Remote Desktop via Internet?

[txnoob]

I'm looking for an app (or apps) that will allow me to:

- Screen share with my Mini from a Macbook and a PC Laptop anywhere on the
internet, at any time.

- Access & Share Files on my Mini from same Macbook/PC Laptop remotely.

To complicate the issue, my home internet has Dynamic IP address.
I've used VPNs on PCs before, but this is all new with Mac.

Is this possible?

 

[pacmania1982]

www.logmein.com allows you to do this

they have a free version if you don't want to send/receive files

i do it all the time

pac

 

[txnoob]

I was really hoping for local program that mearly used the internet.

What about ARD? I've been reading about it but seems more suited for a local network.

 

[chrisgeleven]

You can do this using the Screen Sharing feature in Leopard, a VNC client, and DynDNS. This at least takes care of the remote access part. You may want to use something like DropBox for direct access to files. Here is the cliff notes version of how to do it:

1) Go to your System Preferences, Sharing, and enable Screen Sharing. Click on computer settings and set a VNC password.

2) Do port forwarding on your router to forward port 5900 to your computer.

3) Create a DynDNS account (http://www.dyndns.com/) and a hostname. Basically, it would be something like example.dyndns.org which will point to your internet connection's IP address. This guide walks you through the basics: http://www.dyndns.com/support/kb/dyndns.html

4) Install the DynDNS Updater 2.3 on your mac here: http://www.dyndns.com/support/clients/ so it will keep your DynDNS hostname up-to-date whenever your IP address changes. So a Dynamic IP address won't be a problem here.

5) Download a VNC client (such as JollyFastVNC http://www.jinx.de/JollysFastVNC.html) and configure it to connect to your DynDNS hostname and type in the VNC password you configured on step 1).

6) It should work!

How do I know this works? I do it myself to connect to my home computer and my parent's computer. Plus I work for DynDNS on their Customer Support team and I am currently writing up a guide on exactly how to set this up, so I am open to hear for improvements on this setup from all of you. Do note, this is my cliff notes version, I am working on one with nice screenshots and more direct steps.

 

[-tWv-]

What do you want to be able to do with this screensharing?

I would give teamviewer a try. It is free for private use. Are the computers that you need to share with your computers? If they are you can set up a password that doesn't change on the computers and then you will be able to connect at any time. Teamviewer by default creates a new password at launch for security.

 

[txnoob]

What do you want to be able to do with this screensharing?

I would give teamviewer a try. It is free for private use. Are the computers that you need to share with your computers? If they are you can set up a password that doesn't change on the computers and then you will be able to connect at any time. Teamviewer by default creates a new password at launch for security.

Yes. They are my computers. I'll look at this as well as DynDNS. Thanks

 

[andrewtj]

It's my biased opinion that there's only one way to do this. Most network based software on OS X including File Sharing and Screen Sharing use Bonjour for advertising and discovering services. Whilst Bonjour is limited to a local network, there is a variant called Wide Area Bonjour that operates over the internet. Once your machines are configured for Wide Area Bonjour, they'll do the port-forwarding (needs NAT-PMP or UPNP which most home gateways/routers have) and advertise their services with the end result being that it's transparent as to whether a machine is on the same network or out on the internet somewhere, you just use them as usual.

To setup Wide Area Bonjour you need a specially configured DNS server. You can find out more about how to set one up at the DNS Service Discovery website or if you have OS X server, I believe there's documentation bundled on how to set one up (don't quote me on that, I don't have OS X server).

So why did I prefix opinion with biased in the first paragraph?

I'm building a hosted Wide Area Bonjour service to take the hassle out of setting up Wide Area Bonjour. If it sounds like something you might be interested in, take a quick tour of the service (you don't even need your own domain ) and if you like what you see, drop an email to register@globalhostname.com and I'll let you know when I open up registrations next (within a week or so).

 

[JediSkipdogg]

I'm looking for the same thing and I was all excited about LogMeIn until I found out it doesn't fully do what I need it too. The problem is I screen lock my computer when I leave home. It then shows as offline in LogMeIn. Is there a program that gets around that?