Name

vncviewer - VNC® Viewer

Synopsis

vncviewer [OPTION...] [HOST][:DISPLAY]

vncviewer [OPTION...] -listen [PORT]

Description

vncviewer is a VNC Viewer (client). It can connect to any computer running a protocol-compliant VNC Server, displaying the remote desktop for the user to control.

Run vncviewer to start VNC Viewer and show an address book listing available computers to connect to, or to allow the user to enter identifying information for a new computer.

Run vncviewer and specify a HOST and DISPLAY to start VNC Viewer and simultaneously establish a direct connection to a particular computer, for example vncviewer snoopy:2 to connect to a computer 'snoopy' on display number 2 (equivalent to port 5902). Note either the hostname or display number can be omitted, so for example vncviewer :1 connects to display number 1 on localhost (port 5901), and vncviewer snoopy connects to display 0 on 'snoopy' (port 5900).

Run vncviewer -useaddressbook snoopy:2 to establish a direct connection to 'snoopy' and either add it to the address book (if new) or apply stored settings (if connected to before).

Run vncviewer -listen to start VNC Viewer listening for a reverse direct connection from a VNC Server, on port 5500 by default.

Options

Options are parameters, used to configure VNC Viewer, and also the following:

-config FILE.vnc

Loads the parameters and connection information (such as HOST and password) stored in a .vnc file.

To see a list of valid parameters, run vncviewer -help.

VNC configuration files

Parameters can be specified as command line OPTIONS, but preferably in VNC configuration files. VNC configuration files are available for:

• All programs, or just VNC Viewer
• All users of the computer, or just the user starting VNC Viewer
• Policy, in order to lock down VNC Viewer

When VNC Viewer starts, parameters are applied in the following order:

1. System-wide VNC configuration files
2. Per-user VNC configuration files
3. Command line OPTIONS
4. Policy VNC configuration files

This means that a particular parameter specified at the command line overrides the same parameter specified in a per-user or in a system-wide VNC configuration file, but is itself overridden by the same parameter specified in a policy VNC configuration file. Policy cannot be changed by users.

For a full list of available VNC configuration files, visit Configuring VNC Connect Using Parameters.

Logging

By default, vncviewer logs basic activity to the standard error stream.

To change the log quality, quantity, or destination, specify the Log, LogDir, and LogFile parameters.

See also

vncserver-x11, vncserver-virtual, vncserver-x11-serviced