VNC Client/Server Setup That Will Pass All Keystrokes to Client and Perform Well, I Am Looking for a

CascadeHush on 06/05/2024 - 16:20

I need a VNC setup that will pass special keystrokes to the client, specifically Alt+PrtSc and Ctrl+Shift+PrtSc, but regardless I would expect that anything except Ctrl+Alt+Del would pass to the server when the client window has focus. I use ShareX extensively on both host and client PCs and I need to be able to capture screens quickly on both.

The only VNC client that passes these key strokes through is RealVNC, but it performs so horribly (even over the local lan) that it is unusable. I have tried changing the color depth but the setting doesn't seem to do anything. The only setting that actually changed anything was the low quality mode which was unusably bad. With UltraVNC and TightVNC I was able to easliy set 256 color mode and performance was great but no key passthrough. Even when I disable ShareX on the client, those keys are not being passed through. OTOH RealVNC just passes those keys through regardless of ShareX, which is what I want.

I'm currently using TightVNC server. I tried installing RealVNC server but it wants an online account to work, so that's not an option. I thought maybe there might be some incombatabiliy with the server but both the TightVNC and UltraVNC clients perform well, in both normal and 256 colour mode, though I prefer the extra performance that comes with less colours. But neither TightVNC or UltraVNC will pass through the keystrokes I need.

So the bottom line is RealVNC client does exactly what I want, but performs so badly that it is unusable, and TightVNC and UltraVNC perform very well but don't actually give me full keyboard control of the remote device so are ultimatly kinda pointess. I also tried RemoteRipple but it was the worst of all worlds in every way.

I'm running on Windows, and would prefer a native client, but I suspect the solution is going to be to run it in a VM with some other VNC client that will pass those keys through.

Computing

Comments

  • askbargain on 06/05/2024 - 16:31
    +1

    might be easier to configure the keyboard to send another command when ctrl-alt-del is pressed

    • CascadeHush on 06/05/2024 - 16:38

      Clever. I could probably live with that. I'd only have one macro to work with but It's a compromise I could learn to live with. But neither TighVNC nor UltraVNC allow you to change the key combination. The Control+Alt+Del is hard baked into them.

  • skid on 06/05/2024 - 16:52
    +2

    I think you can send the keystrokes with the UltraVNC client via it's system menu in combination with an AutoHotKey script. I wrote one to send Ctrl-Esc to the client which I think you can modify to send Alt-PrtSc. If you work it out, reply because sending Alt-PrtSc will be useful for me. Here's the script:

    #persistent
#SingleInstance Force
settitlematchmode, 2
detecthiddenwindows, on

$^Esc::
WinGetClass, vWinClass, A
if (vWinClass = "VNCMDI_Window")
{
    PostMessage, 0x112, 143,,, A
}
else
{
    Send ^{Esc}
}
return
    • CascadeHush on 06/05/2024 - 17:12

      Thanks, if all else fails I'll try this. I just saw that UltraVNC actually has Ctrl+Esc in it's system menu, along with a bunch of other similar common keys.

  • CascadeHush on 06/05/2024 - 17:11

    Looks like Remmina running under Kubuntu will do it, if I'm prepared to live with Ctrl+PrtScn instead of Alt+, so I'll just have to undo 5 years of muscle memory, but I think this old dog can maybe learn a new trick

    • CascadeHush on 07/05/2024 - 11:17

      I ended up using Remote Desktop Viewer. It's very bare bones. It asks you at the start if you want to pass through all the hotkeys, and if you say no, it just doesn't do it and there is no way to fix it (other than digging through a config file somewhere I guess. Remmina suffered from the "I only actually work in high colour mode no matter what the settings are" issue just like RealVNC and whilst performace was better than RealVNC, it was still not really usable. Also Remmina has a really annoying toolbar wasting space along the side with a bunch of really indistinct icons.

      Remote Desktop Viewer is much more bare bones, doesn't offer many settings at all except the one crucial setting of 256 colour mode that actually works and performance is really good to the point that I could stand to watch video in real time (not that that was a requirement, but the option is nice)

  • Tee Rex Arms on 07/05/2024 - 07:09

    They have the internet on computers now?

    • CascadeHush on 07/05/2024 - 11:12
      +1

      Your ideas intrigue me and I'd like to sign up for your newsletter

    • Nugs on 07/05/2024 - 18:07
      +1

      It's a fad I tell ya
      .

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