Viewing another PC remotely

dudara

I'm using a PC in a lab to control an experiment for me. It's networked and I work on another PC in a different room.
Is there any program that will allow me to view what is on the monitor of the other PC? This would save me from having to check on the PC every so often.

dahamsta

VNC

Frank Grimes

I use VNC, take a look here.

dudara

That sounds like the business. Thanks a million. Once I've finished teaching bl**dy labs, I'll have a bash off that.

ColmOT [MSFT]

If the machine has Windows XP on it, you can just use remote desktop....

dudara

It's an old machine that I jst use for gathering data and running experiments and it runs WinNT.

zAbbo

www.tightvnc.com

Does exactly what it says on the tin, and uses tight compression, can also access it over http

oneweb

Originally posted by bazH
www.tightvnc.com

Does exactly what it says on the tin, and uses tight compression, can also access it over http

I hereby endorse this product and/or service It's Open Source too!

Jaden

I also endorse TightVNC.

Tight VNC is probably the best of the VNC progs. The big advantage I've found is that it can strip off the wallpaper on the remote machine, for just the duration of the session, a life saver if you're on dial-up. The "restrict pixels to 8 bits" option really speeds things up too, and it's easier to reach (under "options").

The next version will aloow file transfer from remote to local machine, and vice versa. That will be very handy. (Incidently, copy and paste from local to remore and vice versa currently works).

Jokah

Hey guys.

Sorry to jump in on the thread.

I installed VNC on my machine last night at home. Now I'm in work.

Now I left my computer on (DSL) this morning and the VNC server running on it.

When I left the house this morn, I placed my mouse over the server icon and memerised the IP/DNS that came up. (note the number that came up was different to my fixed IP/DNS number.

I came into work this morning, and typed in, in VNC viewer, the DNS/IP that the server on my home computer showed up.

Now I don't think I am typing in the right command into the viewer part.

The support on VNC is mind boggling, but I'm sure I have followed all the instructions.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Jokah.

dudara

To everyone who suggested something thanks. I've installed RealVNC, a doddle to install and use, openSource and can also strip the wallpaper from the server.

Just what I needed. Showed it to my supervisor today and I think that we'll all be installing it.

Cake Fiend

Jokah, I'm assuming you couldn't connect to your VNC server at home from work?

There a number of possibilities:

a) you may have entered the wrong IP address (likely if you're using a home network). To check your IP, (assuming you're running Windows) go to Start > Run and type 'command' for 98 or 'cmd' for 2K/XP. When the command prompt opens, type 'ipconfig /all'. This should list all network adapters and their assigned IP addresses. Write down the IP address assigned to the network card connected to your DSL modem (assuming you're connecting using an ethernet card).

b) if your connection passes through a router or firewall (on either end), you could be running NAT or you may have the ports VNC uses blocked. You'll have to either port-forward or open the port.

c) least likely, your ISP may have renewed your IP address and your PC could now be using a different IP address than when you checked.

If you are running a network at home, see if you can connect to the server from one of the other machines on the network.

Jokah

Thanks Sico.

I'll do a test with a mate online tonight to see what the problem is.

My guess that your suggestion (2) is the problem I am having. I'll test all options.

Thanks for your help Sico.

Appreciate it.:D

zAbbo

Eircom DSL uses NAT on the modem so, its the modem ip you need? the gateway, not sure on this

BigEejit

You may have to forward ports from your router / gateway to your machine

joePC

Showed it to my supervisor today and I think that we'll all be installing it.

There are a number of Vulnerabilities with this VNC software, so make sure you have a secure system.

Thanks joePC

ando

yeah I think PCanywhere is a lot more secure than Vnc.

Does anyone know what port number Vnc uses?

zAbbo

you`ll be using SSH obviuosly

Capt'n Midnight

Originally posted by ando
yeah I think PCanywhere is a lot more secure than Vnc.

Does anyone know what port number Vnc uses?

REALVNC - 5900 / http on 5800 (you don't need a client - just a java browser)
you can change the port to anything you want

or use zVNC - built in encryption
or use Zebedee or WinCIPE or stunnel etc.

