Packages and Binaries:

tightvncpasswd

VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing. It is, in essence, a remote display system which allows you to view a computing `desktop’ environment not only on the machine where it is running, but from anywhere on the Internet and from a wide variety of machine architectures.

This package provides the vncpasswd tool mandatory for the tightvncserver and optional for the xtightvncviewer.

Installed size: 69 KB
How to install: sudo apt install tightvncpasswd

Dependencies:
  • libc6
tightvncpasswd

Set passwords for VNC server

root@kali:~# man tightvncpasswd
vncpasswd(1)                        TightVNC                       vncpasswd(1)

NAME
       vncpasswd - set passwords for VNC server

SYNOPSIS
       vncpasswd [file]
       vncpasswd -t
       vncpasswd -f

DESCRIPTION
       The  vncpasswd utility should be used to create and change passwords for
       the TightVNC  server  authentication.  Xvnc  uses  such  passwords  when
       started  with the -rfbauth command-line option (or when started from the
       vncserver script).

       vncpasswd allows one to enter either one or  two  passwords.  The  first
       password  is  the primary one, the second password can be used for view-
       only authentication. Xvnc will restrict mouse and  keyboard  input  from
       clients  who  authenticated  with  the view-only password. The vncpasswd
       utility asks interactively if it should set the second password.

       The password file name defaults to $HOME/.vnc/passwd unless the -t  com-
       mand-line   option  was  used  (see  the  OPTIONS  section  below).  The
       $HOME/.vnc/ directory will be created if it does not exist.

       Each password has to be longer than five characters (unless the -f  com-
       mand-line  option  was used, see its description below).  Only the first
       eight characters are significant. If the primary password is too  short,
       the  program  will  abort.  If the view-only password is too short, then
       only the primary password will be saved.

       Unless a file name was provided in  the  command-line  explicitly,  this
       utility  may perform certain sanity checks to prevent writing a password
       file into some hazardous place.

       If at least one password was saved  successfully,  vncpasswd  will  exit
       with status code 0. Otherwise the returned status code will be set to 1.

OPTIONS
       -t     Write   passwords   into   /tmp/$USER-vnc/passwd,   creating  the
              /tmp/$USER-vnc/ directory if it does not exist, and checking  the
              permissions on that directory (the mode must be 700). This option
              can  help  to  improve  security  when your home partition may be
              shared via network (e.g. when using NFS).

       -f     Filter mode. Read plain-text  passwords  from  stdin,  write  en-
              crypted  versions  to  stdout. One or two passwords (full-control
              and view-only) can be supplied in the input stream, newline  ter-
              minates  a password.  Note that in the filter mode, short or even
              empty passwords will be silently accepted.

SEE ALSO
       vncserver(1), Xvnc(1), vncviewer(1), vncconnect(1)

AUTHORS
       Original VNC was developed in AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC  ad-
       ditions were implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people par-
       ticipated in development, testing and support.

       Man page authors:
       Marcus Brinkmann <[email protected]>,
       Tim Waugh <[email protected]>,
       Constantin Kaplinsky <[email protected]>

                                  August 2006                      vncpasswd(1)

tightvncserver

VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing. It is, in essence, a remote display system which allows you to view a computing `desktop’ environment not only on the machine where it is running, but from anywhere on the Internet and from a wide variety of machine architectures.

This package provides a server to which X clients can connect and the server generates a display that can be viewed with a vncviewer.

The difference between the tightvncserver and the normal vncserver is the data encoding, optimized for low bandwidth connections. If the client do not support jpeg or zlib encoding it can use the default one. Later versions of vncserver (> 3.3.3r2) support a new automatic encoding that should be equally good as the tightvnc encoding.

Note: This server does not support or need a display. You need a vncviewer to see something. However, this viewer may also be on a computer running other operating systems in the local net.

Installed size: 1.72 MB
How to install: sudo apt install tightvncserver

Dependencies:
  • libc6
  • libjpeg62-turbo
  • libx11-6
  • perl
  • tightvncpasswd
  • x11-common | xserver-common
  • x11-utils
  • xauth
  • zlib1g
Xtightvnc

