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VNC Viewer and Linux Window Manager

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Steve Schaefering
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Hello

Is anyone else using VNC Viewer on linux AND using a window manager rather than a desktop? From time to time, I lose the keyboard inside the remote connection and have to disconnect the remote session and restart it. Just wanted to check if anyone else has this occurence and has a way or there is a way to correct without having to disconnect and reconnect.

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    RealVNCSupport

    Hi Steve,

    Thanks for posting.

    On Linux, RealVNC Viewer has a keyboard grab setting that controls how keyboard input is captured during a session. It would be worth checking this in the Viewer preferences, especially if you’re using a standalone window manager.

    If the keyboard still stops responding intermittently, please let us know which Linux distribution, window manager and RealVNC Viewer version you’re using so we can narrow this down further.

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    Steve Schaefering

    I do not see any settings that mention keyboard in any of the Viewer settings.

    The keyboard stops responding on any window manager, on any distribution I'm guessing if the remote window is moved around. But there is no one to get the keyboard back to being able to control the remote pc without closing the session and re opening. 

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    RealVNCSupport

    Hi Steve,

    Thanks for checking.

    The keyboard setting I was referring to is the advanced GrabKeyboard parameter rather than a standard keyboard option in Viewer settings.

    On Linux, RealVNC Viewer supports the following values:

    • 0 – never grab the keyboard
    • 1 – grab the keyboard in full-screen mode only, which is the default
    • 2 – always grab the keyboard

    Since you’re seeing the keyboard stop responding after moving the Viewer window, it would be worth testing GrabKeyboard=2 to see whether keeping keyboard focus captured prevents the issue.

    RealVNC documents the parameter here:
    RealVNC Viewer Parameter Reference

    You can also find information on configuring Viewer parameters under Linux here:
    Configuring RealVNC Connect Using Parameters

    If the issue still occurs after testing this, please let us know which Linux distribution, window manager and RealVNC Viewer version you’re using. It would also be useful to know whether the local desktop session is running X11 or Wayland so we can investigate further.

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