Introduction
When you setup the VNC server you can connect remotely with GUI access to Backtrack, for this reason, it is best to start the VNC server BEFORE you enter the GUI, that will save a little bit on resources such as RAM.
The VNC server service will provide no encryption, so make sure you tunnel VNC through SSH (to be explained in a future post!)
IMPORTANT: Whenever possible you should try to limit access to open services so that connections can only be established from as little IPs as is necessary, see how to do this here
How to do this
The VNC service can be started very simply by just typing the “vncserver” command (this will ask you for a password but that requires no explanation, just type it!):
# vncserver
Obviously without parameters this just takes the default values: sometimes resolution and/or color quality will be suboptimal for your taste. Checking the help will show more options
The following illustrates how to set up the vncserver in a resolution of your liking, please note that higher resolutions will take up more bandwidth since more data has to be sent across the wire each time your screen changes (this may mean “prettier but slower” depending on the bandwidth and latency you have).
# vncserver -geometry 1280×768
Explanation: allows for a better resolution!
You can also set the color depth (24 bits for “true” color):
# vncserver -geometry 1280×768 -depth 24 :1
Explanation: allow better resolution with a color depth of 24 using display :1
