vncpasswd (1)

NAME

vncpasswd - change a VNC password

SYNOPSIS

vncpasswd [passwd-file]

DESCRIPTION

vncpasswd allows you to set the password used to access VNC desktops. It stores an obfuscated version of the password in the given file (default $HOME/.vnc/passwd). The vncserver script runs vncpasswd the first time you start a VNC desktop, and invokes Xvnc with the appropriate -rfbauth option. vncviewer can also be given a password file to use via the -passwd option.
The password must be at least six characters long, and only the first eight characters are significant. Note that the stored password is not encrypted securely - anyone who has access to this file can trivially find out the plaintext password, so vncpasswd always sets appropriate permissions (read and write only by the owner). However, when accessing a VNC desktop a challenge-response mechanism is used over the wire making it hard for anyone to crack the password simply by snooping on the network.

FILES

$HOME/.vnc/passwd

Default location of the VNC password file.

SEE ALSO

vncviewer(1), vncserver(1), Xvnc(1) vncconfig(1),
www.realvnc.com

AUTHOR

Tristan Richardson, RealVNC Ltd.
VNC was originally developed by the RealVNC team while at Olivetti Research Ltd / AT&T Laboratories Cambridge. It is now being maintained by RealVNC Ltd. See www.realvnc.com for details.