1vncviewer(1) Virtual Network Computing vncviewer(1)
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6 vncviewer - VNC viewer for X
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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 Unfortunately this mode doesn't work completely with all window man‐
80 agers, since it breaks the X window management conventions.
81
84 You can get a list of parameters by giving -h as a command-line option
85 to vncviewer. Parameters can be turned on with -param or off with
86 -param=0. Parameters which take a value can be specified as -param
87 value. Other valid forms are param=value -param=value --param=value.
88 Parameter names are case-insensitive.
89 Many of the parameters can also be set graphically via the options dia‐
91 log box. This can be accessed from the popup menu or from the "Connec‐
92 tion details" dialog box.
93 -display Xdisplay
96 Specifies the X display on which the VNC viewer window should
97 appear.
98 -geometry geometry
101 Standard X position and sizing specification.
102 -listen [port]
105 Causes vncviewer to listen on the given port (default 5500) for
106 reverse connections from a VNC server. WinVNC supports reverse
107 connections initiated using the 'Add New Client' menu option or
108 the '-connect' command-line option. Xvnc supports reverse con‐
109 nections with a helper program called vncconfig.
110 -passwd password-file
113 If you are on a filesystem which gives you access to the pass‐
114 word file used by the server, you can specify it here to avoid
115 typing it in. It will usually be "~/.vnc/passwd".
116 -passwdInput true, false
119 Force standard vnc dialog to getting password and reads password
120 from stdin. Default is false(shows dialog window)
121 -Shared
124 When you make a connection to a VNC server, all other existing
125 connections are normally closed. This option requests that they
126 be left open, allowing you to share the desktop with someone
127 already using it.
128 -ViewOnly
131 Specifies that no keyboard or mouse events should be sent to the
132 server. Useful if you want to view a desktop without interfer‐
133 ing; often needs to be combined with -Shared.
134 -FullScreen
137 Start in full-screen mode.
138 -DesktopSize widthxheight
141 Instead of keeping the existing remote screen size, the client
142 will attempt to switch to the specified since when connecting.
143 If the server does not support the SetDesktopSize message then
144 the screen will retain the original size.
145 -AutoSelect
148 Use automatic selection of encoding and pixel format (default is
149 on). Normally the viewer tests the speed of the connection to
150 the server and chooses the encoding and pixel format appropri‐
151 ately. Turn it off with -AutoSelect=0.
152 -FullColor, -FullColour
155 Tells the VNC server to send full-color pixels in the best for‐
156 mat for this display. This is default.
157 -LowColorLevel, -LowColourLevel level
160 Selects the reduced color level to use on slow links. level can
161 range from 0 to 2, 0 meaning 8 colors, 1 meaning 64 colors (the
162 default), 2 meaning 256 colors. Note that decision if reduced
163 color level is used is made by vncviewer. If you would like to
164 force vncviewer to use reduced color level use -AutoSelect=0
165 parameter.
166 -PreferredEncoding encoding
169 This option specifies the preferred encoding to use from one of
170 "Tight", "ZRLE", "hextile" or "raw".
171 -UseLocalCursor
174 Render the mouse cursor locally if the server supports it
175 (default is on). This can make the interactive performance feel
176 much better over slow links.
177 -WMDecorationWidth w, -WMDecorationHeight h
180 The total width and height taken up by window manager decora‐
181 tions. This is used to calculate the maximum size of the VNC
182 viewer window. Default is width 6, height 24.
183 -log logname:dest:level
186 Configures the debug log settings. dest can currently be stderr
187 or stdout, and level is between 0 and 100, 100 meaning most ver‐
188 bose output. logname is usually * meaning all, but you can tar‐
189 get a specific source file if you know the name of its "Log‐
190 Writer". Default is *:stderr:30.
191 -MenuKey keysym-name
194 This option specifies the key which brings up the popup menu.
195 The key is specified as an X11 keysym name (these can be
196 obtained by removing the XK_ prefix from the entries in
197 "/usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h"). Default is F8.
198 -via gateway
201 Automatically create encrypted TCP tunnel to the gateway machine
202 before connection, connect to the host through that tunnel
203 (TigerVNC-specific). By default, this option invokes SSH local
204 port forwarding, assuming that SSH client binary can be accessed
205 as /usr/bin/ssh. Note that when using the -via option, the host
206 machine name should be specified as known to the gateway
207 machine, e.g. "localhost" denotes the gateway, not the machine
208 where vncviewer was launched. The environment variable
209 VNC_VIA_CMD can override the default tunnel command of
210 /usr/bin/ssh -f -L "$L":"$H":"$R" "$G" sleep 20. The tunnel
211 command is executed with the environment variables L, H, R, and
212 G taken the values of the local port number, the remote host,
213 the port number on the remote host, and the gateway machine
214 respectively.
215
218 Xvnc(1), vncpasswd(1), vncconfig(1), vncserver(1)
219 http://www.tigervnc.org
220
223 Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd.
224 VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti
226 Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC additions were
227 implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people participated in
228 development, testing and support.
229TigerVNC 05 May 2004 vncviewer(1)