In Ubuntu 16.04, connecting through vino only shows the top leftmost screen (High DPI screen)

Question

When I connect to my machine with VNC under vino, I only see the top-left side quarter of the screen.

Is there a way to fix it so I can see the whole screen?

Details

My machine is ubuntu 16.04, my screen resolution is 3840x2160

I tried with several VNC clients (tigervnc, tightvnc, remmina), and I tried rebooting the machine several time, but nothing helped.

EDIT: Both (server and client) machines are high resolution

Answer 1

I experienced the same issue and discovered it's being caused by a scaling bug in Vino (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vino/+bug/1668309). As of April 8th 2019 this bug has yet to be fixed.

The exact bug can be reproduced like so (copied verbatim from bug report):

STEPS:

1. On a 4K system
2. Do a default install of the current iso for Zesty
3. Make sure scalling is set to 2
4. Once in the user session activate desktop-sharing
5. Connect from another machine

EXPECTED:

• I expect to see the whole screen or for the screen to scroll to allow access to the whole screen

ACTUAL:

• Top left hand quarter is the only thing visible and no changes to remina make it better.

In order to prevent Vino from cropping your screen you will have to lower the resolution to at least 1080p and reset the scaling factor to 1. I tested this on Ubuntu 18.04 and it seems to be working well.