1vncviewer(1) Virtual Network Computing vncviewer(1)
2
6 vncviewer - VNC viewer for X
7
9 vncviewer [options] [host][:display#]
10 vncviewer [options] [host][::port]
11 vncviewer [options] [unix socket]
12 vncviewer [options] -listen [port]
13 vncviewer [options] [.tigervnc file]
14
16 vncviewer is a viewer (client) for Virtual Network Computing. This
17 manual page documents version 4 for the X window system.
18 If you run the viewer with no arguments it will prompt you for a VNC
20 server to connect to. Alternatively, specify the VNC server as an
21 argument, e.g.:
22 vncviewer snoopy:2
24 where 'snoopy' is the name of the machine, and '2' is the display num‐
26 ber of the VNC server on that machine. Either the machine name or dis‐
27 play number can be omitted. So for example ":1" means display number 1
28 on the same machine, and "snoopy" means "snoopy:0" i.e. display 0 on
29 machine "snoopy".
30 As another quick way to start a connection to a VNC server, specify a
32 .tigervnc configuration file as an argument to the viewer, e.g.:
33 vncviewer ./some.tigervnc
35 where './some.tigervnc' is an existing and valid TigerVNC configuration
37 file. The file name needs to include a path separator. Additional
38 options may be given too, but the given configuration file will over‐
39 write any conflicting parameters.
40 If the VNC server is successfully contacted, you will be prompted for a
42 password to authenticate you. You can also add 'VNC_USERNAME' and
43 'VNC_PASSWORD' to environment variables. If the password is correct, a
44 window will appear showing the desktop of the VNC server.
45
48 The viewer tests the speed of the connection to the server and chooses
49 the encoding and pixel format (color level) appropriately. This makes
50 it much easier to use than previous versions where the user had to
51 specify arcane command line arguments.
52 The viewer normally starts out assuming the link is slow, using the
54 encoding with the best compression. If it turns out that the link is
55 fast enough it switches to an encoding which compresses less but is
56 faster to generate, thus improving the interactive feel.
57 The viewer normally starts in full-color mode, but switches to low-
59 color mode if the bandwidth is insufficient. However, this only occurs
60 when communicating with servers supporting protocol 3.8 or newer, since
61 many old servers does not support color mode changes safely.
62 Automatic selection can be turned off by setting the AutoSelect parame‐
64 ter to false, or from the options dialog.
65
68 The viewer has a popup menu containing entries which perform various
69 actions. It is usually brought up by pressing F8, but this can be con‐
70 figured with the MenuKey parameter. Actions which the popup menu can
71 perform include:
72 * switching in and out of full-screen mode
74 * quitting the viewer
76 * generating key events, e.g. sending ctrl-alt-del
78 * accessing the options dialog and various other dialogs
80 By default, key presses in the popup menu get sent to the VNC server
82 and dismiss the popup. So to get an F8 through to the VNC server sim‐
83 ply press it twice.
84
87 A full-screen mode is supported. This is particularly useful when con‐
88 necting to a remote screen which is the same size as your local one. If
89 the remote screen is bigger, you can scroll by bumping the mouse
90 against the edge of the screen.
91
94 You can get a list of parameters by giving -h as a command-line option
95 to vncviewer. Parameters can be turned on with -param or off with
96 -param=0. Parameters which take a value can be specified as -param
97 value. Other valid forms are param=value -param=value --param=value.
98 Parameter names are case-insensitive.
99 Many of the parameters can also be set graphically via the options dia‐
101 log box. This can be accessed from the popup menu or from the "Connec‐
102 tion details" dialog box.
103 -display Xdisplay
106 Specifies the X display on which the VNC viewer window should
107 appear.
108 -geometry geometry
110 Initial position of the main VNC viewer window. The format is
111 widthxheight+xoffset+yoffset , where `+' signs can be replaced
112 with `-' signs to specify offsets from the right and/or from the
113 bottom of the screen. Offsets are optional and the window will
114 be placed by the window manager by default.
115 -listen [port]
117 Causes vncviewer to listen on the given port (default 5500) for
118 reverse connections from a VNC server. WinVNC supports reverse
119 connections initiated using the 'Add New Client' menu option or
120 the '-connect' command-line option. Xvnc supports reverse con‐
121 nections with a helper program called vncconfig.
122 -SecurityTypes sec-types
124 Specify which security schemes to attempt to use when authenti‐
125 cating with the server. Valid values are a comma separated list
126 of None, VncAuth, Plain, TLSNone, TLSVnc, TLSPlain, X509None,
127 X509Vnc and X509Plain. Default is to attempt every supported
128 scheme.
129 -passwd, -PasswordFile password-file
131 If you are on a filesystem which gives you access to the pass‐
132 word file used by the server, you can specify it here to avoid
133 typing it in. It will usually be "~/.vnc/passwd".
134 -X509CA path
136 Path to CA certificate to use when authenticating remote servers
137 using any of the X509 security schemes (X509None, X509Vnc,
138 etc.). Must be in PEM format. Default is $HOME/.vnc/x509_ca.pem,
139 if it exists.
140 -X509CRL path
142 Path to certificate revocation list to use in conjunction with
143 -X509CA. Must also be in PEM format. Default is
144 $HOME/.vnc/x509_crl.pem, if it exists.
145 -Shared
147 When you make a connection to a VNC server, all other existing
148 connections are normally closed. This option requests that they
149 be left open, allowing you to share the desktop with someone
150 already using it.
