8.19. Setting the Remote VNC Desktop Size

Problem

Your custom VNC desktop works fine, except it's too big. How do you change this?

Solution

The default remote desktop size is 1024 x 768. You can change this on the command line when you start the server:

	$ tightvncserver -geometry 800x600

Be sure to use standard values only, or applications will look all wrong, or not work at all. The standard values are:

1600 x 1200
1280 x 1024
1024 x 768
800 x 600
640 x 480

You can set the desktop size in a configuration file, either system-wide in /etc/vnc.conf or per-user in ~/.vncrc. User settings override global settings, and the command line overrides all. For example, to set the default desktop size to 800 x600, use this line:

	geometry = "800x600";

The default /etc/vnc.conf contains a lot of sample options and shows the correct syntax.

Discussion

There are so many ways to do this on Linux and on Windows from Cygwin that it gets a bit mind-boggling. For example, you could log in to your VNC server via SSH and start up the VNC server with customized options. Or, edit its configuration files and restart it. You can get a pretty good hall-of-mirrors effect going.

See Also