How to connect to my PC remotely without having to deal with dynamic IP problems?

I am trying to find a program that allows me to connect to my Windows machine at work from my Windows machine at home. Or the other way around. The problem is that my home network has dynamic IP hence using VNC or other services that depend on IP are out of the question.

I used to use Windows Live Mesh. That way I was able to connect to my PC remotely by simply using Windows Live Messenger Authentication.

Any help would be welcomed to solve my dilemma.

JohnRoach

Posted 2012-12-06T18:48:52.753

Reputation: 149

Don't you mean your home has a dynamic ip? It's in the title, but the post says static. – nerdwaller – 2012-12-06T18:49:41.887

@ekaj - You missed what I said... I know what he is trying to do, I am trying to help him correct his post since it was just a slip of terms. If it was static, he wouldn't have this issue. I didn't want to have to edit it for him. – nerdwaller – 2012-12-06T18:52:01.857

@nerdwaller sorry about that mistakenly wrote static. I meant my ip was dynamic. – JohnRoach – 2012-12-06T18:53:00.270

@JohnRoach You're good man, just want to be sure you get answers that help you. – nerdwaller – 2012-12-06T18:54:33.447

Answers

I find TeamViewer excellent for getting around the IP issue.

From Wikipedia:

TeamViewer is a proprietary computer software package for remote control, desktop sharing, online meetings, web conferencing and file transfer between computers. The software operates with the Microsoft Windows, OS X,1 Linux,[3] iOS,[4] and Android[5] operating systems. It is possible to access a machine running TeamViewer with a web browser.[6] While the main focus of the application is remote control of computers, collaboration and presentation features are included.

Joe

Posted 2012-12-06T18:48:52.753

Reputation: 2 942

True. But the problem with TeamViewer is that password changes each time computer restarts... – JohnRoach – 2012-12-06T19:12:01.557

My understanding is that this is not the case if you've put the device onto the 'trusted' (I forget the term) list on your account - certainly for a connection without logging into to your overall account that would be true... – Joe – 2012-12-06T19:13:49.093

1Joe is absolutely right - just associate the system with your account and you never have to enter credentials for it. I use this myself. – Shinrai – 2012-12-06T19:34:56.973

Wow it is neat! Just tested it works great! Thank you – JohnRoach – 2012-12-06T19:40:45.770

There are a number of free DNS services for dynamic IP hosts, e.g., No-IP, that will let you associate a domain name with a host on a dynamic IP address. You'll find more by Googling for "free dynamic ip dns".

Nicole Hamilton

Posted 2012-12-06T18:48:52.753

Reputation: 8 987

So basically I will be using Windows Remote Desktop with DNS service. Correct? – JohnRoach – 2012-12-06T19:05:01.577

Yes. From work, you could then remote desktop to your home machine just by specifying your domain name, which the DNS will resolve to your dynamic IP. – Nicole Hamilton – 2012-12-06T19:07:38.290

I will also need to make sure that the firewall allows access through the Windows RD Protocol. Correct? – JohnRoach – 2012-12-06T19:13:46.673

yes you will need to allow access to RDP through the firewall. BUt allowing access to RDP from the world is probably a bad idea. VPN to home is safer. Or something like gotomypc can probably be used. – Doon – 2012-12-06T19:16:02.410

RDP is susceptible to "man in the middle" and password-guessing attacks. How much of a risk you consider that type of attack to be is a personal call. I don't personally consider that to be a huge risk and use bare RDP all the time over the internet. But I agree with @Doon that if you have concerns, a VPN is a good solution. – Nicole Hamilton – 2012-12-06T19:47:42.940

Going from work to home, this is solved most often (in my experience) by using a dynamic DNS daemon like DynDNS.org to associate a name with your home IP. I mention DynDNS.org only because I've used it before, not as a recommendation. The daemon routinely checks your external IP as viewed by the service, and maintains that IP with the dyndns.org servers, so if your ISP changes your IP, dyndns automatically notices and updates itself.

Home to work will (probably) involve some form of VPN and negotiating with your local admin team.

John

Posted 2012-12-06T18:48:52.753

Reputation: 1 383

Not to rain on your parade, but...

Before anything, have you checked with the IT staff at work if that's ok?

You should check with them before doing that. It may seem simple enough, but this can be a serious security threat.

I think a VPN is the preferred way and it's up to them to set a VPN connection for you.

Even the other way around (access home from work) should be cleared with IT first. And they can probably point you the right direction.

Edit
Since you've stated that IT is not a problem, what kind of "sophistication" are you aiming at? Depending on you router (at home) you can try DD-WRT that will make things real easy. You can put the DynDns directly on your router. Here's a guide. You can even wake your home computer remotely.

If that's overkill, I'd use something like TeamViewer or LogMeIn. Or you can set the DynDns client on the home computer and try VNC. Or you can try Chrome RDP

Luiz Angelo

Posted 2012-12-06T18:48:52.753

Reputation: 1 297

no worries there... – JohnRoach – 2012-12-06T19:41:22.197