Why do I see an error about a bad escape code when trying to start RealVNC Server in Virtual Mode?

A bad escape code 0x55 error when starting RealVNC Server in Virtual Mode is usually caused by a bad font path being added to the /etc/vnc/config file on the RealVNC Server computer.

This file is populated when installing RealVNC Server, and if you are carrying out the installation using an SSH client with X11 forwarding enabled, the system erroneously includes fonts from the SSH client computer.

To resolve this, remove any invalid paths (i.e. paths inaccessible to the RealVNC Server computer) in /etc/vnc/config and try starting a new Virtual Mode session.