Use the client

Start the client after the Windows guest and IDD are running:

looking-glass-client

The client uses LGMP over /dev/kvmfr0 automatically when that device is available. Otherwise it uses /dev/shm/looking-glass. Select another device with -f or the canonical lgmp:shmDevice option:

looking-glass-client -f /dev/kvmfr1

Use looking-glass-client --help to see the options supported by the installed build. Command-line options override configuration files.

Default key bindings

Looking Glass uses ScrLk as its escape key by default. Press it by itself to enter or leave capture mode. Hold it to display the available commands. Change it with input:escapeKey or -m if the keyboard does not have ScrLk.

Default client commands

Command

Action

ScrLk

Enter or leave capture mode

ScrLk + Q

Quit

ScrLk + F

Toggle full screen

ScrLk + V

Toggle the video stream

ScrLk + R

Rotate clockwise by 90 degrees

ScrLk + Shift + R

Force guest display recovery mode

ScrLk + =

Ask the IDD to match the client window resolution

ScrLk + I

Toggle guest input

ScrLk + O

Enter or leave interactive overlay mode

ScrLk + D

Toggle the FPS and UPS widget

ScrLk + T

Toggle the frame-timing graphs

ScrLk + N

Toggle EGL night vision

ScrLk + E

Toggle microphone recording when the audio backend supports it

ScrLk + C

Cycle the default microphone permission

ScrLk + M

Send mute to the guest

ScrLk + Up or Down

Send volume up or down to the guest

ScrLk + Insert or Delete

Adjust capture-mode mouse sensitivity

ScrLk + LWin or RWin

Send that Windows key to the guest

ScrLk + F1 through F12

Send Ctrl + Alt + that function key to a Linux guest

The microphone commands are registered only when the client was built with audio recording support. Night vision is an EGL feature. The virtual-console bindings are registered only when the selected guest type is Linux.

Configuration files

The client loads these files in order when they exist:

  • /etc/looking-glass-client.ini

  • ~/.looking-glass-client.ini

  • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/looking-glass/client.ini

Later files override earlier files. The usual per-user path is ~/.config/looking-glass/client.ini. Files use INI syntax:

[win]
fullScreen=yes
setGuestRes=yes

[input]
autoCapture=yes

[spice]
clipboard=yes
audio=yes

[egl]
preset=my-preset

Boolean values accept yes or no. Long command-line options use section:name=value, for example:

looking-glass-client win:fullScreen=yes input:autoCapture=yes

Interactive overlay

Press ScrLk + O to make the overlay interactive. Press Esc or the same binding to leave it. The overlay can:

  • enable and arrange the FPS and timing widgets;

  • select and configure EGL filters;

  • save filter settings as presets; and

  • enable diagnostic views such as damage rectangles.

Widget positions and sizes are stored in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/looking-glass/imgui.ini. EGL filter presets are stored in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/looking-glass/presets. Do not edit either while the client is running.

Runtime changes are not all written to the main client configuration. Put options that must apply at every start in client.ini.

User guides