w0vncserver(1)

📦 version 1.16.2, in arch rolling, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💖 w0vncserver — TigerVNC Manual 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about w0vncserver from the TigerVNC manual, because this one is genuinely iconic 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

w0vncserver — the TigerVNC server for Wayland compositors 👑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

w0vncserver [options]
w0vncserver -version

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so like. w0vncserver is a TigerVNC server, and what it does is it takes a Wayland compositor — either one that's based on wlroots, or one that has the RemoteDesktop portal implemented — and makes it remotely accessible over VNC, using TigerVNC or any compatible viewer. slay ✨

here's the thing though, and this is important: it does not create a virtual display. nope. it shares an existing display instead — typically the one connected to the physical screen. it's giving "sharing is caring" energy fr fr 💅

💜 OPTIONS 💜

w0vncserver reads the command line as a list of parameters with optional values. run w0vncserver -h and it'll show you every valid parameter with a lil short description. all parameters are optional, but normally you'd have to use the PasswordFile parameter (go read its description below, it matters bestie 😭).

there are several forms of specifying parameters on the command line. here we use SomeParameter as the example parameter name:

  • -SomeParameter — enables the parameter, turns the feature on. this form works with parameters that just enable or disable some feature.
  • -SomeParameter=0 — disables the parameter, turns the feature off.
  • -SomeParameter=value — assigns the specified value to the parameter. the leading dash can be omitted, or it can be doubled if you want (like in GNU-style long options, iykyk).

parameter names are case-insensitive, and their order on the command line can be literally arbitrary. go off 💅

