Why can't I connect to my uncle's PC with VNC Viewer?

Question

My uncle is relatively new to PCs and I have been trying to remotely help him use his computer. I have been trying to initiate a connection with my VNC Viewer but kept getting a connection timeout error.

Before I left when I visited my uncle, I had setup a wireless router so his daughter can go online on her notebook without having to wait for my uncle to finish using his computer. I also setup a network printer so the two can share one printer. I had set the wireless router to remote management and setup Dynamic DNS. On my uncle's PC I had installed the VNC server and setup it so that it would be in user-mode so my uncle could allow my VNC viewer to connect at his own discretion.

When I got home, I managed to connect to my uncle's router's web interface and forwarded port 5900-5910 to my uncle's PC. After I asked my uncle to launch the VNC server, I tried to use my VNC viewer and could not connect. Neither his DDNS domain or IP worked. I forwarded port 80 to my uncle's network printer and managed to connect to his printer's web interface, so port forwarding on the router should be working. And also the ISP should not be blocking port 5900 since even port 80 can pass. I also do remember that I was able to run VNC viewer on my cousin's notebook and connect to my uncle's VNC server.

Both the viewer and the server are Real VNC

Is there anything I can try? Did I forget anything?

Answer 1

It all has to do with the router, Tell your uncle, to unplug his router, and run the ethernet cable, directly into his computer, try that, and if it doesnt work, then you do the same, It all has to do with the port forwarding, I dont know what kind of internet you and your uncle had, but i solved mine by enabling UPnP Port forward, AND dont forget this part, AND by moving my router as Far away from anything electronical, I have shitty clearwire, and i used to leave the router and the clearwire right next to each other, and since i moved them about 5 feet away from each other, my buddy and i can screen share in iChat. I forget to mention that im on a Mac, so enabling your UPnP on a windows computer, maybe a little more difficult, im sure that its nothing that google cant solve. Im guessing that you'll have to enter in your routers IP address into your internet, and it will prompt you for a password, This is NOT your regular password that you might have used to encrypt your wifi so nobody can conncect, like a WEP. By default, this user and password will both be admin, no caps.



But first try to eliminate using the router to see if thats your problem.



let me know if you'll need anything else.



:)



Good Luck



I was just reading back through your post, And you said that your Cousins Laptop, was able to connect to your Uncle's Computer? See now that pretty much proves that its the router, when you were there and they were try to use VNC it worked because there both on the same port.

So try the ethernet deal first, I don't think that it would be a firewall issue.. because if it was, then it wouldnt have worked at there house.

Answer 2

Two words: Windows Firewall.



Make sure you poke holes in his firewall to allow VNC traffic to go through. Unfortunately, you can only do this locally, unless you give your uncle some really precise directions.



It sounds like you have everything else set up. You are connecting to his network properly via his WAN IP. You are talking to his internal print server, meaning your port-forwarding is working.



One other thing to check is that his computer has been assigned a valid gateway address. His gateway address should be the IP of the router, so that outbound packets can actually reach the Internet (and you), and not bounce around inside his LAN.

Answer 3

yep, firewall...i had this same issue. norton is bad for this too