Any good, free alternatives to VNC for home use?

Kinja'd!!! "Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
01/22/2020 at 14:51 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!0 Kinja'd!!! 10
Kinja'd!!!

There are times I just need to connect up to the Plex server in the living room and do simple stuff, like emptying the trash or other non-Plex things. Rather than going out ot the machine itself, perhaps I could use something like VNC to connect up for a couple of minutes. Can anyone recommend a good, free remote control software?


DISCUSSION (10)


Kinja'd!!! Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/22/2020 at 14:57

Kinja'd!!!1

TeamViewer?


Kinja'd!!! My X-type is too a real Jaguar > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
01/22/2020 at 15:01

Kinja'd!!!1

Came here to suggest that


Kinja'd!!! Textured Soy Protein > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/22/2020 at 15:03

Kinja'd!!!3

Chrome Remote Desktop could do the trick.

https://remotedesktop.google.com/


Kinja'd!!! Nibby > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/22/2020 at 15:12

Kinja'd!!!1

tightvnc?


Kinja'd!!! Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
01/22/2020 at 15:24

Kinja'd!!!0

Thanks. I installed it and it works great (as long as I remember the username and password). It looks like I can use it on iOS as well, giving me one less reason to crawl out of bed.


Kinja'd!!! Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/22/2020 at 15:37

Kinja'd!!!0

Has been very, very useful to me, though not for any of the weird stuff you mentioned in your post...


Kinja'd!!! Future Heap Owner > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/22/2020 at 16:46

Kinja'd!!!0

I run WinVNC on my Plex Server box, and use the extremely well-designed (and free!) “ VNC Viewer”  app to connect to it from iOS.


Kinja'd!!! BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/22/2020 at 16:55

Kinja'd!!!1

Mac OS, Windows, or Linux variant?

Mac OS has Apple Remote Desktop, set up from the sharing system preference.

Windows OS has Remote Desktop, likely needs to be set up as a service on the server side, and then Microsoft RDP client on the client-side.

Linux, various flavors might include things, but I am not as familiar.

TightVNC, UltraVNC, and TeamViewer are the go-to cross-platform 3rd-party options.

TeamViewer can be set up for unattended access and set to boot as a service so that you can remotely access without having to touch the server-side machine other than perhaps pushing the power button to turn it on, and there are usually options in the energy and power settings to automatically reboot after a power interruption.


Kinja'd!!! Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
01/22/2020 at 17:32

Kinja'd!!!0

Mac, Windows or Linux? Yes.

I set up TeamViewer and it seems to be doing the trick. I only set it up on two Win10 machines so far,  but it looks like I can use it with every platform in my house.


Kinja'd!!! Khalbali > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/22/2020 at 18:40

Kinja'd!!!0

You use Plex? I just heard about it and am interested but worried about privacy and whatnot, how do you like it?