VNC User Guide

1. Getting Started With WinVNC Server

This setup is carried out to enable the WinVNC server in order to connect it with a VNC viewer later on. If the WinVNC is not yet launched on the System tray, launch it from the Programs menu > VNC > RunWinVNC(App Mode):

Then, you will see the WinVNC icon appear on the System tray:

Clicking on this icon with the right mouse button will cause a menu to be displayed, with the following options on it:  

• Properties - This will cause the User Properties dialog to be displayed, allowing the user to change various per-user WinVNC parameters. 
• Add New Client - This allows outgoing connections to be made from the server to any "listening" viewer. The name of the target viewer machine can be entered in the dialog. Connections created this way are treated as shared.
• Kill All Clients - This will disconnect all currently connected clients from the server. 
• About WinVNC - This should be obvious! 
• Close - Shutdown the server. 

Double click on this icon will launch the Property menu:

The above options are the standard features to be used in the lab. The following options are available from the Properties dialog.

Incoming Connections  

• Accept Socket Connections - The server normally accepts direct, socket-based connections from the vncviewer program. Clearing this tick-box disables direct connection to WinVNC, so that only the CORBA interface used by our internal version may be used to start a connection. (See AT&T internal version info).  For the public version, clearing this will disable any incoming connections.
• Display Number - This allows the user to specify the display number which the server will use.  There is normally no need to change this from the default of zero.
• Auto - This tick box indicates to WinVNC whether it should use the display number specified in the Display Number box, or whether it should use the first display number not already in use on the server machine.
• Password - Incoming connections must be authenticated to verify that the person connecting is allowed to connect to this machine. This text box allows your password to be specified for authentication.
• Disable Remote Keyboard & Pointer -  Any new incoming connections will be able to view the screen but not send any input.
• Disable Local Keyboard & Pointer -  This is experimental, and works on NT only. If selected, then the local keyboard and mouse will be disabled during a connection. Useful if you want to log in to a machine from elsewhere and don't want passers-by to be able to use your session.

Update Handling

Note that clicking in a window will generally cause it to be updated, so if you have certain applications which don't update very well, try this! The default update handling settings should be the right ones for most people, and in general you will slow things down by changing them, so don't do this unless you have applications which cause problems.  

• Poll Full Screen- Some applications are incompatible with the methods currently used in WinVNC to trap screen updates. For this reason, it is sometimes useful to be able to poll the entire screen in order to check for changes, sacrificing performance for accuracy. 
• Poll Foreground Window - Polling only the currently selected window for changes is less CPU intensive than full-screen polling and often gives similar results, for example when using the Command Prompt, which is not normally compatible with WinVNC. 
• Poll Window Under Cursor- A variation on Poll Foreground Window, this option causes the window under the mouse cursor to be polled for changes. Both options may be enabled simultaneously if required. 
• Poll Console Windows Only- When this option is set, the only windows which will be ever be polled are Command Prompts. This works well in conjunction with Poll Window Under Cursor, to use polling only when the cursor is over a console window. 
• Poll On Event Received Only- When this option is set, the screen will only be polled for updates when a mouse or keyboard event is received from the remote client. This is provided for low bandwidth networks, where it may be useful to control how often the screen is polled and changes sent. 

For more information about WinVNC server, please visit the website:

http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/winvnc.html

2. Running VNC Viewer

To connect to another computer, launch VNCviewer as follows:

A Connection Details window will appear. Type in or select from the pull down menu the VNC server that you would like to connect to. For example: rutherford.ibeam.asu.edu

Select Options if you would like to change connection settings:

Under Display, in View-only mode, no mouse or keyboard events will be sent back to the server. This is useful for teaching sessions or other situations where you want to observe but don't want to interfere. Uncheck this box if you want full control on the server computer.

Close the Connection Options window, and click OK in the Connection Details window to log in. You will be prompted for your password, after which you should see the remote display.