1vncserver(1)               Virtual Network Computing              vncserver(1)
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NAME

6       vncserver - start or stop a VNC server
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SYNOPSIS

9       vncserver  [:display#]  [-name  desktop-name]  [-geometry widthxheight]
10       [-depth depth] [-pixelformat format] [-fp font-path] [-fg]  [-autokill]
11       [-noxstartup] [-xstartup script] [Xvnc-options...]
12       vncserver -kill :display#
13       vncserver -list
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DESCRIPTION

16       vncserver  is  used to start a VNC (Virtual Network Computing) desktop.
17       vncserver is a Perl script which simplifies the process of starting  an
18       Xvnc server.  It runs Xvnc with appropriate options and starts a window
19       manager on the VNC desktop.
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21       vncserver can be run with no options at  all.  In  this  case  it  will
22       choose the first available display number (usually :1), start Xvnc with
23       that display number, and start the default window manager in  the  Xvnc
24       session.   You  can also specify the display number, in which case vnc‐
25       server will attempt to start Xvnc with that display number and exit  if
26       the display number is not available.  For example:
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28              vncserver :13
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30       Editing  the file $HOME/.vnc/xstartup allows you to change the applica‐
31       tions run at startup (but note that this will not  affect  an  existing
32       VNC session.)
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OPTIONS

36       You  can get a list of options by passing -h as an option to vncserver.
37       In addition to the options listed below, any unrecognised options  will
38       be  passed  to  Xvnc  -  see  the  Xvnc  man page, or "Xvnc -help", for
39       details.
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42       -name desktop-name
43              Each VNC desktop has a  name  which  may  be  displayed  by  the
44              viewer. The desktop name defaults to "host:display# (username)",
45              but you can change it with this option.  The desktop name option
46              is passed to the xstartup script via the $VNCDESKTOP environment
47              variable, which allows you to run a different  set  of  applica‐
48              tions depending on the name of the desktop.
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50       -geometry widthxheight
51              Specify  the  size  of the VNC desktop to be created. Default is
52              1024x768.
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54       -depth depth
55              Specify the pixel depth (in bits) of the VNC desktop to be  cre‐
56              ated.  Default  is 24.  Other possible values are 8, 15 and 16 -
57              anything else is likely to cause strange behaviour  by  applica‐
58              tions.
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60       -pixelformat format
61              Specify  pixel  format  for Xvnc to use (BGRnnn or RGBnnn).  The
62              default for depth 8 is BGR233 (meaning the most significant  two
63              bits represent blue, the next three green, and the least signif‐
64              icant three represent red), the default for depth 16 is  RGB565,
65              and the default for depth 24 is RGB888.
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67       -cc 3  As  an  alternative to the default TrueColor visual, this allows
68              you to run an Xvnc server with a PseudoColor  visual  (i.e.  one
69              which uses a color map or palette), which can be useful for run‐
70              ning some old X applications which only work on such a  display.
71              Values  other than 3 (PseudoColor) and 4 (TrueColor) for the -cc
72              option may result in strange behaviour, and PseudoColor desktops
73              must have an 8-bit depth.
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75       -kill :display#
76              This  kills a VNC desktop previously started with vncserver.  It
77              does this by killing the  Xvnc  process,  whose  process  ID  is
78              stored  in  the  file "$HOME/.vnc/host:display#.pid".  The -kill
79              option ignores anything preceding the first colon (":")  in  the
80              display  argument.   Thus, you can invoke "vncserver -kill $DIS‐
81              PLAY", for example at the end of your xstartup file after a par‐
82              ticular application exits.
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84       -fp font-path
85              If  the vncserver script detects that the X Font Server (XFS) is
86              running, it will attempt to start Xvnc and configure Xvnc to use
87              XFS  for  font  handling.  Otherwise, if XFS is not running, the
88              vncserver script will attempt to start Xvnc and  allow  Xvnc  to
89              use  its  own  preferred method of font handling (which may be a
90              hard-coded font path or, on more recent systems,  a  font  cata‐
91              log.)  In any case, if Xvnc fails to start, the vncserver script
92              will then attempt to determine an appropriate X  font  path  for
93              this system and start Xvnc using that font path.
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95              The -fp argument allows you to override the above fallback logic
96              and specify a font path for Xvnc to use.
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98       -fg    Runs Xvnc as a foreground process.  This has  two  effects:  (1)
99              The  VNC  server  can  be  aborted  with CTRL-C, and (2) the VNC
100              server will exit as soon as the user logs out of the window man‐
101              ager  in  the VNC session.  This may be necessary when launching
102              TigerVNC from within certain grid computing environments.
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104       -autokill
105              Automatically kill Xvnc whenever the xstartup script exits.   In
106              most  cases,  this  has  the effect of terminating Xvnc when the
107              user logs out of the window manager.
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109       -noxstartup
110              Do not run the %HOME/.vnc/xstartup script after launching  Xvnc.
111              This  option  allows  you  to manually start a window manager in
112              your TigerVNC session.
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114       -xstartup script
115              Run a custom startup  script,  instead  of  %HOME/.vnc/xstartup,
116              after launching Xvnc. This is useful to run full-screen applica‐
117              tions.
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119       -list  Lists all VNC desktops started by vncserver.
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FILES

