RealVNC in Vista

[absinthe]

I'm trying to connect to my dad's Vista machine to help him with his new computer via my XP machine using RealVNC. What ought to be simple and straightforward, it turns out, isn't.

When I run a server, he can connect to me simply by typing in my IP. But when he's the one running the server, the VNC icon in the system tray informs him that it's "not accepting connections." Some Googling found a way to fix this (by changing the port # the program uses). However, after changing the port and making the "not accepting ...." message go away, his VNC icon displays an IP starting with 192.168.

Obviously, that's not his IP. Now, my dad isn't using a router of any kind. He's just plugged straight into the modem. My dad knows very little about computing, and I'm finding it extraordinarily frustrating to try and fix this since I'm not there and can't SEE anything.

I'm quite sure this is related to Vista, which seems to have set up some kind of internal network. I don't have much experience with Vista myself. I'm sure there's probably a way to set up a "rule" to allow access, but I'll never talk my dad through that over the phone. Is there a "simple" way to turn this off or fix this so that the machine simply uses its public IP?

Thanks,

-abs

 

[kainlongshot]

I'm also having some VNC issues. I'm pretty sure its just VNC and its derivatives are having issues coping with Vista. As knowledge builds up on how Vista works more mature support will be develop for VNC. (i.e. you're not the only one having issues with VNC and vista.)

Best way I found to combat this is to simply use Remote Desktop. Since both are windows based they should be compatible. Have you tried setting this up instead? There should be options in Vista's control panel/networking that allows one to enable this. The only caveat is that you may need to create a profile for you to get into his machine if UAC is in effect.

 

[JackMDS]

UltraVNC should work with Vista provided these considerations are kept.

http://www.uvnc.com/vista/

 

[nweaver]

He DOES use a router, it's built into his modem.

He needs to forward ports to his machine.

 

[kainlongshot]

Thats a great point . . . did the OP forward his ports properly?

 

[RebateMonger]

The simplest way to accomplish this is with a commercial product like http://LogMeIn.com. It uses a third-party server to host the connections, avoiding having to configure port forwarding (which can be confusing to novices).