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

  • -AcceptKeyEvents — accept key press and release events from clients. default is on.
  • -AcceptPointerEvents — accept pointer movement and button events from clients. default is on.
  • -AlwaysShared — always treat incoming connections as shared, no matter what the client-specified setting says. default is off.
  • -BlacklistThreshold count — how many unauthenticated connection attempts any individual host gets before that host is black-listed. default is 5.
  • -BlacklistTimeout seconds — the initial timeout applied when a host first gets black-listed. the host can't re-attempt a connection until the timeout expires. default is 10.
  • -CompareFB mode — do a pixel comparison on the framebuffer to cut down unnecessary updates. can be either 0 (off), 1 (always) or 2 (auto). default is 2.
  • -desktop desktop-name — every desktop has a name, which the viewer may display. it defaults to "<user>@<hostname>".
  • -DisconnectClients — disconnect existing clients if an incoming connection is non-shared. default is on. if DisconnectClients is false, then a new non-shared connection will be refused while there's a client active. when you combine it with NeverShared, that means only one client is allowed at a time.
  • -FrameRate fps — the maximum number of updates per second sent to each client. if the screen updates any faster, those changes get aggregated and sent in a single update to the client. note that this only controls the maximum rate — a client may get a lower rate when resources are limited. default is 60.
  • -GnuTLSPriority priority — GnuTLS priority string that controls the TLS session's handshake algorithms. see the GnuTLS manual for possible values. default is NORMAL.
  • -IdleTimeout seconds — the number of seconds after which an idle VNC connection will be dropped. default is 0, which means idle connections will never be dropped.
  • -ImprovedHextile — use the improved compression algorithm for Hextile encoding, which gets better compression ratios at the cost of using slightly more CPU time. default is on.
  • -interface IP address — listen on interface. by default w0vncserver listens on all available interfaces.
  • -localhost — only allow connections from the same machine. useful if you use SSH and want to stop non-SSH connections from any other hosts.
  • -Log logname:dest:level[, ...] — configures the debug log settings. dest can currently be stderr, stdout or syslog, and level is between 0 and 100, where 100 means most verbose output. logname is usually * meaning all, but you can target a specific source file if you know the name of its "LogWriter". default is *:stderr:30.
  • -MaxConnectionTime seconds — terminate when a client has been connected for N seconds. default is 0.
  • -MaxDisconnectionTime seconds — terminate when no client has been connected for N seconds. default is 0.
  • -MaxIdleTime seconds — terminate after N seconds of user inactivity. default is 0.
  • -NeverShared — never treat incoming connections as shared, no matter what the client-specified setting says. default is off.
  • -pam_service name, -PAMService name — PAM service name to use when authenticating users using any of the "Plain" security types. default is vnc.
  • -Password password — obfuscated binary encoding of the password which clients must supply to access the server. > using this parameter is insecure, use the PasswordFile parameter instead. bestie I am begging you 🙈
  • -PasswordFile passwd-file, -rfbauth passwd-file — password file for VNC authentication. there is no default, you should specify the password file explicitly. the password file should be created with the vncpasswd(1) utility. the file is accessed each time a connection comes in, so it can be changed on the fly. 👑
  • -PlainUsers user-list — a comma separated list of user names that are allowed to authenticate via any of the "Plain" security types (Plain, TLSPlain, etc.). specify * to allow any user to authenticate using this security type. specify %u to allow the user of the server process. default is to deny all users.
  • -Protocol3.3 — always use protocol version 3.3 for backwards compatibility with badly-behaved clients. default is off.
  • -QueryConnect — prompts the user of the desktop to explicitly accept or reject incoming connections. default is off.
  • -RawKeyboard — send keyboard events straight through and avoid mapping them to the current keyboard layout. this effectively makes the keyboard behave according to the layout configured on the server instead of the layout configured on the client. default is off.
  • -RemapKeys mapping — sets up a keyboard mapping. mapping is a comma-separated string of character mappings, each of the form char->char, or char<>char, where char is a hexadecimal keysym. for example, to exchange the " and @ symbols you would specify the following:
RemapKeys=0x22<>0x40
  • -RememberDisplayChoice mode — remember display choice when a user connects. can be either Always, Never, or Session. choosing Never means a prompt dialog will be be shown every time a user connects to the server. Session means a prompt will be shown only once during the program's lifetime. when choosing Always, the choice you make will be remembered and persist. to reset your choice, see w0vncserver-forget(1). default is Session.
  • -RequireUsername — require username for the RSA-AES security types. default is off.
  • -rfbport port — specifies the TCP port on which w0vncserver listens for connections from viewers (the protocol used in VNC is called RFB — "remote framebuffer"). specify -1 to disable listening on a TCP port. the default port is 5900 when started directly, and -1 when activated by a systemd socket.
  • -rfbunixmode mode — specifies the mode of the Unix domain socket. the default is 0600.
  • -rfbunixpath path — specifies the path of a Unix domain socket on which w0vncserver listens for connections from viewers. default is to not listen to any Unix domain socket.
  • -RSAKey path — path to the RSA key for the RSA-AES security types (RA2, RA2ne, RA2_256 and RA2ne_256) in PEM format.
  • -SecurityTypes sec-types — specify which security scheme to use for incoming connections. valid values are a comma separated list of None, VncAuth, Plain, TLSNone, TLSVnc, TLSPlain, X509None, X509Vnc, X509Plain, RA2, RA2ne, RA2_256 and RA2ne_256. default is TLSVnc,VncAuth.
  • -UseBlacklist — temporarily reject connections from a host if it repeatedly fails to authenticate. default is on.
  • -UseIPv4 — use IPv4 for incoming and outgoing connections. default is on.
  • -UseIPv6 — use IPv6 for incoming and outgoing connections. default is on.
  • -X509Cert path — path to a X509 certificate in PEM format to be used for all X509 based security types (X509None, X509Vnc, etc.).
  • -X509Key path — private key counter part to the certificate given in X509Cert. must also be in PEM format.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

TigerVNC Team 💖

VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC additions were implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people have since participated in development, testing and support. This manual is part of the TigerVNC software suite.

and that's the whole thing bestie!! this page lives in the TigerVNC Manual for w0vncserver(1), brought to you by the TigerVNC software suite — go be a main character with your remote desktop 💅✨🦋

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