1vncserver(1) Virtual Network Computing vncserver(1)
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6 vncserver - start or stop a VNC server
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9 vncserver [:display#] [-name desktop-name] [-geometry widthxheight]
10 [-depth depth] [-pixelformat format] [-fp font-path] [Xvnc-options...]
11 vncserver -kill :display#
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14 vncserver is used to start a VNC (Virtual Network Computing) desktop.
15 vncserver is a Perl script which simplifies the process of starting an
16 Xvnc server. It runs Xvnc with appropriate options and starts a window
17 manager on the VNC desktop.
18 vncserver can be run with no options at all. In this case it will
20 choose the first available display number (usually :1), start Xvnc with
21 that display number, and start the default window manager in the Xvnc
22 session. You can also specify the display number, in which case vnc‐
23 server will attempt to start Xvnc with that display number and exit if
24 the display number is not available. For example:
25 vncserver :13
27 Editing the file $HOME/.vnc/xstartup allows you to change the applica‐
29 tions run at startup (but note that this will not affect an existing
30 VNC session.)
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34 You can get a list of options by passing -h as an option to vncserver.
35 In addition to the options listed below, any unrecognised options will
36 be passed to Xvnc - see the Xvnc man page, or "Xvnc -help", for
37 details.
38 -name desktop-name
41 Each VNC desktop has a name which may be displayed by the
42 viewer. The desktop name defaults to "host:display# (username)",
43 but you can change it with this option. The desktop name option
44 is passed to the xstartup script via the $VNCDESKTOP environment
45 variable, which allows you to run a different set of applica‐
46 tions depending on the name of the desktop.
47 -geometry widthxheight
50 Specify the size of the VNC desktop to be created. Default is
51 1024x768.
52 -depth depth
55 Specify the pixel depth (in bits) of the VNC desktop to be cre‐
56 ated. Default is 24. Other possible values are 8, 15 and 16 -
57 anything else is likely to cause strange behaviour by applica‐
58 tions.
59 -pixelformat format
62 Specify pixel format for Xvnc to use (BGRnnn or RGBnnn). The
63 default for depth 8 is BGR233 (meaning the most significant two
64 bits represent blue, the next three green, and the least signif‐
65 icant three represent red), the default for depth 16 is RGB565,
66 and the default for depth 24 is RGB888.
67 -cc 3 As an alternative to the default TrueColor visual, this allows
70 you to run an Xvnc server with a PseudoColor visual (i.e. one
71 which uses a color map or palette), which can be useful for run‐
72 ning some old X applications which only work on such a display.
73 Values other than 3 (PseudoColor) and 4 (TrueColor) for the -cc
74 option may result in strange behaviour, and PseudoColor desktops
75 must have an 8-bit depth.
76 -kill :display#
79 This kills a VNC desktop previously started with vncserver. It
80 does this by killing the Xvnc process, whose process ID is
81 stored in the file "$HOME/.vnc/host:display#.pid". The -kill
82 option ignores anything preceding the first colon (":") in the
83 display argument. Thus, you can invoke "vncserver -kill $DIS‐
84 PLAY", for example at the end of your xstartup file after a par‐
85 ticular application exits.
86 -fp font-path
89 If the vncserver script detects that the X Font Server (XFS) is
90 running, it will attempt to start Xvnc and configure Xvnc to use
91 XFS for font handling. Otherwise, if XFS is not running, the
92 vncserver script will attempt to start Xvnc and allow Xvnc to
93 use its own preferred method of font handling (which may be a
94 hard-coded font path or, on more recent systems, a font cata‐
95 log.) In any case, if Xvnc fails to start, the vncserver script
96 will then attempt to determine an appropriate X font path for
97 this system and start Xvnc using that font path.
98 The -fp argument allows you to override the above fallback logic
100 and specify a font path for Xvnc to use.
101
104 Several VNC-related files are found in the directory $HOME/.vnc:
105 $HOME/.vnc/xstartup
107 A shell script specifying X applications to be run when a VNC
108 desktop is started. If this file does not exist, then vncserver
109 will create a default xstartup script which attempts to launch
110 your chosen window manager.
111 $HOME/.vnc/passwd
113 The VNC password file.
114 $HOME/.vnc/host:display#.log
116 The log file for Xvnc and applications started in xstartup.
117 $HOME/.vnc/host:display#.pid
119 Identifies the Xvnc process ID, used by the -kill option.
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123 vncviewer(1), vncpasswd(1), vncconfig(1), Xvnc(1)
124 http://www.tigervnc.org
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128 Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd.
129 D. R. Commander
130 VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti
132 Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC additions were
133 implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people participated in
134 development, testing and support.
135TigerVNC 15 Apr 2009 vncserver(1)