Can't get the Multiple Desktop Servers to work

Vine
1

Hi all,

I followed the steps to setup multiple user accounts with Fast User Switching, start Vine Server for each user and make sure all are logged in.

I can only get my VNC client to connect to the Vine Server that the Macmini is actually displaying. When I switch user to the other one to see what’s going on, I see errors on the Vine Server console…“Screen Resolution changed - Server Reinitialized”

What am I doing wrong? Does this feature actually work as advertised? I wasted 2 hours trying to get this to work. I am ready to just spend $29.99 and get the OS X Lion.

I’ll wait for some helpful replies before doing so. Thanks in advance.

2

Yes, this feature, while not especially elegant does indeed work.

It sounds like you might have started a SYSTEM server and that is what you are connecting to.

Did you give each user a unique PORT (aka Display Number)?

Just for the record, while 10.7 Lion has an interesting Terminal Service feature that works between Mac OS X machines, I would be very cautious if you intend to use a general purpose VNC client. Many people report issues with this scenario - your results might vary.

3

First of all, Lion doesn’t provide this capability. Secondly, you should post some details about your machine and what you’ve done so far.

Make sure that the built-in Apple screen sharing is turned off For each user, you need to log in (via FUS) and launch Vine Server. Either set it to a specific port or make a note of the port it’s listening on. Each user’s server needs to be listening on a different port. Then when you make a connection, you specify the VNC port that the server that you started under that user is listening on. That port/server can’t display anything except that user’s session. If all you’re seeing is the logged in user, then you’re either not specifying a different port, or you’re connecting to Vine’s System Server, which can only ever display the console user.

4

Thanks JonathanOSX and EggplantMatt for responding. Below are more details:

  1. System Server is not enabled on Vine Server
  2. FUS is enabled and both users are logged in
  3. Both users have their Vine Server Desktop running with unique port: 5900 and 5901 and display number 0 and 1
  4. Built-in display sharing is off for each user
  5. I am specifying the port number when connecting (e.g. 192.168.1.8:5901)

Point of interest:Each time I switch between two users on the console, I see errors on the Vine Server console…“Screen Resolution changed - Server Reinitialized”. Both users have the same screen resolution.

Attached are some screenshots. Please let me know what more stuff that may help. Thanks in advance.

5

I just redid this configuration on my MBP and it worked straightaway. Not that it should matter, but what VNC Viewer are you using?

6

Hi Matt,

I am hopeful to hear that you’re successful. I am using RealVNC Client v4 on Windows 7, as well as Moch VNC Lite v3 on my iPad and iPhone 4.

Both of these clients are able to connect to another Mac at my house that is doing a screen sharing via OS X.

What other VNC client should I try? I just can’t figure out why this simple setup of VNC in my home network doesn’t work for Vine Server Multiple Desktop.

7

Since you’re not running Lion, make sure that you’re using the 3.x release of Vine Server. I’ve just tried to connect to the 4.0b version from Windows and it wasn’t working for me; I could connect to one session, but not both. But I was able to connect to two different user sessions from both the RealVNC Viewer and the UltraVNC Viewer when the Mac was running the 3.x release of Vine.

8

Hi Matt,

Thanks for continuing to help troubleshoot my difficulties. I’ve also tried to it with TightVNC and UltraVNC. No luck yet. Argh…

Would log files from both desktop servers help you?

9

Hi Matt,

Attached are the Vine Server log and the Console log. Hope the fix is something simple and an user error. :wink:

10

Hi everyone,

I paid $29 via AppStore and upgraded to OS X Lion. And the multi-user VNC access works!!! I am able to connect to it via TightVNC, UltraVNC, RealVNC clients and get the FUS login window after the initial connection. Presto!

As said by late Steve Jobs many times, “it just works!”

Thanks for trying to solve the Vine Server mystery anyway. Cheers.

11

How did you set up Lion for multi-user VNC sharing?? I would TOTALLY do that if we could avoid the bug we’ve stumbled upon in Vine 4.0. Will try googling, but anything that gets us multi-user VNC in 10.7 and works is an option now.

12

It’s almost deceptively simple, in case anyone might be wondering.
[list]
[]Enable Fast User Switching
[]Enable the Screen Sharing service
[/list:u]OMG! Stunning. I’m not sure what the value add for Vine will be in a 10.7.x world, but for our needs we’ve now gone directly to screen sharing and aren’t looking back.