Is there a more lightweight solution? Like, some ssh frontend? I’d like to help my mom cleaning up her Windows computer because she’s not very tech savvy. I can of course just screen share on some messaging app but it’d save so much time if I could have control.
I’m not going to be reacting to answers advising me to install a Windows esque distro on her computer.
Cool! Lot of protocols covered! Thanks! 🙂
An upvote because I never heard of it. Looks excellent!
I use KRDC. It’s a little bit buggy the text looks sharper.
Many solutions exist, rdp clients aren’t exactly rare. I’m personally using xfreerdp for the extensive options: I can connect to a Windows system (at work) and have it be full screen on 2 of my 3 local monitors. It’s fast, reliable and just works honestly.
But what you seem to be looking for is something more like RustDesk or vnc. You want to look at and help with an existing session. If you connect with remote desktop, the local monitor gets locked, so you can only take over, but not show or help. VNC over the open Internet is generally not a great idea for security, but wire guard exists, as does TailScale and/or NetBird which means you don’t need to expose it. So that also works.
I use Remmina to take over Windows PCs but since it’s RDP it will lock the device. If you want the other person to be able to follow along I recommend rustdesk.
What does “lock” mean here? Would her screen turn dark or freeze with RDP?
It’ll go to the lock screen and eventually go dark. RDP (on Windows) doesn’t let you share screens/controls, AFAIK.
My go-to recommendation would be rustdesk.
Windows has an RDP server installed by default so any Linux RDP client will work (Remmina for example), just need to configure Windows to allow those incoming connections.
But RDP won’t do screen-sharing, if you need that specifically look at installing a VNC server onto the Windows system, or look at stuff like Rustdesk.
if you need those connections to be more secure you’ll want to look at adding VPN or SSH possibly.
For what it’s worth Windows does sort of have a RDP screen sharing feature, I think it comes up as Quick Assist on Windows, but that works through Microsoft Account / servers and wouldn’t do connections from Linux AFAIK.
VNC server on her computer. VNC client on your computer. Make sure password is very strong since you’re opening this to the wider internet. Open a port for VNC to pass through on your moms router (and possibly your own as well), and then connect remotely.
TigerVNC seems to be available for all platforms, including Windows and Linux. TigerVNC includes a server and client. (Client is sometimes called “viewer.”)
Bonus points if you encapsulate VNC in SSH, which would help keep your session secure regardless of the VNC password length
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Initiate a ssh session with -L 5900:server name:5900
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Start a vnc server on the server
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Connect to vnc on localhost:5900 and authenticate
Best advice that I forgot to include because it’s been a while since I needed VNC for anything. @akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone, please follow @ianhclark510@lemmy.blahaj.zone’s advice here!
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Well I’ll be damned. 2001? Good year too! 🤣 thanks!
@akunohana I last used it about twenty years ago. I notice it is no longer supported.
