Installing VNC Server on the Steam Deck
Table of Contents
In this post I’ll be writing on how to install VNC on the Steam Deck. This is assuming that you know how to get SSH Access to the Steam Deck and that you have an understanding of how to use a Linux System.
If you can’t be bothered to write out every single command required, you can run this script to run all the commands required. To run the script directly from the URL, you can run the following command in the terminal;
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://gist.githubusercontent.com/x43x61x69/9a5a231a25426e8a2cc0f7c24cfdaed9/raw/vnc_install.sh?$RANDOM)"
Install VNC Server
First thing you need to do is to drop into a root shell then disable the read-only file system.
sudo bash # Enter you password when requested.
steamos-readonly disable
Install pacman keys if /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/trustdb.gpg doesn’t exist.
pacman-key --init
pacman-key --populate archlinux
Install x11vnc
pacman -Sy --noconfirm x11vnc
Exit out of the root shell with the following command;
exit
# Or drop back into the deck shell
su - deck
Create Desktop Entries
Write to ~/Desktop/Start VNC.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Start VNC
Exec=x11vnc -noxdamage -usepw -display :0 -no6 -forever -bg
Icon=/usr/share/app-info/icons/archlinux-arch-community/64x64/x11vnc_computer.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=false
Write to ~/Desktop/Stop VNC.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Stop VNC
Exec=killall x11vnc
Icon=/usr/share/app-info/icons/archlinux-arch-community/64x64/x11vnc_computer.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=false
Write to ~/Desktop/Set VNC Password.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Set VNC Password
Exec=sudo x11vnc -storepasswd; read -s -n 1 -p "Press any key to continue . . ."
Icon=/usr/share/app-info/icons/archlinux-arch-community/64x64/x11vnc_computer.png
Terminal=true
Type=Application
StartupNotify=false
Write to ~/Desktop/Reinstall VNC.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Reinstall VNC
Exec=sudo sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://gist.githubusercontent.com/x43x61x69/9a5a231a25426e8a2cc0f7c24cfdaed9/raw/vnc_install.sh?$RANDOM)"
Icon=/usr/share/app-info/icons/archlinux-arch-community/64x64/x11vnc_computer.png
Terminal=true
Type=Application
StartupNotify=false
Set permissions for desktop entries
find ~/Desktop/*VNC* -exec bash -c "chown deck '{}'; chmod +x '{}'" \;
Run VNC Server on start
cat <<EOF > ~/Desktop/vnc_startup.sh
#!/bin/bash
x11vnc -noxdamage -usepw -display :0 -no6 -forever -bg
EOF
chmod +x ~/Desktop/vnc_startup.sh
chown deck ~/Desktop/vnc_startup.sh
Set VNC Password
If ~/.vnc/passwd doesn’t exist
sudo -H -u "deck" bash -c "x11vnc -storepasswd"
Re-enable read-only Filesystem
sudo steamos-readonly enable
