Connect and control

Start a session, and what you can do once you are in.

Connect directly (no server)

Both computers must be able to reach each other: the same home or office network, a VPN such as Tailscale or WireGuard, or a port-forward.

1. On the computer to be controlled, open Humble. Under This device, read out Your address and Password.
2. On your computer, type that address into Partner ID or address and press Connect.
3. Enter the password when asked.

Direct connections use TCP port 21420. To use another port, write it after the address, for example 192.168.1.20:21500. For access from outside the network, forward that port on the router of the computer being controlled, or use a server instead.

Nearby computers

The Nearby page lists Humble computers on your local network. Press Connect next to one and enter its password. A computer appears there only if direct connections and local announcement are turned on in its Settings (both are on by default).

Connect by ID (through your server)

With a server, every computer gets a 9-digit ID that works from anywhere, including through home routers and mobile networks.

1. On your computer, open the Computers page and sign in with your server address, username and password, or press Sign in with a browser to sign in on the server's page (for example with Google or GitHub). The address alone (10.0.0.5 or remote.example.com) means HTTPS. If the server's certificate is self-signed, Humble shows its fingerprint and asks whether to trust it: compare it with the one the server shows first.
2. Your devices appear in groups with a green dot when they are online. Press Connect or double-click a device.

You can also type an ID into Partner ID or address on the main page. What happens next depends on your access:

• If an administrator has granted you access to that device's group, you connect straight away, with no password.
• Otherwise you are asked for the password shown on the remote computer's screen.

If you are not signed in to a server, a 9-digit ID is looked up on the Humble public relay (relay.humbleviewer.com) instead: that is how you reach someone using Humble Support. You are asked for the password shown on their screen.

When you are signed in on one of your account's computers, the server also checks that computer's switches: a computer that may not connect to the others is refused with a message saying so (see Accounts).

To give a computer an ID without enrolling it, see Quick support.

The session window

Each session opens in its own window with a toolbar across the top.

The right end of the toolbar shows whether you have full control or view-only, the frame rate, the data rate and the delay. Hover over the lock to see the remote computer's key fingerprint.

Quality presets

Set the default for new sessions in Settings → Appearance.

• Frame rate: sessions run at up to 30 frames a second, smooth for desktop work. Settings → Advanced → Allow up to 60 frames per second doubles that for Balanced and Optimize quality. It is experimental and costs about twice the processor time on both computers, so laptops run warmer and louder.
• Slow networks: when the network cannot carry the picture, Humble lowers the bitrate within a second, and on very slow links the frame rate too, instead of letting the picture fall seconds behind. It raises them again once the network keeps up.
• Graphics card: the computer being controlled encodes the picture on its graphics card when it has a hardware encoder: NVIDIA, Intel and AMD on Windows (Media Foundation), Intel and AMD on Linux (VA-API). That takes most of the encoding off the processor. Otherwise, or with Settings → Advanced → Encode video on the graphics card turned off, the processor does it. The session log says which one is at work.
• Still screens send nothing, and after a second without changes the remote computer looks for changes less often to save power. Moving the mouse or typing brings back the full rate at once.

Sound

What the remote computer plays comes out of your speakers or headphones. It is on by default.

• View → Play the remote sound mutes or unmutes one session. The settings apply to sessions opened afterwards.
• The sound is what the remote computer sends to its default output: on Windows everything it plays, on Linux the default PulseAudio or PipeWire output. Its microphone is not sent. Silence costs nothing: nothing is sent while the computer is quiet.
• Both computers need Humble 0.3.0 or newer. Sound from a Mac being controlled is not available yet.

Transfer files

Files in the session toolbar opens the file transfer window, which works like WinSCP: your computer's files on the left, the remote computer's on the right, each with its folder path, ⬆ (parent folder), 🏠 (home) and ⟳ (refresh).

• Click a file or folder to select it; Ctrl-click adds or removes one, Shift-click selects a range. Double-click a folder to open it, or type a path and press Enter. On Windows, the parent of a drive lists the drives.
• ▶ copies the left side's selection into the folder shown on the right; ◀ copies the right side's selection into the folder shown on the left. Folders are copied with everything in them.
• When something with the same name is already there, you choose: Replace them, Skip them or Cancel.
• Below the two sides, bars show the transfers in progress, and the log lists what was sent or fetched, how big it was and how fast, and anything skipped or failed. Clear empties it.

