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] -listen [port]
12
14 vncviewer is a viewer (client) for Virtual Network Computing. This
15 manual page documents version 4 for the X window system.
16 If you run the viewer with no arguments it will prompt you for a VNC
18 server to connect to. Alternatively, specify the VNC server as an
19 argument, e.g.:
20 vncviewer snoopy:2
22 where 'snoopy' is the name of the machine, and '2' is the display num‐
24 ber of the VNC server on that machine. Either the machine name or dis‐
25 play number can be omitted. So for example ":1" means display number 1
26 on the same machine, and "snoopy" means "snoopy:0" i.e. display 0 on
27 machine "snoopy".
28 If the VNC server is successfully contacted, you will be prompted for a
30 password to authenticate you. If the password is correct, a window
31 will appear showing the desktop of the VNC server.
32
35 The viewer tests the speed of the connection to the server and chooses
36 the encoding and pixel format (color level) appropriately. This makes
37 it much easier to use than previous versions where the user had to
38 specify arcane command line arguments.
39 The viewer normally starts out assuming the link is slow, using the
41 encoding with the best compression. If it turns out that the link is
42 fast enough it switches to an encoding which compresses less but is
43 faster to generate, thus improving the interactive feel.
44 The viewer normally starts in full-color mode, but switches to low-
46 color mode if the bandwidth is insufficient. However, this only occurs
47 when communicating with servers supporting protocol 3.8 or newer, since
48 many old servers does not support color mode changes safely.
49 Automatic selection can be turned off by setting the AutoSelect parame‐
51 ter to false, or from the options dialog.
52
55 The viewer has a popup menu containing entries which perform various
56 actions. It is usually brought up by pressing F8, but this can be con‐
57 figured with the MenuKey parameter. Actions which the popup menu can
58 perform include:
59 * switching in and out of full-screen mode
61 * quitting the viewer
63 * generating key events, e.g. sending ctrl-alt-del
65 * accessing the options dialog and various other dialogs
67 By default, key presses in the popup menu get sent to the VNC server
69 and dismiss the popup. So to get an F8 through to the VNC server sim‐
70 ply press it twice.
71
74 A full-screen mode is supported. This is particularly useful when con‐
75 necting to a remote screen which is the same size as your local one. If
76 the remote screen is bigger, you can scroll by bumping the mouse
77 against the edge of the screen.
78
81 You can get a list of parameters by giving -h as a command-line option
82 to vncviewer. Parameters can be turned on with -param or off with
83 -param=0. Parameters which take a value can be specified as -param
84 value. Other valid forms are param=value -param=value --param=value.
85 Parameter names are case-insensitive.
86 Many of the parameters can also be set graphically via the options dia‐
88 log box. This can be accessed from the popup menu or from the "Connec‐
89 tion details" dialog box.
90 -display Xdisplay
93 Specifies the X display on which the VNC viewer window should
94 appear.
95 -geometry geometry
97 Standard X position and sizing specification.
98 -listen [port]
100 Causes vncviewer to listen on the given port (default 5500) for
101 reverse connections from a VNC server. WinVNC supports reverse
102 connections initiated using the 'Add New Client' menu option or
103 the '-connect' command-line option. Xvnc supports reverse con‐
104 nections with a helper program called vncconfig.
105 -SecurityTypes sec-types
107 Specify which security schemes to attempt to use when authenti‐
108 cating with the server. Valid values are a comma separated list
109 of None, VncAuth, Plain, TLSNone, TLSVnc, TLSPlain, X509None,
110 X509Vnc and X509Plain. Default is to attempt every supported
111 scheme.
112 -passwd, -PasswordFile password-file
114 If you are on a filesystem which gives you access to the pass‐
115 word file used by the server, you can specify it here to avoid
116 typing it in. It will usually be "~/.vnc/passwd".
117 -X509CA path
119 Path to CA certificate to use when authenticating remote servers
120 using any of the X509 security schemes (X509None, X509Vnc,
121 etc.). Must be in PEM format. Default is $HOME/.vnc/x509_ca.pem,
122 if it exists.
123 -X509CRL path
125 Path to certificate revocation list to use in conjunction with
126 -X509CA. Must also be in PEM format. Default is
127 $HOME/.vnc/x509_crl.pem, if it exists.
128 -Shared
130 When you make a connection to a VNC server, all other existing
131 connections are normally closed. This option requests that they
132 be left open, allowing you to share the desktop with someone
133 already using it.
134 -ViewOnly
136 Specifies that no keyboard or mouse events should be sent to the
137 server. Useful if you want to view a desktop without interfer‐
138 ing; often needs to be combined with -Shared.
139 -AcceptClipboard
141 Accept clipboard changes from the server. Default is on.
142 -SetPrimary
144 Set the primary selection as well as the clipboard selection.
145 Default is on.
146 -SendClipboard
148 Send clipboard changes to the server. Default is on.
149 -SendPrimary
151 Send the primary selection to the server as well as the clip‐
152 board selection. Default is on.
