Crunchbang Linux - remote desktop

At the top of the window it explains the 'Sharing' information - here you can see how you will be able to connect to your remote desktop. It's always the host name of your Crunchbang Linux computer with .local at the end. In my case it'll be crunchbangT42.local

Security is important but your level will depend on your circumstances. Don't choose 'You must confirm each access to this machine' because that will mean every time you connect to the Crunchbang remotely you'll need to physically go to it and press Enter to accept the remote connection. I do recommend you set a password, that way every time you connect you must enter this password. It will stop anyone else on your network connecting. 

When you've finished click Close



To make Vino start automatically every time you restart Crunchbang, do the following:

Right click on the Crunchbang desktop

Click Settings 

Click Openbox

Click Edit autostart


Scroll to the bottom and add the following:
# Start Vino
/usr/lib/vino/vino-server &

Save and exit the text editor.

The Linux side of the configuration is complete.



UltraVNC Viewer for Windows
Vino is compatible with VNC - in other words, you can use any VNC compatible program to access your Crunchbang Linux computer. I decided to use UltraVNC. It's a nice simple program and there's even a portable version available. In our example here, this is what we'll install:

From your Windows computer, click here and click the download button:
http://portableapps.com/node/2031

Once it has finished download run the exe file, it will extract the files.

Copy the UltraVNCViewer Portable folder to a USB flash drive, your desktop or wherever you want to store it.

Using Windows Explorer browse inside the folder and double click UltraVNCViewerPortable.exe


Enter the host name and .local at then end - in my example I've entered crunchbangT42.local

Click Connect

Enter the password you specified before (in vino-preferences) and click Log On

You'll see your Crunchbang Linux desktop!





References

Help on Crunchbang's website:
http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=362

UltraVNC Portable
http://portableapps.com/node/2031

UltraVNC Wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UltraVNC

TightVNC
http://www.tightvnc.com/