An X server providing VNC connectivity

root@kali:~# Xtightvnc -h
Unrecognized option: -h
use: X [:<display>] [option]
-a #                   mouse acceleration (pixels)
-ac                    disable access control restrictions
-audit int             set audit trail level
-auth file             select authorization file
bc                     enable bug compatibility
-bs                    disable any backing store support
-c                     turns off key-click
c #                    key-click volume (0-100)
-cc int                default color visual class
-co file               color database file
-core                  generate core dump on fatal error
-dpi int               screen resolution in dots per inch
-deferglyphs [none|all|16] defer loading of [no|all|16-bit] glyphs
-f #                   bell base (0-100)
-fc string             cursor font
-fn string             default font name
-fp string             default font path
-help                  prints message with these options
-I                     ignore all remaining arguments
-ld int                limit data space to N Kb
-lf int                limit number of open files to N
-ls int                limit stack space to N Kb
-nolock                disable the locking mechanism
-logo                  enable logo in screen saver
nologo                 disable logo in screen saver
-nolisten string       don't listen on protocol
-p #                   screen-saver pattern duration (minutes)
-pn                    accept failure to listen on all ports
-nopn                  reject failure to listen on all ports
-r                     turns off auto-repeat
r                      turns on auto-repeat 
-s #                   screen-saver timeout (minutes)
-su                    disable any save under support
-t #                   mouse threshold (pixels)
-terminate             terminate at server reset
-to #                  connection time out
-tst                   disable testing extensions
ttyxx                  server started from init on /dev/ttyxx
v                      video blanking for screen-saver
-v                     screen-saver without video blanking
-wm                    WhenMapped default backing-store
-x string              loads named extension at init time 
-query host-name       contact named host for XDMCP
-broadcast             broadcast for XDMCP
-indirect host-name    contact named host for indirect XDMCP
-port port-num         UDP port number to send messages to
-once                  Terminate server after one session
-class display-class   specify display class to send in manage
-cookie xdm-auth-bits  specify the magic cookie for XDMCP
-displayID display-id  manufacturer display ID for request
-geometry WxH          set framebuffer width & height
-depth D               set framebuffer depth
-pixelformat format    set pixel format (BGRnnn or RGBnnn)
-udpinputport port     UDP port for keyboard/pointer data
-rfbport port          TCP port for RFB protocol
-rfbwait time          max time in ms to wait for RFB client
-nocursor              don't put up a cursor
-rfbauth passwd-file   use authentication on RFB protocol
-httpd dir             serve files via HTTP from here
-httpport port         port for HTTP
-deferupdate time      time in ms to defer updates (default 40)
-economictranslate     less memory-hungry translation
-lazytight             disable "gradient" filter in tight encoding
-desktop name          VNC desktop name (default x11)
-alwaysshared          always treat new clients as shared
-nevershared           never treat new clients as shared
-dontdisconnect        don't disconnect existing clients when a new non-shared
                       connection comes in (refuse new connection instead)
-viewonly              let clients only to view the desktop
-localhost             only allow connections from localhost
-interface ipaddr      only bind to specified interface address
-inetd                 Xvnc is launched by inetd
-compatiblekbd         set META key = ALT key as in the original VNC
-version               report Xvnc version on stderr

tightvncconnect

Connect a VNC server to a VNC viewer

root@kali:~# tightvncconnect -h
usage: tightvncconnect [-display Xvnc-display] host[:port]
Tells Xvnc to connect to a listening VNC viewer on the given host and port

tightvncserver

A wrapper to launch an X server for VNC.

root@kali:~# tightvncserver -h
TightVNC Server version 1.3.10

Usage: tightvncserver [<OPTIONS>] [:<DISPLAY#>]
       tightvncserver -kill :<DISPLAY#>

<OPTIONS> are Xtightvnc options, or:

        -name <DESKTOP-NAME>
        -depth <DEPTH>
        -geometry <WIDTH>x<HEIGHT>
        -httpport number
        -basehttpport number
        -alwaysshared
        -nevershared
        -pixelformat rgb<NNN>
        -pixelformat bgr<NNN>

See vncserver and Xtightvnc manual pages for more information.

xtightvncviewer

VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing. It is, in essence, a remote display system which allows you to view a computing `desktop’ environment not only on the machine where it is running, but from anywhere on the Internet and from a wide variety of machine architectures.

It is implemented in a client/server model. This package provides a client for X, with this you can connect to a vncserver somewhere in the network and display its content in a window. There are vncserver available for other operating systems.

The difference between the xtightvncviewer and the normal vncviewer is the data encoding, optimized for low bandwidth connections. If the client do not support jpeg or zlib encoding it can use the default one. Later versions of xvncviewer (> 3.3.3r2) support a new automatic encoding that should be equally good as the tightvnc encoding.

