vista, which is the one created when I first installed Vista, and
the account is obviously has administrator privelages.

This is discussed in detail in another thread. Unlike UNIX/Linux, a user
with Administrator privileges is not the same as the Administrator. For
example, changing a directory from read only to read/write is possible
as a user/administrator, but under many circumstances the directory
automatically reverts to read only. Administrator can write into a read
only directory, but user/administrator cannot. There is more detail
involved and this is only one example.
Microsoft designed Vista so that you cannot normally logon as
Administrator. There is a registry change that makes this logon
possible. The steps, as described by Colin in this forum, are as follows:

Quote
1) Click the Start orb and click on Run (or press the Windows key + R)
2) Type in regedit and press OK. If it asks you to open this via UAP, then
click Allow.
3) In the Registry Editor, navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.
4) In the right hand pane, right click the mouse and select New then Key.
A new folder should appear in the left hand pane.
5) Name this new key SpecialAccounts and press Enter.
6) Right click the mouse on the new SpecialAccounts key in the left hand
pane, select New then Key again to make a "sub-key".
7) Name this new key UserList and then press Enter. In this new UserList
key, right click in the right hand pane and select New then DWORD (32-bit)
and name this Administrator then press Enter.
8) Double click on the new DWORD you just made, and set the value to 1
then
press OK.
EndQuote

Robbie

 

[jonah]

Hi Jonah,

The only VNC server start-up message is License key: Digest Mismatch.
There are no other error messages, but the server never starts. A check
of the Internet shows that no one has VNC Server running successfully on
Vista beta 2.

Robbie

Hey Robbie, I had it going fine on the version before this public beta
- 5384.4, honest I did, it worked fine then failed but I got no error
messages on install and I can't remember exactly why it failed I
thought it was something I did while poking about elsewhere. I was not
too bothered as I wanted to reload different hardware and re-install
anyway so I never bothered investigating.

I have just got the public beta installed as an upgrade on a test
machine cos I have been deliberately upgrading / restoring various PCs
pre-installed Dells, HP etc and custom builds to see what happens
(wasn't pretty mostly execpt for the Dell surprisingly) I will try VNC
again tomorrow and take careful notes of exactly what I do, assuming I
can get it to run again. I am using the original test box hardware now
which is well specced but its an XP upgrade not a clean install this
time so this may take a couple of days if I have to do a clean install
as before, but I will get back to you.

I did not realise VNC wasn't supposed to work, I did have to do some
serious tweaking though as I recall, it was a few weeks ago now. If I
had known it was an issue I would have done a few screen shots on the
Vista Server and XP / Linux Clients.

Jonah

 

[Robert Robinson]

Hi Jonah,

I will look forward to hearing from you. I did try working with the
ports and being careful that the Microsoft firewall and other security
features were disabled. I also tried Ultra VNC and Radmin neither of
which worked on #5384.

Robbie

 

[Robert Robinson]

Surprise, surprise.
Real VNC 4.2.5.0 works on Vista #5384 if you go to Administrative Tools,
Services, VNC Server and start the server from this Window. It will not
start properly by executing WinVNC4.

Robbie

 

[jonah]

Hi Jonah,

I will look forward to hearing from you. I did try working with the
ports and being careful that the Microsoft firewall and other security
features were disabled. I also tried Ultra VNC and Radmin neither of
which worked on #5384.

Robbie

Hi Robbie

Got it working on the Public Beta.

Ultra VNC 1.0.1 from
http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/

Via Netgear D834G Router on local only (ie VNC is not set up as a
server via port forwarding)

Vista is base install with only Trend AV installed, UAC disabled,
Firewall Disabled. Ensure local file sharing works correctly XP <>
Vista R/W

Set TCP/IP on Vista to fixed Local IP, don't allow automatic.

DL VNC 1.0.1 and install in an Admin account via "RunA$"
Administrator. When first run Defender will scream blue murder so go
through the options and set to "always Allow", only other set up to do
is to replace login password with one of your choice eveything else is
left as default.

Screenshot of Server setup here.
http://www.gsyminimoto.org/misc/Vist Server Properties.jpg

Then use the corresponding Ultra VNC client in XP to connect to the
vista machine via the fixed address / port 5900

Screenshot
http://www.gsyminimoto.org/misc/XP running VNC client.jpg

Works fine at the moment, I will take note of when it breaks. BTW its
best to switch Vista to classic theme for speed although it does work
with a Vista theme its slow but that could be my network connections
which are a little convoluted.

Jonah

 

[jonah]

Hi Jonah,

I will look forward to hearing from you. I did try working with the
ports and being careful that the Microsoft firewall and other security
features were disabled. I also tried Ultra VNC and Radmin neither of
which worked on #5384.

Robbie

Addition to previous post I forgot to mention when putting VNC server
on the Vista box install the server only (top option box) uncheck
everything else.

Jonah

 

[Robert Robinson]

Hi Robbie

Got it working on the Public Beta.

Ultra VNC 1.0.1 from
http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/

Via Netgear D834G Router on local only (ie VNC is not set up as a
server via port forwarding)

Vista is base install with only Trend AV installed, UAC disabled,
Firewall Disabled. Ensure local file sharing works correctly XP <>
Vista R/W

Set TCP/IP on Vista to fixed Local IP, don't allow automatic.

DL VNC 1.0.1 and install in an Admin account via "RunA$"
Administrator. When first run Defender will scream blue murder so go
through the options and set to "always Allow", only other set up to do
is to replace login password with one of your choice eveything else is
left as default.

Screenshot of Server setup here.
http://www.gsyminimoto.org/misc/Vist Server Properties.jpg

Then use the corresponding Ultra VNC client in XP to connect to the
vista machine via the fixed address / port 5900

Screenshot
http://www.gsyminimoto.org/misc/XP running VNC client.jpg

Works fine at the moment, I will take note of when it breaks. BTW its
best to switch Vista to classic theme for speed although it does work
with a Vista theme its slow but that could be my network connections
which are a little convoluted.

Jonah

Hi Jonah,

Thank you very much for the follow-up about Ultra VNC. I will give it a try.
Did you see that "Real VNC" is now working ?
One step I didn't mention is that it is probably necessary to execute
WinVNC4 before turning the VNC Server on via "Services". As mentioned,
WinVNC4 will fail, but the step may be necessary to establish the entry
in "Services"

Robbie

 

[jonah]

Hi Jonah,

Thank you very much for the follow-up about Ultra VNC. I will give it a try.
Did you see that "Real VNC" is now working ?
One step I didn't mention is that it is probably necessary to execute
WinVNC4 before turning the VNC Server on via "Services". As mentioned,
WinVNC4 will fail, but the step may be necessary to establish the entry
in "Services"

Robbie

Yeah Robbie but I deliberatley left services alone, the goal being
just to get a working VNC setup on a local network initially. I will
fiddle with it later now I got it working. Thanks for the Real VNC tip
I will have a go at that next.

Might try and do something complicated like encrypted file transfers
tonight.

NOT

LOL

Jonah