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TIP Unless you need nss_wrapper, you can also use my newer image accetto/xubuntu-vnc-novnc, which is a streamlined version of this image (image hierarchy). If you also don't need noVNC, you can use even a slimmer image accetto/xubuntu-vnc, which is the base of another growing family of application images (image hierarchy). The newer images include also sudo command.
Attention: Resources for building images with Firefox and configurable Firefox, previously contained in this repository, have been moved to their own GitHub repositories ubuntu-vnc-xfce-firefox and ubuntu-vnc-xfce-firefox-plus.
This repository contains resources for building a Docker image based on Ubuntu with Xfce desktop environment and VNC/noVNC servers for headless use.
The image can be successfully built and used on Linux, Windows, Mac and NAS devices. It has been tested with Docker Desktop on Ubuntu flavours, Windows 10 and Container Station from QNAP.
This is also the base of my other Docker images with additional features (e.g. accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce-firefox-plus or accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce-firefox-default).
Containers created from this image are perfect for learning, development or testing, because they can be easily used headless via web browsers (over noVNC) or VNC viewers (e.g. TigerVNC or TightVNC). Both lite and full noVNC clients are provided.
While the containers do not include any web browsers, mousepad and vim editors and the ping utility are already included. Other applications can be easily added also at runtime, because the containers run under the privileged root user.
It should be noticed, that the container's root is not the same as the host's root and that it does not automatically get all root privileges on the hosting computer. Please check the Docker documentation for more information about it (e.g. Runtime privilege and Linux capabilities).
Running in background is the primary scenario for the containers, but using them interactively in foreground is also possible. For examples see the description below or the HOWTO section in Wiki.
The image contains the following components:
- utilities ping, wget, zip, unzip, sudo, curl, git (Ubuntu distribution)
- current version of JSON processor jq
- light-weight Xfce desktop environment (Ubuntu distribution)
- current version of high-performance TigerVNC server and client
- current version of noVNC HTML5 clients (full and lite) (TCP port 6901)
- popular text editors vim and nano (Ubuntu distribution)
- lite but advanced graphical editor mousepad (Ubuntu distribution)
- support of version sticker (see below)
The image is regularly maintained and rebuilt. The history of notable changes is documented in CHANGELOG.
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Images based on the official ubuntu images.
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latestbased onubuntu:latest
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Following TCP ports are exposed:
- 5901 used for access over VNC
- 6901 used for access over noVNC
The default VNC user password is headless.
The containers do not create or use any external volumes by default. However, the following folders make good mounting points:
- /home/headless/Documents/
- /home/headless/Downloads/
- /home/headless/Music/
- /home/headless/Pictures/
- /home/headless/Public/
- /home/headless/Templates/
- /home/headless/Videos/
Both named volumes and bind mounts can be used. More about volumes can be found in the Docker documentation (e.g. Manage data in Docker).
Version sticker serves multiple purposes that are closer described in Wiki. The version sticker value identifies the version of the docker image and it is persisted in it when it is built. It is also shown as a badge in the README file.
However, the script version_sticker.sh can be used anytime for convenient checking of the current versions of installed applications.
The script is deployed into the startup folder, which is defined by the environment variable STARTUPDIR with the default value of /dockerstartup.
If the script is executed inside a container without an argument, then it returns the current version sticker value of the container. This value is newly calculated and it is based on the current versions of the essential applications in the container.
The current version sticker value will differ from the persisted value, if any of the included application has been updated to another version.
If the script is called with the argument -v (lower case v), then it prints out verbose versions of the essential applications that are included in the version sticker value.
If it is called with the argument -V (upper case v), then it prints out verbose versions of some more applications.
Examples can be found in Wiki.
The containers run under the privileged root user by default. However, it's the container's root, which is not the same as the root of the hosting computer (see above).
The following container will listen on automatically selected TCP ports of the host computer:
docker run -d -P accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce
The following container will listen on the host's explicit TCP ports 25901 (VNC) and 26901 (noVNC):
docker run -d -p 25901:5901 -p 26901:6901 accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce
The following container will create or re-use the local named volume my_Downloads mounted as /headless/Downloads:
docker run -d -P -v my_Downloads:/home/headless/Downloads accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce
or using the newer syntax with --mount flag:
docker run -d -P --mount source=my_Downloads,target=/home/headless/Downloads accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce
More usage examples can be found in Wiki (section HOWTO).
The image supports the following container start-up options: --wait (default), --skip, --debug (also --tail-log) and --help.
The following container will print out the help and then it'll remove itself:
docker run --rm accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce --help
Excerpt from the output, which describes the other options:
OPTIONS:
-w, --wait (default) Keeps the UI and the vnc server up until SIGINT or SIGTERM are received.
An optional command can be executed after the vnc starts up.
example: docker run -d -P accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce
example: docker run -it -P --rm accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce bash
-s, --skip Skips the vnc startup and just executes the provided command.
example: docker run -it -P --rm accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce --skip echo $BASH_VERSION
-d, --debug Executes the vnc startup and tails the vnc/noVNC logs.
Any parameters after '--debug' are ignored. CTRL-C stops the container.
example: docker run -it -P --rm accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce --debug
-t, --tail-log same as '--debug'
-h, --help Prints out this help.
example: docker run --rm accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce
It should be noticed, that the --debug start-up option does not show the command prompt even if the -it run arguments are provided. This is because the container is watching the incoming vnc/noVNC connections and prints out their logs in real time. However, it is easy to attach to the running container like in the following example.
In the first terminal window on the host computer, create a new container named foo:
docker run --name foo accetto/ubuntu-vnc-xfce --debug
In the second terminal window on the host computer, execute the shell inside the foo container:
docker exec -it foo /bin/bash
There are two ways, how to use the created headless containers. Note that the default VNC user password is headless.
To be able to use the containers over VNC, some VNC Viewer is needed (e.g. TigerVNC or TightVNC).
The VNC Viewer should connect to the host running the container, pointing to its TCP port mapped to the container's TCP port 5901.
For example, if the container has been created on the host called mynas using the parameters described above, the VNC Viewer should connect to mynas:25901.
To be able to use the containers over noVNC, an HTML5 capable web browser is needed. It actually means, that any current web browser can be used.
The browser should navigate to the host running the container, pointing to its TCP port mapped to the container's TCP port 6901.
However, since the version 1.2.0 the containers offer two noVNC clients. Additionally to the previously available lite client there is also the full client with more features. The connection URL differs slightly in both cases. To make it easier, a simple startup page is implemented.
If the container has been created on the host called mynas using the parameters described above, then the web browser should navigate to http://mynas:26901.
The startup page will show two hyperlinks pointing to the both noVNC clients:
http://mynas:26901/vnc_lite.htmlhttp://mynas:26901/vnc.html
It's also possible to provide the password through the links:
http://mynas:26901/vnc_lite.html?password=headlesshttp://mynas:26901/vnc.html?password=headless
If you have found a problem or you just have a question, please check the Issues and the Troubleshooting, FAQ and HOWTO sections in Wiki first. Please do not overlook the closed issues.
If you do not find a solution, you can file a new issue. The better you describe the problem, the bigger the chance it'll be solved soon.
This project has been originally inspired by the docker image consol/ubuntu-xfce-vnc and derived from its GitHub repository ConSol/docker-headless-vnc-container.
Credit also goes to all the countless people and companies who contribute to open source community and make so many dreamy things real.