When you use RealVNC Viewer to connect to a remote computer for the first time, you are prompted to enter a username and password. This authenticates you to RealVNC Server, the program running on the remote computer.

Note: You can choose to remember the password so you don't have to enter it each time you connect.

By default, you must enter the local system (or domain/Active Directory) username and password you usually use to log in to your account on the remote computer.

How do I find my username?

The username for your computer does not always match your display name – so knowing what to use when connecting to a remote device isn’t always as straightforward as it seems!

If you are working for an organisation, your IT department should be able to tell you your username. However, all of our supported operating systems include a built-in command that you can run to find your username.

Windows

On the device with RealVNC Server installed, whilst signed into the account you wish to use when connecting, open ‘Command Prompt’.

You can do this by clicking the Start Menu icon and searching for ‘Command Prompt’. Click on the program to launch it.

This will present you with the Command Prompt window, which usually has a black background with white text. Within this window, type the following command and press Enter:

whoami

This will return a line of text which includes your username. The first half will be your computer name (or your domain name, if applicable) and the second half will be your username.

Your password will be the same one you use to log in to the remote PC.

macOS

On the device with RealVNC Server installed, whilst signed into the account you wish to use when connecting, search for and open the ‘Terminal’ app.

You can do this by using the search feature or Launchpad. The icon you are looking for is as follows:

Once terminal has been opened, you will be presented with a window. This window may be black or white depending on whether Dark Mode is enabled on your Mac. In the window, type the following command and press Enter:

whoami

This will return your username. The example below shows that the returned username is simply ‘user’.

Your password will be the same one you use to log in to the remote PC.

Linux

On the device with RealVNC Server installed, whilst signed into the account you wish to use when connecting, search for and open the ‘Terminal’ application.

Once opened, type the following command and press Enter:

whoami

This will return your username as shown below.

Your password will be the same one you use to log in to the remote PC.

Why is the username field grayed out?

If the username field is greyed out, this suggests that the ‘VNC Password’ authentication method has been enabled, which uses a password unique to RealVNC Server.

You can reset this password on the RealVNC Server program installed on your remote device by opening the RealVNC Server program and selecting the ‘Change password’ option found in the bottom right corner, as shown in our guide here.

What do I do if I have forgotten my password?

Please see this article: How do I reset my password?

I'm entering the right username and password but I get an Access is Denied message

By default, RealVNC Server is configured to only allow users who are members of the local administrators group(s) to authenticate.

See "Why do I get an "Access denied" error message when connecting to RealVNC Server?" for more information.