Freesurfer in a Docker container with TurboVNC

Before running freesurfer-vnc locally, you'll need the following:

• A Linux, macOS, or Windows machine
• The OpenSSH client (usually included with Linux and macOS, and available for Windows via WSL2 or Cygwin [note that the Windows 10+ built-in OpenSSH client will not work])
• A VNC client/viewer (TurboVNC viewer is recommended for all platforms)
• Docker Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux)

Follow the instructions below to set up your machine correctly:

To install TurboVNC, download the latest version from here. On Debian/Ubuntu, you will need to download the file ending with arm64.deb. On RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/Fedora, you will need to download the file ending with x86_64.rpm. Then, install it by running sudo dpkg -i <filename> on Debian/Ubuntu or sudo rpm -i <filename> on RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/Fedora.

To install TurboVNC, download the latest version from here. On an M1 Mac (newer), you will need to download the file ending with arm64.dmg. On an Intel Mac (older), you will need the file ending with x86_64.dmg. Then, open the .dmg file and launch the installer inside.

To install TurboVNC, download the latest version from here. You will need the file ending with x64.exe. Run the program to install TurboVNC.

Open a command prompt window (such as the built-in command prompt, PowerShell, or Windows Terminal), and then run the following command to launch the container with a VNC server running on port 5900:

docker run --name fvnc --rm -it -v "$HOME":/myhome -p 127.0.0.1:5900:5900 ghcr.io/uw-psych/freesurfer-vnc:latest

Open the Windows WSL terminal prompt and run the following command to launch the container with a VNC server running on port 5900, and your Windows home directory mounted as /userhome inside the container:

docker run --name fvnc --rm -it -v "$HOME"/myhome -p 127.0.0.1:5900:5900 ghcr.io/uw-psych/freesurfer-vnc:latest

Next, open TurboVNC Viewer and connect to localhost:5900. When prompted, enter the password password.