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] [unix socket]
12 vncviewer [options] -listen [port]
13 vncviewer [options] [.tigervnc file]
14
16 vncviewer is a viewer (client) for Virtual Network Computing. This
17 manual page documents version 4 for the X window system.
18 If you run the viewer with no arguments it will prompt you for a VNC
20 server to connect to. Alternatively, specify the VNC server as an
21 argument, e.g.:
22 vncviewer snoopy:2
24 where 'snoopy' is the name of the machine, and '2' is the display num‐
26 ber of the VNC server on that machine. Either the machine name or dis‐
27 play number can be omitted. So for example ":1" means display number 1
28 on the same machine, and "snoopy" means "snoopy:0" i.e. display 0 on
29 machine "snoopy".
30 As another quick way to start a connection to a VNC server, specify a
32 .tigervnc configuration file as an argument to the viewer, e.g.:
33 vncviewer ./some.tigervnc
35 where './some.tigervnc' is an existing and valid TigerVNC configuration
37 file. The file name needs to include a path separator. Additional
38 options may be given too, but the given configuration file will over‐
39 write any conflicting parameters.
40 If the VNC server is successfully contacted, you will be prompted for a
42 password to authenticate you. If the password is correct, a window
43 will appear showing the desktop of the VNC server.
44
47 The viewer tests the speed of the connection to the server and chooses
48 the encoding and pixel format (color level) appropriately. This makes
49 it much easier to use than previous versions where the user had to
50 specify arcane command line arguments.
51 The viewer normally starts out assuming the link is slow, using the
53 encoding with the best compression. If it turns out that the link is
54 fast enough it switches to an encoding which compresses less but is
55 faster to generate, thus improving the interactive feel.
56 The viewer normally starts in full-color mode, but switches to low-
58 color mode if the bandwidth is insufficient. However, this only occurs
59 when communicating with servers supporting protocol 3.8 or newer, since
60 many old servers does not support color mode changes safely.
61 Automatic selection can be turned off by setting the AutoSelect parame‐
63 ter to false, or from the options dialog.
64
67 The viewer has a popup menu containing entries which perform various
68 actions. It is usually brought up by pressing F8, but this can be con‐
69 figured with the MenuKey parameter. Actions which the popup menu can
70 perform include:
71 * switching in and out of full-screen mode
73 * quitting the viewer
75 * generating key events, e.g. sending ctrl-alt-del
77 * accessing the options dialog and various other dialogs
79 By default, key presses in the popup menu get sent to the VNC server
81 and dismiss the popup. So to get an F8 through to the VNC server sim‐
82 ply press it twice.
83
86 A full-screen mode is supported. This is particularly useful when con‐
87 necting to a remote screen which is the same size as your local one. If
88 the remote screen is bigger, you can scroll by bumping the mouse
89 against the edge of the screen.
90
93 You can get a list of parameters by giving -h as a command-line option
94 to vncviewer. Parameters can be turned on with -param or off with
95 -param=0. Parameters which take a value can be specified as -param
96 value. Other valid forms are param=value -param=value --param=value.
97 Parameter names are case-insensitive.
98 Many of the parameters can also be set graphically via the options dia‐
100 log box. This can be accessed from the popup menu or from the "Connec‐
101 tion details" dialog box.
102 -display Xdisplay
105 Specifies the X display on which the VNC viewer window should
106 appear.
107 -geometry geometry
109 Initial position of the main VNC viewer window. The format is
110 widthxheight+xoffset+yoffset , where `+' signs can be replaced
111 with `-' signs to specify offsets from the right and/or from the
112 bottom of the screen. Offsets are optional and the window will
113 be placed by the window manager by default.
114 -listen [port]
116 Causes vncviewer to listen on the given port (default 5500) for
117 reverse connections from a VNC server. WinVNC supports reverse
118 connections initiated using the 'Add New Client' menu option or
119 the '-connect' command-line option. Xvnc supports reverse con‐
120 nections with a helper program called vncconfig.
121 -SecurityTypes sec-types
123 Specify which security schemes to attempt to use when authenti‐
124 cating with the server. Valid values are a comma separated list
125 of None, VncAuth, Plain, TLSNone, TLSVnc, TLSPlain, X509None,
126 X509Vnc and X509Plain. Default is to attempt every supported
127 scheme.
128 -passwd, -PasswordFile password-file
130 If you are on a filesystem which gives you access to the pass‐
131 word file used by the server, you can specify it here to avoid
132 typing it in. It will usually be "~/.vnc/passwd".
133 -X509CA path
135 Path to CA certificate to use when authenticating remote servers
136 using any of the X509 security schemes (X509None, X509Vnc,
137 etc.). Must be in PEM format. Default is $HOME/.vnc/x509_ca.pem,
138 if it exists.
139 -X509CRL path
141 Path to certificate revocation list to use in conjunction with
142 -X509CA. Must also be in PEM format. Default is
143 $HOME/.vnc/x509_crl.pem, if it exists.
144 -Shared
146 When you make a connection to a VNC server, all other existing
147 connections are normally closed. This option requests that they
148 be left open, allowing you to share the desktop with someone
149 already using it.
150 -ViewOnly
152 Specifies that no keyboard or mouse events should be sent to the
153 server. Useful if you want to view a desktop without interfer‐
154 ing; often needs to be combined with -Shared.
