Specifying VNC port number with Finder's built-in VNC client?

I do this all the time. Generally I'm doing it across an ssh tunnel, but specifying the port works very well for me

open vnc://localhost:5901

Where localhost:5901 is the local side of my ssh tunnel to the remote system's VNC port.

I suspect you have other issues.

However, you can try a different VNC client if you really think it is a Mac OS X Screen Sharing client issue. You can try Chicken (free)
<http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/36208/chicken>

There are other VNC clients, such as Jollysfastvnc (Shareware), RealVNC, TightVNC if you are willing to install the open source version and use X11 as your user interface.

Not working. It makes exactly same result with Command+K on Finder.
Thanks anyway 🙂

What does not work? open vnc://address:port ?
Or alternate VNC clients?

And what's the SSH tunneling technique? Can it forward port on local machine?

An ssh tunnel provides an encrypted path between your system and the remote system. It is idea for vnc when working across the internet. When working in your home or within your company, there is less worry about using an encrypted path.

You can find ssh tunneling VNC examples in the Apple forums, as well as via Google searches. The basic idea is, the remote system has to allow port 22 access (this is the ssh port; Mac OS X enables this via System Preferences -> Sharing -> Remote Login). If there are home routers involved, you have to port forward port 22. If corporate firewalls are involved, it is better to just use TeamViewer.com

The ssh command would look something like:

ssh -L 22590:localhost:5900 username@remote.system.address

Now from Finder Command-K you use vnc://localhost:22590 which will connect with local port 22590, which ssh will send to the remote system 5900. Anything remote port 5900 sends back ssh will return to local port 22590.

You can specify any local port (22590 is just an example, but a high number is recommended), and you can specify any remote port (5900 is the default VNC port number, but you can specify you desired destination port).

However, I am concerned that vnc://remote.system.address:port is NOT working for you. As it works for just about everyone else that has a need to specify an alternate VNC port number. This is why I suggested trying an alternate VNC client to see if your results behaved differently. If Chicken also fails, then I would question either your remote VNC setup, or the network between the VNC client and the remote system.

Message was edited by: BobHarris