Comment 0 for bug 1420558

I am attempting to set up remote X11 sessions on a Lubuntu 14.10 server (updated today with the latest packages) via VNC, with no VNC password authentication, intended for use with guest sessions via an HTML5 interface (Guacamole). I have set up LightDM with the following /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf (I am aware that I could also have put configuration files in other places, but this worked fine):

[VNCServer]
enabled=true
# using vnc4server, because I couldn't get tightvnc to use no VNC security
command=/usr/bin/Xvnc -securitytypes=none
port=5900
width=1024
height=768
depth=24

[XDMCPServer]
enabled=true

[SeatDefaults]
xserver-allow-tcp=true

I'm not certain that the XDMCP server enabling or the xserver-allow-tcp are necessary, but I don't think they're affecting this problem.

Everything works perfectly through VNC (and through my web interface) when I log in as an actual user; I am able to open multiple simultaneous sessions in different VNC clients/web browsers, with no visible problems. However, when I try to start a guest session via VNC, I get a blank desktop and entries like the following in /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log:

[+32.56s] DEBUG: Session pid=5438: Ignoring set language request for guest user
[+32.57s] DEBUG: Session pid=5438: Greeter requests session Lubuntu
[+32.57s] DEBUG: Seat (null): Stopping greeter; display server will be re-used for user session
[+32.57s] DEBUG: Session pid=5438: Sending SIGTERM
[+32.58s] DEBUG: Session pid=5438: Greeter closed communication channel
[+32.58s] DEBUG: Session pid=5438: Exited with return value 0
[+32.58s] DEBUG: Seat (null): Session stopped
[+32.58s] DEBUG: Seat (null): Greeter stopped, starting session authentication
[+32.58s] DEBUG: Session: Not setting XDG_VTNR
[+32.58s] DEBUG: Opening guest account with command '/usr/sbin/guest-account add'
[+32.69s] DEBUG: Guest account guest-gI15x7 setup
[+32.69s] DEBUG: Session pid=5547: Started with service 'lightdm-autologin', username 'guest-gI15x7'
[+32.71s] DEBUG: Session pid=5547: Authentication complete with return value 0: Success
[+32.71s] DEBUG: Seat (null): Session authenticated, running command
[+32.71s] DEBUG: Registering session with bus path /org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Session0
[+32.72s] DEBUG: Session pid=5547: Not setting XDG_VTNR
[+32.72s] DEBUG: Session pid=5547: Running command /usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-guest-session /usr/sbin/lightdm-session /usr/bin/lxsession -s Lubuntu -e LXDE
[+32.72s] DEBUG: Creating shared data directory /var/lib/lightdm-data/guest-gI15x7
[+32.72s] DEBUG: Session pid=5547: Logging to .xsession-errors
[+32.72s] DEBUG: Activating login1 session c13
[+32.73s] WARNING: Error activating login1 session: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Failed: Operation not supported
[+32.97s] DEBUG: Session pid=5547: Exited with return value 0
[+32.97s] DEBUG: Seat (null): Session stopped
[+32.97s] DEBUG: Seat (null): Stopping display server, no sessions require it
[+32.97s] DEBUG: Sending signal 15 to process 5431
[+32.97s] DEBUG: Closing guest account guest-gI15x7 with command '/usr/sbin/guest-account remove guest-gI15x7'
[+33.06s] DEBUG: Process 5431 exited with return value 0
[+33.06s] DEBUG: DisplayServer xvnc-1: Xvnc server stopped
[+33.06s] DEBUG: DisplayServer xvnc-1: Removing X server authority /var/run/lightdm/root/:1
[+33.06s] DEBUG: Seat (null): Display server stopped
[+33.06s] DEBUG: Seat (null): Active display server stopped, starting greeter
[+33.06s] DEBUG: Seat (null): Stopping; failed to start a greeter
[+33.06s] DEBUG: Seat (null): Stopping
[+33.06s] DEBUG: Seat (null): Stopped

As shown in the log, the session immediately exits with return value 0, which leaves me with a blank desktop (background image only). At first I suspected the "WARNING: Error activating login1 session: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Failed: Operation not supported" as a potential issue, but that occurs when logging in as an actual user as well and causes no problems, and it also occurs when logging in to a guest session on the console, which works fine.

I am unable to look at .xsession-errors in the guest account, because it's always deleted (along with the rest of the guest account's home directory) immediately. I have tried this both using the default guest account template (i.e., putting nothing in /etc/guest-session/skel) and using a real user's directory, known to work for login via VNC, symlinked to /etc/guest-session/skel, and gotten the same result both times.

I'm not sure what more I can do to help narrow it down, but if there's any more information I can provide, please let me know.