RealVNC is a commercial VNC solution for various types of operating systems, including Linux. It allows users to control a computer remotely, and interact with the desktop as if they were sitting directly in front of the remote computer. The remote computer should be running RealVNC Server, while the client must run RealVNC Viewer in order to connect to the server and control the computer.
If you are trying to connect to a computer running RealVNC Server, then you will first need to install the RealVNC Viewer client. In this tutorial, we will go over the step by step instructions to install RealVNC Viewer on all major Linux distributions.
In this tutorial you will learn:
- How to download RealVNC Viewer
- How to install RealVNC Viewer on major Linux distros
| Category | Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used |
|---|---|
| System | Any Linux distro |
| Software | RealVNC Viewer |
| Other | Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command. |
| Conventions |
# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user |
How to Install RealVNC Viewer on Linux
RealVNC Viewer is not available in official software repositories. We must download the program from the official RealVNC website and install it ourselves. The process is not very hard, as you will see in the steps below.
How to install RealVNC Viewer on Debian based systems
On Debian based systems like Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, etc, we will need to install RealVNC via the official DEB file download. Follow the steps below to get RealVNC Viewer installed:
- Navigate to the official RealVNC Viewer download page. Make sure that the DEB x64 option is selected from the drop down menu, and then click on “Download VNC Viewer.”
Downloading the RealVNC Viewer DEB package - Open a command line terminal and navigate to the directory where you downloaded the DEB file.
$ cd ~/Downloads
- Then, install the local DEB file with the
aptpackage manager.$ sudo apt install ./VNC-Viewer-7.5.1-Linux-x64.deb
Installing RealVNC Viewer via DEB file on a Debian based system - Access the installed RealVNC program by searching for “vnc” inside of the Activities menu or your desktop’s application launcher.
Opening RealVNC Viewer on Linux
How to install RealVNC Viewer on Red Hat based systems
On Red Hat based systems like Fedora, CentOS, AlmaLinux, and Red Hat, etc, we will need to install RealVNC via the official RPM file download. Follow the steps below to get RealVNC Viewer installed:
- Navigate to the official RealVNC Viewer download page. Make sure that the RPM x64 option is selected from the drop down menu, and then click on “Download VNC Viewer.”
Downloading the RealVNC Viewer RPM package - Open a command line terminal and navigate to the directory where you downloaded the RPM file.
$ cd ~/Downloads
- Then, install the local RPM file with the
dnfpackage manager.$ sudo dnf install ./VNC-Viewer-7.5.1-Linux-x64.rpm
Installing RealVNC Viewer via RPM file on a Fedora based system
- Access the installed RealVNC program by searching for “vnc” inside of the Activities menu or your desktop’s application launcher.
Opening RealVNC Viewer on Linux
How to install RealVNC Viewer on Arch Linux based systems
On Arch Linux based systems such as Arch Linux and Manjaro, etc, we can install RealVNC via the Arch User Repository. Follow the steps below to get RealVNC Viewer installed:
- Get started by opening a command line terminal. In case you do not already have an AUR helper installed, we can use the following commands to install
yayand other prerequisite packages:$ sudo pacman -Sy base-devel git yay
- Next, we will use
yayto install RealVNC from the Arch User Repository.$ yay -S realvnc-vnc-viewer
Installing RealVNC Viewer via RPM file on an Arch Linux based system - Access the installed RealVNC program by searching for “vnc” inside of the Activities menu or your desktop’s application launcher.
Opening RealVNC Viewer on Linux
Closing Thoughts
In this tutorial, we saw how to install RealVNC Viewer on a Linux system. The process varies depending on the user’s Linux distribution, so we need to follow the proper steps based on what kind of system we are running. After getting RealVNC Viewer installed, you will be able to log in to your RealVNC account and connect to a remote RealVNC Server to control another computer.
