ISDEREKS

Since I had willingly allowed my MobileMe subscription to expire, I no longer had access to Apple’s Back to My Mac service for accessing my home Mac remotely. Although the feature was definitely useful + headache free to setup and use, I couldn’t justify the $99 annual renewal for the entire MobileMe package.I experimented with LogMeIn but really wanted to leave the web browser for browsing and remote control of a computer to a VNC client. Having previously setup my computers for VNC access / control on the local network, the changes for remote access were minimal. In short, setting up remote VNC access requires:VNC server running on the host (home) computerYour home router forwarding required ports to the host computerHelpful: Easy to remember dynamic hostname instead of memorizing an IPVNC viewer (client) for your remote computer or iPhoneI wanted to document the process here for Mac OS X 10.5+ users with along with some helpful screenshots for curious minds.First, enable Screen Sharing on your Mac. Open System Preferences > Sharing and tick the ‘Screen Sharing’ option. In the screenshot above I’ve added the password requirement for controlling the screen (Computer Settings…).In order to access your home computer remotely, you’ll need to forward the necessary ports appropriately. To do this, log into your Airport Extreme. Select Manual Setup. Inside the Advanced tab, select the Advanced tab then Port Mapping. Inside of this dialog, select the small ‘+’ (plus) button. The port mapping setup assistant will slide into view. Select Remote Login – SSH & Apple Remote Desktop. Each selection will automatically fill the correct ports. Select Continue after specifying each service.You Port Mapping window should now look like the image above. Ensure that both checkboxes are checked then proceed to update the new settings to your router.DynDNS to save you from remembering your IPTo keep the entire process of accessing your computer remotely easy, setup a free account at DynDNS (create account). Once the account has been properly setup, return to the main dashboard and look for My Services.What you want to setup is a new Host Service > Dynamic DNS Hosts.Select Add New Host on the following screen. DynDNS will request some basic info related to your home Mac.

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