Remote Desktop access between Mac and PC possible?

[psylance]

Turn off Firewall?

I've got the client viewer installed on the Mac and the server running on the PC. When I search for the local IP of the PC the Mac can't find it. Maybe your suggestion about the firewall is the problem. Where do I go to turn it off...remember, I'm a recent switcher.

Update: Nevermind...I found it. Under Sharing in System Preferences. But now I can't figure out how to turn it off.

Update to the update: Nevermind...figured that out too. I love my Mac <sigh>

 

[whooleytoo]

I've got the client viewer installed on the Mac and the server running on the PC. When I search for the local IP of the PC the Mac can't find it. Maybe your suggestion about the firewall is the problem. Where do I go to turn it off...remember, I'm a recent switcher.

Ah, sorry. (The problem is as OSX gets more powerful - internet sharing, firewalls etc., it also gets more complicated.)

Open System Preferences (in the Dock, or the Apple Menu), then open the Sharing pane. Click on the Firewall tab, and if the firewall is on, stop it (for now).

If you can connect now, then it's the firewall that was at fault. If so, then open the firewall tab again, click "New...", and select "VNC" from the list. This tells the firewall stop all incoming traffic, except those coming into the VNC ports (plus the others that were already in the list). Now you can safely turn the firewall back on, and it should work fine.

 

[psylance]

Argh...

I tried turning it off and I still can't get through. Not with VNC and not with Remote Desktop. Frustrating. This and remote printing are really the only two things I need to make the switch to Mac painless.

 

[whooleytoo]

I tried turning it off and I still can't get through. Not with VNC and not with Remote Desktop. Frustrating. This and remote printing are really the only two things I need to make the switch to Mac painless.

Hmmm.. is networking between the two machines working ok otherwise? Can you see Windows shares? Can you ping one machine from the other?

You could try outputting the network configs of both, copying and pasting them to a message here and we could take a look. On the Mac, open the terminal and type "ifconfig -a". On the PC, open the command prompt, and type "ipconfig /all".

It's possible the subnet masks don't match up, your configs will reveal if that's the problem.

 

[phrancpharmD]

if you have a broadband connection at home with a static IP address, then you can use that address in the "Server Name" field when trying to connect from work.

So, I have to have a static IP address; I guess that's probably why I've not been able to connect. Is there no way to do this if you do not have a static IP address?

 

[whooleytoo]

So, I have to have a static IP address; I guess that's probably why I've not been able to connect. Is there no way to do this if you do not have a static IP address?

Well, there are two key requirements:

- Your target (home) machine must already be connected to the Internet, so either you have broadband, or have a dialup that's up all the time! (Well, strictly speaking there is a sneaky way around this if you have ISDN, but using analog modems, you're out of luck).

- Your target machine must have either a known IP address, or a domain name (such as something like 'obscure_name1234.your_isp.com'). It doesn't have to be static, but if you have broadband at home, it's very likely to be.

 

[phrancpharmD]

Your target machine must have either a known IP address, or a domain name (such as something like 'obscure_name1234.your_isp.com'). It doesn't have to be static, but if you have broadband at home, it's very likely to be.

will this information be in the "Internet Connect" section of system preferences?

 

[ingenious]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll take a look right now and give it a try. For all the flack MS gets, you've gotta' appreciate that they still support us Mac users. ("us"...<sigh> I'm now a Mac user...<grins><looks adoringly at new PowerBook)

they dont support us very well... oh well, thats y apple makes superior software.. who really cares about M$?

 

[whooleytoo]

will this information be in the "Internet Connect" section of system preferences?

Ah, I just read a previous post of your's, where you said you have DSL.

Assuming you connect your DSL modem to your Mac via Ethernet, open the Network pane in System Preferences, select "Ethernet" from the "Show" popup menu, then click on TCP/IP. (In OSX 10.3) there should be a "Configure IPv4" popup menu. If it's set to "Manually", you have a static IP address. I imagine, since you have DSL, it will be.

If your DSL modem connects to your Mac via USB, I'm guessing it should show up in the same location - I've never used a USB DSL modem.

If you're looking for the host/domain name, the easiest way is to open the Sharing pane, and click on any of the services that are running (e.g. Personal Web Sharing). At the bottom of the pane, it will show either the hostname (or an IP address if there's no hostname specified) of your machine.

 

[phrancpharmD]

Ah, I just read a previous post of your's, where you said you have DSL.

Assuming you connect your DSL modem to your Mac via Ethernet, open the Network pane in System Preferences, select "Ethernet" from the "Show" popup menu, then click on TCP/IP. (In OSX 10.3) there should be a "Configure IPv4" popup menu. If it's set to "Manually", you have a static IP address. I imagine, since you have DSL, it will be.

If your DSL modem connects to your Mac via USB, I'm guessing it should show up in the same location - I've never used a USB DSL modem.

If you're looking for the host/domain name, the easiest way is to open the Sharing pane, and click on any of the services that are running (e.g. Personal Web Sharing). At the bottom of the pane, it will show either the hostname (or an IP address if there's no hostname specified) of your machine.

Thanks for the instructions. My DSL modem is connected to my AirPort (Snow) base station via ethernet. I'll look for that info and try again tomorrow. Thanks for your help!