tdcosta100/WSL2GUIXvnc-en.md

## WSL2GUIXvnc-en.md

      
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              WSL2GUIXvnc-en.md
            
          
    WSL2 with GUI using Xvnc

Note
If you want to use pure WSLg, you can try the new WSLg (XWayland) tutorial or the WSLg (Wayland) tutorial.

In this tutorial, we will setup GUI in WSL2, and access it using VNC. No additional software outside WSL (like VcXsrv) is required, except, of course, a VNC Viewer (RealVNC, TightVNC, TigerVNC, UVNC, etc, all of them might work flawlessly).
The key component we need to install is the desktop metapackage you want (GNOME, KDE, Xfce, Budgie, etc) and tigervnc-standalone-server.
For this setup, I will use Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04 and 24.04 are working), and install GNOME Desktop. Since the key components aren't bound to Ubuntu or GNOME, you can use your favorite distro and GUI. Check the Sample screenshots section for examples.
So let's go. First, we need a working WSL2 installation.
Warning
WSLg may not work as expected, since Wayland sockets are disabled for everyone, and not every app can handle this.

Before going to real business, let's make sure we are updated.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

You also need to make sure /etc/wsl.conf have the following lines:
[boot]
systemd=true

If not, create/edit this file, add these lines and restart WSL (for example, using wsl.exe --shutdown, then reopening the distro terminal).
Now we are ready to go.
Installing components

Installing GUI


First you select your favorite desktop environment metapackage. Here is a list of the most common metapackages:

   
      Distro Desktop Environment Metapackage
   
   
      Ubuntu Budgie ubuntu-budgie-desktop
      GNOME ubuntu-desktop
      KDE kubuntu-desktop
      Kylin ubuntukylin-desktop
      LXDE lubuntu-desktop
      MATE ubuntu-mate-desktop
      Studio ubuntustudio-desktop
      Unity ubuntu-unity-desktop
      Xfce xubuntu-desktop
      Ubuntu/Debian Cinnamon task-cinnamon-desktop
      GNOME task-gnome-desktop
      GNOME Flashback task-gnome-flashback-desktop
      KDE Plasma task-kde-desktop
      LXDE task-lxde-desktop
      LXQt task-lxqt-desktop
      MATE task-mate-desktop
      Xfce task-xfce-desktop
   

Once you have chosen the metapackage, let's install it. For example, if you choose ubuntu-desktop, the command will be:
sudo apt install \
`[ ! -z "$(apt-cache search ^acpi-support$)" ] && echo "acpi-support-"` \
tigervnc-standalone-server \
ubuntu-desktop

This will install the ubuntu-desktop and tigervnc-standalone-server, but excluding the acpi-support dependency, if included. If acpi-support is installed, it will render your distro almost unusable (see microsoft/WSL#10059), so we will tell apt to not install it.
The installation will take a while, so be patient.


If in Ubuntu, you may want to install snap-store. If you don't need it, you can skip this step:
sudo snap install snap-store


Configuring the environment

If you are using Debian, you need to configure the locale (this is not needed in Ubuntu):
echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" | sudo tee -a /etc/default/locale

Create and modify services


Now we have everything installed, we need to fix the directory /tmp/.X11-unix/, because it's mounted as read-only by default. We will create a new systemd unit:
sudo systemctl edit --full --force wslg-fix.service


Paste the code below in the editor:
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=-/usr/bin/umount /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/rm -rf /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/mkdir /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/chmod 1777 /tmp/.X11-unix
ExecStart=/usr/bin/ln -s /mnt/wslg/.X11-unix/X0 /tmp/.X11-unix/X0

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target


Exit the editor saving the changes to the file.


Let's enable wslg-fix.service:
sudo systemctl enable wslg-fix.service


We also need to remove all references to Wayland, because if not, some apps (gnome-terminal, for example) will open outside the desktop shell. We will edit the user-runtime-dir@.service service:
sudo systemctl edit user-runtime-dir@.service


Paste the code below in the editor:
[Service]
ExecStartPost=-/usr/bin/rm -f /run/user/%i/wayland-0 /run/user/%i/wayland-0.lock


Warning
Please read the editor instructions about the correct place to position the text cursor before pasting. If you paste the code in the wrong place, it will be discarded.


