Accessing files remotely

Question

I want to access some files on my friends PC remotely

He has an ADSL and a static IP (and he's behind a router). I have an ADSL and changing IP (and I'm behind a router).

He's using Http File Server on port 80

and we tried the port 55554 also and it did not work either.

Isn't this is the right way to get to his PC? to put http:// His_Ip:80/downloads

P.S: I've put a space in the link because I can't post more than 1 link due to my reputation.

Answer 1

Many things can go wrong here:

1. Your friend's ISP blocks the port 80 since (web) servers are not allowed for private use
2. The router does not forward the incoming port 80 (or 55556) to the local machine. You should use VNAT for this, or dynamic port forwarding (the name depends on the router), but it allows you to tell the router to forward any port 80 request to the local IP address of your friend's computer (i.e. 192.168.1.5). Look for this setting in the router, it is mostly the main source of problem here.
3. The HTTP Server is not working locally. Try accessing http://localhost:80 from your friend's computer and see if that works.

If not, get another solution to share files, like Dropbox or a more complex solution like LogMeIn Hamachi

Answer 2

Checkout Hamachi: https://secure.logmein.com/US/products/hamachi2/

It is free for personal use, and pretty cool.

Answer 3

Try using a different port. Many ISPs block outgoing port 80 so that people don't use their service to run a web host.