1vncserver(1) Virtual Network Computing vncserver(1)
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6 vncserver - start or stop a VNC server
7
9 vncserver [:display#] [-name desktop-name] [-geometry widthxheight]
10 [-depth depth] [-pixelformat format] [-fp font-path] [-fg] [-autokill]
11 [-noxstartup] [-xstartup script] [Xvnc-options...]
12 vncserver -kill :display#
13 vncserver -list
14
16 vncserver is used to start a VNC (Virtual Network Computing) desktop.
17 vncserver is a Perl script which simplifies the process of starting an
18 Xvnc server. It runs Xvnc with appropriate options and starts a window
19 manager on the VNC desktop.
20 vncserver can be run with no options at all. In this case it will
22 choose the first available display number (usually :1), start Xvnc with
23 that display number, and start the default window manager in the Xvnc
24 session. You can also specify the display number, in which case vnc‐
25 server will attempt to start Xvnc with that display number and exit if
26 the display number is not available. For example:
27 vncserver :13
29 Editing the file $HOME/.vnc/xstartup allows you to change the applica‐
31 tions run at startup (but note that this will not affect an existing
32 VNC session.)
33
36 You can get a list of options by passing -h as an option to vncserver.
37 In addition to the options listed below, any unrecognised options will
38 be passed to Xvnc - see the Xvnc man page, or "Xvnc -help", for
39 details.
40 -name desktop-name
43 Each VNC desktop has a name which may be displayed by the
44 viewer. The desktop name defaults to "host:display# (username)",
45 but you can change it with this option. The desktop name option
46 is passed to the xstartup script via the $VNCDESKTOP environment
47 variable, which allows you to run a different set of applica‐
48 tions depending on the name of the desktop.
49 -geometry widthxheight
51 Specify the size of the VNC desktop to be created. Default is
52 1024x768.
53 -depth depth
55 Specify the pixel depth (in bits) of the VNC desktop to be cre‐
56 ated. Default is 24. Other possible values are 8, 15 and 16 -
57 anything else is likely to cause strange behaviour by applica‐
58 tions.
59 -pixelformat format
61 Specify pixel format for Xvnc to use (BGRnnn or RGBnnn). The
62 default for depth 8 is BGR233 (meaning the most significant two
63 bits represent blue, the next three green, and the least signif‐
64 icant three represent red), the default for depth 16 is RGB565,
65 and the default for depth 24 is RGB888.
66 -cc 3 As an alternative to the default TrueColor visual, this allows
68 you to run an Xvnc server with a PseudoColor visual (i.e. one
69 which uses a color map or palette), which can be useful for run‐
70 ning some old X applications which only work on such a display.
71 Values other than 3 (PseudoColor) and 4 (TrueColor) for the -cc
72 option may result in strange behaviour, and PseudoColor desktops
73 must have an 8-bit depth.
74 -kill :display#
76 This kills a VNC desktop previously started with vncserver. It
77 does this by killing the Xvnc process, whose process ID is
78 stored in the file "$HOME/.vnc/host:display#.pid". The -kill
79 option ignores anything preceding the first colon (":") in the
80 display argument. Thus, you can invoke "vncserver -kill $DIS‐
81 PLAY", for example at the end of your xstartup file after a par‐
82 ticular application exits.
83 -fp font-path
85 If the vncserver script detects that the X Font Server (XFS) is
86 running, it will attempt to start Xvnc and configure Xvnc to use
87 XFS for font handling. Otherwise, if XFS is not running, the
88 vncserver script will attempt to start Xvnc and allow Xvnc to
89 use its own preferred method of font handling (which may be a
90 hard-coded font path or, on more recent systems, a font cata‐
91 log.) In any case, if Xvnc fails to start, the vncserver script
92 will then attempt to determine an appropriate X font path for
93 this system and start Xvnc using that font path.
94 The -fp argument allows you to override the above fallback logic
96 and specify a font path for Xvnc to use.
97 -fg Runs Xvnc as a foreground process. This has two effects: (1)
99 The VNC server can be aborted with CTRL-C, and (2) the VNC
100 server will exit as soon as the user logs out of the window man‐
101 ager in the VNC session. This may be necessary when launching
102 TigerVNC from within certain grid computing environments.
103 -autokill
105 Automatically kill Xvnc whenever the xstartup script exits. In
106 most cases, this has the effect of terminating Xvnc when the
107 user logs out of the window manager.
108 -noxstartup
110 Do not run the %HOME/.vnc/xstartup script after launching Xvnc.
111 This option allows you to manually start a window manager in
112 your TigerVNC session.
113 -xstartup script
115 Run a custom startup script, instead of %HOME/.vnc/xstartup,
116 after launching Xvnc. This is useful to run full-screen applica‐
117 tions.
118 -list Lists all VNC desktops started by vncserver.
120
123 Several VNC-related files are found in the directory $HOME/.vnc:
124 $HOME/.vnc/xstartup
126 A shell script specifying X applications to be run when a VNC
127 desktop is started. If this file does not exist, then vncserver
128 will create a default xstartup script which attempts to launch
129 your chosen window manager.
130 /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-defaults
132 The optional system-wide equivalent of $HOME/.vnc/config. If
133 this file exists and defines options to be passed to Xvnc, they
134 will be used as defaults for users. The user's $HOME/.vnc/config
135 overrides settings configured in this file. The overall config‐
136 uration file load order is: this file, $HOME/.vnc/config, and
137 then /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-mandatory. None are required
138 to exist.
139 /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-mandatory
141 The optional system-wide equivalent of $HOME/.vnc/config. If
142 this file exists and defines options to be passed to Xvnc, they
143 will override any of the same options defined in a user's
144 $HOME/.vnc/config. This file offers a mechanism to establish
145 some basic form of system-wide policy. WARNING! There is nothing
146 stopping users from constructing their own vncserver-like script
147 that calls Xvnc directly to bypass any options defined in
148 /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-mandatory. Likewise, any CLI
149 arguments passed to vncserver will override ANY config file set‐
150 ting of the same name. The overall configuration file load order
151 is: /etc/tigervnc/vncserver-config-defaults, $HOME/.vnc/config,
152 and then this file. None are required to exist.
153 $HOME/.vnc/config
155 An optional server config file wherein options to be passed to
156 Xvnc are listed to avoid hard-coding them to the physical invo‐
157 cation. List options in this file one per line. For those
158 requiring an argument, simply separate the option from the argu‐
159 ment with an equal sign, for example: "geometry=2000x1200" or
160 "securitytypes=vncauth,tlsvnc". Options without an argument are
161 simply listed as a single word, for example: "localhost" or
162 "alwaysshared".
163 $HOME/.vnc/passwd
165 The VNC password file.
166 $HOME/.vnc/host:display#.log
168 The log file for Xvnc and applications started in xstartup.
169 $HOME/.vnc/host:display#.pid
171 Identifies the Xvnc process ID, used by the -kill option.
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175 vncviewer(1), vncpasswd(1), vncconfig(1), Xvnc(1)
176 https://www.tigervnc.org
177
180 Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd., D. R. Commander and others.
181 VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti
183 Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC additions were
184 implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people have since par‐
185 ticipated in development, testing and support. This manual is part of
186 the TigerVNC software suite.
187TigerVNC vncserver(1)