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User Guide VNC

github-actions[bot] edited this page Jun 18, 2026 · 1 revision

VNC (Virtual Network Computing)

Connect to Linux VNC servers — TigerVNC, x11vnc, TightVNC — directly from a YourSSH tab, alongside your SSH and RDP sessions.

Creating a VNC Host

  1. Open the host editor (new host, or edit an existing one).
  2. Switch the SSH / RDP / VNC selector at the top to VNC. The port auto-flips to 5900 (a custom port is preserved).
  3. Fill in:
    • Host / Port / Password — the password is the VNC server password (VNC Authentication). A username is accepted but ignored by most VNC-auth servers.
    • SSH tunnel — optionally route the VNC connection through one of your saved SSH hosts (its full connection chain, including multi-hop bastions, is reused).

VNC hosts show a VNC badge on the dashboard, in list rows, and in the host panel header.

Connecting

Click Connect like any host.

Security note: plain VNC has no TLS/encryption layer — there is no certificate trust dialog because there is no certificate. Raw VNC traffic (including the password challenge) is unencrypted on the wire. For anything beyond a trusted LAN, set an SSH tunnel on the host so the session rides inside an encrypted SSH connection.

Using the Desktop

  • Keyboard — printable keys, modifiers, and common navigation/function keys mapped to X11 keysyms; app hotkeys are swallowed so they don't also type into the remote desktop.
  • Mouse — left/right/middle click and scroll; coordinates scale with the window into the server's framebuffer space.
  • Clipboard — bidirectional (ServerCutText / ClientCutText). Remote copies land in your local clipboard; the local clipboard is pushed when the VNC view gains focus.
  • Resolution — the desktop renders at the server's framebuffer size; if the server resizes (e.g. SetDesktopSize), the view adapts automatically.

Fullscreen

Press the fullscreen button in the toolbar (enabled while connected). All app chrome disappears.

To exit, move the mouse to the top screen edge — an mstsc-style pill appears (it also flashes for a moment when entering fullscreen) with exit / disconnect. The app automatically drops back to windowed mode if the session disconnects or you switch tabs.

Disconnects

If the connection drops or the server closes it, the tab shows a clean message with a Retry button. Unexpected drops also land in the notification bell, and connects/disconnects are written to the Audit Log (source vnc).

Tab Parity with SSH

Rename, color tags, and pinning work on VNC tabs and persist across restarts. VNC tabs are restored on relaunch like SSH and RDP tabs.

What's Not Supported (yet)

  • TLS / VeNCrypt auth, macOS Screen Sharing / Apple Remote Desktop (DH-based) auth, RealVNC RA2, UltraVNC MS-Logon — the first release targets Linux VNC servers with None / VNC-password auth
  • Audio redirection and file transfer
  • Recording, split view, input bar, and snippets are SSH-only features and are hidden for VNC tabs

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