I recently setup my home computer so that I could control it remotely. I help out my Mom with issues on her PC or install some software and it was quite difficult as I could not see what’s there on her screen. In our organization the It service team uses Dameware Mini Remote Control to resolve problems remotely and I wanted to setup something similar. Here is what I did..
Home PC Configuration –
Windows XP Professional – Connected to internet via Home Router – Dynamic IP provided by ISP
My PC Configuration –
Windows Vista – Connected to internet via Home Router – Dynamic IP provided by ISP
Initial Setup –
One issue was that I had to do the setup for remote configuration remotely and so needed the easiest way to get remote control for initial setup. I created a trial WebEx account and used the remote control feature of WebEx to gain control over home computer. This is the probably the easiest way when the remote computer is behind a firewall / home network. Another option would be to use Windows Remote Assistance.
Tackling Dynamic IP –
Once I gained control of the remote machine, the first problem to solve was that of Dynamic IP. since the internet connection at home came with a dynamic I needed a way to reach my home computer without having to worry about the constantly changing IP address. The solution is to use a DDNS or dynamic dns server. DynDns.com provides a free service for this. You need to first create an account and add a hostname of your choice that you would like to assign to your home computer. After that you need to install the DynDns update client on the home computer so that any change in the home IP address is communicated back to the server.
Remote control software options –
You could use a free software like TightVnc or commercial software like Dameware Mini Remote Control for this. whatever option you choose you need to take down details of the port for client server communication and forward the same on your home router. Once that done here’s what you need to do..
TightVnc –
Install TightVnc server on your home computer, assign a username and password for remote connections or use windows authentication. If you plan to use windows authentication make sure that all users on home computer have strong passwords and guest accounts are turned off.
Install TightVnc viewer on the machine from which home computer will be remote controlled. Now try to make a connection to your home computer by using the hostname created in DynDns and everything should work fine.
Dameware Mini Remote Control –
If you have purchased Dameware Mini Remote Control here is what you need to do..
Install DameWare Mini remote control application on your personal computer. Create an installer for the Remote Control Client Agent using Dameware Mini Remote Control Client Agent MSI builder. The beauty of this tool is that you could pre-configure all the settings and no configuration is required when deploying the MSI.
Deploy the DMRC Client Agent on home computer using the MSI you created. Make sure you have forwarded the port (default is TCP 6129) on your home router. That’s it. If everything is fine you should be able to make a remote connection now. You may need to restart the remote computer once after the deployment of DMRC Client Agent for the Mirror Video driver to be functional. Although you could make a remote connection without restarting the performance improvement in frame rate is visible only after the reboot as this is required for mirror video driver installation to complete.
Let me know if this approach worked for you. If you have any questions or face any problems please post in the comments section and i will try my best to help. So long..