Seeing a grey screen like this? It seems to be a common problem when setting up Ubuntu 14.04 with VNC.

When trying to setup your Ubuntu machine, a common problem seems to come up: the grey screen. There is no login box, no options no nothing. It seems like you followed all the right steps, and you’re logged in to the server but there is nothing there. It’s confusing. We’ve setup this little tutorial to help you figure out where you went wrong and how to fix it!

The problem for me at least, seemed to be that while I was running vncserver, I didn’t have a desktop running so there was really nothing to look at.

I edited this file:

~/.vnc/xstartup

The following code:

 

That’s it! You may need a restart and everything should be working.

If you have having trouble still, try the following resouces:

Ask Ubuntu:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/452497/14-04-vnc-xstartup-file

LazyGeek blog:
http://rbgeek.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/how-to-install-vnc-server-on-ubuntu-server-12-04/

Broderick tech:
http://broderick-tech.com/vncxstartup-files-ubuntu-14-04/

Wish you were a Ubuntu server admin guru? You can get a great start for beginners from Udemy and their Ubuntu Server admin course. Cody Ray Miller will walk you through with 47 lectures.