Restart WSL using wsl.exe --shutdown, then reopen your distro terminal.

Creating VNC Server passwords

Important
In Debian, the GDM user is Debian-gdm, so you need to replace gdm by Debian-gdm in the commands below.


In some distros, the directory /var/lib/gdm3/ has an incorrect owner, so let's fix it before setting the VNC Server passwords:
sudo chown gdm:gdm /var/lib/gdm3/


In this setup, each user has a different VNC password. So you have to configure at least three passwords, one for the current user, other for root, and other for GDM, who will present the login screen. If you don't configure the password, you won't able to access the login screen, or the user's desktop. First, let's configure the VNC password current user:
vncpasswd


Now, let's configure the VNC password for root (needed if you use LightDM instead GDM):
sudo -H vncpasswd


Finally, let's configure the VNC password for GDM (skip this step if you are not using GDM):
sudo -H -u gdm vncpasswd

You can repeat the process for other existing users.


Replacing default Xorg by Xvnc

By default, the display manager call multiple Xorg instances, one for each user session, including the login screen, provided by GDM. So we will replace Xorg script by a new version which calls Xvnc instead the classic Xorg. This is the real magic we are trying to do.


First, let's backup the original Xorg script.
sudo mv /usr/bin/Xorg /usr/bin/Xorg.original


Then, we create a new Xorg script.
sudo nano /usr/bin/Xorg.Xvnc


Paste the code below in the editor:
#!/bin/bash
for arg do
  shift
  case $arg in
    # Xvnc doesn't support vtxx argument. So we convert to ttyxx instead
    vt*)
      set -- "$@" "${arg//vt/tty}"
      ;;
    # -keeptty is not supported at all by Xvnc
    -keeptty)
      ;;
    # -novtswitch is not supported at all by Xvnc
    -novtswitch)
      ;;
    # other arguments are kept intact
    *)
      set -- "$@" "$arg"
      ;;
  esac
done

# Find an available display number
for displayNumber in $(seq 1 100)
do
  [ ! -e /tmp/.X11-unix/X$displayNumber ] && break
done

# Here you can change or add options to fit your needs
command=("/usr/bin/Xvnc" ":${displayNumber}" "-geometry" "1024x768" "-rfbport" "$((5900 + $displayNumber))" "-rfbauth" "${HOME:-/root}/.vnc/passwd" "$@")

systemd-cat -t /usr/bin/Xorg echo "Starting Xvnc:" "${command[@]}"

exec "${command[@]}"

Please note the resolution of the virtual screen. You can change that to fit your needs (1366x768, 1920x1080, etc). Also, you can change the -rfbauth option to point to a fixed location instead the home of current user, so you don't need to have a password for each user.


Finally, we set the correct permissions for the file and create a link to it:
sudo chmod 0755 /usr/bin/Xorg.Xvnc
sudo ln -sf Xorg.Xvnc /usr/bin/Xorg


Warning
Sometimes, system updates replace Xorg link with the original version. Just repeat this step if this happens, and Xvnc will work again as Xorg replacement.

Running your distro with GUI enabled

Now you have everything ready to start. First we shut down WSL:
wsl.exe --shutdown

Then reopen your distro terminal.
Doing this is like booting Linux again, and GDM will start automatically, and will create a Xorg instance to display the login interface. We changed this process to make it create Xvnc instances, so we can access them. The first instance will listen to port 5901, the second instance will listen to port 5902, and so on.
Accessing the VNC screen

After a while (usually a few seconds, but it can take more if you don't have a SSD), you can test if it's working properly. Use your favorite VNC Viewer to connect to your localhost port 5901 (localhost:5901). Use the VNC password set for user gdm (or Debian-gdm, if in Debian). The login screen must appear.
After logging in, the screen will be blank and eventually will be closed automatically. This is because a new instance of Xvnc was created for user desktop, listening to port 5902. Connect to this port now. The logged user's desktop must appear. When you log out, the screen at port 5901 will show the login interface again. This applies to GDM (which is the case if you installed Ubuntu Desktop). You can change this behavior changing the configuration file like this:


sudo nano /etc/gdm3/custom.conf


Uncomment and edit the following lines:
 AutomaticLoginEnable=true
 AutomaticLogin=[your username without the brackets]


