remote desktop from Windows

[stevieg83]

Hi folks, hopefully someone will be able to help.

At work I run on Windows XP, I'm able to connect to my home network through SSH and onto another Windows box with remote desktop.

From that Windows box I'm then able to use VNC to remote desktop to my Mac

However, I'd rather just connect from my work PC to the Mac. I added some port forwarding rules on the router and also some tunnel rules for SSH but when I try to connect using VNC I get "Sorry, loopback connections are not enabled".

How can I enable loopback connections and will that solve my problem?

Thanks in advance,
Steven

 

[balamw]

How can I enable loopback connections and will that solve my problem?

Needs to be enabled in your server (i.e. the VNC software you are running on the work PC). You didn't mention what VNC software you are using.

e.g. http://users.rcn.com/tushar.manglik/

B

 

[stevieg83]

I'm running TightVNC but only the viewer, not the server.

I thought server only needs to be used on the host (ie the Mac).

 

[balamw]

I thought server only needs to be used on the host (ie the Mac).

Sorry, I was thinking X11 where your "client" runs an X server.

I take it that the Mac's built in VNC doesn't like seeing a connection originate from itself and there does not seem to be a setting exposed for changing that behavior in System Preferences.

You could switch to OSXvnc http://sourceforge.net/projects/osxvnc/ since that gives you a bit more control on the back end.

I seem to recall fixing something like this in the past just by changing which machine the SSH tunnel was created on, but it's been a LONG time.

B

 

[GGJstudios]

However, I'd rather just connect from my work PC to the Mac.

I use TeamViewer, which works with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Ubuntu, iPhone, iPad, etc.

 

[balamw]

I use TeamViewer, which works with Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Ubuntu, iPhone, iPad, etc.

Just curious, do you have any insight into how TeamViewer deals with the firewall issues the OP is dealing with with SSH tunnels?

B

 

[GGJstudios]

Just curious, do you have any insight into how TeamViewer deals with the firewall issues the OP is dealing with with SSH tunnels?

No, not specifically. Using TeamViewer will enable the OP to connect directly from the XP box to the Mac, without firewall issues, and without the need for SSH tunnels.

 

[smirk]

I use putty, a free Windows SSH client, to do exactly what you described. In putty, I defined a port forwarding definition to forward my work PC's local port 5901 to my Mac's port 5901. Then in TightVNCViewer, I connect to "localhost:1".

For legacy reasons, I run the OSXVNC server on my Mac; I don't think I've ever tried it with the built-in VNC server. The arguments I'm using on the server are: -rfbport 5901 -rfbnoauth -localhost -SystemServer 1 -nevershared -restartonuserswitch N -UnicodeKeyboard 0 -keyboardLoading N -pressModsForKeys N -EventTap 3 -swapButtons -rendezvous N

Hope that gives you some info to go on.

 

[balamw]

I seem to recall fixing something like this in the past just by changing which machine the SSH tunnel was created on, but it's been a LONG time.

I use putty, a free Windows SSH client, to do exactly what you described. In putty, I defined a port forwarding definition to forward my work PC's local port 5901 to my Mac's port 5901. Then in TightVNCViewer, I connect to "localhost:1".

That's basically what I remember having to do in a Windows -> Linux case.

B