VNCviewer should remember and find screen of appropriate size

[Mario Nigrovic]

Folks -

A minor issue I have a lot is that I like to run my VNCviewer full-screen at 4k resolution. When the viewer disconnects and reconnects, it would be very nice if it could search for a monitor of the appropriate size and restart there, rather than requiring the user to disable full-screen, drag the window to the correct monitor, and then re-enable full-screen mode.

Would this be a practical improvement, or is it not possible?

Thanks,

-- Mario

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[Pierre Ossman]

On 12/06/2025 21:27, 'Mario Nigrovic' via TigerVNC User

Discussion/Support wrote:
> Folks -
>
> A minor issue I have a lot is that I like to run my VNCviewer
> full-screen at 4k resolution. When the viewer disconnects and reconnects,
> it would be very nice if it could search for a monitor of the appropriate
> size and restart there, rather than requiring the user to disable
> full-screen, drag the window to the correct monitor, and then re-enable
> full-screen mode.
>
> Would this be a practical improvement, or is it not possible?
>

If you want the viewer on a specific monitor, then that functionality
already exists. In the "Display" settings, you select "Full screen on
selected monitor(s)", and then mark the monitor you want it to use.

Regards,
--
Pierre Ossman Software Development
Cendio AB https://cendio.com
Teknikringen 8 https://twitter.com/ThinLinc
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Phone: +46-13-214600

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[Mario Nigrovic]

I tried this, but it's not at all helpful when I take a laptop between environments where the monitor arrangement is different. So it would be really nice if the logic of pin-fullscreen-to-monitor would remember the monitor resolution and make sure that the monitor it's opening on has the same resolution as the originally pinned monitor.

-- Mario

480-753-2373

[Pierre Ossman]

On 24/06/2025 23:12, 'Mario Nigrovic' via TigerVNC User

Discussion/Support wrote:
> I tried this, but it's not at all helpful when I take a laptop between
> environments where the monitor arrangement is different. So it would be
> really nice if the logic of pin-fullscreen-to-monitor would remember the
> monitor resolution and make sure that the monitor it's opening on has the
> same resolution as the originally pinned monitor.
>

It's very common that users have multiple monitors of the same size. So
it's not obvious how that mapping would work.

Could you describe your work flow in a bit more detail? What's the setup
like in the environments you move between? What steps do you usually take?

It would help us understand things better so we can see if there are
other approaches that might work.

[Mario Nigrovic]

Sure. My general setup is a laptop with two external monitors. The laptop is native 4K, but I'm running it as only WXUGA (1920x1200). One external monitor is QHD, and one is 4K. My VNC session is 4K. Between my work and home office, the only difference is that the UHD monitor switches sides, so the monitor configuration is physically different. It's also my experience that Windows regularly scrambles up the monitor numbers (ie, the laptop is the primary monitor, but not always monitor 1), but I don't know if that mechanism is how the vncviewer tracks the target monitor. 

It just seems the heuristics could be improved to find the display monitor by checking for (1) the monitor's unique ID, (2) among monitors of the right size, the one generally in the correct relative position, or (3) the monitor closest to the same position.

-- Mario

480-753-2373

[Alex Holland]

I do not have the same problem you're experiencing here. TigerVNC v1.15 "just works" for me.

I am using the TigerVNC server for Linux v1.15 and TigerVNC viewer for Windows v1.15. I launch the server simply with "vncviewer" and I just click on the VNCViewer icon enter the display URL/number.

I use the viewer option "Full Screen on Selected screens" to go full screen across two of my 3 screens. (Screens 2&3)

In our offices we all use Laptops but there are desks with different screens on them, some with two WXUGA 1920x1200 monitors and others with two QHD 2560x1440 monitors

As I move my laptop between desks, I close VNCViewer and reconnects, it goes full screen across two of the 3 screens (2&3) the server resizes to the correct size for the monitors attached. I carry on working no problem.

There are also other desks with one UHD 3840x2160 monitor, numbered as monitor 2, the option to go full screen across screens 2&3 still works, I close VNCViewer and re-open without changing settings and VNC goes full screen across monitor 2 VNCServer resizes the server, I carry on working as normal.

I guess you don't want to have to close and re-open VNCViewer as you move desks?

Regards

Alex

[Mario Nigrovic]

Alex -

A-ha, there's the difference. The behavior you're describing IS perfect when the session is set to automatically resize. But if it's set to NOT automatically resize, then finding a monitor (or monitor configuration?) of the right size seems a better approach.

-- Mario

480-753-2373

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