Reverse Remote Desktop (no port forward needed)

I want to connect to my friends desktop (Ubuntu) for help. But the computer is behind uncontrolled router. So, my friend can't do port forwarding. 

I know Teamviewer is easy solution. But I'd like to connect directly, with no need an extra layer. 

While after, I learned that VNC can also connect as reverse.

Here are the steps.
Firstly, I installed xvncviewer and I have my friend installed xvnc11. By the way, on my side port 5500 is forwarded to my computer.

Step 1: On my computer, I opened the terminal and start VNCViewer in listen mode.

xvncviewer --listen

Step 2: And my friend execute the following command:

x11vnc -connect MyIP:5500

Then a new window opened and I can see and control my friend's desktop. 

TIPS:

To connect as view only and high color:

xvncviewer --listen --viewonly=1 --fullcolor

Allowing only view and resizing:

x11vnc -connect IP:5500 -viewonly -geometry 1111x666

Alternatively we can use xtightvncviewer or another similar tools instead of xvncviewer

xtightvncviewer -listen

Share Share Editor: editor | Posted: 2014/02/09 | Views: 4157

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