VNC on port 443

[cjhowland]

I would like to connect to my home PC from work, but the firewall at work only allows access to the standard ports (eg 80, 443). I've read that it is possible to tunnel through a firewall on port 443 using SSH.

I've installed cygwin on my home pc and realVNC. I can't get RealVNC to operate if I set the port to 80 or 443 (although it works fine on any other port when testing it locally). I just get a page not found error when using the java applet and either of these ports.

Does anyone know firstly why I can't set realVNC just to use port 80 or 443 (I'm not running a web server on my home PC. I have McAfee Firewall but have opened these ports, and secondly how to configue cygwin to allow secured access?

I can't use any other connection tools like LogMeIn as access to the web sites for these products all appear to have been blocked by the firewall at work.

Thanks

 

[spool]

You can try this at work using your Web Browser. In the address bar type in

http://24.2.xxx.xxx:5800>Enter

or Click on the Go button. You will get a login screen type in your VNC Password..

24.2.xxx.xxx would be your IP Address from your ISP.

Make sure your firewall has port 5800 open.

You don't need VNC loaded on the computer at work for this to work.

This is not secure but it works.

Good luck, spool

Don't argue with an idiot, he will bring you down to his level and beat you with his experience.

 

[MontrealSoft]

Be aware some high-speed internet providers do block port 80



MontrealSoft.com

http://www.montrealsoft.com

 

[zedmelon]

cjhowland, it seems your problem is at least partially firewall-related, but it's hard to tell for now which firewall (yours, your employer's, or your ISP's). I'm assuming that you mean your employer blocks access *out* of its network on the standard 5900. Also you've been unsuccessful on port 443 when you test locally (at home), unless I've misunderstood.

Naturally, you'll want to be sure it works locally first. If you're not overly paranoid and don't care about the ssh, you can skip it (although no one should suggest this is the better way to go). Otherwise, be sure your Cygwin sshd is running by connecting to that from another box on your LAN (with an ssh client). Be sure the outgoing VNC requests are tunnelled through the ssh client as well.

SSH or not, be sure the port you want works from the machine across the room before you try the WAN. After that, you can get a free dialup account and use it to try and connect from the "outside." That way, you have the local and "remote" configuration right at your fingertips, as well as your firewall settings and logs. Test the standard ports first, then change just the port number. If that change breaks your connectivity, it's probably being blocked; as stated above, some ISPs curtail incoming port 80 traffic.

One newbie found success and documented it here:

http://faq.gotomyvnc.com/fom-serve/cache/127.html

A bit more advanced (but also useful):

http://faq.gotomyvnc.com/fom-serve/cache/64.html

Good luck!