TightVNC Server seems to ignore settings without a user logged in to server locally

networkingvnc

I have been fighting a VNC configuration issue for sometime now. Even with the additional recent assistance of a friend/guru more skilled than I, the issue continued to elude me:

Running a TightVNC server on machine "myServer" (WinXPsp2) set to display/port 1, one could use vncviewer on machine "myClient" to connect iff someone is locally logged in to myServer. So if I am logged in locally to the server, on my client I could connect with vncviewer. Logout of the server locally; vncviewer could not establish a connection. Log back in on the server, and vncviewer again connects from the client.

I just finished poring carefully through all permutations of test cases (I have a spreadsheet of test results available) and my remarkable conclusion is this:

(1) When logged out on server, the VNC service reverts to display/port 0. When logged in on server, it honors the port set in the configuration.
(2) When logged out on server, the VNC service reverts to an unknown default password. When logged in on server, it honors the password set in the configuration.

So with the VNC server set to port 1, if I am logged in on the server, vncviewer connects to port 1. If logged out, vncviewer connects only on port 0! Unfortunately, it connects but it will not authenticate, because, as I said above, it not only reverts the port but also the password, and I do not know what the default password is (TightVNC site claims there is no default password).

Note that my test cases include:

  • Connecting with and without a putty-secured tunnel.
  • Connecting with client on internet and client on intranet.
  • Connecting with vncviewer and with a browser.

Is this a known defect? I could find nothing on it with a web search. Is there any workaround so that one could connect with vncviewer?

Best Answer

When logged out, VNC is controlled by the registry entries in HKLM\Software. You may find that when logged in it's looking at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software. If so try deleting the TightVNC key from the current user bit of the registry and restart the service. With a bit of luck it will then resort to using the local machine key instead.

JR

Related Topic