vncpasswd Man Page

Andrew (RealVNC)

Updated August 22, 2019 11:29

vncpasswd

Name

vncpasswd - VNC® Server password utility

Synopsis

vncpasswd [OPTION...] MODE

Description

vncpasswd manages password(s) when the VNC password authentication scheme is chosen for VNC Server. It is an alternative to specifying a new, or changing an existing, password via the VNC Server user interface. Note vncpasswd is not relevant when VNC Server is set to use the system authentication or single sign-on (SSO) schemes.

Modes

Run vncpasswd with one of the following flags to specify a password of at least six case-sensitive alphanumeric characters for a particular VNC Server mode and user. The password chosen is DES-encoded and stored as the value of the Password parameter in the specified configuration file:

-service: VNC Server in Service Mode. Note elevated privileges are required. The password is stored for the root user only in /root/.vnc/config.d/vncserver-x11.
-user: VNC Server in User Mode. The password is stored for the current user only in $HOME/.vnc/config.d/vncserver-x11.
-virtual: VNC Server in Virtual Mode. The password is stored for the current user only in $HOME/.vnc/config.d/Xvnc.

Run vncpasswd -file FILE to nominate a different configuration file. Depending on the file chosen, this might apply the password system-wide (across all VNC Server modes, or for all users), or lock VNC Server down using policy (so the password cannot be changed by users). For example, nominate:

/etc/vnc/config.d/Xvnc to apply the password to VNC Server in Virtual Mode for all users.
/etc/vnc/config.d/common.custom to apply the password across all VNC Server modes, for all users.
/etc/vnc/policy.d/common to apply the password across all VNC Server modes, for all users, and lock VNC Server down.

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

Run vncpasswd -print to not specify a password but rather print it to the console in the correct obfuscated format for manual entry into configuration files or policy template files.

Options

If you have a Professional or Enterprise subscription, run vncpasswd -type TYPE to specify a password for a non-standard user, where TYPE is either:

AdminPassword to specify a password for an administrative user able to bypass accept/reject prompts.
ViewOnlyPassword to specify a password for a basic user able to observe but not interact.
InputOnlyPassword to specify a password for a basic user able to interact but not observe.
GuestPassword to specify a password for a guest user able to interact and observe once approval to connect has been acquired from an already-connected user.

This is not recommended, but if you wish to specify a password of less than 6 characters, run vncpasswd -weakpwd.