At this point I've researched about every forum post there is on the topic and I can't seem to at least understand why I am unable to accomplish this task. Many/most posts are several years old so I thinking that is the reason that none of the solutions have worked.
Most forum posts claim that I can do something like the following: How to setup x11vnc to access with graphical login screen? (or section 4.2.1 of https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/TigerVNC#On_the_client)
and simply create a systemd service file (and as the post mentions, upstart scripts like mentioned here: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1860295&page=3 are relatively dated). This works when I am logged into a session but as soon as I log out or lock screen with lightdm, the screen goes black on the vnc client.
This nugget of information: x11vnc login screen is blank seemed really helpful at first but then I 1) couldn't verify its accuracy and 2) wasn't sure how I could even dynamically change the display parameter in the systemd service.
Then I thought I hit the jackpot when I discovered section 5.14 of https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/LightDM. But it is unclear if the solution only works to establish the vnc at the greeter (or beyond) and/or if a systemd service is needed to supplement the solution. But it also said that it was possible that the issue could be my greeter so I tried out slick-greeter (to no avail - though its likely I was/am missing something here).
TL;DR
How can I initiate the vnc server such that I can interact with the login screen? I prefer to stay with lightdm, unity-greeter, x11vnc but am open to other working solutions.
Thanks!
