Shortcut switch to add listening client?

[Sean Kamath]

On Oct 24, 2008, at 12:55 PM, Cody Bennett wrote:

> I work for a campus helpdesk where we use VNC to remotely control user
> machines. At the moment, a user must drill into the sub-menu, find the
> "run vnc server" shortcut and then add the client (me, running in
> listening mode).
>
> Here's the ideal situation:
>    Find a shortcut that we could make available on the web - the user
> clicks on the appropriate link, and magically a session is activated.
> Something that would
>
> Otherwise,
>    I'd like to have the user switches needed to allow the client to
> have an shortcut on their desktop that magically initiates the  
> session.
>
> I have tried using the -connect LISTENING_VIEWER_IP command, but that
> doesn't seem to do the trick. It indicates briefly that the VNC server
> is not available. If I set the shortcut to run with a -noconsole  
> switch
> only, the VNC server loads as expected. If I run with a -noconsole
> -connect LISTENING_VIEWER_IP, I again get that error that it is unable
> to locate an existing VNC Server.
>
> Any thoughts of how to make my dreams into a reality? :)


My recollection was:  I made a PIF with "vncserver.exe -connect <IP>"  
and told people to launch it.  I made the PIF available on a web page,  
so people could download it if it wasn't already on their desktop.   
The listening server must already be running for the server to start,  
since with '-connect' you're telling it to connect, and if it can't  
connect, it exits.

But then I decided to try this.

Turns out the -connect option tells a *RUNNING* VNC service to  
connect.  I can't figure out how to start a server *and* connect in  
one step.

So I think the best you can do is have them install and configure the  
service.  Tell it to not listen or accept any connections.  *THEN* you  
can run 'vncserver -connect <ipaddress', and it will work.

I've actually confirmed this.

You can actually have them start the service (once it's configured)  
with winvnc4.exe -start, then run winvnc4.exe -connect.  But you still  
have to configure it.

Alternatively, you can just run the server with 'winvnc4.exe', but  
that doesn't help much, since I can't figure out the windows  
equivalent of how to 'background' a process, thus allowing you to have  
the -connection option being given right after starting it.  Somehow,  
telling someone to run two commands kinda sucks.

Too bad there isn't a 'start the server and connect' option. :-(

Sean