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] -listen [port]
11
13 vncviewer is a viewer (client) for Virtual Network Computing. This
14 manual page documents version 4 for the X window system.
15 If you run the viewer with no arguments it will prompt you for a VNC
17 server to connect to. Alternatively, specify the VNC server as an
18 argument, e.g.:
19 vncviewer snoopy:2
21 where 'snoopy' is the name of the machine, and '2' is the display num‐
23 ber of the VNC server on that machine. Either the machine name or dis‐
24 play number can be omitted. So for example ":1" means display number 1
25 on the same machine, and "snoopy" means "snoopy:0" i.e. display 0 on
26 machine "snoopy".
27 If the VNC server is successfully contacted, you will be prompted for a
29 password to authenticate you. If the password is correct, a window
30 will appear showing the desktop of the VNC server.
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34 The viewer tests the speed of the connection to the server and chooses
35 the encoding and pixel format (colour level) appropriately. This makes
36 it much easier to use than previous versions where the user had to
37 specify arcane command line arguments.
38 The viewer normally starts out assuming the link is slow, using a low
40 colour level and using the encoding with the best compression. If it
41 turns out that the link is fast enough it switches to full-colour mode
42 and will use an encoding which compresses less but is faster to gener‐
43 ate, thus improving the interactive feel. Automatic selection can be
44 turned off by setting the AutoSelect parameter to false, or from the
45 options dialog.
46
49 The viewer has a popup menu containing entries which perform various
50 actions. It is usually brought up by pressing F8, but this can be con‐
51 figured with the MenuKey parameter. Actions which the popup menu can
52 perform include:
53 * switching in and out of full-screen mode
55 * quitting the viewer
57 * generating key events, e.g. sending ctrl-alt-del
59 * accessing the options dialog and various other dialogs
61 By default, key presses in the popup menu get sent to the VNC server
63 and dismiss the popup. So to get an F8 through to the VNC server sim‐
64 ply press it twice.
65
68 A full-screen mode is supported. This is particularly useful when con‐
69 necting to a remote screen which is the same size as your local one. If
70 the remote screen is bigger, you can scroll by bumping the mouse
71 against the edge of the screen.
72 Unfortunately this mode doesn't work completely with all window man‐
74 agers, since it breaks the X window management conventions.
75
78 You can get a list of parameters by giving -h as a command-line option
79 to vncviewer. Parameters can be turned on with -param or off with
80 -param=0. Parameters which take a value can be specified as -param
81 value. Other valid forms are param=value -param=value --param=value.
82 Parameter names are case-insensitive.
83 Many of the parameters can also be set graphically via the options dia‐
85 log box. This can be accessed from the popup menu or from the "Connec‐
86 tion details" dialog box.
87 -display Xdisplay
90 Specifies the X display on which the VNC viewer window should
91 appear.
92 -geometry geometry
95 Standard X position and sizing specification.
96 -listen [port]
99 Causes vncviewer to listen on the given port (default 5500) for
100 reverse connections from a VNC server. WinVNC supports reverse
101 connections initiated using the 'Add New Client' menu option or
102 the '-connect' command-line option. Xvnc supports reverse con‐
103 nections with a helper program called vncconfig.
104 -passwd password-file
107 If you are on a filesystem which gives you access to the pass‐
108 word file used by the server, you can specify it here to avoid
109 typing it in. It will usually be "~/.vnc/passwd".
110 -passwdInput true, false
113 Force standard vnc dialog to getting password and reads password
114 from stdin. Default is false(shows dialog window)
115 -Shared
118 When you make a connection to a VNC server, all other existing
119 connections are normally closed. This option requests that they
120 be left open, allowing you to share the desktop with someone
121 already using it.
122 -ViewOnly
125 Specifies that no keyboard or mouse events should be sent to the
126 server. Useful if you want to view a desktop without interfer‐
127 ing; often needs to be combined with -Shared.
128 -FullScreen
131 Start in full-screen mode.
132 -AutoSelect
135 Use automatic selection of encoding and pixel format (default is
136 on). Normally the viewer tests the speed of the connection to
137 the server and chooses the encoding and pixel format appropri‐
138 ately. Turn it off with -AutoSelect=0.
139 -FullColour, -FullColor
142 Tells the VNC server to send full-colour pixels in the best for‐
143 mat for this display. By default a low colour mode is used
144 until AutoSelect decides the link is fast enough. However if
145 the server's native pixel format is colourmapped (as opposed to
146 truecolour) then the server's format is used by default.
147 -LowColourLevel level
150 Selects the reduced colour level to use on slow links. level
151 can range from 0 to 2, 0 meaning 8 colours, 1 meaning 64 colours
152 (the default), 2 meaning 256 colours.
153 -PreferredEncoding encoding
156 This option specifies the preferred encoding to use from one of
157 "ZRLE", "hextile" or "raw".
158 -UseLocalCursor
161 Render the mouse cursor locally if the server supports it
162 (default is on). This can make the interactive performance feel
163 much better over slow links.
164 -WMDecorationWidth w, -WMDecorationHeight h
167 The total width and height taken up by window manager decora‐
168 tions. This is used to calculate the maximum size of the VNC
169 viewer window. Default is width 6, height 24.
170 -log logname:dest:level
173 Configures the debug log settings. dest can currently be stderr
174 or stdout, and level is between 0 and 100, 100 meaning most ver‐
175 bose output. logname is usually * meaning all, but you can tar‐
176 get a specific source file if you know the name of its "Log‐
177 Writer". Default is *:stderr:30.
178 -MenuKey keysym-name
181 This option specifies the key which brings up the popup menu.
182 The key is specified as an X11 keysym name (these can be
183 obtained by removing the XK_ prefix from the entries in
184 "/usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h"). Default is F8.
185 -via gateway
188 Automatically create encrypted TCP tunnel to the gateway machine
189 before connection, connect to the host through that tunnel
190 (TightVNC-specific). By default, this option invokes SSH local
191 port forwarding, assuming that SSH client binary can be accessed
192 as /usr/bin/ssh. Note that when using the -via option, the host
193 machine name should be specified as known to the gateway
194 machine, e.g. "localhost" denotes the gateway, not the machine
195 where vncviewer was launched. The environment variable
196 VNC_VIA_CMD can override the default tunnel command of
197 /usr/bin/ssh -f -L "$L":"$H":"$R" "$G" sleep 20. The tunnel
198 command is executed with the environment variables L, H, R, and
199 G taken the values of the local port number, the remote host,
200 the port number on the remote host, and the gateway machine
201 respectively.
202
205 Xvnc(1), vncpasswd(1), vncconfig(1), vncserver(1)
206 http://www.realvnc.com
207
210 Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd.
211 VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti
213 Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. It is now being maintained
214 by RealVNC Ltd. See http://www.realvnc.com for details.
215RealVNC Ltd 03 Mar 2005 vncviewer(1)