[Solved] Remote desktop

[jbyte]

Hi,
I need to access a Mint desktop via a windows machine and wondering if anyone has any suggestions or links to tutorials? The ones I have found are for linux to linux or ssh access.
I've tried tightvnc without any luck.

Thanks

[mikaelrask]

hey and welcome to the forum and linux mint jbyte you could try with putty i have use it in the past when i needed acces another computer https://www.putty.org/ or teamviewer is another good client.

[jbyte]

I need to view the desktop so putty won't work.

I'll try teamviewer, but I thought that was paid, thanks.

[yellowfinch]

Since last spring (near the beginning of the pandemic) TeamViewer have considerably tightened their conditions for free use, to the point that, for many people (maybe most?), it is now unusable. Their algorithm constantly decides that your usage constitutes a violation of their policy and that you should buy a subscription, even when you do very little and for only a few minutes.

AnyDesk, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have a similar issue, so far.

And it is also available for all platforms. I don’t currently have a Windows machine on which I could try it but I’m using it in many different combination to access Linux machines from other Linux machines or from Android devices and vice versa, so I would expect it to work from Windows to Linux. Interoperability is the point.

[Pecu1iar]

If you're on the same network, I've found that NoMachine works well. I also have teamviewer installed and it works well if your're wanting to connect over the internet.

[GS3]

I used Teamviewer in the past but they became a pain when they started cutting you off without warning.

I have been using Anydesk for quite some time now and it works well for me both in Linux and Windows. I would recommend it.

It is extremely easy to install. I have done several remote installations of LM by telling the user to create and run the LIVE session and then download and run Anydesk and I can take over from there.

[hayden]

If you are the same local network, then I recommend running x11vnc server a systemd service on the linux machine, and on the Windows machine you can you any client vnc viewer like: https://www.tightvnc.com/download.php. tightvnc and x11vnc are both stable and reliable.

I have a youtube video on how to setup x11vnc as a service:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeC7ebaOB_8

But the simple steps are below. I run as root, but you can use sudo before the commands if you use sudo. Also I use vim editor, but you can use xed or nano or whatever editor you're comfortable with.

Code: Select all

# apt-get install x11vnc vim
# x11vnc -storepasswd yourVNCpasswordHERE /etc/x11vnc.pass
# vi /etc/systemd/system/x11vnc.service

[Unit]
Description="x11vnc"
Requires=display-manager.service
After=display-manager.service

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/x11vnc -xkb -noxrecord -noxfixes -noxdamage -display :0 -auth guess -rfbauth /etc/x11vnc.pass
ExecStop=/usr/bin/killall x11vnc
Restart=on-failure
Restart-sec=2

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

# systemctl daemon-reload
# systemctl start x11vnc
# systemctl enable x11vnc

If you are accessing the machine over the internet, then I recommend VNC Connect for both linux and windows.https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/. It's free for up to 5 computers.

[JerryF]

Remmina has VNC and RDP.

[AndyMH]

If you're on the same network, I've found that NoMachine works well.

+1

[jbyte]

Thanks for all the responses, I ended up using Anydesk and so far it works very well for what I need.