what is Remote Session: Off ?

[logandzwon]

Is there anyway to actually start a vm session headless? What I'm trying to do is to start a session, then vnc to it. This way my mouse will be smooth and get stuck in thw window when I'm using the linux vm.

 

[monoclast]

Is there any way to actually start a vm session headless? What I'm trying to do is to start a session, then vnc to it. This way my mouse will be smooth and get stuck in the window when I'm using the linux vm.

Yep, there is a way. Here's how I did it with my headless Intel Mac mini:

1. Optional Set your System Preferences > Accounts > Login Options to automatically log you in.
2. In Parallels, select Parallels Desktop > Preferences.
3. Select the Common tab.
4. Select Load recently used VM at startup.
5. For Default action to perform on application exit, select Suspend VM.
6. Click OK.
Now Parallels will automatically load the last loaded VM whenever Parallels starts.
7. Open a VM without starting it so that you can edit its settings.
8. View the Property Page of the VM.
9. Click Edit.
10. On the left side, click Options, then click the VM Flags tab on the right.
11. Select Autostart CM when configuration is loaded.
12. Click OK.
Now the VM will automatically start whenever it loads.

Restart your computer to test it out. The last loaded VM should automatically load and start up after you log in.

Now, on my particular mini, I found that when I connect to the Mac OS X VNC server, more often than not, the screen resolution is set to some out of sync resolution such that I see a distorted image (similar to what you'd see on a real monitor if you set your screen to a resolution not supported by said monitor). To fix this, I downloaded and installed the free command-line tool "cscreen" available here:

http://www.pyehouse.com/lynn/cscreen.php

Then I wrote a little AppleScript script that I put in my Mac OS X Login Items:

-- fix screen resolution for VNC
-- begin script
property cscreen : "/usr/local/bin/cscreen"

-- switch to 800x600 resolution
do shell script (cscreen & " -x 800 -y 600" as text) user name "myname" password "password" with administrator privileges

delay 1

-- switch to 1024x768 resolution
do shell script (cscreen & " -x 1024 -y 768" as text) user name "myname" password "password" with administrator privileges
-- end script


You may be overcomplicating things by trying to VNC into Mac OS X rather than a VNC server in the VM operating system itself. Instead, what I did was I installed VNC server on the VM operating system and then I connect to that whenever I want to connect to the VM operating system.

I have this set up and it works great! I have these three operating systems running at all times:

• Mac OS X
• Fedora Core 5
• Windows XP

I can connect via VNC to each of these operating systems (simultaneously if needed) by connecting my VNC client to each respective IP address. It is a really slick setup!

Hope this helps! Holler if you have any questions.

-monoclast