151 -ViewOnly
153 Specifies that no keyboard or mouse events should be sent to the
154 server. Useful if you want to view a desktop without interfer‐
155 ing; often needs to be combined with -Shared.
156 -AcceptClipboard
158 Accept clipboard changes from the server. Default is on.
159 -SetPrimary
161 Set the primary selection as well as the clipboard selection.
162 Default is on.
163 -MaxCutText bytes
165 The maximum size of a clipboard update that will be accepted
166 from a server. Default is 262144.
167 -SendClipboard
169 Send clipboard changes to the server. Default is on.
170 -SendPrimary
172 Send the primary selection to the server as well as the clip‐
173 board selection. Default is on.
174 -Maximize
176 Maximize viewer window.
177 -FullScreen
179 Start in full-screen mode.
180 -FullScreenAllMonitors
182 Use all local monitors and not just the current one when switch‐
183 ing to full-screen mode.
184 -FullscreenSystemKeys
186 Pass special keys (like Alt+Tab) directly to the server when in
187 full-screen mode.
188 -DesktopSize widthxheight
190 Instead of keeping the existing remote screen size, the client
191 will attempt to switch to the specified since when connecting.
192 If the server does not support the SetDesktopSize message then
193 the screen will retain the original size.
194 -RemoteResize
196 Dynamically resize the remote desktop size as the size of the
197 local client window changes. Note that this may not work with
198 all VNC servers.
199 -AutoSelect
201 Use automatic selection of encoding and pixel format (default is
202 on). Normally the viewer tests the speed of the connection to
203 the server and chooses the encoding and pixel format appropri‐
204 ately. Turn it off with -AutoSelect=0.
205 -FullColor, -FullColour
207 Tells the VNC server to send full-color pixels in the best for‐
208 mat for this display. This is default.
209 -LowColorLevel, -LowColourLevel level
211 Selects the reduced color level to use on slow links. level can
212 range from 0 to 2, 0 meaning 8 colors, 1 meaning 64 colors (the
213 default), 2 meaning 256 colors. Note that decision if reduced
214 color level is used is made by vncviewer. If you would like to
215 force vncviewer to use reduced color level use -AutoSelect=0
216 parameter.
217 -PreferredEncoding encoding
219 This option specifies the preferred encoding to use from one of
220 "Tight", "ZRLE", "hextile" or "raw".
221 -NoJpeg
223 Disable lossy JPEG compression in Tight encoding. Default is
224 off.
225 -QualityLevel level
227 JPEG quality level. 0 = Low, 9 = High. May be adjusted automati‐
228 cally if -AutoSelect is turned on. Default is 8.
229 -CompressLevel level
231 Use specified lossless compression level. 0 = Low, 9 = High.
232 Default is 2.
233 -CustomCompressLevel
235 Use custom compression level. Default if CompressLevel is speci‐
236 fied.
237 -DotWhenNoCursor
239 Show the dot cursor when the server sends an invisible cursor.
240 Default is off.
241 -PointerEventInterval time
243 Time in milliseconds to rate-limit successive pointer events.
244 Default is 17 ms (60 Hz).
245 -EmulateMiddleButton
247 Emulate middle mouse button by pressing left and right mouse
248 buttons simultaneously. Default is off.
249 -Log logname:dest:level
251 Configures the debug log settings. dest can currently be stderr
252 or stdout, and level is between 0 and 100, 100 meaning most ver‐
253 bose output. logname is usually * meaning all, but you can tar‐
254 get a specific source file if you know the name of its "Log‐
255 Writer". Default is *:stderr:30.
256 -MenuKey keysym-name
258 This option specifies the key which brings up the popup menu.
259 The currently supported list is: F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8,
260 F9, F10, F11, F12, Pause, Scroll_Lock, Escape, Insert, Delete,
261 Home, Page_Up, Page_Down). Default is F8.
262 -via gateway
264 Automatically create encrypted TCP tunnel to the gateway machine
265 before connection, connect to the host through that tunnel
266 (TigerVNC-specific). By default, this option invokes SSH local
267 port forwarding, assuming that SSH client binary can be accessed
268 as /usr/bin/ssh. Note that when using the -via option, the host
269 machine name should be specified as known to the gateway
270 machine, e.g. "localhost" denotes the gateway, not the machine
271 where vncviewer was launched. The environment variable
272 VNC_VIA_CMD can override the default tunnel command of
273 /usr/bin/ssh -f -L "$L":"$H":"$R" "$G" sleep 20. The tunnel
274 command is executed with the environment variables L, H, R, and
275 G taken the values of the local port number, the remote host,
276 the port number on the remote host, and the gateway machine
277 respectively.
278 -AlertOnFatalError
280 Display a dialog with any fatal error before exiting. Default is
281 on.
282
285 $HOME/.vnc/default.tigervnc
286 Default configuration options. This file must have a "magic"
287 first line of "TigerVNC Configuration file Version 1.0" (without
288 quotes), followed by simple <setting>=<value> pairs of your
289 choosing. The available settings are those shown in this man
290 page.
291 $HOME/.vnc/x509_ca.pem
293 Default CA certificate for authenticating servers.
294 $HOME/.vnc/x509_crl.pem
296 Default certificate revocation list.
297
300 Xvnc(1), vncpasswd(1), vncconfig(1), vncsession(8)
301 https://www.tigervnc.org
302
305 Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd. and others.
306 VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti
308 Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC additions were
309 implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people have since par‐
310 ticipated in development, testing and support. This manual is part of
311 the TigerVNC software suite.
312TigerVNC vncviewer(1)