Howdy Selfhosters!
A family member who does not live in my state recently got a new PC, and asked for my help in setting it up. Since it can’t be done in person, I’ll have to do this over the phone. Problem is, I don’t really want to walk them through all of the steps (download Firefox, ublock origin, uninstall W11 bloat, etc) over the phone. I was hoping there exists a software that I could host on my Linux machine (I am able to port forward/host externally if necessary), and instruct them over the phone to download the “other end” (client-side) of the software so that I can remote in and set their PC up myself.
I checked out the awesome-selfhosted list and found that most of the remote access softwares are mainly for SSH servers. I did check out Guacamole, but I’m not sure I understand how to utilize the software. Any help and suggestions are welcome. Thank you everyone!
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For your usecase, I would recommend Rustdesk.
But I would also like to mention Meshcentral. Meshcentral is a hosted application that lets you remotely manage multiple devices. It’s different from meshcentral in that it maintains a constant connection, and you can do things like view files, run administrator CMD commands, in addition to being able to remotely connect and control the computer at any time.
It’s more designed for managing a small enterprise environment, than individual support like OP is doing. The constant connection is designed to be a cheap, open source alternative to Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions that do something similar. It is invasive though, since it is essentially a backdoor you put in the computer, whereas rustdesk is temporary, and only works when you have it open and are actively connected and using it. That’s why rustdesk is more suitable for individual support than meshcentral is.
Although I wouldn’t recommend it for OP, I’m leaving this up for anyone in the future who might be searching for “remote tech support” or similar, and maybe they will find Meshcentral more appropriate.
It does seem like RustDesk is the best for my case. Thanks for taking the time to reply, and thank you for the extra info about Meshcentral. Hopefully it helps someone in the future!
RustDesk. It works like TeamViewer: install the client on both machines, have the relative read out the client ID and one-time password over the phone, and you can connect immediately. It has self-hostable server components, but you can use the public relay servers without having to configure anything on the clients. You don’t have to open any ports on the firewall either.
Thanks for the quick response, this looks perfect for what we need. Appreciate it very much!!!
Rustdesk is what I use for tech support for my family. By default it uses the rustdesk official server for the handshake and holepunching or whatever, but you can also selfhost your own if you want to.
But I want to migrate to some kind of hardware web kvm like nanokvm, cause sometimes their pc doesn’t boot and walking them through bios settings over a shaky videocall is a nightmare.
People saying rustdesk should realize the Chinese connection it has. I would not use it for that reason.
It’s open source, and the relay’s are e2ee (and audited), but they can also be self hosted.
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Do you have actual technical issues with rustdesk?
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Do you have an alternative software you would recommend? I hate when people spread FUD or say “don’t use/do this” without actually providing an alternative. Drives me nuts. Because if you don’t present an alternative to a software that someone needs, your complaints are kinda meaningless and a waste of everybody’s time because they’re gonna end up ignoring the complaints and using the tool they need.
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This is just racism btw. FOSS software is FOSS software regardless of the race of the people doing it.
Whew! Thought I’d missed something.
oh no, rustdesk does have some significant problems. I could give you a nice list. It’s just that nobody cares, they don’t matter, and we don’t have a good alternative.
This user’s main account is Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org (probably). You can take a look through their post history to get an idea of why they might make this comment…
oh no, rustdesk does have some significant problems. I could give you a nice list.
Sure, I get that. I was just wondering about the Chinese connection bit.
You can take a look
Oh…I already did. LOL
IIRC, somebody tried to trace the company back to its owners, but the chain ended with a company that is likely Chinese. One of the earliest company-hosted relay servers was also located in China based on its IP address. The company now runs multiple servers on various continents.
Some people also freaked out when the company started offering paid, binary server images and services that added extra features like a management console, assuming (incorrectly) that they would replace the basic, no-cost, open-source images.
I was just wondering about the Chinese connection bit.
I actually can’t find any evidence of this. The company appears to be headquartered in Singapore, CEO’d by an American dude.
Unpack that. Why are you suspicious of Rustdesk? Open source/inspect code, direct p2p connection…perhaps I am missing something. School me.
Bruh doesn’t realize everyone can see he’s posting from his gooner account 😭
