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How to Connect to your Home Machine via Gbridge
There are many reasons to connect to your home pc while you are at work. And there are many methods. As a lot of people have Windows Vista or XP at home, methods such are Remote Desktop Connections may work well, but can require fiddling with firewalls, and configuration knowledge that most of us technology newbies may not know much about.
Connecting via RDP (Remote Desktop) also “takes over” the PC at home so its not suitable for desktop sharing (ie, there is someone at home looking at what you are doing). The PC is effectively “locked out” while you are connected remotely to it. This is frequently the case when my wife needs a little help in doing something and I just can’t talk her through on the phone.
This is also valuable when “assisting” people such as parents or grandparents. Have you tried talking your grandparents through setting up their email application at home? If you have, then you may understand the pain heh.
So what is GBridge? Its an application that sits on both your work pc and home pc and allows you to remotely control one or the other. It has many other uses such as file sharing etc, but the purpose of this article is to detail out how to get the remote desktop sharing working. You can go here for additional information about its functions if you are interested.
Anyway, lets begin.
On the Home PC
Step 1
Navigate to http://www.gbridge.com/ and download and install the application. I’m assuming you know how to install applications. Feel free to email me if you need further details. Once installed, run the application. It should come up with a dialog box similar to below: Click on "Log On" to log onto GBridge. Once you are connected, you will then need to set up your VNC settings. Click on DesktopShare and a menu such as below will pop up:
Step 2
Enter your Gmail user id and password as well as a "Hostname" – the hostname will be used to identify your "pc". Set it to "remember me" and "auto start" so that its always connected when your pc is switched on. You can always move your mouse over the text boxes to see a full explanation of each field. Step 3
Click on "Configure Gbridge DesktopShare (VNC)… to see the following window: 
Select the options as per the screenshot above. Also, set up a DesktopShare Password. Now, this will be the password you’ll be entering at work when you want to remote into your home pc. As per the recommendation, I’d make sure that this password is different from your Gmail password.
That’s pretty much it for configuring it at home. As a last step, ensure that DesktopShare works by clicking on DesktopShare button and selecting "Test Gbridge DesktopShare On this Computer…". This will display the following window:
Hit Ok and be prepared for a whole bunch of windows opening up one within the other. If you get a warning on your Firewall, now is the time to "Allow" the application and ensure that it is not blocked by your firewall. Once finished, it will tell you that the self-test is done and you are basically sorted for your Home PC 8-)
On your Work PC
Follow steps 1 to 3 for your work PC ensuring the following:
- you must be logged onto your work pc with the same Gmail user id. This will not work if you have a different Gmail user id at work!.
- On Step 2, on your work machine, ensure the host-name is set to what you want to call your work machine. In my case, I chose “dee-work” as my work machine host-name.
Put your password in and hit OK.
Tips
- Set up a Gmail account that you can use when setting up GBridge for your parents/grandparents/family/friend etc. Then when they need assistance, you can simply log onto your GBridge, using that account and then be able to remote into their desktop to help them :)
- If they have their own Gmail account, then you can add them to your "Friends" list (and vice versa) and do desktop sharing that way. This is slightly more complicated than adding yourself and if asked, i can set up an article that details how to do this.
Related Posts
About the Author
dee Dee can sometimes be lazy in updating his blog.. feel free to give him a kick about anything you want to see on here! :)
Anonymous Mar 17 2009 - 12:53 am
Great software and great instructions! Thanks for sharing!
Dee Mar 17 2009 - 6:13 am
No problem at all :) am hoping this helps someone out there :)
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Half-Witt May 18 2009 - 7:09 am
Was having a little trouble here. I have the gbridge set up on laptop(vista) and desk top(xp). I’m able to access my laptop via my desktop, but unable to access my desktop from my laptop. Laptop seems to be communicating with the desktop by review of the gbridge logs. The desktop accepts the password, but then say “tries to connect to computer port 5906″ “request is denied”
I disable the firewall on the desktop, still no luck connnecting.
I ran a test on the laptop “test gbridge laptop share”… no problem.
I ran a test on the desktop ” ” ” ” FAILED the test.,however the desktop still allows me to connect to the laptop.
