Built-in VNC is Aprox's own console viewer. Instead of showing Proxmox's web console, Aprox draws the guest's screen natively, which makes it feel at home on each device: touch gestures on iPhone and iPad, pinch to zoom on Android, real keyboard and mouse on the Mac. It also translates your keyboard to the layout the guest expects and gives you the keys a touch keyboard lacks, such as Ctrl, Alt, Esc and the function keys. Built-in VNC is part of Aprox Pro.
Where to find it
Built-in VNC is a console type you choose in Settings:
- For virtual machines with a display: Settings › Graphical Console › Built-in VNC.
- For containers and virtual machines with a serial display: Settings › Serial Console › Built-in VNC (iPhone, iPad and Mac; on Android serial consoles stay in noVNC).
Then open a console as usual: the guest's Console tab, or Open Console (⇧⌘K) on the Mac. See Console.
The footer in Settings describes it: "Renders the VNC framebuffer natively inside the app. Hardware keyboard and mouse are supported; an on-screen keyboard with modifier keys is provided."
Use it on iPhone and iPad
Touch gestures
| Gesture | Effect in the guest |
|---|---|
| Tap | Left click |
| Two-finger tap | Right click |
| Drag | Move the pointer |
| Two-finger drag | Scroll |
A hardware keyboard, mouse and trackpad work as you would expect.
On-screen keyboard
- Tap Toggle Keyboard ("Show or hide the on-screen keyboard") in the toolbar.
- The keyboard appears with an extra row of keys above it:
- Ctrl, Alt and Cmd: tap one, then the key to combine it with. The modifier applies to that one key press and then releases. Tap Ctrl and Alt before a key to send both.
- Esc and Tab.
- The arrow keys.
- Fn: opens the Function keys menu with F1 to F12.
- Tap Toggle Keyboard again to hide it.
Tap Full Screen to give the console the whole screen.
Use it on Android
Touch gestures
| Gesture | Effect in the guest |
|---|---|
| Tap | Left click |
| Long-press | Right click |
| Pinch | Zoom in and out, up to 6× |
| Drag while zoomed | Pan around the screen |
Toolbar
- Show keyboard: shows the on-screen keyboard.
- Ctrl and Alt: sticky modifiers. Tap one to hold it for the next key.
- Esc, Tab and the arrow keys.
- Ctrl+Alt+Del: sends the key combination, for example to log in to Windows.
Tap Full screen for the whole screen and Exit full screen to return.
Use it on the Mac
The console opens in its own window. Your keyboard and mouse work directly in the guest, with no extra controls needed. Resize the window or switch it to full screen as you like.
Set the keyboard layout
When the guest uses a different keyboard layout than your device, some keys come out wrong, for example z and y swapped on a German guest. Tell Aprox which layout the guest expects:
- Open the console.
- Tap the keyboard layout menu in the toolbar ("Set the keyboard layout the guest expects"; Android: "Keyboard layout the guest expects").
- Choose a layout. The setting is remembered for this guest.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Passthrough (Unicode) | Sends the characters your device produces. The default on iPhone, iPad and Mac; on Android the button reads Auto until you choose a layout. |
| en-US, de-DE | Translate keys by their physical position, so every key behaves as on a US or German keyboard attached to the guest. |
| en-GB, de-CH, fr-FR, fr-CH, it-IT, es-ES, pt-PT, pt-BR, nl-NL, sv-SE, no-NO, da-DK, fi-FI, pl-PL, hu-HU, tr-TR, ja-JP, ko-KR | Selectable, but currently pass characters through like Passthrough (Unicode). |
The layouts are listed by name in your device's language, for example "German (Germany)".
Tip
If special characters such as |, @ or \ come out wrong in a Linux or Windows guest with a US or German layout, choose en-US or de-DE to match the guest.
Switch displays
If the virtual machine has custom video streams configured, a display picker appears in the toolbar ("Switch between VNC and custom video streams"). It lists Display N — VNC and Display N — Stream. See Custom video streams. This is available on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Connection states
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Connecting… | Aprox is opening the session. |
| Connection failed | The session could not be opened. Tap Reconnect, check that the server is signed in with a password, and see Troubleshooting. |
| Disconnected from VNC server. | The session ended, for example because the guest stopped or the network dropped. Tap Reconnect. |
Requirements
The same as for every console: Aprox Pro, a password login (API tokens are not accepted for consoles), and typically the VM.Console privilege on the guest. See Console.