Help with VNC software >.<

ok, so for all those who are familiar with this software i am able to connect to my office pc from my office with my laptop using the vnc viewer while i am using the 2 wire router that is connected to my office pc. Everything in this situation works fine. but of course i don't need vnc when im right next to my office pc anyway. The problem come out when i went home and tried to use my laptop to connect to my office pc through vnc viewer. My home router is also a 2 wire, i don't know if this makes any difference or not though. Anyway. i get a connection timed out 10060 error. Ive searched this on google and i didnt get much other then a firewall was stopping my connection. But what firewall? if this even is the problem why was i able to connect to my pc at the office from the office? also, and i have all of my office pc firewalls turned off for other reasons. oh and both computers are winXP home.

im not that computer savvy especially when it comes to servers and networks and things of that sort.

anyone?

 

i dont have ultra vnc. i simply have the latest free version. but that did look interesting.

 

it seems like a different version of the program to me. and that second link you gave me talking about ports and what not went way over my head sorry. i just dont have the computer knowledge. all i know is that what i did to connect to my office pc through vnc viewer at my office, doesn't work at home. i guess i prob shouldn't expect an answer from anyone considering i prob couldn't figure it out even if one came.

http://www.realvnc.com/vnc/features.html

 

thanks for your willingness to help. shouldn't the ip address be the same whether im trying to access from home or the office? its just weird how it worked fine at the office but it wont from home.

 

No. When you share internet via a router, you will have private IP addresses INSIDE the network of each computer, and each of those are translated into a single public IP for use on the internet by the router.

When client machines make internet requests on the network, the router is intelligent enough to know how to route the traffic back to the client machine. However, when a request is made from the internet to a computer on your network, it is directed to the single public IP, and therefore, the router needs to know which internal IP address to direct the traffic to.

By default, realvnc uses port 5900. Therefore, we need to set the router to forward requests on port 5900 to the private IP of the computer you wish to control. (For further help, you will need to post the make and model of the router you use)

This also means that you will need to set a static IP on the machine you wish to control.

 

ok, so what i got out of that is vnc server is sending its reply signal from the request of vnc viewer to my home desktop router, which is then sending it to my home desktop, instead of back to my laptop which is on the same router. meaning i need to reroute the ports on my at home router to forward the vnc servers reply to my laptop? or were you talking about my office router?

both home and office routers are att yahoo dsl "2wire" wireless routers. i dont know if that is what you meant by model or did you need something more specific found on the router itself?

thanks for the reply btw.

 

That's almost it.

Let me write up a quick how-to:

1. Set a static IP on the VNC server machine.

Usually, I will use the IP that the router has dynamically assigned it, to avoid conflicts. Here's how to find that out:

- Hit windows key + r (or click Start --> Run)
- In the 'Run' dialog, type 'cmd' (without the quotes)
- Press enter (or click the 'OK' button)
- At the command prompt, type 'ipconfig /all' (without the quotes)
- Press enter

Here, you will see the DHCP assigned address next to 'IP Address'. We set this as a static address using the instructions at the link above. Take note of the 'Default Gateway' and 'Subnet Mask' values shown at the command prompt, as we will need these to set a static IP.

2. Get your public IP. Follow this link from the VNC server, and you will get your public IP address. When your VNC viewer tries to make a connection, it will be to this IP address.

3. Forward port 5900 on the VNC server's router to the private IP address you set in step 1. Sadly, I can't provide more specific instructions, as I can't find any info on your router. You may have to get more specific info from a label on the router, or it may be quicker to ask your ISP how to forward the port.

Once these steps have been completed, your VNC viewer on the internet should be able to connect to your public IP found in step 2.

 

I should add that this is different than when you are on the same network. When connecting to another machine on the same network as you described in your original scenario, you would use the PRIVATE IP addresses to connect, and the traffic is not passing through the router, so there's no need to forward ports.

 

ok, i think im understanding a bit more here. but im still not sure what pc im supposed to be setting this static ip to. is it my laptop? i also provided a screenie of my command prompt. i couldn't find the "dhcp assigned address". and what will this stadic address be doing again? it wont mess any of the other computers in my house on the same router will it? i couldn't go further considering i didn't see my "dhcp address". is that address the "dhcp server?"

and heres the model # on my router(at least ithink its the model #):

2701HG-B


http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=8g7gxap&s=1

*edit* i reread what you have already said and i need to be setting this static ip to my office computer network port 5900 right?

