VNC^® Enterprise Edition User Guide

Connected: The VNC Viewer experience

The rest of the sections in this chapter assume you are successfully connected to a host computer. If not, see Connecting to a host computer.

When a connection is established, VNC Viewer displays the host computer’s desktop in a new window on the client computer:

A.  Desktop of a client computer running Windows XP.   B.  VNC Viewer displaying the desktop of a host computer running Ubuntu 8.10 Linux.

Note: If the host computer is running UNIX or Linux, VNC Viewer may display a virtual desktop instead, in which case what you see is not the desktop of a host computer user. For more information on this feature, see Running multiple instances of VNC Server.

Controlling the host computer using your keyboard and mouse

The client computer’s keyboard and mouse are now shared with the host computer. This means that:

•  Moving the mouse and clicking within the VNC Viewer window affects the host computer and not the client.

•  Moving the mouse and clicking outside the VNC Viewer window, or on the VNC Viewer title bar or window buttons (Minimize, Maximize, and Close), affects the client computer and not the host.

The same applies to the client computer’s keyboard with the exception of the function key that opens the shortcut menu (F8 by default), and the CTRL-ALT-DELETE key combination. These are interpreted by the client computer. Alternative ways of sending these are available; see Using the VNC Viewer shortcut menu for more information. Under Windows, you can configure VNC Viewer to specify that other key presses are also interpreted by the client computer; see Changing the appearance and behavior of VNC Viewer for more information.

Note: If your keyboard and mouse have no effect on the host computer, they may have been disabled. For more information, see Restricting access to functionality.

Note that it is possible for the client and host computers to have different types of keyboard. Not all the keys available to a host computer user may be available to you, and some keys with the same name may have different behavior. This is especially likely if you are connecting to a Mac OS X host from a Windows or Linux client with a PC keyboard, or vice versa. For more information on key mapping, consult the RealVNC web site.

If the client and host computers have different numbers of mouse buttons, you can configure VNC Viewer to emulate those you do not have. For more information, see Changing the appearance and behavior of VNC Viewer.

Note: Other VNC Viewer users may be connected to the host computer and controlling it at the same time as you. In addition, a host computer user may be present. Operations may occur unexpectedly!

Interacting with VNC Server

When you connect, a VNC Server icon is displayed on the host computer’s desktop, shaded black:

(Windows XP client computer, Ubuntu 8.10 Linux host)

Note: Under UNIX or Linux, in some circumstances, the VNC Server icon is not shaded black. Under some versions of UNIX, it is not available at all.

The VNC Server icon confirms that VNC Server is running on the host computer, provides information to help VNC Viewer users connect, confirms that at least one VNC Viewer user is connected (the icon turns black), and has a shortcut menu to perform useful operations. All this information and functionality is available to you as a connected user. For more information, see Working with VNC Server.

Note that the VNC Server icon also provides access to VNC Server properties. However, you cannot configure VNC Server unless logged on as a host computer user with administrative privileges. For more information, see Authenticating connections to VNC Server.