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 vncviewer [options] [.tigervncfile]
13
15 vncviewer is a viewer (client) for Virtual Network Computing. This
16 manual page documents version 4 for the X window system.
17 If you run the viewer with no arguments it will prompt you for a VNC
19 server to connect to. Alternatively, specify the VNC server as an
20 argument, e.g.:
21 vncviewer snoopy:2
23 where 'snoopy' is the name of the machine, and '2' is the display num‐
25 ber of the VNC server on that machine. Either the machine name or dis‐
26 play number can be omitted. So for example ":1" means display number 1
27 on the same machine, and "snoopy" means "snoopy:0" i.e. display 0 on
28 machine "snoopy".
29 As another quick way to start a connection to a VNC server, specify a
31 .tigervnc configuration file as an argument to the viewer, e.g.:
32 vncviewer ./some.tigervnc
34 where './some.tigervnc' is an existing and valid TigerVNC configuration
36 file. The file name needs to include a path separator. Additional
37 options may be given too, but the given configuration file will over‐
38 write any conflicting parameters.
39 If the VNC server is successfully contacted, you will be prompted for a
41 password to authenticate you. If the password is correct, a window
42 will appear showing the desktop of the VNC server.
43
46 The viewer tests the speed of the connection to the server and chooses
47 the encoding and pixel format (color level) appropriately. This makes
48 it much easier to use than previous versions where the user had to
49 specify arcane command line arguments.
50 The viewer normally starts out assuming the link is slow, using the
52 encoding with the best compression. If it turns out that the link is
53 fast enough it switches to an encoding which compresses less but is
54 faster to generate, thus improving the interactive feel.
55 The viewer normally starts in full-color mode, but switches to low-
57 color mode if the bandwidth is insufficient. However, this only occurs
58 when communicating with servers supporting protocol 3.8 or newer, since
59 many old servers does not support color mode changes safely.
60 Automatic selection can be turned off by setting the AutoSelect parame‐
62 ter to false, or from the options dialog.
63
66 The viewer has a popup menu containing entries which perform various
67 actions. It is usually brought up by pressing F8, but this can be con‐
68 figured with the MenuKey parameter. Actions which the popup menu can
69 perform include:
70 * switching in and out of full-screen mode
72 * quitting the viewer
74 * generating key events, e.g. sending ctrl-alt-del
76 * accessing the options dialog and various other dialogs
78 By default, key presses in the popup menu get sent to the VNC server
80 and dismiss the popup. So to get an F8 through to the VNC server sim‐
81 ply press it twice.
82
85 A full-screen mode is supported. This is particularly useful when con‐
86 necting to a remote screen which is the same size as your local one. If
87 the remote screen is bigger, you can scroll by bumping the mouse
88 against the edge of the screen.
89
92 You can get a list of parameters by giving -h as a command-line option
93 to vncviewer. Parameters can be turned on with -param or off with
94 -param=0. Parameters which take a value can be specified as -param
95 value. Other valid forms are param=value -param=value --param=value.
96 Parameter names are case-insensitive.
97 Many of the parameters can also be set graphically via the options dia‐
99 log box. This can be accessed from the popup menu or from the "Connec‐
100 tion details" dialog box.
101 -display Xdisplay
104 Specifies the X display on which the VNC viewer window should
105 appear.
106 -geometry geometry
108 Standard X position and sizing specification.
109 -listen [port]
111 Causes vncviewer to listen on the given port (default 5500) for
112 reverse connections from a VNC server. WinVNC supports reverse
113 connections initiated using the 'Add New Client' menu option or
114 the '-connect' command-line option. Xvnc supports reverse con‐
115 nections with a helper program called vncconfig.
116 -SecurityTypes sec-types
118 Specify which security schemes to attempt to use when authenti‐
119 cating with the server. Valid values are a comma separated list
120 of None, VncAuth, Plain, TLSNone, TLSVnc, TLSPlain, X509None,
121 X509Vnc and X509Plain. Default is to attempt every supported
122 scheme.
123 -passwd, -PasswordFile password-file
125 If you are on a filesystem which gives you access to the pass‐
126 word file used by the server, you can specify it here to avoid
127 typing it in. It will usually be "~/.vnc/passwd".
128 -X509CA path
130 Path to CA certificate to use when authenticating remote servers
131 using any of the X509 security schemes (X509None, X509Vnc,
132 etc.). Must be in PEM format. Default is $HOME/.vnc/x509_ca.pem,
133 if it exists.
134 -X509CRL path
136 Path to certificate revocation list to use in conjunction with
137 -X509CA. Must also be in PEM format. Default is
138 $HOME/.vnc/x509_crl.pem, if it exists.
139 -Shared
141 When you make a connection to a VNC server, all other existing
142 connections are normally closed. This option requests that they
143 be left open, allowing you to share the desktop with someone
144 already using it.
145 -ViewOnly
147 Specifies that no keyboard or mouse events should be sent to the
148 server. Useful if you want to view a desktop without interfer‐
149 ing; often needs to be combined with -Shared.
