How to remote control a home PC

[StevenB]

Howdy folks.

Well, after much searching I haven't been able to find anything that's quite what I'm looking for.

Is there a cost-effective way to remote control a home PC? I've used Terminal Services, PC/Anywhere, and stuff like that in a work environment, and I've heard of gotomypc.com.

My home machine is XP Pro, but unfortunately, my work PC is Windows 2000 workstation.

What does the brilliant Tech-Tips community recommend?

Steve

 

[jdemmi]

So you're saying you have used Remote Desktop?

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tools/rdclientdl.mspx

What about VNC?

http://www.realvnc.com/

Why pay for something that's free?

-- Jason
"It's Just Ones and Zeros

 

[StevenB]

So, basically, with remote desktop, what would be involved?

1. Install the client on the "controlling" machine
2. Install ?? on the target machine
3. Run remote desktop?

Is that about it? For a home PC, does it connect directly through the IP address, or something else?

 

[erikhertzel]

Like jdemmi said, you can use VNC. I have used it extensively and it works great. You install VNC on both machines and one can be the "client" and one the "server" or both can be both...etc...then you just type in the computer name or IP address.

It's pretty simple.

Erik

 

[jdemmi]

On the HOST PC, Go to:

CONTROL PANEL
SYSTEM
REMOTE TAB

Click on "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer"

On the REMOTE PC, install the client from the link I sent you.

Connect both PCs to Internet.
Host PC, if behind firewall will need to have proper ports open.

Open REMOTE DESKTOP CLIENT on REMOTE PC.
Enter IP address and BANG! You should be in

-- Jason
"It's Just Ones and Zeros

 

[StevenB]

Thanks very much folks.

And, there should be no interoperability issues between 2000 and XP Pro, for either solution?

 

[erikhertzel]

Nope, it will work between the two Operating Systems just fine...even 9X or ME, Linux, whatever you want.

Hope this helps,

Erik

 

[digiman014]

Hi, I'm new here!!!

I have a problem using a VNC because my desktop at home is using a private IP address generated by the internal DHCP of my linksys wireless router. How can I use the NAT so I can route the public IP address onto my PC's private IP.

Is there any other way of resolving the issue other than NAT. I'm not so familiar yet with the NATing.

I will appreciate any advice.

Thanks.

 

[erikhertzel]

If you have a private IP address because you are behind a router and want to connect to another PC behind the router....it will work fine.

If you have a private IP address that's behind the router, you should be able to VNC a public IP address as well.

But, you can't VNC into another PC that's behind a router that has a private IP.

Hope this helps and makes sense,

Erik

 

[joebloeonthego]

well, my well-crafted response just got borked, so you'll have to suffer with pointform.
port-forward your router (port 5900) to the internal machine.
for a second (or more) machine change the listening port in the VNC software (I recommend UltraVNC) to something else such as 5905. (you can only specify one machine per port, so you can have as many as you want just specify a different port for each one and that is how your router will determine who to send the VNC connection to.)
Don't forget port 5800 if you want to use the browser-client.
Make sure you've punched a hole in any firewall you're running on the server machine.
Then when connecting use the WAN-IP address of your router and it will pass on the request to the machine specified (in the port forwarding table) to receive requests on that port.
To always know the IP address of your router, I suggest using one of the free dynamic ip services such as dyndns.org.

 

[Biztek]

Guys, your inputs are very helpful but it seems like I did not clarify the situation.

Maybe my question was very brief....

Actually this is my situation, I'm currently working here in United States and I want to access my Desktop PC in the Philippines which is behind the DSL modem. My laptop here (US) is connected to a wireless linksys router in which it is connected to a cable modem. I have a Private IP address from the DHCP of the linksys router and my desktop in Philippines has a private IP address too from the DSL DHCP.

I know the public IP of the DSL however I could not ping it. Currently, I'm using the GOTOMYPC software whcih I pay a monthly charge. If I can access my remote desktop for free, why not right? That's why I want to use the VNC because this is a freeware, however I realize that with both has Private IP address at both end, the system is not gonna work.

If I do the port forwarding...should I do it at both ends??

