1vncserver(1) Virtual Network Computing vncserver(1)
2
6 vncserver - start or stop a VNC server
7
9 vncserver [:display#] [-name desktop-name] [-geometry widthxheight]
10 [-depth depth] [-pixelformat format] [-fp font-path] [-fg] [-autokill]
11 [Xvnc-options...]
12 vncserver -kill :display#
13
15 vncserver is used to start a VNC (Virtual Network Computing) desktop.
16 vncserver is a Perl script which simplifies the process of starting an
17 Xvnc server. It runs Xvnc with appropriate options and starts a window
18 manager on the VNC desktop.
19 vncserver can be run with no options at all. In this case it will
21 choose the first available display number (usually :1), start Xvnc with
22 that display number, and start the default window manager in the Xvnc
23 session. You can also specify the display number, in which case vnc‐
24 server will attempt to start Xvnc with that display number and exit if
25 the display number is not available. For example:
26 vncserver :13
28 Editing the file $HOME/.vnc/xstartup allows you to change the applica‐
30 tions run at startup (but note that this will not affect an existing
31 VNC session.)
32
35 You can get a list of options by passing -h as an option to vncserver.
36 In addition to the options listed below, any unrecognised options will
37 be passed to Xvnc - see the Xvnc man page, or "Xvnc -help", for
38 details.
39 -name desktop-name
42 Each VNC desktop has a name which may be displayed by the
43 viewer. The desktop name defaults to "host:display# (username)",
44 but you can change it with this option. The desktop name option
45 is passed to the xstartup script via the $VNCDESKTOP environment
46 variable, which allows you to run a different set of applica‐
47 tions depending on the name of the desktop.
48 -geometry widthxheight
51 Specify the size of the VNC desktop to be created. Default is
52 1024x768.
53 -depth depth
56 Specify the pixel depth (in bits) of the VNC desktop to be cre‐
57 ated. Default is 24. Other possible values are 8, 15 and 16 -
58 anything else is likely to cause strange behaviour by applica‐
59 tions.
60 -pixelformat format
63 Specify pixel format for Xvnc to use (BGRnnn or RGBnnn). The
64 default for depth 8 is BGR233 (meaning the most significant two
65 bits represent blue, the next three green, and the least signif‐
66 icant three represent red), the default for depth 16 is RGB565,
67 and the default for depth 24 is RGB888.
68 -cc 3 As an alternative to the default TrueColor visual, this allows
71 you to run an Xvnc server with a PseudoColor visual (i.e. one
72 which uses a color map or palette), which can be useful for run‐
73 ning some old X applications which only work on such a display.
74 Values other than 3 (PseudoColor) and 4 (TrueColor) for the -cc
75 option may result in strange behaviour, and PseudoColor desktops
76 must have an 8-bit depth.
77 -kill :display#
80 This kills a VNC desktop previously started with vncserver. It
81 does this by killing the Xvnc process, whose process ID is
82 stored in the file "$HOME/.vnc/host:display#.pid". The -kill
83 option ignores anything preceding the first colon (":") in the
84 display argument. Thus, you can invoke "vncserver -kill $DIS‐
85 PLAY", for example at the end of your xstartup file after a par‐
86 ticular application exits.
87 -fp font-path
90 If the vncserver script detects that the X Font Server (XFS) is
91 running, it will attempt to start Xvnc and configure Xvnc to use
92 XFS for font handling. Otherwise, if XFS is not running, the
93 vncserver script will attempt to start Xvnc and allow Xvnc to
94 use its own preferred method of font handling (which may be a
95 hard-coded font path or, on more recent systems, a font cata‐
96 log.) In any case, if Xvnc fails to start, the vncserver script
97 will then attempt to determine an appropriate X font path for
98 this system and start Xvnc using that font path.
99 The -fp argument allows you to override the above fallback logic
101 and specify a font path for Xvnc to use.
102 -fg Runs Xvnc as a foreground process. This has two effects: (1)
105 The VNC server can be aborted with CTRL-C, and (2) the VNC
106 server will exit as soon as the user logs out of the window man‐
107 ager in the VNC session. This may be necessary when launching
108 TigerVNC from within certain grid computing environments.
109 -autokill
112 Automatically kill Xvnc whenever the xstartup script exits. In
113 most cases, this has the effect of terminating Xvnc when the
114 user logs out of the window manager.
115
118 Several VNC-related files are found in the directory $HOME/.vnc:
119 $HOME/.vnc/xstartup
121 A shell script specifying X applications to be run when a VNC
122 desktop is started. If this file does not exist, then vncserver
123 will create a default xstartup script which attempts to launch
124 your chosen window manager.
125 $HOME/.vnc/passwd
127 The VNC password file.
128 $HOME/.vnc/host:display#.log
130 The log file for Xvnc and applications started in xstartup.
131 $HOME/.vnc/host:display#.pid
133 Identifies the Xvnc process ID, used by the -kill option.
134
137 vncviewer(1), vncpasswd(1), vncconfig(1), Xvnc(1)
138 http://www.tigervnc.org
139
142 Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd.
143 D. R. Commander
144 VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti
146 Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC additions were
147 implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people participated in
148 development, testing and support.
149TigerVNC 13 Mar 2011 vncserver(1)