Autostarting kfrb - without opening a window

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1

I’m using Plasma 6.3.6 on Framework 6.13.0 on X11 on Debian Trixie (13.3).

I want to autostart krfb without any window. Not minimized, but no window at all. (I have multiple reasons for this, so please don’t get into the “why?” part of this.)

I used Settings and added krfb to Autostart. So it starts, but with the window open. There is no ability to add command line arguments in Autostart. There is also no useable documentation on krfb. What can be found is in bits and pieces and without clear explanations. For instance, on this page (the forum won’t let me link to it - but it’s the krfbrc page on Github), it shows an example of krfbrc, but there is no explanation of any options and nothing to indicate that any command line options could be included. (Also, there’s no clear documentation on just what command line options krfb has.)

I created a script:

#!/bin/sh
/bin/krfb –-nodialog &

I added that to Autostart and removed kfrb, itself, as an item in Autostart. This does autostart krfb, but STILL opens the window in Plasma. (And, oddly, when I try ps aux|grep krfb, there is no krfb task when I start it with the script.) Also note that while I use --nodialog, the window always opens when I use this.

In Autostart, there is no way to specify command line options. While I could hand-edit the Autostart file, to add a command line option, if I ever use the Settings app to add a new item to Autostart, it would rewrite the file and clobber my hand done edits.

I’ve done this before, in years past, and it was so trivial I didn’t even write any notes on how to do it, but, as of now, it seems impossible to start krfb WITHOUT opening a window on the desktop.

How can I open krfb so I can reach my system with a VNC viewer, and get the KDE desktop, instead of another one, and NOT open the krfb window? There are a number of reasons I don’t want the window to open and, with the lack of documentation, or ability to use options in Autostart, it just seems impossible.

2

So here’s the deal: Autostart features are not as obvious as they seem. Here’s a shot of Autostarter with krfb setup to autostart:

Screenshot 2026-02-08 at 1.38.14 PM
Screenshot 2026-02-08 at 1.38.14 PM929×681 41.4 KB

Each app gets a line of its own, with the app icon on the left, and the Delete X on the right. When I added it, the “Running” was not there because I had not restarted KDE so it could autostart. I had clicked on the app icon and on the line and nothing happened. Right clicked on it, too, with no result. Turns out clicking on the icon near the X is the only thing that does anything. (That looked, to me, more like just a status indicator or something similar.) Click on that icon of the window with a box and some lines of text in it and you can edit the properties of the app. I replaced “–qwindowtitle %c” with “–nodialog” and it works - it starts krfb and doesn’t bring the window up.

I have to add that documentation for krfb is almost non-existent and it would really help a lot of people (judging from all the posts and comments I’ve seen while searching), if krfb had a workable and informative man page or provided useful info with “–help.” It has neither.

3

Nope.

Did that. I have “-nodialog” in the Autostart, like I described and, for some reason it starts and opens the dialog anyway.

4

Odd hack that worked.

In the text box where you enter the command line arguments, I added a second “–no dialog” so it reads “–nodialog –nodialog” (again, 2 en-dashes, not 1 em-dash, as autocorrect made it).

That makes it work.