The file transfer window is a window of its own: the remote screen stays open beside it. The 📁 button in Computers opens a session for files only, which shows just the file transfer view. File transfer needs control access. A remote computer with Humble Viewer older than 0.13 keeps what you send in its Downloads/Humble folder whatever folder is shown; the log says so.

Clipboard

Text you copy on one computer can be pasted on the other. It is synchronised about twice a second while the session is open. Only text is synchronised; use the file panel for files and images.

Full screen

Choose View → Full screen. The session fills the whole monitor and the toolbar disappears.

• Get the toolbar back: move the pointer to the top edge of the screen, in the middle. A small mint line marks the spot. The toolbar floats in with every menu, and hides again when you move away.
• Leave full screen: press Right Ctrl + Right Alt + F. This is the only way out, so that Escape, F11 and every other key stay available for the remote computer. End session in the floating toolbar also closes the window.
• Start a session directly in full screen from a terminal with humble connect <address> --fullscreen.

On Linux and macOS, where keys cannot be captured system-wide yet, either Ctrl key with either Alt key and F leaves full screen.

Keyboard

While the pointer is over the remote screen, everything you type goes to the remote computer. Move the pointer off the remote screen (onto the toolbar, the chat or the file panel) and the keyboard belongs to your own computer again.

• On a Windows computer you are controlling from: every key is captured, including Esc, the Start / Windows key, Alt+Tab, Alt+F4 and Print Screen. None of them act on your own computer while the pointer is over the remote screen. Left and right Ctrl, Alt, Shift and Windows keys are sent as the exact key you pressed.
• On a Linux or Mac computer you are controlling from: ordinary keys, Esc, left and right Ctrl, Alt and Shift, and the Super key (sent as the Windows key) reach the remote computer. Combinations your desktop reserves for itself (on Omarchy / Hyprland, Super with a letter, Super+Space and the like; the window switcher) are taken by the desktop before Humble sees them. Use the Send keys menu for those.
• Ctrl+Alt+Del can never be captured on Windows. Use Send keys → Ctrl + Alt + Del.
• Ctrl+Shift+Esc opens Task Manager on a Windows computer you control: Windows ignores that shortcut when it is simulated, so Humble opens Task Manager there itself (for the signed-in user). It works typed or from Send keys. Some laptop keyboards cannot register left Ctrl, left Shift and Esc together; use Send keys then.
• Keys are sent as physical keys, so the remote computer's own keyboard layout decides which character appears. If the remote computer remaps keys (for example with keyd), its remapping applies.
• Single presses (on by default, Settings → Remote keyboard): each key is typed once, even while you hold it, so a slow or unsteady connection can never leave a key stuck or repeating on the remote computer. Shift, Ctrl, Alt and the Windows / Super key are still held, so shortcuts work as usual.
• Holding a key (on by default, under single presses): a key you keep holding for a second is then held on the remote computer too, so it repeats there, for example Backspace to delete more, or an arrow key to keep moving. It stays down until you let go. A shorter press is still a single press. Turn single presses off to send keys down and up exactly as you press them, for example for games.

Macros

A macro is a named piece of text and key presses that Humble types on the remote computer with one click: a login, a command, a sequence of shortcuts. Open Macros → Manage macros… to add, edit, delete, import or export them. Saved macros appear in the Macros menu of both the normal and the floating toolbar, and are kept in your settings for every session.

A macro has a name (up to 30 characters) and a message. Plain text in the message is typed as it is. Special keys and pauses go between triple bars:

Commands are not case-sensitive. An example that opens the Run box on Windows, starts Notepad and types a line:

|||WIN+R||||||DELAY=0.5|||notepad|||ENTER||||||DELAY=1|||Hello from Humble|||ENTER|||

• The syntax is the same as the macro language of the KB-KVM controller, and Import and Export use the same JSON file format, so macros can be moved between the two. PRINTSCREEN and MENU are Humble additions.
• Text is typed assuming a US keyboard layout on the remote computer. Only plain ASCII characters can be typed; the editor warns about anything else.
• A line break in the message presses Enter.
• Anyone who can read your settings file can read your macros, so avoid storing passwords in them.

Different versions on the two computers

You do not need the same Humble version on both sides. The two computers agree on what both understand, and the session window shows a version mismatch warning so you know to update the older one. This lets you connect to a computer with an old version and update it remotely, for example by sending the new installer with the file transfer window.

When someone controls your computer

While a session is active, the main window shows a banner naming who is connected and how. From there you can chat with them or press Disconnect to end the session at once. The one-time password changes after every session that used it.