Level 1

37 points

Remote access via internet to another macbook

I would like to access my moms computer when she needs help sometimes via the internet. We both have Macbooks and high speed internet. Before I move away I can install whatever is necessary on her computer. Then if she has computer problems (as she often does) I can go onto her computer to sort it out. (Obviously, I will have to phone her to tell her to open up the computer). Is this a really involved thing that I am asking? I don't really know where to start. I have heard of remote desktop but after reviewing it, it sounds like it is much more than what I am looking for. Any info to point me in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Black 2.4ghz Macbook Superdrive, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Nov 6, 2008 5:01 PM

27 replies

blakegeee Author

Level 1

37 points

Nov 14, 2008 2:07 PM in response to Emmerac

Ok I will check it out once I am over there again. I remember that I was unsure about one drop down list and I chose TCP. I will have to get back to you about details.

blakegeee Author

Level 1

37 points

Nov 15, 2008 5:47 PM in response to blakegeee

Ok I might know what the problem is. Today when I go back to "whatsmyip" it gives me a different IP address than before. I checked a few sites today just to make sure. Maybe the one site I checked last time was wrong or could it be changing for some reason?

blakegeee Author

Level 1

37 points

Nov 15, 2008 6:39 PM in response to blakegeee

Here is the details for my port forwarding:

Protocol Port Redirected to
Custom Configuration TCP 5500 192.168. 2. 10

Custom Configuration TCP 5800 - 5900 192.168. 2. 10

Custom Configuration TCP 22 192.168. 2. 10

Is the protocol correct, TCP? And is that the IP address I want to forward it to? Oh now that I have turned the router off and on again, I see that my IP address is different again. Sorry the chart does cut & paste well and I dont see how to attach a print screen.

Message was edited by: blakegeee

Emmerac

Level 1

135 points

Nov 15, 2008 7:59 PM in response to blakegeee

I can't believe I forgot to mention that earlier. Your ISP can change your IP pretty much at anytime. Some do it once a day, some once an hour. You can pay extra to get a static IP. Otherwise you will have to get the new IP each time you want to connect.

blakegeee Author

Level 1

37 points

Nov 15, 2008 8:59 PM in response to Emmerac

I just tried the new ip and it doesn't work also. It is timing out just like before. Any ideas?

Emmerac

Level 1

135 points

Nov 15, 2008 9:13 PM in response to blakegeee

If your router is using DHCP inside the network then that IP address can also change on a specified schedule. You should be able to set your router's IP lease to to Forever (most are configured at 1 hour by default), or you can manually configure your network with static IP's. Note that if you set the lease time to Forever, the IP can still change each time the computer requests and IP address from the router, it just won't change while connected. Make sense? I'm not very good at explaining things...

blakegeee Author

Level 1

37 points

Nov 16, 2008 1:42 PM in response to Emmerac

Ok, I have just changed the lease time to "infinite". So if I check the IP addresses now, leave this computer online and go home and try to connect using these IP addresses, nothing can change meanwhile? This should work?

I also just noticed that my IP is 192.168.2.1 but the ports have been forwarded to 192.168.2.10. Is there any difference? I just changed them to drop the 0, now I will go home and try again.

Message was edited by: blakegeee

blakegeee Author

Level 1

37 points

Nov 19, 2008 6:40 PM in response to Emmerac

Ok I have progress I think. I have the Router IP set to infinite and it doesn't seem to be changing anymore. I went home immediately after checking what the IP was on her computer. I just got home and tried again. I didn't work but it acts different than it ever has before. I tried all 3 methods as before, but they all immediately tell me "connection refused" within a second of clicking connect. Before they would always take a minute of two before tell me "timed out".

So I am making progress, but does anyone know why it still doesn't work?

Emmerac

Level 1

135 points

Nov 19, 2008 9:24 PM in response to blakegeee

It's good progress that you are getting some kind of response. The questions is, is the response coming from the router or from the computer you are trying to connect to. At least you are making some kind of a connection. All I can say is recheck your settings.

blakegeee Author

Level 1

37 points

Nov 19, 2008 9:42 PM in response to Emmerac

The router had defaulted the IP for forwarding the ports to 192.168.2.10 but my IP is 192.168.2.1. So I dropped the 0 off the end, maybe that is my new problem. I will add it back on there next time.

blakegeee Author

Level 1

37 points

Nov 22, 2008 5:56 AM in response to Emmerac

OK, I finally did it! I changed the ports forwarded back to the IP plus a "0" on the end, then went home and phoned her to get the current "whatsmyip". I tried it through finder and it worked right away!

I tried it through Terminal to try the more secure option and it looks like it is connected but I don't know how to find her desktop. I went to "network" in finder and her computer is listed there or anything. What do I do once it has connected?

Here is a copy of Terminal connecting;

The authenticity of host '65.95.61.27 (65.95.61.27)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is ##:##:ff:c8:38:97:9c:6f:##:##:##:##:##:##:##:##.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? y
Please type 'yes' or 'no': yes
Warning: Permanently added '65.95.61.27' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
Password:
Welcome to Darwin!
Macintosh-2:~ blake$

It looks like it is connected, right? I just changed the #s in RSA fingerprint because I have no idea if this should be confidential.

Emmerac

Level 1

135 points

Nov 23, 2008 1:10 PM in response to blakegeee

This article may help:

http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.20/20.07/VNCOverSSH/index.html

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Remote access via internet to another macbook