The following window manager configurations have been tested either by us or by the TurboVNC community using TurboVNC 3.0.x or later. If you know of any issues that are not described here, please submit a bug report. If you have information about other WM configurations, please contact us.
| O/S | Window Manager | Prerequisites | TVNC_WM / -wm / $wm Value | Notes |
|---|
| Fedora 31-39 | GNOME 3.34.x-45.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | GNOME 3.34.x-45.x (classic) | | 2d | See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | MATE 1.24.x-1.26.x | > sudo dnf group install mate-desktop-environment | mate | No known issues |
| | Xfce 4.14.x-4.18.x | > sudo dnf group install Xfce | xfce | No known issues |
| FreeBSD 11.4 | MATE 1.24.x | > sudo pkg install mate-desktop mate | mate | No known issues |
| | Xfce 4.14.x | > sudo pkg install xfce | xfce | No known issues |
| FreeBSD 12.1-12.3, 13.1 | MATE 1.22.x-1.26.x | > sudo pkg install mate-desktop mate | mate | No known issues |
| | Xfce 4.14.x-4.16.x | > sudo pkg install xfce | xfce | No known issues |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (and derivatives) | GNOME 2.28.x | | | No known issues |
| | KDE 4.3.x | | kde | No known issues |
| | Xfce 4.8.x | Add the EPEL repository
> sudo yum groupinstall Xfce | xfce | No known issues |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (and derivatives) | GNOME 3.14.x-3.28.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | GNOME 3.14.x-3.28.x (classic) | | 2d | See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | KDE 4.10.x-4.14.x | | 1-kde-plasma-standard | No known issues |
| | MATE 1.14.x-1.16.x | Add the EPEL repository
> sudo yum groupinstall "MATE Desktop" | mate | No known issues |
| | Xfce 4.12.x | Add the EPEL repository
> sudo yum groupinstall Xfce | xfce | No known issues |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (and derivatives) | GNOME 3.28.x-3.36.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | GNOME 3.28.x-3.36.x (classic) | | 2d | See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | Xfce 4.14.x-4.16.x | Add the EPEL repository
> sudo dnf group install Xfce | xfce | No known issues |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (and derivatives) | GNOME 40.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | GNOME 40.x (classic) | | 2d | See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | Xfce 4.16.x | Add the EPEL repository
> sudo dnf group install Xfce | xfce | No known issues |
| Solaris 11.3 | GNOME 2.30.x | | | No known issues |
| Solaris 11.4 | GNOME 3.24.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| SuSE Linux Enterprise 12 | GNOME 3.14.x-3.20.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | GNOME 3.14.x-3.20.x (classic) | | 2d | No known issues |
| SuSE Linux Enterprise 15 (and equivalents) | GNOME 3.26.x-41.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | GNOME 3.26.x-41.x (classic) | | 2d | No known issues |
| | KDE Plasma 5.24.x | > sudo zypper install -t pattern kde kde_plasma | plasma5 | Windows are blank when running the window manager using VirtualGL's EGL back end |
| | MATE 1.20.x-1.26.x | > sudo zypper -n in patterns-mate-mate | mate | No known issues |
| Ubuntu 14.04 LTS | GNOME 3.8.x (fallback) | | 2d | No known issues |
| | MATE 1.8.x | > sudo apt-get install ubuntu-mate-desktop | mate | No known issues |
| | Unity 7.2.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | GNOME 3.18.x (flashback-metacity) | | 2d | No known issues |
| | MATE 1.12.x | > sudo apt install mate
NOTE: This installs the basic window manager. Use sudo apt install ubuntu-mate-desktop to install the complete Ubuntu MATE desktop environment. | mate | No known issues |
| | Unity 7.4.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known Unity 7.4 issues and workarounds here |
| | Xfce 4.12.x | > sudo apt install xfce4
NOTE: This installs the basic window manager. Use sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop to install the complete Ubuntu Xfce desktop environment. | xfce | No known issues |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | GNOME 3.28.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | MATE 1.20.x | > sudo apt install ubuntu-mate-desktop | mate | No known issues |
| | Xfce 4.12.x | > sudo apt install xfce4
NOTE: This installs the basic window manager. Use sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop to install the complete Ubuntu Xfce desktop environment. | xfce | No known issues |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | GNOME 3.36.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | GNOME 3.36.x (flashback-metacity) | > sudo apt install gnome-session-flashback
| 2d | No known issues |
| | MATE 1.24.x | > sudo apt install ubuntu-mate-desktop | mate | No known issues |
| | Xfce 4.14.x | > sudo apt install xfce4
NOTE: This installs the basic window manager. Use sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop to install the complete Ubuntu Xfce desktop environment. | xfce | No known issues |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | GNOME 42.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | GNOME 3.44.x (flashback-metacity) | > sudo apt install gnome-session-flashback
| 2d | No known issues |
| | MATE 1.26.x | > sudo apt install ubuntu-mate-desktop | mate | No known issues |
| | Xfce 4.16.x | > sudo apt install xfce4 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | GNOME 46.x | | | Run the window manager using VirtualGL to improve performance
See complete list of known GNOME 3+ issues and workarounds here |
| | MATE 1.26.x | > sudo apt install ubuntu-mate-desktop | mate | No known issues |
| | Xfce 4.18.x | > sudo apt install xfce4
NOTE: This installs the basic window manager. Use sudo apt install xubuntu-desktop to install the complete Ubuntu Xfce desktop environment. | xfce | No known issues |
Some recent window managers (GNOME 3+ and later, in particular) require OpenGL in order to run, and other window managers may optionally require OpenGL in order to enable desktop effects. The TurboVNC Server includes a software OpenGL implementation that can be used to run these window managers, but the performance will not be stellar. It is generally recommended that a non-compositing ("2D") window manager, such as MATE or Xfce, be used with TurboVNC, but you can also improve the performance of compositing window managers by running them using VirtualGL (VirtualGL 2.4 or later required.) To enable this feature, pass an argument of -vgl to /opt/TurboVNC/bin/vncserver or set $useVGL = 1; in /etc/turbovncserver.conf or ~/.vnc/turbovncserver.conf.
