ubuntu Docker container images with "headless" VNC session

• start :

  docker run -d --net=host --shm-size=256m cc861010/headless

• enjoy :

  open container_host:5901 with vncviewer in full-screen mode

  Alt + Enter , enjoy!

some script from docker-headless-vnc-container

Usage

• Run command with mapping to local port 5901 (vnc protocol) and 6901 (vnc web access):

  docker run -d -p 5901:5901 -p 6901:6901 cc861010/headless
  

• Change the default user and group within a container to your own with adding --user $(id -u):$(id -g):

  docker run -d -p 5901:5901 -p 6901:6901 --user $(id -u):$(id -g) cc861010/headless
  

• If you want to get into the container use interactive mode -it and bash

  docker run -it -p 5901:5901 -p 6901:6901 cc861010/headless bash
  

• Build an image from scratch:

  build.sh
  

Connect & Control

If the container is started like mentioned above, connect via one of these options:

• connect via VNC viewer localhost:5901, default password: vncpassword
• connect via noVNC HTML5 full client: http://localhost:6901/vnc.html, default password: vncpassword
• connect via noVNC HTML5 lite client: http://localhost:6901/?password=vncpassword

Hints

3) Override VNC environment variables

The following VNC environment variables can be overwritten at the docker run phase to customize your desktop environment inside the container:

• VNC_COL_DEPTH, default: 24
• VNC_RESOLUTION, default: 1280x1024
• VNC_PW, default: my-pw
• USRE_NAME, default: bear
• USRE_PASSWORD, default: bear

3.1) Example: Override the VNC password

Simply overwrite the value of the environment variable VNC_PW. For example in the docker run command:

docker run -it -p 5901:5901 -p 6901:6901 -e VNC_PW=my-pw cc861010/headless

3.2) Example: Override the VNC resolution

Simply overwrite the value of the environment variable VNC_RESOLUTION. For example in the docker run command:

docker run -it -p 5901:5901 -p 6901:6901 -e VNC_RESOLUTION=800x600 cc861010/headless

4) View only VNC

Since version 1.2.0 it's possible to prevent unwanted control via VNC. Therefore you can set the environment variable VNC_VIEW_ONLY=true. If set, the startup script will create a random password for the control connection and use the value of VNC_PW for view only connection over the VNC connection.

 docker run -it -p 5901:5901 -p 6901:6901 -e VNC_VIEW_ONLY=true cc861010/headless

5) Known Issues

5.1) Chromium crashes with high VNC_RESOLUTION (#53)

If you open some graphic/work intensive websites in the Docker container (especially with high resolutions e.g. 1920x1080) it can happen that Chromium crashes without any specific reason. The problem there is the too small /dev/shm size in the container. Currently there is no other way, as define this size on startup via --shm-size option, see #53 - Solution:

docker run --shm-size=256m -it -p 6901:6901 -e VNC_RESOLUTION=1920x1080 cc861010/headless chromium-browser http://map.norsecorp.com/