STARTVNC(1) User Commands STARTVNC(1)

NAME

startvnc - convenient management of VNC sessions

SYNOPSIS

startvnc [-z|-zone zone_name] [-help] [-session name]
[-size t|s|m|l|xl] [-list] [-nc|-noclient] [-q|-query host]
[-c|-connect session] [-Z bhyve_zone] [-view session] [-client]

DESCRIPTION

The startvnc utility simplifies launching and connecting to VNC
sessions. It combines the launching of a VNC server with
vncserver(1), the execution of the vncviewer(1) client, and the
management of what is run in the VNC session with setvncsession(1).
By default, a VNC server running a session is launched, along with a
VNC client to connect to it.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported:

-help
Shows the usage message, and a list of available
session names.


-session name
Specifies that VNC will be launched with the given
session name, as configured by the setvncsession(1)
utility. Use of this option will set the default VNC
session to the requested name, in the same way that
setvncsession(1) does.


-size t|s|m|l|xl
Sets the size of the VNC desktop to be tiny, small,
medium, large, or extra large.


-nc|-noclient
Just runs the VNC server, with no client. This option
is useful when running a VNC session on a remote
server. The remote system should run the VNC server,
with the client being run on the user's desktop
system.


-c|-connect session
Runs a VNC client to connect to the existing session.


-view session
Runs a VNC client to connect to the existing session
in view-only mode.


-client
Runs the vncviewer(1) client.


-list
Shows a list of VNC sessions that are currently
running.


-z|-zone zone_name
Manages VNC sessions on the local zone zone_name. It
will launch the session in the zone, and connect to a
session running in the zone (resolving the zone's name
to an IP address, as normal hostname resolution won't
work in this case).


-Z zone_name
Connects to the VNC console for the bhyve zone
zone_name. This requires the current user to have been
shared with the bhyve zone when it was created using
the -U option to zap create-zone. To connect to a VNC
session running inside the guest, use the -z option.


-q|-query host
Rather than launching a session itself, launches a VNC
server that queries a remote xdm(8) server using
XDMCP. Can be used with the -z option to connect to
an xdm(8) server in a local zone, in which case the
host is not required, but if supplied must be the same
as the zone name.

SEE ALSO

setvncsession(1), vncserver(1), vncviewer(1), zones(7), xdm(8)

Tribblix April 9, 2025 STARTVNC(1)