How to enable VNC on RPi3/Raspbian Stretch from command line?

[Bosse_B]

I have an RPi3 with Raspbian Stretch that I have worked on via the command line (SSH using PuTTY).
Now I want to use PiClone to make a backup of the system before I leave it in place, but I have no HDMI enabled monitor and PiClone is a GUI utility as far as I understand it...
So I thought of using VNC instead, but I don't know if one can enable it using the command line only?
Since it is Linux my guess is that it is possible, but how?

I believe that in Raspbian Pixel VNC was enabled by default but I don't know on this Stretch version. In any case my VNC viewer cannot connect to it so I guess it is non-active.
If it is not possible to enable using PuTTY there is a hen-and-egg problem here,,,

[klricks]

Find VNC in interface menu:

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sudo raspi-config

[FTrevorGowen]

Although I've not used/tried it, IIRC, there is a "command-line" version of "Pi-clone" (rpi-clone or similar?). Also, in principle, when connected via SSH (PuTTY) with x-forwarding enabled (and an X-windows compatible desktop on the remote machine) any "X-gui program" should display and be usable on the remote machine. (I've used such an approach for many years with other Unix/Linux boxes long before the Pi, and have continued to do so with my "headless" Pi's).
Trev.

[Bosse_B]

Find VNC in interface menu:

Code: Select all

sudo raspi-config

Thanks, raspi-config did the trick, but now I have a very small screen to work inside...
If I measure correctly it is only 655x380 pixels...
Can the screen size on VNC be adjusted?

[FTrevorGowen]

Find VNC in interface menu:

Code: Select all

sudo raspi-config

Thanks, raspi-config did the trick, but now I have a very small screen to work inside...
If I measure correctly it is only 655x380 pixels...
Can the screen size on VNC be adjusted?

It's likely that the VNC server (by default) is using a "physical" display size/resolution defined in config.txt or a "composite video" default due to there being no HDMI connection. What does tvservice -s report? It's possible to launch a VNC mode that does not "clone" the "connected" (or presumed connected) display settings, IIRC, that's one of the VNC options (but don't recall the full details, sorry**).
Trev.
** Edit: Some more info. here: https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/docs ... y-pi-setup (Virtual Mode)

[klricks]

Find VNC in interface menu:

Code: Select all

sudo raspi-config

Thanks, raspi-config did the trick, but now I have a very small screen to work inside...
If I measure correctly it is only 655x380 pixels...
Can the screen size on VNC be adjusted?

Also use sudo raspi-config to set a forced screen resolution of your choice.

[Bosse_B]

Also use sudo raspi-config to set a forced screen resolution of your choice.

Right, I googled for some advice and found this solution so I could set it to a comfortable size!
Only "problem" was that I had to reboot afterwards. So before that I had to adjust the persistent iptables rules I had changed after the last boot so that the faulty firewall would not hit back in again....
Now working though.
Thanks for your help!

[Bosse_B]

Sorry to get back to this thread, but the reason I wanted to access the Pi desktop was that I read somewhere that Stretch includes a disk cloning utility that runs off the GUI screen. I think it is called PiClone, but now I cannot find this on any of he GUI menus and when I google Pi Clone I get to all kinds of unrelated old postings, not dealing with this new utility.

Can someone here please help me finding it?
Or should I open a new thread for this?

[FTrevorGowen]

Sorry to get back to this thread, but the reason I wanted to access the Pi desktop was that I read somewhere that Stretch includes a disk cloning utility that runs off the GUI screen. I think it is called PiClone, but now I cannot find this on any of he GUI menus and when I google Pi Clone I get to all kinds of unrelated old postings, not dealing with this new utility.

Can someone here please help me finding it?
Or should I open a new thread for this?

The "GUI version" is (still) referred to as "SD Card Copier" in the menu system IIRC**.
Trev.
** I only have an old Jessie screenshot in my webpages: http://www.cpmspectrepi.uk/raspberry_pi ... Screenshot
and it might (now) be in a different menu area.

[Bosse_B]

Indeed it is!
And I found a blog outlining the usage too:
Latest updates to Raspbian
SD Card Copier is the 3rd item down from the top.

[ItayGal]

The pure cli version would be:

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sudo ln /usr/lib/systemd/system/vncserver-x11-serviced.service /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/vncserver-x11-serviced.service
sudo systemctl start vncserver-x11-serviced

[c3pop]

I suppose the following code using a symbolic link, with 'ln -s', is easier to understand.

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sudo ln -s /usr/lib/systemd/system/vncserver-x11-serviced.service /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/vncserver-x11-serviced.service
sudo systemctl start vncserver-x11-serviced

[Bosse_B]

I think this is a very old conversation.
I started it in Nov 2017 and since then RPi4 and Raspbian Buster are out....