I have a simple setup where one of my Ubuntu boxes is hooked up to the old Mitsubishi 50” TV via s-video. The box is hidden behind the TV, and is, of course, online. It has Mythbuntu installed, and functions as a full blown multi media center.
Besides all other goodies that are installed on the box, I recently installed rtGui (A web based front-end for rTorrent) on it. Hence anywhere I go, I can connect to it over the web, and throw a torrent link that will start the download right away – convenient. ( here is how to “install rtGui on Ubuntu” )
Currently, I control my media box the most straightforward way – from my laptop. There are many other options available: Gyration Remote (In-air cursor control using Patented Gyroscopic Motion-Sensing technology – 2.4GHz RF technology for up to 100 ft), mini wireless keyboard, and many others, but I don’t mind a semi-manual way to control the box by using my laptop. There is one little problem though – every time I am VNCing to the box, I have to enter a password – not convenient…
First thing I tried to find a “no typing password” solution was:
$ vncviewer remotehost.com -p dummypasswd VNC server supports protocol version 3.8 (viewer 3.3) Cannot read valid password from file "dummypasswd" |
Here I just wanted to see what the error message would pop up, to get more clues on where to look. Now I’ve got the clue: “there should be a valid password file”. Next thing to do is to read about “vncviewer”:
$ man vncviewer -passwd passwd-file File from which to get the password (as generated by the vncpasswd(1) program). |
Excellent – now it is official, just need to use “vncpasswd”:
$ vncpasswd The program 'vncpasswd' can be found in the following packages: * tightvncserver * vnc4-common Try: sudo apt-get install <selected package> bash: vncpasswd: command not found |
Seems like its not installed, which is an easy problem to solve…
Step 1. Install “tightvncserver”.
$ sudo apt-get install tightvncserver |
Check that “vncpasswd” is installed:
$ vnc [TAB][TAB] vncconnect vncpasswd vncserver vncviewer |
Step 2. Create a vnc password file with “vncpassword”.
$ vncpasswd Using password file /home/user/.vnc/passwd VNC directory /home/user/.vnc does not exist, creating. Password: [TYPE YOUR VNC PASSWORD HERE] Verify: [TYPE YOUR VNC PASSWORD HERE] Would you like to enter a view-only password (y/n)? n |
Step 3. VNC into the remote system without typing the password.
$ vncviewer remotehost.com -p /home/user/.vnc/passwd |
As you see the only thing I need to provide now is the password file – no need to type the password every time I need to watch a movie. And to make it even more convenient, I can now create a launcher that will launch “vncviewer remotehost.com -p /home/user/.vnc/passwd” on a simple mouse click:
Want to do something else simple and convenient? Try to “run commands remotely via SSH with no password“.
VNC away!