150 -AcceptClipboard
152 Accept clipboard changes from the server. Default is on.
153 -SetPrimary
155 Set the primary selection as well as the clipboard selection.
156 Default is on.
157 -SendClipboard
159 Send clipboard changes to the server. Default is on.
160 -SendPrimary
162 Send the primary selection to the server as well as the clip‐
163 board selection. Default is on.
164 -Maximize
166 Maximize viewer window.
167 -FullScreen
169 Start in full-screen mode.
170 -FullScreenAllMonitors
172 Use all local monitors and not just the current one when switch‐
173 ing to full-screen mode.
174 -FullscreenSystemKeys
176 Pass special keys (like Alt+Tab) directly to the server when in
177 full-screen mode.
178 -DesktopSize widthxheight
180 Instead of keeping the existing remote screen size, the client
181 will attempt to switch to the specified since when connecting.
182 If the server does not support the SetDesktopSize message then
183 the screen will retain the original size.
184 -RemoteResize
186 Dynamically resize the remote desktop size as the size of the
187 local client window changes. Note that this may not work with
188 all VNC servers.
189 -AutoSelect
191 Use automatic selection of encoding and pixel format (default is
192 on). Normally the viewer tests the speed of the connection to
193 the server and chooses the encoding and pixel format appropri‐
194 ately. Turn it off with -AutoSelect=0.
195 -FullColor, -FullColour
197 Tells the VNC server to send full-color pixels in the best for‐
198 mat for this display. This is default.
199 -LowColorLevel, -LowColourLevel level
201 Selects the reduced color level to use on slow links. level can
202 range from 0 to 2, 0 meaning 8 colors, 1 meaning 64 colors (the
203 default), 2 meaning 256 colors. Note that decision if reduced
204 color level is used is made by vncviewer. If you would like to
205 force vncviewer to use reduced color level use -AutoSelect=0
206 parameter.
207 -PreferredEncoding encoding
209 This option specifies the preferred encoding to use from one of
210 "Tight", "ZRLE", "hextile" or "raw".
211 -NoJpeg
213 Disable lossy JPEG compression in Tight encoding. Default is
214 off.
215 -QualityLevel level
217 JPEG quality level. 0 = Low, 9 = High. May be adjusted automati‐
218 cally if -AutoSelect is turned on. Default is 8.
219 -CompressLevel level
221 Use specified lossless compression level. 0 = Low, 6 = High.
222 Default is 2.
223 -CustomCompressLevel
225 Use custom compression level. Default if CompressLevel is speci‐
226 fied.
227 -DotWhenNoCursor
229 Show the dot cursor when the server sends an invisible cursor.
230 Default is off.
231 -PointerEventInterval time
233 Time in milliseconds to rate-limit successive pointer events.
234 Default is 17 ms (60 Hz).
235 -Log logname:dest:level
237 Configures the debug log settings. dest can currently be stderr
238 or stdout, and level is between 0 and 100, 100 meaning most ver‐
239 bose output. logname is usually * meaning all, but you can tar‐
240 get a specific source file if you know the name of its "Log‐
241 Writer". Default is *:stderr:30.
242 -MenuKey keysym-name
244 This option specifies the key which brings up the popup menu.
245 The currently supported list is: F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8,
246 F9, F10, F11, F12, Pause, Scroll_Lock, Escape, Insert, Delete,
247 Home, Page_Up, Page_Down). Default is F8.
248 -via gateway
250 Automatically create encrypted TCP tunnel to the gateway machine
251 before connection, connect to the host through that tunnel
252 (TigerVNC-specific). By default, this option invokes SSH local
253 port forwarding, assuming that SSH client binary can be accessed
254 as /usr/bin/ssh. Note that when using the -via option, the host
255 machine name should be specified as known to the gateway
256 machine, e.g. "localhost" denotes the gateway, not the machine
257 where vncviewer was launched. The environment variable
258 VNC_VIA_CMD can override the default tunnel command of
259 /usr/bin/ssh -f -L "$L":"$H":"$R" "$G" sleep 20. The tunnel
260 command is executed with the environment variables L, H, R, and
261 G taken the values of the local port number, the remote host,
262 the port number on the remote host, and the gateway machine
263 respectively.
264 -AlertOnFatalError
266 Display a dialog with any fatal error before exiting. Default is
267 on.
268
271 $HOME/.vnc/default.tigervnc
272 Default configuration options. This file must have a "magic"
273 first line of "TigerVNC Configuration file Version 1.0" (without
274 quotes), followed by simple <setting>=<value> pairs of your
275 choosing. The available settings are those shown in this man
276 page.
277 $HOME/.vnc/x509_ca.pem
279 Default CA certificate for authenticating servers.
280 $HOME/.vnc/x509_crl.pem
282 Default certificate revocation list.
283
286 Xvnc(1), vncpasswd(1), vncconfig(1), vncserver(1)
287 http://www.tigervnc.org
288
291 Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd. and others.
292 VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti
294 Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC additions were
295 implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people have since par‐
296 ticipated in development, testing and support. This manual is part of
297 the TigerVNC software suite.
298TigerVNC vncviewer(1)