153 -Maximize
155 Maximize viewer window.
156 -FullScreen
158 Start in full-screen mode.
159 -FullScreenAllMonitors
161 Use all local monitors and not just the current one when switch‐
162 ing to full-screen mode.
163 -FullscreenSystemKeys
165 Pass special keys (like Alt+Tab) directly to the server when in
166 full-screen mode.
167 -DesktopSize widthxheight
169 Instead of keeping the existing remote screen size, the client
170 will attempt to switch to the specified since when connecting.
171 If the server does not support the SetDesktopSize message then
172 the screen will retain the original size.
173 -RemoteResize
175 Dynamically resize the remote desktop size as the size of the
176 local client window changes. Note that this may not work with
177 all VNC servers.
178 -AutoSelect
180 Use automatic selection of encoding and pixel format (default is
181 on). Normally the viewer tests the speed of the connection to
182 the server and chooses the encoding and pixel format appropri‐
183 ately. Turn it off with -AutoSelect=0.
184 -FullColor, -FullColour
186 Tells the VNC server to send full-color pixels in the best for‐
187 mat for this display. This is default.
188 -LowColorLevel, -LowColourLevel level
190 Selects the reduced color level to use on slow links. level can
191 range from 0 to 2, 0 meaning 8 colors, 1 meaning 64 colors (the
192 default), 2 meaning 256 colors. Note that decision if reduced
193 color level is used is made by vncviewer. If you would like to
194 force vncviewer to use reduced color level use -AutoSelect=0
195 parameter.
196 -PreferredEncoding encoding
198 This option specifies the preferred encoding to use from one of
199 "Tight", "ZRLE", "hextile" or "raw".
200 -NoJpeg
202 Disable lossy JPEG compression in Tight encoding. Default is
203 off.
204 -QualityLevel level
206 JPEG quality level. 0 = Low, 9 = High. May be adjusted automati‐
207 cally if -AutoSelect is turned on. Default is 8.
208 -CompressLevel level
210 Use specified lossless compression level. 0 = Low, 6 = High.
211 Default is 2.
212 -CustomCompressLevel
214 Use custom compression level. Default if CompressLevel is speci‐
215 fied.
216 -DotWhenNoCursor
218 Show the dot cursor when the server sends an invisible cursor.
219 Default is off.
220 -PointerEventInterval time
222 Time in milliseconds to rate-limit successive pointer events.
223 Default is to send events immediately.
224 -Log logname:dest:level
226 Configures the debug log settings. dest can currently be stderr
227 or stdout, and level is between 0 and 100, 100 meaning most ver‐
228 bose output. logname is usually * meaning all, but you can tar‐
229 get a specific source file if you know the name of its "Log‐
230 Writer". Default is *:stderr:30.
231 -MenuKey keysym-name
233 This option specifies the key which brings up the popup menu.
234 The currently supported list is: F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8,
235 F9, F10, F11, F12, Pause, Print, Scroll_Lock, Escape, Insert,
236 Delete, Home, Page_Up, Page_Down). Default is F8.
237 -via gateway
239 Automatically create encrypted TCP tunnel to the gateway machine
240 before connection, connect to the host through that tunnel
241 (TigerVNC-specific). By default, this option invokes SSH local
242 port forwarding, assuming that SSH client binary can be accessed
243 as /usr/bin/ssh. Note that when using the -via option, the host
244 machine name should be specified as known to the gateway
245 machine, e.g. "localhost" denotes the gateway, not the machine
246 where vncviewer was launched. The environment variable
247 VNC_VIA_CMD can override the default tunnel command of
248 /usr/bin/ssh -f -L "$L":"$H":"$R" "$G" sleep 20. The tunnel
249 command is executed with the environment variables L, H, R, and
250 G taken the values of the local port number, the remote host,
251 the port number on the remote host, and the gateway machine
252 respectively.
253
256 $HOME/.vnc/default.tigervnc
257 Default configuration options. This file must have a "magic"
258 first line of "TigerVNC Configuration file Version 1.0" (without
259 quotes), followed by simple <setting>=<value> pairs of your
260 choosing. The available settings are those shown in this man
261 page.
262 $HOME/.vnc/x509_ca.pem
264 Default CA certificate for authenticating servers.
265 $HOME/.vnc/x509_crl.pem
267 Default certificate revocation list.
268
271 Xvnc(1), vncpasswd(1), vncconfig(1), vncserver(1)
272 http://www.tigervnc.org
273
276 Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd. and others.
277 VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti
279 Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC additions were
280 implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people have since par‐
281 ticipated in development, testing and support. This manual is part of
282 the TigerVNC software suite.
283TigerVNC vncviewer(1)