x11vnc works fine, ONE TIME, then has to be restarted

[gandsnut]

On my home network, I have an Ubuntu 22.04 system (ethernet) named 'hpcpu'. There's a Linux Mint 21.1 in another room, (wireless 5g) named 'dellcpu'. The router is at 192.168.1.1 supplying IP's.

On both, x11vnc was installed via the package manager.

I can start x11vnc on computer 'dellcpu' (in a terminal window) using "x11vnc -display :0 &". There is an x11vnc GUI program that appears to allow configuration. I've looked for log files, but can't find any.

On 'hpcpu', I use Remmina client to open a remote desktop connection to 'dellcpu', which on FIRST TRY works fine. That connection seems to stay alive as long as I need. When done, I disconnect the Remmina link to 'dellcpu'.

Any following attempt to do the above produces "Unable to connect to VNC server"

On 'dellcpu', I use a terminal command "x11vnc -R stop", which stops the server. If I run through all the above steps from the beginning, the ability to do a remote desktop works fine, ONCE.

I'm not sure how to go about diagnosing this situation. I didn't think I'd have to go to the remote system every time I disconnect from the main system, to restart x11vnc. Thanks.

[1ambd4]

hi, @gandsnut.

I had the same question before and found the answer in README. The README mentions that you can use the -forever parameter to keep listening instead of exiting after connecting once.

x11vnc/README

Lines 220 to 222 in a61f364

	nifty! When finished, exit the viewer: the remote x11vnc process will
	shutdown automatically (or you can use the -forever option to have it
	wait for additional viewer connections.)

Detailed parameter descriptions can be found in doc/OPTIONS.md. I hope it can help you.

x11vnc/doc/OPTIONS.md

Lines 542 to 543 in a61f364

	-forever Keep listening for more connections rather than exiting
	as soon as the first client(s) disconnect. Same as -many