Thanks.

 

[Biztek]

Guys, your inputs are very helpful but it seems like I did not clarify the situation.

Maybe my question was very brief....

Actually this is my situation, I'm currently working here in United States and I want to access my Desktop PC in the Philippines which is behind the DSL modem. My laptop here (US) is connected to a wireless linksys router in which it is connected to a cable modem. I have a Private IP address from the DHCP of the linksys router and my desktop in Philippines has a private IP address too from the DSL DHCP.

I know the public IP of the DSL however I could not ping it. Currently, I'm using the GOTOMYPC software whcih I pay a monthly charge. If I can access my remote desktop for free, why not right? That's why I want to use the VNC because this is a freeware, however I realize that with both has Private IP address at both end, the system is not gonna work.

If I do the port forwarding...should I do it at both ends??

Thanks.

digiman014

 

[digiman014]

Hi Guys, any further suggestion or advise baout my situation???

Thaks.

Digi

 

[mugridgg]

Try the free versiom of logmein

http://www.logmein.com

 

[jimp56]

as for vnc, you would only need to:
1) open the ports vnc uses on the router of the machine to be controlled. if using a software firewall also, the same ports must be allowed within that.
2) configure and test the vnc server service on the machine to be controlled. use a STRONG password. enable the encryption options also. be sure the vnc server service auto-load on startup
3) control the machine by entering the PUBLIC ip address of the computer to be controlled from the controlling computer using vnc viewer. be sure to match encryption options on the viewer before connecting.
4) i would suggest rebooting the remote machine after controlling to prevent the vnc server service from hanging occasionally.
5) make sure the machine you are controlling is patched and as secure as possible, as vnc or any other RC program of this type is a security risk.

 

[Jasen]

Actually this is my situation, I'm currently working here in United States and I want to access my Desktop PC in the Philippines which is behind the DSL modem. My laptop here (US) is connected to a wireless linksys router in which it is connected to a cable modem. I have a Private IP address from the DHCP of the linksys router and my desktop in Philippines has a private IP address too from the DSL DHCP.

If I do the port forwarding...should I do it at both ends??

A private IP at the client-side is transparent, it will make no difference at all. Assuming there's no firewall blocking outbound connections on that port.
On the server end, you merely configure your router/NAT device to forward the correct port to the server computer. The correct port being whichever one is used by the software you decide to go with. I'm not a huge MS fan, but their RDP technology is great. It's been faster for me than any other RC software out there. Even using it inbetween 2 computers on different DSL accounts with slow upload bandwidth. I would probably recomend it over any other VNC/RC program. The port to forward for that is 3389.
What I do, and what I'd also recomend doing for security, is to keep your home computer locked behind a firewall, and use VPN to make a connection to it. Then open an RDP session, access file shares, etc. This way your RDP port is not open to the world, and once you connect with VPN the connection is encrypted.
It's simple to do on both W2k or XP. Simply hit the "create new connection" link in your "network connections/network neighborhood" and and follow the wizard to allow incoming connections. Once done, make sure Remote Deskop (XP) or the terminal server service (W2k) is enabled and running. Make sure the username you want has login permissions. On your router, configure it to forward port 1723. Find out the public IP address of the router and remember it for later.
On your client computer, go to the "create new connection" link again, and this time choose "connect to work/connect to workplace" (I guess MS assumes only a business will use VPN?), and follow the wizard, filling in your server's public IP when asked. Once you finish, you can open up that connection icon, fill in your logon information and logon, and it will act like a dialup connection, putting itself in your system tray. What it does, is basically makes your remote computer a part of the local LAN on the other end. You can access computers, shares, printers just as if you were plugged in on that end. Here you can fire up your RDP or VNC program, mount drive shares, print, etc.
One thing that will prevent this from working right, is if on both ends you are using NAT, and they are both set to the same subnet settings. For example both ends use the private IP range 192.168.1.0. The VNC will connect, but once on, your computer will assume any connections to 192.168.1.x addresses are local and won't send them throught the VNC. The solution is simply to make them use different subnets. put one on 192.168.1.x, and the other on 192.168.45.x (or any number below 255).