.TH vncpasswd 1 "03 Mar 2005" "RealVNC Ltd" "Virtual Network Computing"
.SH NAME
vncpasswd \- change a VNC password
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B vncpasswd
.RI [ passwd-file ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B 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 \fBvncserver\fP script runs \fBvncpasswd\fP the first
time you start a VNC desktop, and invokes \fBXvnc\fP with the appropriate
\fB\-rfbauth\fP option.  \fBvncviewer\fP can also be given a password file to
use via the \fB\-passwd\fP option.

The password must be at least six characters long, and only the first eight
characters are significant.  Note that the stored password is \fBnot\fP
encrypted securely - anyone who has access to this file can trivially find out
the plaintext password, so \fBvncpasswd\fP 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.

.SH FILES
.TP
$HOME/.vnc/passwd
Default location of the VNC password file.

.SH SEE ALSO
.BR vncviewer (1),
.BR vncserver (1),
.BR Xvnc (1)
.BR vncconfig (1),
.br
http://www.realvnc.com

.SH 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
http://www.realvnc.com for details.