It’s not as easy as you might think to setup a remote desktop from boot in Xubuntu.

This is probably because these apps are called ‘desktop sharing’ apps, really aimed at desktops that are logged in and running. It’s also because it is a potential security hazard to have your VNC server running and ‘out there’ as soon as it boots up.

However, with appropriate security precautions (eg vpn access to the network) it can be done, relatively simply. It’s ideal for remote servers that you might need to reboot, that need to have a graphical environment installed.

I used this article. Although it didn’t work straight away that was because the text USERNAME  in the /lib/systemd/system/x11vnc.service file needs changing to the user name you’re using (duh).

command ps -ef | grep [x]11vnc on a remote ssh terminal (on the same network) will tell you if the service is up and running.

After years of faffing this works. I’m using x11vnc and the init (upstart) process for getting the server running from boot. This is on an Xubutnu 15.04 64bit machine