155 -AcceptClipboard
157 Accept clipboard changes from the server. Default is on.
158 -SetPrimary
160 Set the primary selection as well as the clipboard selection.
161 Default is on.
162 -MaxCutText bytes
164 The maximum size of a clipboard update that will be accepted
165 from a server. Default is 262144.
166 -SendClipboard
168 Send clipboard changes to the server. Default is on.
169 -SendPrimary
171 Send the primary selection to the server as well as the clip‐
172 board selection. Default is on.
173 -Maximize
175 Maximize viewer window.
176 -FullScreen
178 Start in full-screen mode.
179 -FullScreenAllMonitors
181 Use all local monitors and not just the current one when switch‐
182 ing to full-screen mode.
183 -FullscreenSystemKeys
185 Pass special keys (like Alt+Tab) directly to the server when in
186 full-screen mode.
187 -DesktopSize widthxheight
189 Instead of keeping the existing remote screen size, the client
190 will attempt to switch to the specified since when connecting.
191 If the server does not support the SetDesktopSize message then
192 the screen will retain the original size.
193 -RemoteResize
195 Dynamically resize the remote desktop size as the size of the
196 local client window changes. Note that this may not work with
197 all VNC servers.
198 -AutoSelect
200 Use automatic selection of encoding and pixel format (default is
201 on). Normally the viewer tests the speed of the connection to
202 the server and chooses the encoding and pixel format appropri‐
203 ately. Turn it off with -AutoSelect=0.
204 -FullColor, -FullColour
206 Tells the VNC server to send full-color pixels in the best for‐
207 mat for this display. This is default.
208 -LowColorLevel, -LowColourLevel level
210 Selects the reduced color level to use on slow links. level can
211 range from 0 to 2, 0 meaning 8 colors, 1 meaning 64 colors (the
212 default), 2 meaning 256 colors. Note that decision if reduced
213 color level is used is made by vncviewer. If you would like to
214 force vncviewer to use reduced color level use -AutoSelect=0
215 parameter.
216 -PreferredEncoding encoding
218 This option specifies the preferred encoding to use from one of
219 "Tight", "ZRLE", "hextile" or "raw".
220 -NoJpeg
222 Disable lossy JPEG compression in Tight encoding. Default is
223 off.
224 -QualityLevel level
226 JPEG quality level. 0 = Low, 9 = High. May be adjusted automati‐
227 cally if -AutoSelect is turned on. Default is 8.
228 -CompressLevel level
230 Use specified lossless compression level. 0 = Low, 6 = High.
231 Default is 2.
232 -CustomCompressLevel
234 Use custom compression level. Default if CompressLevel is speci‐
235 fied.
236 -DotWhenNoCursor
238 Show the dot cursor when the server sends an invisible cursor.
239 Default is off.
240 -PointerEventInterval time
242 Time in milliseconds to rate-limit successive pointer events.
243 Default is 17 ms (60 Hz).
244 -Log logname:dest:level
246 Configures the debug log settings. dest can currently be stderr
247 or stdout, and level is between 0 and 100, 100 meaning most ver‐
248 bose output. logname is usually * meaning all, but you can tar‐
249 get a specific source file if you know the name of its "Log‐
250 Writer". Default is *:stderr:30.
251 -MenuKey keysym-name
253 This option specifies the key which brings up the popup menu.
254 The currently supported list is: F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8,
255 F9, F10, F11, F12, Pause, Scroll_Lock, Escape, Insert, Delete,
256 Home, Page_Up, Page_Down). Default is F8.
257 -via gateway
259 Automatically create encrypted TCP tunnel to the gateway machine
260 before connection, connect to the host through that tunnel
261 (TigerVNC-specific). By default, this option invokes SSH local
262 port forwarding, assuming that SSH client binary can be accessed
263 as /usr/bin/ssh. Note that when using the -via option, the host
264 machine name should be specified as known to the gateway
265 machine, e.g. "localhost" denotes the gateway, not the machine
266 where vncviewer was launched. The environment variable
267 VNC_VIA_CMD can override the default tunnel command of
268 /usr/bin/ssh -f -L "$L":"$H":"$R" "$G" sleep 20. The tunnel
269 command is executed with the environment variables L, H, R, and
270 G taken the values of the local port number, the remote host,
271 the port number on the remote host, and the gateway machine
272 respectively.
273 -AlertOnFatalError
275 Display a dialog with any fatal error before exiting. Default is
276 on.
277
280 $HOME/.vnc/default.tigervnc
281 Default configuration options. This file must have a "magic"
282 first line of "TigerVNC Configuration file Version 1.0" (without
283 quotes), followed by simple <setting>=<value> pairs of your
284 choosing. The available settings are those shown in this man
285 page.
286 $HOME/.vnc/x509_ca.pem
288 Default CA certificate for authenticating servers.
289 $HOME/.vnc/x509_crl.pem
291 Default certificate revocation list.
292
295 Xvnc(1), vncpasswd(1), vncconfig(1), vncserver(1)
296 https://www.tigervnc.org
297
300 Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd. and others.
301 VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti
303 Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC additions were
304 implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people have since par‐
305 ticipated in development, testing and support. This manual is part of
306 the TigerVNC software suite.
307TigerVNC vncviewer(1)