How do I use VNC??

CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
edited December 2004 in Science & Tech
I'd like to be able to use VNC on my Windows box at home to allow me to access it remotely.

Can anyone give me any advice on setting it up and how to use it?

I'm on NTL as my cable provider in the UK, and I believe I have a dynamic IP address.

Any suggestions would be welcome guys.

~Cyrix

Comments

  • CycloniteCyclonite Tampa, Florida Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    First: Is there a router? If so, you'll have to forward the port you're going to use for the VNC Client.

    If you've got a dynamic IP, I suggest registering with www.dyndns.org and getting a program to update the ip on record when it changes. This is what I do. It works really well. IM me sometime and I can walk you through setting it up if you'd like.
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    No I am not going through a router. I connect straight to the Internet through my cable set top box.

    Have sent pm.

    ~Cyrix
  • EMTEMT Seattle, WA Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    Once you've got the dynamic domain name (or static IP/ hostname), just run winvnc.exe at startup. Change the password whenever you like. To access from anything connected to the internet, type the name that'll resolve to your home comp's current IP, enter the password, and use your desktop! Note that while VNC's password is encrypted over the network, the text you type is not. So don't lock your computer and type its password over VNC, and avoid entering any other passwords while you're using the computer. If you have to type such a private thing as a password, you should set up an encryption tunnel.

    Otherwise, VNC is great, I use it all the time! :thumbsup:

    FYI: On defaults VNC listens on TCP port 5900 for vncviewer. However, it also runs a tiny HTTP server on port 5800 with a Java VNC viewer in case you don't have the vncviewer program where you're at.
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    In addition to what EMT said, you can also set it up as a service and so that you can access it from a web browser.
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    Right, I tested it and got a mate to connect to my PC using a password. Can anyone give help for me connecting to my mate who has a router?

    Also, where do I set up an encryption tunnel - never heard of one of them!!

    ~Cyrix
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    Your "mate" (:p) would also have to setup a VNC server. He can either open the port on the router or set VNC to use a different port. As for the encryption, I've never used it.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    Setting up an encrypted tunnel is a pain in the ass, but I've done it. I used this book, which makes it step-by-step easy. It involves using a unix shell (cygwin) so it can be a weird config, but in the end, it definitely works.
  • EMTEMT Seattle, WA Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    Yeah, the only way I've made an encrypted tunnel is via SSH tunnel to sshd on Linux or cygwin. This is a whole different topic entirely, and the setup of cygwin is something of a big step. Essentially I'm saying getting encryption for VNC is pretty painful (in setup and in regular usage, generally). But it's worth it if you want to do anything sensitive!

    As for your friend behind the router, he'll need to forward TCP port 5800 (VNC over HTTP) or 5900 (regular VNC) or both, to his local IP address. This is done in the router's setup.
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    I managed to get VNC working ok. I looked into SSH tunneling, and I downloaded cygwin including the SSH package, or so I thought. I tried to run some kind of an SSH command (I found a guide that seemed really good) but it said unknown command or something.

    I'll persevere with it, but I did manage to make sense of what I was supposed to doing.

    ~Cyrix
  • EMTEMT Seattle, WA Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    I've used cygwin sshd as a server before (and tunneled VNC thru it) so please feel free to ask if you need help.
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    I'm going to look into it over the weekend. I'll try following the guide and see what happens. I think I'll reinstall cygwin.

    I'll PM ya if I need help EMT. Cheers.

    ~Cyrix
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