From owner-freebsd-emulation@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Dec 3 21:28:27 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-emulation@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 657191065672 for ; Sat, 3 Dec 2011 21:28:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tedm@mittelstaedt.us) Received: from mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (unknown [IPv6:2607:fa80:40::6]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0916F8FC0C for ; Sat, 3 Dec 2011 21:28:26 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [192.168.1.64] (nat-rtr.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [65.75.197.130]) (authenticated bits=0) by mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id pB3LSGZj090574 for ; Sat, 3 Dec 2011 13:28:23 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from tedm@mittelstaedt.us) Message-ID: <4EDA9474.3090206@mittelstaedt.us> Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2011 13:28:20 -0800 From: Ted Mittelstaedt User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:8.0) Gecko/20111105 Thunderbird/8.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-emulation@freebsd.org References: <4ED76F0B.6090603@FreeBSD.org> <4ED7B320.5020007@FreeBSD.org> <20111201175643.GJ75313@portland.byshenk.net> <4ED7E457.4010507@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <4ED7E457.4010507@FreeBSD.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=4.5 tests=ALL_TRUSTED autolearn=unavailable version=3.3.1 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.1 (2010-03-16) on mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com Subject: Re: "headed" virtualbox + vnc X-BeenThere: freebsd-emulation@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Development of Emulators of other operating systems List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:28:27 -0000 On 12/1/2011 12:32 PM, Andriy Gapon wrote: > on 01/12/2011 19:56 Greg Byshenk said the following: >> On Thu, Dec 01, 2011 at 07:02:24PM +0200, Andriy Gapon wrote: >>> on 01/12/2011 18:17 Warren Block said the following: >>>> On Thu, 1 Dec 2011, Andriy Gapon wrote: >> >>>>> Is it possible to start a guess VM with GUI and also be able to access it via VNC? >>>>> All google hits for freebsd+virtualbox+vnc are about VBoxHeadless. >>>> >>>> net/x11vnc installed in the guest should work. >>> >>> Of course that's not what I meant/wanted. >> >> It's about as close as you can get, I think. >> >> If I understand aright, "standard" VNC uses its own display, which >> means that it can't somehow "attach" to an existing X display. >> >> I've never used it, but according to its description, x11vnc -does- >> allow you to connect to a running X display: >> >> "x11vnc differs from traditional UNIX VNC servers in that >> it is accessing a real X displays that may already be in >> progress rather than creating its own X server for clients >> to connect to." > > I am not sure what all of this (i.e. features of vncserver and x11vnc) has to do > with a capability of Virtualbox to export guest's screen via VNC protocol. > The way I do it is as follows: The FreeBSD server boots up to the command line but it starts a vnc server I vnc into the BSD box. From the GUI I start VirtualBox. I then start the guests. I then click Close on the vnc client, this disconnects the client but leaves the vnc server and it's screen running, and in that is running the GUI control for VirtualBox, as well as leaving the GUI interfaces to the various guest's "consoles" still running, all in that vnc server session. For Windows XP, Vista or 7 guests, I just make sure to use Pro versions which allow an RDP session into the guest. If I need access to the "consoles" of those systems I just VNC back into the host vnc server and this connects me to the screen that's still running and the GUI control for VirtualBox as well as all the guests screens. For other BSD or Linux guests, I make sure to start those to the command line console. They can run VNC servers or I can just use an X server on a PC or workstation to run X programs on those guests. Ted