VNC help: Mac and XP

[compulsiveguile]

I'm trying to setup VNC between my Mac and MS PC. I have OSXvnc running on my Intel Macbook Pro, and I'm trying to access it from my Sony PC with RealVNC viewer on the same home network. When I enter the IP of the Mac on my pc in realVNC viewer, everything looks to be going well (asks for password). However, when I enter the password, nothing happens. RealVNC viewer just closes, and that's the end of it.

What's the deal? Is it a port problem? The server on the Mac is port 5900, and I don't see an option to configure ports for the viewer. Is that the issue?

My end goal is to setup over-the-internet VNC to remotely access my Mac, but I'm takin this one step at a time. Any help with that issue would be great too. Thanks!

 

[tlarkin]

Okay on OSX you need to set up a few settings to allow VNC users to control the desktop. To do this follow these steps.

1) Open system Preferences

2) Open Sharing

3) Click on Apple remote desktop, and then click on the advanced settings tab

4) Make sure you have checked the box that says "allow VNC connections to control desktop" - and you can set up the password there too

Alternatively, you can also download and install the MS RDC from MS for Mac.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=remotedesktopclient

 

[compulsiveguile]

Okay, so I just accessed my mac from my pc with realVNC viewer... without osxVNC running on my mac. Apparently I don't need to be running OSXvnc server to access my Mac? What's the purpose of OSXvnc then?

Sorry, I'm somewhat new to this whole thing. Can I access my Mac remotely from an in network computer because of some integrated VNC server already running? Confused...

 

[tlarkin]

Okay, so I just accessed my mac from my pc with realVNC viewer... without osxVNC running on my mac. Apparently I don't need to be running OSXvnc server to access my Mac? What's the purpose of OSXvnc then?

Sorry, I'm somewhat new to this whole thing. Can I access my Mac remotely from an in network computer because of some integrated VNC server already running? Confused...

Yes, Apple Remote Desktop is basically VNC and its built into the OS. However it only works with ARD admin software which you have to purchase from Apple, but you can use a free open source VNC broswer like chicken of the VNC and enable VNC connections to control the desktop with the instructions I mentioned before hand.

As for the windows side, you can just the Real VNC viewer. If you are going to do this over the internet you will need to forward the proper ports and know your wan IP.

 

[compulsiveguile]

Yeah, I already had enabled remote access, I just didn't realize that the integrated VNC worked the way it works. I don't have XP Pro, so I can't access my windows machine through the MS RDC.

Okay, I think I know how to do the rest of it. It's similar to the process of forwarding a port for ftp, correct? I'll do a little looking around, but in case I have trouble, where would I find the port number that I need to forward? The default is usually like 5900, right?

 

[tlarkin]

Yeah, I already had enabled remote access, I just didn't realize that the integrated VNC worked the way it works. I don't have XP Pro, so I can't access my windows machine through the MS RDC.

Okay, I think I know how to do the rest of it. It's similar to the process of forwarding a port for ftp, correct? I'll do a little looking around, but in case I have trouble, where would I find the port number that I need to forward? The default is usually like 5900, right?

its 5800 or 5900 you may need to google it, and the MS RDC is for the mac to connect to windows machines not reverse, so you could just use that as well which uses port 3389.