Im guessing their’s something wrong with the desktop configuration., but I’m running out of clues.
Any suggestions ?
dee May 18 2009 - 11:03 pm
@half-witt,
I would suggest posting your question on the GBridge forums (http://www.gbridge.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=8). The chaps there are excellent at helping the users work through their issues.
It seems strange that its trying to connect via port 5906 (VPN ports start around 5900 I believe) as GBridge incorporates the GTalk network.
Do you by any chance have any SSH tunnels set up (eg Putty or Proxies)?
Dee
half-witt May 19 2009 - 12:07 am
Dee
Thanks for the insight. “Plug & Play” apps work best for me. I stumbled upon FREE remote pc access app whilst trying to figure out gbridge install and connection issues. Check out http://www.teamviewer.com, Not a single problem. Works like a dream.
Farewell to gbridge, hello teamviewer.
cheers’
dee May 19 2009 - 12:24 am
@Half-witt,
Thats great to hear that your issues are solved mate. I primarily use GBridge and Live Mesh for my remote connections needs simply because they manage to get through our corporate firewalls and both are completely free :)
I’ve had a look at Teamviewer in the past and found that it wasn’t suitable to my requirements, as the features I wanted from it would require me to pay for the full version. However, if it meets your needs, than its all good :)
Dee
Sathar Jul 24 2009 - 5:14 am
I love this application, but it would have been much better if the downloading speed was faster. A 10mb file took me one & half hour to download. Otherwise great application.
Robert Hosken Jan 26 2010 - 5:01 pm
I use the ShowMyPC VNC program to service people’s computers worldwide. It doesn’t require any installation, so it’s easy for novices to download and start.
PC Security May 5 2010 - 8:00 pm
Great application…one of the easiest ways to establish a VPN connection..no fluff…Gbridge just rocks!
.-= PC Security´s last blog ..PC Security =-.
Widestrides May 25 2010 - 6:18 am
I don’t get the Access Gbridge built-in VNC choice. I just get Test Gbridge Desktop Share.
You say, “you must be logged onto your work pc with the same Gmail user id. This will not work if you have a different Gmail user id at work!”
What does this mean. Sign in at work with your HOME id and password?
Widestrides May 25 2010 - 7:58 am
The only way I can do it is to start a Chat between the two and send a Desktop Share Invitation for a one-time session, or click on the host computer icon under friends and select Send Gbridge DesktopShare Invitation, again just for a one-time session.
How the heck do I get the Access Gbridge built-in VNC choice, or the Access my Gbridge DesktopShare choice?
Widestrides May 25 2010 - 8:36 am
Okay, I’ve discovered my mistake and this may help others.
The key thing folks need to do is to use the same Google User ID and Password on both Gbridge logins – at home and at work, BUT different Hostnames! Give your remote/work PC a different name and enter that under Hostname.
That was the mistake I made.
Hope this helps.
dee May 25 2010 - 10:53 am
@Widestrides,
Thanks for that mate, you are correct. Thats what i was trying to convey in the post that the login needs to be the same. The hostnames are different as they are physically different machines.
I’ll see if i can re-write the article to make that more clear :)
dee
Widestrides May 25 2010 - 12:55 pm
Yeah, the confusion results because when you are on the remote computer and it asks you for the hostname, you think host computer, as opposed to remote computer.
I wish we could enlarge the screen we get of the home computer. It’s kinda small.
Thanks!
dee May 25 2010 - 2:40 pm
@Widestrides,
There you go.. made the images a bit bigger and more legible and updated the document to include the advisory on choosing the correct host-name when setting up the work machine :)
Thanks!
-dee-
.-= dee´s last blog ..Windows Live Writer Updated (And How to Install on Windows 2003) =-.
Widestrides May 25 2010 - 3:48 pm
Good. Maybe what I added in CAPS below will make it more clear.
you must be logged onto your work pc with the same Gmail user id AS YOUR HOME PC.
This will not work if you USE a different Gmail user id at work!.
On Step 2, on your work machine, ensure the host-name is set to what you want to call your work machine. DO NOT PUT YOUR HOME PC HOST-NAME HERE. In my case, I chose “dee-work” as my work machine host-name.
Thanks!