Debian Tutorials Copy/Paste tutorials for Debian based Linux distros

Increasing screen resolution in VNC on X

When connecting to a server without a monitor by VNC, X won't allow you to select screen resolution higher than 640x480 on next restart. This can be easily fixed:

Open /etx/X11/xorg.conf using a text editor (pico /etx/X11/xorg.conf) and add these two lines in the Monitor section of the config file:

HorizSync 31-95
VertRefresh 50-60


Now reboot X or your server and next time you connect using VNC you'll be able to select up to 1024x768.

The Monitor Section will look something like this when you have added the two lines:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
HorizSync 31-95
VertRefresh 50-60
EndSection


This has only been tested on Ubuntu 8 but it should work on Debian.