BTW: while the PW is stored in the reg at least it's encrypted.

Big al

if I have it installed on a machine whose internal ip address is 192.168.0.1 but the dsl ip address is different (6x.xx.xxx.xxx) is it possible to use this program?

Capt'n Midnight

Only if you mess around with NAT on your firewall (DSL modem) - you do have a firewall don't you ?

Not recommend as one mistake could leave your PC wide open.
(And you'd have to set your spftware firewall to let it through too)

Jokah

Is remote Desktop ok for Windows XP?

If not, I'll just revert back to FTP....good ol reliable...

I mean if I'm in England or at home down the country, ideally I would love to just turn on a computer in a mates or parents gaff, access my computer in Dublin, and start playing music from my server computer.

theciscokid

realVNC

and

radmin which is the quicker of the two

seanos

I tested fair few these programs
and have found radmin the quickest, and best performance one.
It also includes encryption

SouperComputer

Originally posted by joePC
There are a number of Vulnerabilities with this VNC software, so make sure you have a secure system.

Thanks joePC

have you got any links\info on this, id like to learm more?

oneweb

Originally posted by Jokah
I mean if I'm in England or at home down the country, ideally I would love to just turn on a computer in a mates or parents gaff, access my computer in Dublin, and start playing music from my server computer.

Unless the target has wake-on-lan capabilities and the required setup for that functionality or it's left on standby you cannot "physically" turn on a computer remotely.

Also remember that playing music from the target PC is the equivalent of the target uploading and the client downloading those files. (just that some ppl I know didn't realise that)

As with most software that works over the internet, there are bound to be vulnerabilities, especially in the case of server and remote access software. As JoePC said it's important to secure your system (both of them). If you're firewalling, make sure you test the setup in advance with someone on the other end so you know the proper access rights are enabled and can quickly tweak them.

Karoma

Originally posted by SouperComputer
have you got any links\info on this, id like to learm more?

google

the pass is stored in the registry - based on a fixed md5 hash sum - 'tis easy to decrypt (+sniffing...it's really not secure-wasn't really meant to be - try one of the many many alternatives-i think there was a "secure vnc" or something along that line...)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORL\WinVNC3\Default --> Password Key;)

--
VNC client to/from server traffic is not encrypted and can be intercepted
and replayed.
VNC has very weak authentication (it's reversible), and the NT
4.0 registry permissions are atrocious.
VNC uses well known ports.
It doesn't log adequately.
It is not possible to determine who is using the VNC connection as there's one password for all users on Win32.
--

SouperComputer

cool, so basically its wide open!!

thanks

Capt'n Midnight

http://home.comcast.net/~davedyer/znc/zvnc.html

For those who joined the list late; ZVNC is VNC with builtin secure tunneling compatible with ZeBeDee. For those who struggle to set up SSH tunneling, this is much easier.

Some motherboards will wake up on modem too.

vibe666

Anyone used terminal services over a BB connection? i use it and it's younger brother remote desktop at work to access servers and its nice and quick on the LAN (as you'd expect), much faster than I've found VNC to be but I've not tried it on an internet connection yet. is it secure?

i also used some sort of remote admin tool on a previous job that allowed you to remotely install the client on any machine if you had admin rights on that particular domain and then connect to it, but i can't for the life of me remember it's name. very handy anyway.

Capt'n Midnight

VNC vs. TS
VNC is free and can run on almost anything - win/linux/pda
AFAIK there is not a MAC server, but there is a MAC client and besides you can use a Java Client, there is a DOS client but I've never spent enough time to get it working - knoppix boot CD beats Dos boot disk.
VNC also connects to the real desktop.

TS is faster - better caching (and undocumented API's ?)
But TS is only free when a 2000 PRO or XP Pro client connects to a Windows 2K server. Otherwise you are looking at CAL's. TS has a different desktop for each session, if you set VNC to allow loopback connections then you can connect via TS/Citrix and then VNC into the real desktop (sounds daft but I prefer to make system changes a the real desktop - not in session.)

Neither allow local drive access directly (Citrix does)

Securitywise
VNC - password and port
TS - Std. Windows Security

If you are using either across the internet then VPN would be essential