In the past week since I bought my Droid Incredible, I have been scouring the internet and asking friends to suggest their favorite apps.  Nearly all of the apps have been easy to install and use, save for one.  AndroidVNC requires a small amount of setup by the user (especially if your home network is not configured for outside VNC access). I wanted to create this post because while this isn’t a complicated process, I wasn’t able to find a set of instructions with all the steps in one place.

I intend to make ‘How to’ posts for any software or hardware project I do that requires me to use multiple sources to finish.  This will hopefully serve to help others that use similar configurations in the future and to remain as a record of what I’ve done for my own reference.

NB:  If you are trying to do this with a different router, you should determine how to forward the ports (5900, 5800, 5500) on your router, then skip to step 2.

Step 1:

To begin, we need to setup port forwarding on our WRT54G router.  First, you will need to enter the setup page for your router. The default address for this page is 192.168.1.1 which you can simply enter into your browser address bar.  If this doesn’t work, you likely either have a dynamic IP (here is how to set up a static IP), or your router’s IP address has been set to a different address and you will need to go there instead.  Upon entering the settings page, you should be asked for a username and password.  The defaults here are to leave username blank and enter the password ‘admin’ without the single quotes. I do suggest changing these to include a real username and a non-dictionary word password for better home netowrk security.

Now that you are logged in to your router settings page, you need to click the security tab and uncheck the ‘Block Anonymous Internet Requests’ box seen here:

After you have done that, be sure to click the ‘Save Settings’ button at the bottom of the page.

Before we can forward our ports, we need to know what the local address of the PC is.  You will need to open the ‘Run’ box of your operating system.  In Windows 7 and Vista, just type run into the search box in the start menu.  For XP, click the run button in the start menu.  Type ‘cmd’ (again, without single quotes) into the box and hit enter.  In the window, type ‘ipconfig’ (no quotes), hit enter, and look for the value next to IPv4 Address.  It should be of the form ’192.168.1.XXX’.  Write this down.

Finally, we are ready to forward the ports!  Back in the WRT54G setup window, click the ‘Applications and Gaming’ tab.  Type the ports to forward as seen below, check the enable boxes (on the three lines you are changing), enter the last part of the IP address you found above in the IP address boxes, and hit the Save settings button again.  If done correctly, the settings should be on the page when it reloads.  If you do not enter an IP address into the box(es), the ports will not save and you will need to re-enter the information.

Step 2:  Finding your IP Address

This one is simple.  Simply click the following link:

What is my IP Adrress?

Look for the number after ‘Your IP Address is:’.  Write this down.

Step 3:  Setting up TightVNC

Go to the TightVNC website, and download the software.  Be sure to get the latest beta version if you are using Windows 7 or Windows Vista.  Now, install the software using the default settings. During the installation, TightVNC should ask you for an administration and primary password.  Be sure to set these up now and write them down.  Now that TightVNC is set up, go to the start menu and run TightVNC Server.  Run application mode if you want the service to end on log out (if you have multiple users on your system or if you have safety concerns).  Otherwise, either application mode or running as a service should be fine.

Step 4:  Setting up AndroidVNC on the Device

First, download the AndroidVNC program from the Android Marketplace, or scan the following QR code:

Open the program, leave the ‘Nickname’ field blank, enter the primary password that you created for TightVNC (not the administrative password, if you made them different), and enter your IP Address from step 2.  Click connect and you should be able to control your PC from your Android device!