 

i just posted without seeing your most recent post. which then leaves me confused. >.<

 

Set a static IP on whichever machine you are going to control from the internet. This is because we are telling your router to forward requests on port 5900 to this IP address. If this machine has a dynamic address, it could potentially change, breaking the setup until we update the router's forwarding, which is a pain.

Your screenshot shows that you are indeed using a dynamic address, but you will not see this written there, specifically. You are after the address next to 'IP Address'

When you use dynamic IPs, you get what's called a "DHCP Lease". This means that your network card will only have the IP for a certain time, after which, it will need to be renewed. We are just making the current dynamically assigned IP address the permanent address of this machine.

Since you have a 'Lease Expires' entry, we know you have a dynamic address.

If you select an IP address that no other device is using, there is no problem. That's why I've advised using the dynamic address for the machine as a static address. It's already using this address, and no other machine on the network should be using the same. (Unless you have pre-existing problems we are not aware of)

It's the entry next to 'IP Address' we're concerned about. It's assigned by DHCP from the DHCP server, which is most likely your router. (DHCP server address should be the same as default gateway in this scenario)

I'll see if this turns anything up...

 

ok. so i will now try and figure out how to make my dynamic "ip address", my static ip address using your link.

*edit* what network connection am i trying to configure? its my wireless one right?

 

Configure the network connection that you are using to connect the VNC server machine (the one that will be controlled) to the router. If it's a wireless connection, configure the wireless card.

 

the link you gave me doesnt include info on how to configure my wireless card with the static ip. Im sorry that im so clueless. and yes im always using my wireless connection when using the internet on my laptop.

 

Steps are the same, only you will be right-clicking the wireless adapter in step 4.

 

what is the dns server? i used the number it gave me for dns in command prompt. is that right? cause i want to be able to use other wireless networks when on the road.

 

ok whatever i just did in setting the static ip made me unable to access the internet from my laptop period. so i at present im lost. isnt there a way to be able to connect to my vnc server and regular internet at the same time?

 

:confused Aren't we configuring the machine that is to be controlled FROM the internet?

No matter. If this is the case, then we are likely best to set a DHCP reservation instead of a static IP address. This will let us always use the same IP on your network, and it will automatically reconfigure itself for use on other networks.

See this link to the user's manual for your router.

This should describe how to configure your port forwarding as well as setup a DHCP reservation.

 

sorry we weren't on the same page. i am on my laptop right now at home. i will be at work in an hour though and can configure that machine however it needs to be. but im on my laptop and need to get this end to work as well. so the question from me is: is it possable to be able to connect to my vnc server at work, through any internet conection i might be on while traveling or at home with my laptop?

 

Okay, all this configuration only needs to be done on the SERVER end, that is the computer you will be controlling from the internet, and the router that it is behind.

The VNC client will only need to be on the internet, and have the viewer installed and running. If you can VNC into your remote machine while on the same network, then the laptop is all setup.

Re-reading your original post, we will need the VNC viewer and internet access on the laptop, and the rest of the configuration will be done at work. The machine you are going to control will need a DHCP reservation, and the router will need to forward requests to the IP address specified by this reservation.

 

whew, ill be at work soon and then try to get on this as soon as i can to finish this problem up. so im glad my laptop doesnt have the problem, but, what ip address do i use for the dhcp reservation? going back to what we have done, i did the command prompt on my laptop. which is probably why i ended up with that leased ip system. do i need to sort of start over with my desktop? will i be using my laptop ip address as the dhcp reservation address? but if that is the case doesnt my laptop ip change everytime i get on a different network? or does the vnc server always connect with my personal ip when a request is made by the viewer on my laptop, and not the public ip i could possably be using? or because of the ip status change are we going to not need a dhcp reservation and resolve back to the static ip resolution.

 

Preferably, the IP address that the computer is already using. We can be sure that it won't cause conflicts this way.

We can use any other available IP address, but then, we would have to figure out which, so it is easier to just re-use the one that is currently assigned to the VNC server machine.

All the steps I've given you need to be done on the VNC server, so I suppose the answer is yes.

No. Use whatever the VNC server is already using. Duplicating IPs on a network will cause conflicts.

We can revert the changes we've made to your laptop, and it should automatically configure itself for any network. Go back into the properties of your wireless card, into the TCP/IP properties, and check the radio button next to 'Obtain an IP address automatically'

The VNC VIEWER will connect to the VNC SERVER'S private IP address while on the same network. However, when the viewer is on the internet, you will connect to the public IP address of the network that the VNC server is on.