Installed size: 182 KB
How to install: sudo apt install xtightvncviewer

Dependencies:
  • libc6
  • libjpeg62-turbo
  • libx11-6
  • libxaw7
  • libxext6
  • libxmu6
  • libxt6t64
  • zlib1g
xtightvncviewer

An X viewer client for VNC

root@kali:~# man xtightvncviewer
vncviewer(1)                        TightVNC                       vncviewer(1)

NAME
       vncviewer - an X viewer client for VNC

SYNOPSIS
       vncviewer [options] [host][:display]
       vncviewer [options] [host][::port]
       vncviewer [options] -listen [display]
       vncviewer -help

DESCRIPTION
       vncviewer is an Xt-based client application for the VNC (Virtual Network
       Computing)  system.  It can connect to any VNC-compatible server such as
       Xvnc or WinVNC, allowing you to control desktop environment of a differ-
       ent machine.

       You can use F8 to display a pop-up utility menu. Press F8 twice to  pass
       single F8 to the remote side.

OPTIONS
       -help  Prints a short usage notice to stderr.

       -listen
              Make  the  viewer listen on port 5500+display for reverse connec-
              tions from a server. WinVNC supports  reverse  connections  using
              the  "Add  New  Client" menu option, or the -connect command line
              option. Xvnc requires the use of the helper program vncconnect.

       -via gateway
              Automatically create encrypted TCP tunnel to the gateway  machine
              before  connection,  connect  to  the  host  through  that tunnel
              (TightVNC-specific). By default, this option  invokes  SSH  local
              port  forwarding, assuming that SSH client binary can be accessed
              as /usr/bin/ssh. Note that when using the -via option,  the  host
              machine name should be specified as known to the gateway machine,
              e.g.   "localhost"  denotes  the  gateway,  not the machine where
              vncviewer was launched. See the ENVIRONMENT section below for the
              information on configuring the -via option.

       -shared
              When connecting, specify that a shared connection  is  requested.
              In  TightVNC, this is the default mode, allowing you to share the
              desktop with other clients already using it.

       -noshared
              When connecting, specify that the session may not be shared. This
              would either disconnect other connected clients  or  refuse  your
              connection, depending on the server configuration.

       -viewonly
              Disable  transfer of mouse and keyboard events from the client to
              the server.

       -fullscreen
              Start in full-screen mode. Please  be  aware  that  operating  in
              full-screen  mode  may confuse X window managers. Typically, such
              conflicts cause incorrect handling of input  focus  or  make  the
              viewer  window  disappear mysteriously. See the grabKeyboard set-
              ting in the RESOURCES section below for a method to  solve  input
              focus problem.

       -noraiseonbeep
              By default, the viewer shows and raises its window on remote beep
              (bell)  event. This option disables such behaviour (TightVNC-spe-
              cific).

       -passwd passwd-file
              File from which to get the password (as  generated  by  the  vnc-
              passwd(1) program). This option affects only the standard VNC au-
              thentication.

       -encodings encoding-list
              TightVNC supports several different compression methods to encode
              screen updates; this option specifies a set of them to use in or-
              der of preference. Encodings are specified separated with spaces,
              and  must  thus  be enclosed in quotes if more than one is speci-
              fied. Available encodings, in default order for a remote  connec-
              tion,  are "copyrect tight hextile zlib corre rre raw". For a lo-
              cal connection (to the same machine), the default order to try is
              "raw copyrect tight hextile zlib corre rre". Raw encoding is  al-
              ways  assumed  as  a last option if no other encoding can be used
              for some reason. For more information on encodings, see the  sec-
              tion ENCODINGS below.

       -bgr233
              Always  use  the BGR233 format to encode pixel data. This reduces
              network traffic, but colors may be represented inaccurately.  The
              bgr233  format is an 8-bit "true color" format, with 2 bits blue,
              3 bits green, and 3 bits red.

       -owncmap
              Try to use a PseudoColor visual and a private colormap. This  al-
              lows the VNC server to control the colormap.

       -truecolour, -truecolor
              Try to use a TrueColor visual.

       -depth depth
              On  an X server which supports multiple TrueColor visuals of dif-
              ferent depths, attempt to use the  specified  one  (in  bits  per
              pixel);  if successful, this depth will be requested from the VNC
              server.

       -compresslevel level
              Use specified compression level (0..9) for "tight" and "zlib" en-
              codings (TightVNC-specific). Level 1 uses minimum of CPU time and
              achieves weak compression ratios, while level 9 offers best  com-
              pression  but  is  slow  in  terms of CPU time consumption on the
              server side. Use high levels with very slow network  connections,
              and low levels when working over high-speed LANs. It's not recom-
              mended  to use compression level 0, reasonable choices start from
              the level 1.

