VNC black screen and no refresh when remoting into Linux Mint
I was trying to remote into my Linux Mint desktop using VNC both on Mac and Windows. The Linux box was allowing the connection, but I’d just get a black blank screen. I thought this was strange because I knew from seeing the monitor around the corner that my mouse movement was working.
When fiddling with TightVNC settings, I could change the type of connection and finally get an image, but it wouldn’t refresh. After searching for a while, I discovered that I the problem was probably that Compiz desktop effects needed to be disabled. Makes perfect sense actually, since the Compiz effects are kind of a second overlay on top of the existing system. Get rid of the middle man.
Instead of searching the Control Panel preferences, just right-click on the desktop to change the desktop background. I figured out that I could do all these steps as long as I restarted VNC with each click. Restarting VNC was the only way to get a refresh and see the result.
From Appearance Preferences screen, you can click the Visual Effects tab and set it to none, disabling effects completely. As soon as I clicked that radio button, my screen started moving very well, even on my wireless connection. Hurray!
One step closer to getting my home server running the way I want.
One Response to “VNC black screen and no refresh when remoting into Linux Mint”
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March 16, 2010 at 1:43 am | general | 1 comment
Thanks, that was the answer I was looking for, turns out when you log in with the newer version there is an option at the bottom to select gnome (no effects) which doesn’t load compiz.