123       Several VNC-related files are found in the directory $HOME/.vnc:
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125       $HOME/.vnc/xstartup
126              A shell script specifying X applications to be run  when  a  VNC
127              desktop is started.  If this file does not exist, then vncserver
128              will create a default xstartup script which attempts  to  launch
129              your chosen window manager.
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131       /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-defaults
132              The  optional  system-wide  equivalent  of $HOME/.vnc/config. If
133              this file exists and defines options to be passed to Xvnc,  they
134              will be used as defaults for users. The user's $HOME/.vnc/config
135              overrides settings configured in this file.  The overall config‐
136              uration  file  load  order is: this file, $HOME/.vnc/config, and
137              then /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-mandatory. None are required
138              to exist.
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140       /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-mandatory
141              The  optional  system-wide  equivalent  of $HOME/.vnc/config. If
142              this file exists and defines options to be passed to Xvnc,  they
143              will  override  any  of  the  same  options  defined in a user's
144              $HOME/.vnc/config. This file offers  a  mechanism  to  establish
145              some basic form of system-wide policy. WARNING! There is nothing
146              stopping users from constructing their own vncserver-like script
147              that  calls  Xvnc  directly  to  bypass  any  options defined in
148              /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-mandatory.   Likewise,  any   CLI
149              arguments passed to vncserver will override ANY config file set‐
150              ting of the same name. The overall configuration file load order
151              is:  /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-defaults, $HOME/.vnc/config,
152              and then this file.  None are required to exist.
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154       $HOME/.vnc/config
155              An optional server config file wherein options to be  passed  to
156              Xvnc  are listed to avoid hard-coding them to the physical invo‐
157              cation. List options in  this  file  one  per  line.  For  those
158              requiring an argument, simply separate the option from the argu‐
159              ment with an equal sign, for  example:  "geometry=2000x1200"  or
160              "securitytypes=vncauth,tlsvnc".  Options without an argument are
161              simply listed as a single  word,  for  example:  "localhost"  or
162              "alwaysshared".
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164       $HOME/.vnc/passwd
165              The VNC password file.
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167       $HOME/.vnc/host:display#.log
168              The log file for Xvnc and applications started in xstartup.
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170       $HOME/.vnc/host:display#.pid
171              Identifies the Xvnc process ID, used by the -kill option.
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SEE ALSO

175       vncviewer(1), vncpasswd(1), vncconfig(1), Xvnc(1)
176       https://www.tigervnc.org
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AUTHOR

180       Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd., D. R. Commander and others.
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182       VNC  was  originally  developed  by  the RealVNC team while at Olivetti
183       Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge.   TightVNC  additions  were
184       implemented  by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people have since par‐
185       ticipated in development, testing and support. This manual is  part  of
186       the TigerVNC software suite.
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190TigerVNC                                                          vncserver(1)
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