       -quality level
              Use the specified JPEG quality level (0..9) for the  "tight"  en-
              coding  (TightVNC-specific).  Quality  level  0 denotes bad image
              quality but very impressive compression ratios, while level 9 of-
              fers very good image quality at lower  compression  ratios.  Note
              that  the  "tight"  encoder uses JPEG to encode only those screen
              areas that look suitable for lossy compression, so quality  level
              0 does not always mean unacceptable image quality.

       -nojpeg
              Disable  lossy  JPEG compression in Tight encoding (TightVNC-spe-
              cific).  Disabling JPEG compression is not a good idea in typical
              cases, as that makes the Tight encoder less efficient. You  might
              want  to  use this option if it's absolutely necessary to achieve
              perfect image quality (see also the -quality option).

       -nocursorshape
              Disable cursor shape updates, protocol extensions used to  handle
              remote cursor movements locally on the client side (TightVNC-spe-
              cific).  Using  cursor shape updates decreases delays with remote
              cursor movements, and can improve bandwidth usage dramatically.

       -x11cursor
              Use a real X11 cursor with X-style cursor shape updates,  instead
              of drawing the remote cursor on the framebuffer. This option also
              disables  the dot cursor, and disables cursor position updates in
              non-fullscreen mode.

       -autopass
              Read a plain-text password from stdin. This option  affects  only
              the standard VNC authentication.

ENCODINGS
       The  server  supplies  information  in whatever format is desired by the
       client, in order to make the client as easy as  possible  to  implement.
       If  the  client  represents  itself as able to use multiple formats, the
       server will choose one.

       Pixel format refers to the representation of an  individual  pixel.  The
       most  common  formats  are  24 and 16 bit "true-color" values, and 8-bit
       "color map" representations, where an arbitrary map converts  the  color
       number to RGB values.

       Encoding  refers to how a rectangle of pixels are sent (all pixel infor-
       mation in VNC is sent as rectangles). All rectangles come with a  header
       giving  the location and size of the rectangle and an encoding type used
       by the data which follows. These types are listed below.

       Raw    The raw encoding simply  sends  width*height  pixel  values.  All
              clients  are  required to support this encoding type. Raw is also
              the fastest when the server and viewer are on the  same  machine,
              as  the connection speed is essentially infinite and raw encoding
              minimizes processing time.

       CopyRect
              The Copy Rectangle encoding is efficient when something is  being
              moved;  the  only  data  sent is the location of a rectangle from
              which data should be copied to  the  current  location.  Copyrect
              could also be used to efficiently transmit a repeated pattern.

       RRE    The  Rise-and-Run-length-Encoding  is  basically  a 2D version of
              run-length encoding (RLE). In this encoding, a sequence of  iden-
              tical  pixels  are compressed to a single value and repeat count.
              In VNC, this is implemented with a  background  color,  and  then
              specifications  of an arbitrary number of subrectangles and color
              for each. This is an efficient encoding for large blocks of  con-
              stant color.

       CoRRE  This  is  a  minor  variation  on RRE, using a maximum of 255x255
              pixel rectangles. This allows for single-byte values to be  used,
              reducing  packet size. This is in general more efficient, because
              the savings from sending 1-byte values  generally  outweighs  the
              losses  from the (relatively rare) cases where very large regions
              are painted the same color.

       Hextile
              Here, rectangles are split up in to 16x16 tiles, which  are  sent
              in  a  predetermined order. The data within the tiles is sent ei-
              ther raw or as a variant on RRE. Hextile encoding is usually  the
              best  choice  for  using in high-speed network environments (e.g.
              Ethernet local-area networks).

       Zlib   Zlib is a very simple encoding that uses zlib library to compress
              raw pixel data. This encoding achieves good compression, but con-
              sumes a lot of CPU time. Support for this  encoding  is  provided
              for  compatibility  with  VNC  servers  that might not understand
              Tight encoding which is more efficient than Zlib  in  nearly  all
              real-life situations.

       Tight  Like  Zlib encoding, Tight encoding uses zlib library to compress
              the pixel data, but it pre-processes data to maximize compression
              ratios, and to minimize CPU usage on compression. Also, JPEG com-
              pression may be used to encode color-rich screen areas  (see  the
              description  of -quality and -nojpeg options above). Tight encod-
              ing is usually the best choice for low-bandwidth network environ-
              ments (e.g. slow modem connections).

