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I have two computers running Ubuntu, one belongs to me and the other to my father. He often requires assistance with the system which involves using remote control. Both of the computers are connected to the same WLAN.

How can I set up a simple system for screen sharing and remote control? I would prefer something that runs in the background so that he doesn't need to click on anything (he's a bit of a technophobic). And I can assist him quickly.

I would appreciate any simple to set up and use programs.

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4 Answers 4

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One very convenient and free solution is to install the TightVNC (www.tightvnc.com) server on your father's computer.

This application can run on the background and can be secured with a password. When configuring the server, it is possible to turn off the message that asks the user for permissions, thus requiring no intervention from your father. Just connect to the server with the TightVNC client and you're ready to go.

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Team viewer will do the task.Steps:

1) Download team viewer for Linux for 32 bit or 64 bit.

2)Install it in your fathers computer and yours.

3)Setup unattended access in father's computer:guide

4)When ever your father needs help , fire up your team viewer application and login to his computer.Fix the system for him.

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The standard utility to do that is VNC. There are many VNC servers and clients; this Web page is Ubuntu's guide to it. You can download onto your father's pc one of the servers as follows:

 sudo apt-get install vnc4server

A good install guide can be found here You will then need a client on your pc, 

sudo apt-get install xvnc4viewer

Its use is quite straightforward. Now, when you connect, you will have your father's pc right in front of you, as if you were sitting at his chair.

Two more small issues:

  1. If you wish to connect to your father's pc even when you are away (at work, on holiday and what not), you will have to do some port forwarding, i.e., to instruct your router that, whenever communication arrives on port 5901 (the port generally used by vnc servers), they should be addressed to your father's pc;

  2. Again if you are considering connecting to your father's pc from outside your LAN, you should consider encryption. The normal communication set up by VNC is plain, i.e., any snooper can listen on onto your conversations. If you wish to defend yourself against this possibility, the standard solution is to first establish an SSH communication (which is encrypted), and then vehicule your VNC session over the ssh channel, which makes it automatically encrypted. For Ubuntu, you find instructions here

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Here is all the info you need to answer your question. It is a complete tutorial of how to set up remote desktop with Ubuntu's native software. I will not post information from the link as I do not have permission to. But you can visit the site yourself.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ubuntu-remote-desktop-builtin-vnc-compatible-dead-easy/

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  • Links to external resources are encouraged, but please add context around the link so your fellow users will have some idea what it is and why it’s there. Always quote the most relevant part of an important link, in case the target site is unreachable or goes permanently offline.
    – Ashildr
    Nov 3, 2013 at 12:10
  • really? so you cannot see in the link "ubuntu-remote-desktop-built-in-vnc-compatable-dead-easy" then I will spell it out in non link form next time lmao. I did not realize people could not read on a forum. well what is the point of typing it in non link form then lol. I also thought "Remote desktop is built into Ubuntu" was pretty clear as well.
    – jmc302005
    Nov 3, 2013 at 12:22
  • the link which you pointed to might go offline someday.So a fellow user who might follow your link in the future wont be able to read the answer in that page.so , it is advised to copy some relevent part of the answer on that page to your answer.Cheers.
    – Ashildr
    Nov 3, 2013 at 12:34
  • either way you don't down vote a correct answer because it isn't formatted the way you want it to be. Also that link has been there since March of 2010. I wouldn't link to a site that hasn't been around for awhile. So how bout you worry about your answers and stop complaining about others. May be why your rep is still a little low. Trolling is not necessary for you to answer someones question. Down votes are for wrong or unhelpful advice. so now that you have down voted me so you can be above me, do you feel better?
    – jmc302005
    Nov 3, 2013 at 12:42
  • Also taking and reposting information from another site without permission is plagiarism. There is nothing immoral or wrong with posting a link to the information.
    – jmc302005
    Nov 3, 2013 at 12:51

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