How can I change the target resolution of a VNC Server

Question

Here is my question: How can I change the geometry of a VNC Server on MacOS? All I want is to get some benefits from the fact that I'm connecting to remote 13' MacBook using 27' iMac.

As far as I understand, neither default MacOS VNC server nor Vine VNS does not provide a possibility to set the geometry.

The closest thing related to the issue I've succeeded to find so far is this discussion. So, I guess, the question can be boiled down to how can I change the resolution of the screen (and, to be honest, I believe that such thing should be done for free in a decent OS :).

Of course, more elegant rather than hacks with switching current resolution solutions will be favored.

Answer 1

I had a similar issue years ago using VNC with an ancient Power Mac 7100. The 7100 was headless and the video defaulted to 800 x 600.

I discovered that the VNC server doesn't care what the resolution is but that it is limited to resolutions that the remote machine will support.

In my case, after connecting the remote 7100, I then using the Displays Control Panel to crank the display to the highest resolution the remote machine could handle. The VNC screen then changed to match the new remote resolution.

Unfortunately, this means you can only use the maximum resolution that the remote machine's hardware will support.