RealVNC is a company that provides remote access software. The software consists of a server (VNC Server) and client (VNC Viewer) application for the

Virtual Network Computing Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is a graphical desktop-sharing system that uses the Remote Frame Buffer protocol (RFB) to remotely control another computer. It transmits the keyboard and mouse input from one computer to another, relaying the g ...

(VNC) protocol to control another computer's screen remotely.

History

Andy Harter Andrew Charles Harter (born 1961 in Yorkshire, England) is a British computer scientist, best known as the founder of RealVNC, where he was CEO until March 2018. Education and early life Born in Yorkshire in 1961, Harter attended the Queen E ...

and other members of the original VNC team at

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

founded RealVNC Limited in 2002. The automotive division of RealVNC spun out as a separate company
VNC Automotive
in 2018.

Platforms, editions, versions

For a desktop-to-desktop connection RealVNC runs on

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

, and many

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...

operating systems. A list of supported platforms can be found on th
website
A RealVNC client also runs on the

Java platform Java is a set of computer software and specifications developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems, which was later acquired by the Oracle Corporation, that provides a system for developing application software and deploying it in a cro ...

and on the

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

iPhone,

iPod touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a music pl ...

and

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

and

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

Android devices. A Windows-only client, VNC Viewer Plus was launched in 2010, designed to interface to the embedded server on

Intel AMT Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) is hardware and firmware for remote out-of-band management of select business computers, running on the Intel Management Engine, a microprocessor subsystem not exposed to the user, intended for monitorin ...

chipsets found on

Intel vPro Intel vPro technology is an umbrella marketing term used by Intel for a large collection of computer hardware technologies, including VT-x, VT-d, Trusted Execution Technology (TXT), and Intel Active Management Technology (AMT). When the vPro bra ...

motherboards. RealVNC removed VNC Viewer Plus from sale on 28th February 2021. For remote access to view one computer desktop on another, RealVNC requires one of three subscriptions: # Home – free registration and activation required # Professional – commercial version geared towards home or small-business users, with authentication and encryption, remote printing, chat and file transfer # Enterprise – commercial version geared towards enterprises, with enhanced authentication and encryption, remote printing, chat, file transfer, and command-line deployment As of release 4.3 (released August 2007), separate versions of both the Personal and Enterprise editions exist for 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Release 4.6 included features such as HTTP proxy support, chat, an address book, remote printing, unicode support, and connection notification. Users must activate each of the server versions ("Home", "Professional", "Enterprise"). With the release of VNC 5.0 late December 2013, RealVNC software editions used a single binary which superseded VNC Enterprise Edition and VNC Personal Edition. In November 2016, RealVNC released the updated version of their software, now called VNC Connect (version 6.0). The new version introduces a cloud connection option using a subscription-based pricing model. Users can choose between three subscription levels; Home (free for non-commercial use), Professional and Enterprise. Home and Professional subscriptions are cloud connections only. The Enterprise subscription supports hybrid connections that include the traditional direct (peer to peer) connections and/or cloud connections.

Client (VNC Viewer)

RealVNC clients using vncviewer can run in full-screen mode; they use the F8 function-key as the default key for bringing up an options menu (which includes the option to, among other things, switch off full screen mode or to forward a Control-Alt-Delete key-sequence).

Server (VNC Server)

The server component of RealVNC allows a computer to be remotely controlled by another computer.

Connectivity

RealVNC uses the

RFB protocol RFB ("remote framebuffer") is an open simple protocol for remote access to graphical user interfaces. Because it works at the framebuffer level it is applicable to all windowing systems and applications, including Microsoft Windows, macOS and th ...

. RFB 6.0 defaults to TCP/UDP port 5900. When making a connection over the Internet, the user must open this port in the local firewall as well as configure

port forwarding In computer networking, port forwarding or port mapping is an application of network address translation (NAT) that redirects a communication request from one address and port number combination to another while the packets are traversing a netw ...

to forward TCP Port 5900 (or the customized port respectively) to the local machine address if behind a

NAT Nat or NAT may refer to: Computing * Network address translation (NAT), in computer networking Organizations * National Actors Theatre, New York City, U.S. * National AIDS trust, a British charity * National Archives of Thailand * National As ...

Router. As an alternative, one can tunnel VNC through

SSH The Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. Its most notable applications are remote login and command-line execution. SSH applications are based on ...

, avoiding the opening of additional ports and automatically traversing the NAT router. SSH also provides encryption of the connection between the VNC server and viewer. After proposing remote access interface for Weston in October 2013, RealVNC published a Wayland developer preview in July 2014.

Limitations

The VNC protocol is pixel-based. Although this leads to great flexibility (e.g., any type of desktop can be displayed), it is often less efficient than solutions that have a better understanding of the underlying graphic layout, like

X11 The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting wi ...

. Those protocols send graphic primitives or high-level commands in a simpler form (e.g., open window), whereas RFB just sends the raw pixel data.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Realvnc Companies based in Cambridge Cross-platform software Formerly free software Internet Protocol based network software MacOS remote administration software Remote administration software for Linux Remote administration software Remote desktop software for Linux Java (programming language) software Virtual Network Computing Windows remote administration software