RESOURCES
       X resources that vncviewer knows about, aside from  the  normal  Xt  re-
       sources, are as follows:

       shareDesktop
              Equivalent of -shared/-noshared options. Default true.

       viewOnly
              Equivalent of -viewonly option. Default false.

       fullScreen
              Equivalent of -fullscreen option. Default false.

       grabKeyboard
              Grab  keyboard  in full-screen mode. This can help to solve prob-
              lems with losing keyboard focus. Default false.

       raiseOnBeep
              Equivalent of -noraiseonbeep option, when set to  false.  Default
              true.

       passwordFile
              Equivalent of -passwd option.

       passwordDialog
              Whether  to use a dialog box to get the password (true) or get it
              from the tty (false). Irrelevant if passwordFile is set.  Default
              false.

       encodings
              Equivalent of -encodings option.

       compressLevel
              Equivalent of -compresslevel option (TightVNC-specific).

       qualityLevel
              Equivalent of -quality option (TightVNC-specific).

       enableJPEG
              Equivalent of -nojpeg option, when set to false. Default true.

       useRemoteCursor
              Equivalent   of   -nocursorshape   option,   when  set  to  false
              (TightVNC-specific). Default true.

       useBGR233
              Equivalent of -bgr233 option. Default false.

       nColours
              When using BGR233, try to allocate this many "exact" colors  from
              the BGR233 color cube. When using a shared colormap, setting this
              resource lower leaves more colors for other X clients. Irrelevant
              when using truecolor. Default is 256 (i.e. all of them).

       useSharedColours
              If  the number of "exact" BGR233 colors successfully allocated is
              less than 256 then the rest are filled  in  using  the  "nearest"
              colors available. This resource says whether to only use the "ex-
              act"  BGR233  colors  for  this  purpose, or whether to use other
              clients' "shared" colors as well. Default true  (i.e.  use  other
              clients' colors).

       forceOwnCmap
              Equivalent of -owncmap option. Default false.

       forceTrueColour
              Equivalent of -truecolour option. Default false.

       requestedDepth
              Equivalent of -depth option.

       useSharedMemory
              Use  MIT  shared memory extension if on the same machine as the X
              server. Default true.

       wmDecorationWidth, wmDecorationHeight
              The total width and height taken up  by  window  manager  decora-
              tions.   This  is  used  to calculate the maximum size of the VNC
              viewer window.  Default is width 4, height 24.

       bumpScrollTime, bumpScrollPixels
              When in full screen mode and the VNC desktop is bigger than the X
              display, scrolling happens whenever the mouse hits  the  edge  of
              the  screen.  The  maximum speed of scrolling is bumpScrollPixels
              pixels every bumpScrollTime milliseconds.  The  actual  speed  of
              scrolling  will  be slower than this, of course, depending on how
              fast your machine is.  Default 20 pixels every 25 milliseconds.

       popupButtonCount
              The number of buttons in the popup window. See  the  README  file
              for more information on how to customize the buttons.

       debug  For debugging. Default false.

       rawDelay, copyRectDelay
              For debugging, see the README file for details. Default 0 (off).

ENVIRONMENT
       When started with the -via option, vncviewer reads the VNC_VIA_CMD envi-
       ronment variable, expands patterns beginning with the "%" character, and
       executes  result  as  a command assuming that it would create TCP tunnel
       that should be used for VNC connection. If  not  set,  this  environment
       variable defaults to "/usr/bin/ssh -f -L %L:%H:%R %G sleep 20".

       The  following patterns are recognized in the VNC_VIA_CMD (note that all
       the patterns %G, %H, %L and %R must be present in the command template):

       %%     A literal "%";

       %G     gateway host name;

       %H     remote VNC host name, as known to the gateway;

       %L     local TCP port number;

       %R     remote TCP port number.

SEE ALSO
       vncserver(1), Xvnc(1), vncpasswd(1), vncconnect(1), ssh(1)

AUTHORS
       Original VNC was developed in AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. TightVNC  ad-
       ditions were implemented by Constantin Kaplinsky. Many other people par-
       ticipated in development, testing and support.

       Man page authors:
       Marcus Brinkmann <[email protected]>,
       Terran Melconian <[email protected]>,
       Tim Waugh <[email protected]>,
       Constantin Kaplinsky <[email protected]>

                                  August 2006                      vncviewer(1)

Updated on: 2024-Aug-06