How To Real VNC

dvdfan

Hello,

Im trying to connect my laptop to another computer, ive installed vnc server and viewer and configured my password on the remote pc. Ive also installed the same on this laptop that im using to connect to that pc and put in a password too (although i probably only need to do this on the remote pc, id imagine it dosent make a difference eitherway??)

Then i got the person located at the remote pc to hover over the vnc icon in the system tray and call out the i.p address which was 10.2.2*.2** (dont know if its safe to give out my full i.p???) and i also got him to go to www.whatismyip.com and tell me that ip address which was 83.71.1**.*2

I then opened up the vnc viewer on my laptop and tried both of those ip addresses above but i got the following errors:

10.2.2*.2** unable to connect to host: connection refused (10061)
83.71.1**.*2 unable to connect to host: connection timed out (10060)

Now to explain how both computers are connected to the internet
1) Compaq Laptop 2.4ghz 192mb ram connected to the internet via esat broadband(This is the viewer)
2) Dell 2.6ghz 256mb ram connected via Eircom Hotspot broadband (this is the remote pc)

Now id really appreciate any help but the remote user would not be comfortable letting someone he dosent know connect to his pc so youll need to pass on the info for me to try rather than trying to connect to him directly by me passing on the ip address

Thanks

p.s the laptop ip addresses are coming up as 192.168.1.34 when i hover over vnc icon on system tray (think this might just be a local ip address or something as ive noticed this same address on other esat users, sometimes 192.168.1.33 aswell)
and when i go to www.whatismyip.com i get 194.125.**.**

From my guess id say that the 194.125 etc is the correct i.p but id say the two address ive got for the i.p address are masked in some way due to the eircom hotspot connection. p.s the hotspot connection is a monthly connection btw if that makes any difference.

So i will also try and get the remote pc to connect to me later when the user is back at his pc using my ip address which might help in some way for troubleshooting

zilog_jones

The IP addresses you get from www.whatismyip.com are the addresses of your router or gateway on the internet. The other addresses you listed are the ones on your LANs and are pretty much useless outside the LANs.

If there is only one PC using the router/modem or whatever, i.e. you are at home with broadband and have one PC connected to the internet, then it shouldn't be a problem connecting to the VNC server remotely using the IP address you got off that site (assuming that port is allowed on your router/modem/firewall). If there's multiple PCs on the LAN things will be more complicated - you may have to do port forwarding or something, or if it's a router/firewall that you aren't in a position to configure (e.g. at work or in college) you may be out of luck.

dvdfan

Thanks for the reply,

I just have the one pc connected at home, i set it up via usb downstairs and then i brough the pc upstairs and connected via ethernet, when i done this first time it said their was an ip conflict but when i clicked the repair button it seemed to sort the problem out.

Also the remote one is the only one connected to eircom hotspot broadband.

So based on this information i should be able to connect using the ip address that i got off www.whatismyip.com when the remote pc connected to the website i.e 83.71.1**.*2

Now that you mention firewalls that most likely is the problem, i have zone alarm, should i just turn them both off on both pcs and then try to connect and if it works then ill know its the firewall thats the problem, then i can come back and try to configure both firewalls to accept.

i have also tried connecting from the remote computer to the laptop and i get the same error 10061

Thanks for the help and ill let you know how i get on, in the meantime let me know of any other possible solutions

Cheers

dvdfan

Tried shutting down both firewalls and still got the same errors. I have an eircom modemn installed at the remote pc and an esat bt modemn connected to the laptop. Is there any settings i need to change on them to allow connection or has anyone any ideas?? There both recent enough modemns i.e installed in the last 6-8months and both are not wireless

Thanks

dvdfan

Another Update, i tried pinging the 2 ip addresses that i got from the remote pc and i got no response. I know there was no point in pinging the ip address 10.2.2*.2** because it is the lan ip on the remote pc but i done it just in case. I then pinged the ip i got from this laptop and it got a repsonse so this would indicate their is a problem with the computer connected to eircom hotspot am i right????

i assume its not just an ip address problem because then when the user using the remote pc tried to connect to my ip address (which i can ping) the couldnt connect. So imaybe there is a setting i should change on the other pc to allow connection????????

dvdfan

Ok still no luck but i want to update a few details.

