w0vncserver - Man Page

w0vncserver [options]
w0vncserver -version

w0vncserver is a TigerVNC server which makes a Wayland compositor that is based on wlroots, or has the RemoteDesktop portal implemented, remotely accessible via VNC, TigerVNC or compatible viewers. It does not create a virtual display, instead, it shares an existing display (typically, hat one connected to the physical screen).

w0vncserver interprets the command line as a list of parameters with optional values. Running w0vncserver -h will show a list of all valid parameters with short descriptions.  All parameters are optional, but normally you would have to use the PasswordFile parameter (see its description below).

There are several forms of specifying parameters in the command line (here we use `SomeParameter' as an example parameter name):

-SomeParameter

Enable the parameter, turn the feature on.  This form can be used with parameters that simply enable or disable some feature.

-SomeParameter=0

Disable the parameter, turn the feature off.

-SomeParameter=value

Assign the specified value to the parameter.  The leading dash can be omitted, or it can be doubled if desired (like in GNU-style long options).

Parameter names are case-insensitive, their order in the command line can be arbitrary.

-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, regardless of the client-specified setting. Default is off.

-AskDisplayChoice mode

Ask which displays to share when a user connects. Can be either Always, Once, or Never. Choosing Always means a prompt dialog will be be shown every time a user connects to the server. Once means a prompt will be shown only once during the program's lifetime. When choosing Never, the choice you make will be remembered and persist. To reset your choice, see w0vncserver-forget(1). Default is Once.

-BlacklistThreshold count

The number of unauthenticated connection attempts allowed from any individual host before that host is black-listed.  Default is 5.

-BlacklistTimeout seconds

The initial timeout applied when a host is first black-listed.  The host cannot re-attempt a connection until the timeout expires.  Default is 10.

-CompareFB mode

Perform pixel comparison on framebuffer to reduce unnecessary updates. Can be either 0 (off), 1 (always) or 2 (auto). Default is 2.

-desktop desktop-name

Each desktop has a name which may be displayed by the viewer. 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 is a client active.  When combined with NeverShared this 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 then those changes will be aggregated and sent in a single update to the client. Note that this only controls the maximum rate and a client may get a lower rate when resources are limited. Default is 60.

-Geometry geometry

This option specifies the screen area that will be shown to VNC clients.  The format is widthxheight+xoffset+yoffset , where `+' signs can be replaced with `-' signs to specify offsets from the right and/or from the bottom of the screen.  Offsets are optional, +0+0 is assumed by default (top left corner).  If the argument is empty, full screen is shown to VNC clients (this is the default).

-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 that idle connections will never be dropped.

-ImprovedHextile

Use improved compression algorithm for Hextile encoding which achieves better compression ratios by 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, 100 meaning 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, regardless of the client-specified setting. Default is off.

-pam_service name, -PAMService name

PAM service name to use when authentication 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 PasswordFile parameter instead.

-PasswordFile passwd-file, -rfbauth passwd-file

Password file for VNC authentication.  There is no default, you should specify the password file explicitly.  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

-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.

w0vncserver-forget(1), x0vncserver(1), Xvnc(1), vncpasswd(1),
https://www.tigervnc.org/

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.

w0vncserver-forget(1).