Different VNC Port?

  • Thread starter WorldWarGeneral
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WorldWarGeneral

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I want to use TightVNC for remote access. I can connect from my laptop to my desktop over my LAN using either the hostname (notebook and desktop) or their local ip addresses. I then attempted to connect via the "real" ip address (the one I would have to use from a remote location) It didn't work. So, I went into my router settings and forwarded the port (5900) to the local ip address. I tried connecting again (via the "real" ip) and it worked.

Okay, so since my school seems to have a pretty strict firewall policy, should I assume that outgoing access to 5900 is blocked? Is that normal for it to be blocked? If so, is there any other way around it? (eg. use a different, but more likely to be left open, port?) I can't install the VNC viewer because of user rights restrictions, (they finally upgraded to Win2K, so can't just bypass the security settings like I could with FoolProof) but I read of a way to access VNC through a java-capable browser. Will this work, even though program installation is blocked?

Also, I know that for security reasons it is best to turn off the VNC server when I don't expect to be using it, but is there any danger to leaving 5900 forwarding to the local ip address, or should I disable that when I turn off the VNC server?

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
I'm not sure if TightVNC allows you to specify ports in the settings, but if not, you could try UltraVNC. It's very flexible as far as ports are concerned, and it auto-detects a good compression scheme based on the speed of the connection. I've found that it works better than the default VNC client and TightVNC, especially when you install the Video Hook driver for XP/2k.

Take a look at the attached screenshot. You can specify a "main" port and an HTTP port. The HTTP port is the one that enables you to use the Java viewer through a web browser. You will need to forward both ports in your router's settings.
Once you have it setup, Just type http://ip_address:port in your client's browser window. It should work even if you don't have the VNC viewer installed, since it just makes use of a Java applet.
 
Coming to your question about security - if you have a secure password you can pretty much leave the VNC server running all the time. I doubt anyone is going to have the time or the inclination to try to hack into a personal computer. I leave the UltraVNC server running all the time as a service on my XP box at home.
You can also leave the VNC ports permanently forwarded in your router settings. If the server isn't running, nobody can connect to it.
 
Thanks NetRyder. I'll give it a shot. Hopefully it'll work!
 
Not a problem :)
Don't see why it shouldn't work either. Let me know how it goes.
 
You cannot connect to your "real" IP address from the inside. eg if your real ip is 200.200.200.200 and you type that from a computer inside it will not be found. To test if remote works you need to be outside your network.
 
No luck, I got absolutly no response when I tried to connect from school. Using the Outside IP from home, it works great, the Java applet loads and works fine. I'm not sure why it works, adamg, but I don't seem to have any problems accessing my "real" ip from the inside.

My only guess is that the firewall at school is blocking the port Does PC Anywhere use 5800? Whenever they clone a new machine at school, it always has PC Anywhere installed. I'm thinking that maybe if I change VNC to use the same port as PC Anywhere, the school firewall will let it through.
 
TightVNC does not let you change the port. You may want to try UltraVNC and put it on a different port. PCAnywhere uses different ports, not sure which ones though.

JJB
 
Grab ultra VNC like NetRyder said.

Change the ports to 80 to whatever or 443 to whatever.

Go to grc.com run shields up on your school PC, see what and if any ports are open.
 
The default pcAnywhere port numbers are 5631 TCP and 5632 UDP.
You might be able to use that info to work around your problem. Let us know.
 
okay, I never thought of running grc on the school computers. How will I know if they're open? Won't they all just read "stealth"? I will give ultraVNC a try too, and try using the PcAnywhere ports
 

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