I have both firewalls disabled, i rang eircom hotspot support and was told that 10.2.29.225/226/227/228 etc were the static ip addresses i should be using. I asked him was he sure that these were not just local ip addresses that could only be accessed by people connecting to hotspot in my shop but he said no that these were the ip address, dont understand how one computer can have so many ip addresses as i was under the impression that i could only have one at a time and how am i supposed to know which one it is?? Anyway hes english wasnt the best so i wasnt going to argue with him when i was unsure.

Anyway ive tried connecting the viewer to 10.2.2*.2** while at the remote pc and it worked, it asked for my password i entered it and then it connected the viewer and went into an infinite loop obviously it was connected to itself and it was a bit like looking in a mirror with another mirror. This also worked on my laptop using 194.125.**.** as the ip address. If im right id say that this confirms that the 2 ip addressed above are the right ones and if so why cant i connect, it must be something to do with the modemns restricting access.

Please help, im totally lost and i cant find any good sites for help

Zaph0d

addresses that start 10. are for private networks and are not visible outside the private network, analagous to internal phone numbers in a company. An office phone can have an internal number and an external number, same idea as multiple IP addresses.

The point of firewalls is to hide machines from the outside world, particularly from incoming connections, so it is unsurprising that you can't reach a server behind the firewall. VNC talks on port 5900. If you set the router that the server is hiding behind to forward incoming traffic on this port to the internal address of the vnc server, then you should be able to connect.

For the client (laptop) side you need to ensure that outgoing traffic is not beiong blcoked by your local firewall.

WTF is eircom hotspot broadband? Is this wifi for 500 quid/minute? If so they are unlikely to change any port settings to let you run a server. They don't like servers because they are high traffic.

You can also set up your VNC server to make an outgoing connection to your client. You use the add client command on the server in this case. The server makes an outgoing connection to the client on port 5500. This should get out across the server's firewall but will be stopped by any firewall hiding the client. So you need to port forward 5500 to the client machine on the client side router.

You also need to set your client to listen mode.

good luck!

snipe3000

Why dont you use logmein, its simple to use and ya dont have to worry about IP addresses. You install the prog on both PC's, set a password, allow program access through your firewall and connect through your web browser.

Thats it.

dvdfan

whats the web address for logmein and does it allow me to control someone elses pc or just view it???

zilog_jones

Don't turn off ZoneAlarm - it's not really a good idea, and in my experience it tends to block everything from the netowrk when turned off anyway. You should just let it allow VNC and check "remember this setting" or whatever it says.

And Zaphod's right - IP addresses starting with 10.x (and also 192.168.x) are always for private networks.

Zaph0d

logmein and gotomypc provide a service where you can connect any two pcs with internet access via a third server that their company supplies. You have to pay a subscription fee.
www.gotomypc.com and www.logmein.com
It's true - you don't have to know the IP numbers of either machines or configure anything.
Naturally however, big corporations see these services as security holes and sometimes they block access to their servers. Also the services can be pricey.

_CreeD_

Its the port forwarding as was already mentioned, I had the exact same issues setting up my dad's machine as a client.

http://www.realvnc.com/faq.html#natrouter

This will walk you through how to do it on the client machine's DSL router (once inside the router you use the client's local IP address 10.*.... for the port forward).

dvdfan

Yeah, your right, i just set up port forwarding on both pc's and it worked. There are some issues with using real vnc with a firewall, well at least with zonealarm anyway, ive been told that even if you set it up to accept certain ip addresses via zonealarm, if it has previously blocked this ip address it will automatically reject it without checking if this is an allowed ip address the next time. a way around this is to close zonealarm then run zonealarm and then re run zonealarm and it will work ok.

I plan to use this for remote repair of many different types of pcs with many firewalls so real vnc would create alot of issues. logmein has a feature specifically for remote pc repair and dosent need ip addresses etc as it connects via the browser and also the client dosent need to install anything. Excellent features and even at $99 a month is good value for the amount of features.

Thanks anyway, it was good to see real vnc in action, great free tool but i recommend logmein.com if our remote controlling many pcs.

snipe3000

You don not have to turn off your firewall, just configure it to allow logmein, with zone alarm its simple. Also there is a free version of logmein which still allows you to use remote services. Therefore for your needs this would seem the simplest solution.