noVNC README

The project's README from github.com/novnc/noVNC. As one markdown file: README.md.

noVNC: HTML VNC client library and application

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Description

noVNC is both a HTML VNC client JavaScript library and an application built on top of that library. noVNC runs well in any modern browser including mobile browsers (iOS and Android).

Many companies, projects and products have integrated noVNC including OpenStack, OpenNebula, LibVNCServer, and ThinLinc. See the Projects and companies wiki page for a more complete list with additional info and links.

Table of contents

News/help/contact

The project website is found at novnc.com.

If you are a noVNC developer/integrator/user (or want to be) please join the noVNC discussion group.

Bugs and feature requests can be submitted via github issues. If you have questions about using noVNC then please first use the discussion group. We also have a wiki with lots of helpful information.

If you are looking for a place to start contributing to noVNC, a good place to start would be the issues that are marked as "patchwelcome". Please check our contribution guide though.

If you want to show appreciation for noVNC you could donate to a great non- profits such as: Compassion International, SIL, Habitat for Humanity, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Against Malaria Foundation, Nothing But Nets, etc.

Features

Screenshots

Running in Firefox before and after connecting:

 

See more screenshots here.

Browser requirements

noVNC uses many modern web technologies so a formal requirement list is not available. However these are the minimum versions we are currently aware of:

Server requirements

noVNC follows the standard VNC protocol, but unlike other VNC clients it does require WebSockets support. Many servers include support (e.g. x11vnc/libvncserver, QEMU, and MobileVNC), but for the others you need to use a WebSockets to TCP socket proxy. noVNC has a sister project websockify that provides a simple such proxy.

Quick start

Installation from snap package

Running the command below will install the latest release of noVNC from snap:

sudo snap install novnc

Running noVNC from snap directly

You can run the snap package installed novnc directly with, for example:

novnc --listen 6081 --vnc localhost:5901 # /snap/bin/novnc if /snap/bin is not in your PATH

If you want to use certificate files, due to standard snap confinement restrictions you need to have them in the /home/<user>/snap/novnc/current/ directory. If your username is jsmith an example command would be:

novnc --listen 8443 --cert ~jsmith/snap/novnc/current/self.crt --key ~jsmith/snap/novnc/current/self.key --vnc ubuntu.example.com:5901

Running noVNC from snap as a service (daemon)

The snap package also has the capability to run a 'novnc' service which can be configured to listen on multiple ports connecting to multiple VNC servers (effectively a service running multiple instances of novnc). Instructions (with example values):

List current services (out-of-box this will be blank):

sudo snap get novnc services
Key             Value
services.n6080  {...}
services.n6081  {...}

Create a new service that listens on port 6082 and connects to the VNC server running on port 5902 on localhost:

sudo snap set novnc services.n6082.listen=6082 services.n6082.vnc=localhost:5902

(Any services you define with 'snap set' will be automatically started) Note that the name of the service, 'n6082' in this example, can be anything as long as it doesn't start with a number or contain spaces/special characters.

View the configuration of the service just created:

sudo snap get novnc services.n6082
Key                    Value
services.n6082.listen  6082
services.n6082.vnc     localhost:5902

Disable a service (note that because of a limitation in snap it's currently not possible to unset config variables, setting them to blank values is the way to disable a service):

sudo snap set novnc services.n6082.listen='' services.n6082.vnc=''

(Any services you set to blank with 'snap set' like this will be automatically stopped)

Verify that the service is disabled (blank values):

sudo snap get novnc services.n6082
Key                    Value
services.n6082.listen  
services.n6082.vnc

Integration and deployment

Please see our other documents for how to integrate noVNC in your own software, or deploying the noVNC application in production environments:

Authors/Contributors

See AUTHORS for a (full-ish) list of authors. If you're not on that list and you think you should be, feel free to send a PR to fix that.

Do you want to be on this list? Check out our contribution guide and start hacking!

noVNC (novnc/noVNC)

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14.1K ·GitHub
NoVNC
What is this?noVNC is an HTML5 VNC client that lets you connect to and control a remote desktop straight from a web browser, with no plugins needed. It powers browser-based remote access in projects like OpenStack, OpenNebula and ThinLinc.
Is noVNC just a JavaScript library, or something I can run directly?It's both: a reusable JavaScript/HTML5 VNC client library you can embed in your own app, plus a ready-to-run web application built on top of that same library.
How do I get it running?Run the bundled novncproxy script pointed at your VNC server, for example './utils/novncproxy --vnc localhost:5901', then open the URL it prints in your browser and hit Connect. It's also installable as a snap package via 'sudo snap install novnc'.
What do I need on the server side to connect?The VNC server must speak WebSockets, not just raw TCP, since noVNC does require WebSockets support. Servers like x11vnc/libvncserver, QEMU and MobileVNC support this directly; for others you run noVNC's sister project websockify as a WebSockets-to-TCP proxy in front of a regular VNC server.
Will it work in any browser?It needs a fairly modern browser since it leans on current web tech: the project lists minimum versions of Chrome 89, Firefox 89, Safari 15, Opera 75 and Edge 89.
What VNC authentication methods does noVNC support?It supports none, classic VNC auth, RealVNC's RSA-AES, Tight, VeNCrypt Plain, XVP, Apple's Diffie-Hellman, and UltraVNC's MSLogonII.
What VNC encodings can noVNC decode?It handles raw, copyrect, rre, hextile, tight, tightPNG, ZRLE, JPEG, Zlib and H.264 encodings.
Does it work well on phones and tablets?Yes, it runs in mobile browsers on iOS and Android and includes touch gestures that emulate common mouse actions like clicking and dragging.
Can I run noVNC as a background service for multiple VNC servers?The snap package can run a persistent 'novnc' service configured to listen on several ports and connect each one to a different VNC server, effectively running multiple noVNC instances at once.
What are similar projects?xpra, interact.js, Termix, phaser, fastclick, websocket, feathers, fleetbase
Which topics is it in?vnc, touch, websockets, remote-desktop, html5, protocol, canvas, i18n, websocket, real-time, authentication, proxy
Creator
novnc
Size
10.6 MB
Stars
14.1K
Updated
CommitOct 16Releasev1.7.0Apr 28
Age
16y
Commits · 90 Days