Help launching VNC through Excel

Guest2 · 19 Jan 2010 at 11:19

I have an excel sheet with all our users. I would like to link VNC to this so i can click connect on a user and VNC is fired up

I have this code in excel

=HYPERLINK("C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC4\vncviewer.exe"&E47,"Connect")

In E47 I have the computer name '\\lds0013\'

When I press connect it says "cannot open the specified file"

What is the correct code that would fire up vnc with the correct ip address/computer name?

Thanks

bledd · 19 Jan 2010 at 11:39

when I use vnc, I never type any \ in the address

derkaderka · 19 Jan 2010 at 12:18

I have a webpage I created for work it has 100 links on it to vnc computers
It works like this , I connect to a PC using vnc then save the .vnc file to disc
I tell it to save password as well ( its obfuscated)

I then tell windows to associate vnc files with vnc viewer , so now when someone clicks on a link it passes this file onto vnc viewer which then
starts up and connects to the computer.
Each of these links points to a .vnc file that has the computer name and password embedded on it.

I hope this helps

Guest2 · 19 Jan 2010 at 12:19

When i direct it to 192.168.10.91 thats in a cell, it says the same thing "cannot open the specified file"

So i have

=HYPERLINK("C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC4\vncviewer.exe"&D29,"Connect")

and in D29 have - 192.168.10.91

derkaderka · 19 Jan 2010 at 12:43

Try my method I know for a fact it works with ultravnc

example contents of vnc file , examplepc.vnc
host is set to the ip or name of the PC , password is encrypted BUT if you use same password for all , you can just copy paste the rest and change only the host part.

[connection]
host=PCNAMEHERE
port=5900
proxyhost=
proxyport=5900
password=a70a47b387cce22e
[options]
use_encoding_0=1
use_encoding_1=1
use_encoding_2=1
use_encoding_3=0
use_encoding_4=1
use_encoding_5=1
use_encoding_6=1
use_encoding_7=1
use_encoding_8=1
use_encoding_9=1
use_encoding_10=0
use_encoding_11=0
use_encoding_12=0
use_encoding_13=0
use_encoding_14=0
use_encoding_15=0
use_encoding_16=1
preferred_encoding=5
restricted=0
viewonly=0
nostatus=0
nohotkeys=0
showtoolbar=1
AutoScaling=0
fullscreen=0
autoDetect=0
8bit=0
shared=1
swapmouse=0
belldeiconify=0
emulate3=1
emulate3timeout=100
emulate3fuzz=4
disableclipboard=0
localcursor=1
Scaling=1
scale_num=1
scale_den=1
cursorshape=0
noremotecursor=1
compresslevel=6
quality=6
ServerScale=1
EnableCache=0
QuickOption=2
UseDSMPlugin=0
UseProxy=0
DSMPlugin=

PS
Another thought , have you tried running process explorer and checking to see what parameters are being passed to vncviewer.exe (double click the exe in the process list and check the command line - just incase something is being mangled by excel)

PMKeates · 19 Jan 2010 at 13:36

You are missing a space. The concatenation that it tries to execute becomes:

C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC4\vncviewer.exe\\lds0013\

Make it this:

=HYPERLINK("C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC4\vncviewer.exe "&E47,"Connect")

Additionally, as other's have mentioned, you probably don't need the slashes just "lds0013".

Guest2 · 19 Jan 2010 at 14:37

derkaderka - where does all that code go in? Saved as a .vnc file or in excel? I am trying to get it working through excel.

MPKeates - I tried with a space and changed \\lds0013\ to just lds0013. However it still says the same thing

derkaderka · 19 Jan 2010 at 15:07

save it in a text file with a .vnc extension (ultravnc viewer will run if u double click on the vnc file , if u have it installed)

You now just link to that file from your excel sheet

PMKeates · 19 Jan 2010 at 15:09

I think this may be a hyperlink limitation. A standard hyperlink on a HTML page has the same limitation with regards to parameters on executables.

The alternative is to create a VBA macro that is more or less the same. The code is very simple:

Shell ("C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC4\vncviewer.exe " & Range("E47"))

You can call the macro from whatever you like and it will launch the VNC connection correctly.

Guest2 · 19 Jan 2010 at 15:38

Just realised some of the passwords are different and are also on the excel sheet i am using.

The following code works fine and launches VNC but it obviously isnt liking the part where it gets the ip address (or computer name)

=HYPERLINK("C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC4\vncviewer.exe")

Every time i open the excel sheet i would have to trust the macro. Think it would be easier to just do what i do now and open the sheet (network users) then find the user with their IP and password, fire up VNC and get in.

I just though it might be quite easy to have a link to open vnc for a particular user within the same sheet

Guest2 · 19 Jan 2010 at 17:15

With the code below, i have added it to a form in VB. How do i add the button on excel?

PMKeates · 19 Jan 2010 at 17:34

View > Toolbars > Control Toolbox

Click the standard button and "draw" it in to the spreadsheet. Right click > View Code > Paste the code in - done!