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I used to be able to connect to my Gnome 3 desktop from a Windows machine with a VNC client. But after an upgrade (on the Linux side) a while ago, it quit working. When I attempt to connect, all I can get is a message saying "No matching security types" or "No supported authentication methods!" (depending on which client I try).

In Gnome 3, I've turned on Screen Sharing under Settings > Sharing. Under that, I have Remote View on, Remote Control on, Approve All Connections on, Require Password off. I'm running Arch Linux with vino 3.8.1.

On the Windows side, I've tried TigerVNC 1.0.1 & 1.2.0 and UltraVNC 1.0.9.6.2.

How can I get this working?

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  • Is your firewall disabled and/or configured to allow VNC traffic through to the server?
    – slm ♦
    Jun 1, 2013 at 17:11
  • 1
    @slm, I don't believe it's a firewall issue, because I don't think you get that error unless the client has successfully opened a connection to the server and asked it what authentication methods it supports.
    – cjm
    Jun 1, 2013 at 17:14
  • Can you connect to the VNC server using a VNC client from something other than a Windows computer? Just trying to eliminate another variable. Also what version of Windows are we dealing with?
    – slm ♦
    Jun 3, 2013 at 0:27

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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This is actually a known and currently open bug. However, there is a very easy workaround; just issue the following command:

gsettings set org.gnome.Vino require-encryption false

You will now be able to connect with most vnc viewers.

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  • After setting this do I need to restart vino-server or anything? I have just tried this and get the same error.
    – fostandy
    Sep 3, 2014 at 12:50
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    This is a user level setting, so, if you're still have trouble after changing it, make sure you didn't run it with sudo.
    – Ryan J
    Mar 30, 2015 at 6:01
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    This is bad advice. Anyone on the network (wifi or ethernet) can sniff your traffic, and intercept keystrokes including passwords.
    – Apollo Clark
    May 27, 2016 at 14:58
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    require-encryption false really bad idea ! you are disabling the encryption so unless you are on a Ethernet (and ethernet only !!) or on a WiFi in a cottage located in the middle of nowhere then yes then you can use this
    – equivalent8
    Oct 31, 2016 at 9:18
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Here are some other possible solutions:

  1. Disable Vino encryption, and then setup an SSH tunnel
  2. Use a VNC client compatible with Vino's encryption (TLC): Android: bVNC Free, Windows: Java Turbo VNC client, Linux: vinagre
  3. Use a different VNC server, such as tigervnc or x11vnc
  4. Use a different VNC server, such as tightvnc, with a different desktop manager, such as MATE, Xfce, LXDE, etc.

Even 2.5 years later, this is still an issue with Fedora, Redhat, and Debian systems... Basically, Gnome 3 does a 3D graphics driver check when starting up gnome-session, which causes it to crash vncserver when NOT using Vino; so, use a different desktop manager. Alternatively, you use Vino, and then are required to either use Type 18 TLS and a handful of compatible VNC viewers, or turn off encryption and have all you traffic be easily sniffed; so, turn off encryption and use an SSH tunnel.

It's a convoluted problem that requires the coordination of multiple groups of developers to solve, and very little progress has been made.

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I think this question covers all alternative methods and suggestions how to connect to Gnome throught VNC if built-in desktop sharing does not work: Enable remote desktop for Gnome from command line?

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