If the VNC server is not going to be connected to different networks, then a static IP address is fine. So long as it always has the same IP address while on that network, the VNC setup will work. We don't want the IP to change, otherwise we will have to change the router to forward requests to the new IP as opposed to the old IP.

 

so the next step is to setup a dhcp reservation on my office computer using its own ip address found in command prompt. the next problem is how do i set this up and where? should i extensively search my router guide for info on that? because i already used the search function to try and find "dhcp reservation" and nothing came up for anything relating to that. so when this dhcp reservation is setup it will allow me to access my office computer from any internet connection anywhere using my laptop? or is that not possible.

 

I'll take a look. It may be that your router does not support DHCP reservations. In this case, you will HAVE to use a static IP on the VNC server, or upgrade to a router that does support DHCP reservations.

 

Alright, I'm really not seeing anything, either. You can check with your ISP to be certain, but it looks like we will have to use a static IP on the VNC server, as opposed to a DHCP reservation.

 

so what will this effect as far as my ability to use vnc to access my office computer? and why is this problem even occurring? doesn't the vnc server simply host my office pc, and allow the viewer to control it through that connection? when i simply type my office pc ip address into the viewer, followed by my password for security, which then connects to the my office computer through the server, i just dont see where is this problem coming from? how is this so complicated? i also dont see how the problem is with the office router, and not the home router, when in the office i could access my office pc with my laptop just fine. should i look at an alternative software that might make things easier? or is the problem really not that complicated and i just think it is. i guess i could simply resolve to only using vnc at my at home desktop, but to me that defeats the whole purpose of being able to connect to it on the road, anywhere.

 

When your machines are all on your network (the SAME network, that is), you plug in the VNC server's PRIVATE IP address to access it. (Something like 192.168.X.X, I'll bet) No problems. You've specifically chosen to control the machine at that IP address.

When one of these computers are on the internet, the private IPs do not exist. They are for use INSIDE your network ONLY. Instead, you will plug in your router's PUBLIC IP.

Now, because you have a number of machines on the network ALL SHARING your single PUBLIC IP, the router needs to know specifically which machine you want to talk to. Therefore, we need to configure port forwarding. What this would do is say that ALL VNC traffic from the internet should be directed to this IP (the VNC server's IP)

This really isn't a problem at all. It is completely by design.

 

just as a test, i tried to connect to my office pc using my at home desktop. i got the same error and had the same problem. thats just info i thought id throw out to see if it meant anything. i dont think it does though. anyway, since i am now sending a public ip address out to my office pc, instead of a private such as in the case of when we were on the same network in my office, the routers simply dont recognize the request because of unfamiliar ip's and therefore dont allow the traffic? and thats why i need to setup static ip addresses on each of my routers port 5900? and then configure each computer to accept the static ip of the other computer through port 5900? or did i just go on a imaginary computer networking rampage that made no sense to you, who obviously understands the real way it works.

 

Maybe you would benefit from an indepth explanation of TCP/IP networking. If you want to understand further, there is a nice tutorial at this link.

Suffice it to say that the complications in this VNC setup stem from the fact that we no longer have the client and server machines on the same side of the network.

Instead, we have the server inside your work network, and your client is accessing it from the internet. (the outside).

 

thanks alot for everything you have done. As well as that link. i guess ill need to go buy something that i know will work. Free stuff always has its drawbacks :cry

 

A static IP isn't an option for your VNC server/work computer?
Don't get hung up on the DHCP reservation. That was for the laptop that had to move around, and that's not your VNC server, anyway!

Unless the work computer is in the same situation as the laptop; that is, it has to work on multiple networks, we can get by using a static IP.

 

i do realize that. but by using static ip wont it make me unable to access my office from any wireless connection anywhere? cause my public ip will change as i move around to different networks. anyway. thanks again for your help, i really like the support major geeks offers. i did some research and found logmein. there is a free version im trying right now and so far it has worked great. ill be testing it on my office computer today, but so far it looks like a better and easier program, using a website, and an account on that website, that shows all the computers you have added to that account. it gives easy and quick access.
Please dont feel like your work was in vain. i really like computers and this discussion has been a good eye opening learning experience.

 

Your laptop's public IP will change as you move to different networks, but your work network's public IP will be the same. You're only concerned with the office's public IP.

w/e...glad you got a solution.