If you are using LightDM, the desktop screen will appear in port 5901, so there's no need to connect to port 5902.
Shutting down

One important thing is: once you start your WSL instance, you cannot just stop it. You must perform a standard Linux shutdown. You can do one of the alternatives below:

Power off option on GUI menu
sudo poweroff

After doing that, you can safely shut down your WSL instance, either by wsl.exe --terminate or wsl.exe --shutdown. Not doing the shutdown process may cause damage to your WSL instance. So be careful.
Tips and tricks


VNC is a very adaptive protocol, and by default tries to use the most aggressive compression available, for better networking performance. But in our case, doing this only adds unnecessary CPU extra load, since you are connecting to localhost ("infinite" bandwith, near zero ping). To remove all compression algorithms and reduce lagging, force your VNC Viewer to connect using RAW encoding. The performance gain is noticeable, specially when playing videos (not a spectacular performance in this particular scenario, though).

Troubleshooting


If it doesn't work at first, try to check your journalctl logs:
journalctl -b -t /usr/lib/gdm3/gdm-x-session -t /usr/bin/Xorg --no-pager

If you are using Debian, then the command is:
journalctl -b -t /usr/libexec/gdm-x-session -t /usr/bin/Xorg --no-pager

In the output, you must see what command line was generated for Xvnc, and which error messages appear. Of course, even if it works correctly, you can check the logs just to see what is happening, or for debugging.


You must check if the custom Xorg script was not replaced by the default version of it. If it was the case, just repeat the steps of Replacing default X by Xvnc section.


Check if Xorg is your default display server, not Xephyr or Wayland. If it's not, you must change it to have Xorg as your default display server.


If you are using LightDM, you also need to check logs at /var/log/lightdm (you will need to use sudo to cat files in that directory). The Xvnc output will be in the file /var/log/lightdm/x-0.log.


If you can connect to 59XX ports, but receive an error like Authentication failure: No password configured for VNC Auth, the file $HOME/.vnc/passwd is missing for that particular user (on port 5901, the user is gdm). Try to repeat the steps described in section Creating VNC Server passwords and try to connect again.


If it still doesn't work, you can try to restart WSL with wsl.exe --shutdown (don't forget to save everything that is unsaved before, because WSL will shut down completely), then open your distro shell again and repeat the steps of section Accessing the VNC screen.


Sample screenshots

GDM


LightDM


GNOME


KDE


Xfce


Budgie Desktop


Contributors

Thanks to this guys, whose feedback made this tutorial reach the current level of quality and completeness (and it will be more and more complete as more feedback is given).

nselimis
rkzdota
WSL_subreddit_mod
ptflp
ROBYER1
vdevan
Greasy-Monkey
siegLoesch
adamgranthendry
cerebrate - Creator of systemd-genie
hdhnl
MrRendroc
Distro	Desktop Environment	Metapackage
Ubuntu	Budgie	`ubuntu-budgie-desktop`
	GNOME	`ubuntu-desktop`
	KDE	`kubuntu-desktop`
	Kylin	`ubuntukylin-desktop`
	LXDE	`lubuntu-desktop`
	MATE	`ubuntu-mate-desktop`
	Studio	`ubuntustudio-desktop`
	Unity	`ubuntu-unity-desktop`
	Xfce	`xubuntu-desktop`
Ubuntu/Debian	Cinnamon	`task-cinnamon-desktop`
	GNOME	`task-gnome-desktop`
	GNOME Flashback	`task-gnome-flashback-desktop`
	KDE Plasma	`task-kde-desktop`
	LXDE	`task-lxde-desktop`
	LXQt	`task-lxqt-desktop`
	MATE	`task-mate-desktop`
	Xfce	`task-xfce-desktop`