How to… Access your PC remotely – wherever you are
Access your PC remotely – wherever you are
What you need: Google Chrome; Remote Desktop extension Time required: 60 minutes
Tablets, smartphones and laptops are the perfect travelling companions, giving mobile access to email, journey-planning apps and documents stored online. Best of all perhaps, you can use them to access your home PC from anywhere.
In this issue, we’ll show you how Google’s free Chrome Remote Desktop extension lets you connect to your PC remotely, from anywhere in the world. You’ll have access to your files and use software you’ve downloaded. If you’re visiting friends and family this Christmas, setting up remote access before you leave home will let you check that it’s working well in advance.
Even if you aren’t leaving home, we’d urge you to follow our instructions. As well as giving you access to your own computer, Chrome Remote Desktop lets you extend that access to whoever else you choose. The next time you’re having a PC problem, granting temporary access to a friend means they’ll be able to help you fix it, without them having to visit.
If you’re running Windows 10 Pro, we’ve included some steps at the end explaining how Microsoft’s own Remote Desktop tool, built into the professional edition of its operating system, simplifies connecting to a second PC across your home network.
Install Chrome and log in 1 If you aren’t already running Chrome, visit www.google.com/ chrome and click Download Chrome. Click Accept and Install if you agree with Google’s terms of service, followed by the Run button that appears at the bottom of the browser window.
Launch Chrome and, if you’re not already logged into a Google account, log in by visiting www.google.co.uk and clicking the blue ‘Sign in’ button at the top right. If you don’t already have a Google account, you’ll need to create one because Google uses this to authorise your access to the remote computer. To sign up for a new Google account, click the same ‘Sign in’ button, followed by the ‘Create account’ link on the following screen.
Add Chrome Remote 2 Desktop
To install Remote Desktop, visit www.snipca.com/29409 and click ‘Add to Chrome’ (see screenshot left). You’ll need to grant permission to access various data and features on your PC, so read through the short alert that pops up and, if you’re happy with the request, click ‘Add app’.
You’ll need to install Chrome and Remote Desktop on every machine you either want to remotely control, or control a remote machine from, so repeat this step as many times as required. If
you instead want to access your computer using an iphone or ipad, install the app for IOS from www.snipca.com/29363. For Android devices, install the app at www.snipca.com/29364.
When the installation has finished, the browser on your PC will open the address chrome://apps. Don’t be put off by the absence of http or the unfamiliar ‘chrome’ before ://. This just tells the browser it’s loading a ‘local’ page rather than one from the internet. Launch Remote Desktop by clicking its icon on this page (see screenshot bottom right on page 35).
Enable and authorise 3 your PC Once Remote Desktop has launched, click its ‘Enable remote connections’ button. The first time you do this, it will download a second application that runs in the background and listens for incoming requests to connect. Before it can, you’ll need to agree to the terms of service for a second time, then click Run when Windows pops up a security warning asking if you’d like to execute or save the download. It will also ask if you’re happy for the download to make changes to your PC. Click Yes.
When the download has completed, you’ll need to secure your PC using a six-digit PIN. The usual advice about avoiding obvious options, like significant birthdays, anniversaries or phone numbers applies. Enter the number twice and click OK. Make sure you can easily remember it, as you’ll need to enter it every time you try to remotely log into your PC.
One final alert now pops up. Don’t be surprised by the slightly strange English (it’s titled ‘Native messaging host for
remoting host management’). This is just the hidden listening application we mentioned. Click Yes to confirm that you’re happy for it to make changes to your PC.
Keep your PC awake 4 If your PC goes to sleep, it won’t be possible to connect remotely, so you’ll need to disable its powersaving features and leave it permanently switched on. If you’re worried how much electricity your PC is using, consider only disabling Windows’ energy-saving features when you’re going away and might want to access your PC remotely. You can re-enable them on your return.
Click in the Windows search box, type power and sleep settings and click the first result. Set the Sleep settings for ‘When plugged in’ to Never, so that it remains awake at all times when connected to the mains (see screenshot below). If you’re using a laptop, you’ll also see a setting that controls sleep when using battery power. We’d recommend leaving this set as it is, and making a point of plugging in your laptop if you suspect you'll need to use it when away from home.
As your monitor is one of the most power-hungry components in a PC, set this to sleep after 15 minutes (or less).
Connect to your PC 5 Now, switch to your other PC, open Remote Desktop and click the same ‘Enable remote connections’ button within the My Computers box. Once again, allow it to install all the additional apps that you authorised earlier.
Enter a PIN for accessing this second PC. You can use the same one as you did on your first machine, but we’d recommend picking something different. That way, if anyone guesses your first PIN they won’t be able to use the same one to access all of your computers.
As you can see from the screenshot (below right), we’ve authorised two computers. ‘Windows10’ is our local PC – the one we want to access remotely: we know this because it sports a button allowing us to ‘Disable remote connections’. The other is ‘Nik’s laptop’. You can add as many computers as you need and they’ll show up in the same box.
Click the computer you want to connect to, then enter the PIN when prompted. You can now use your PC remotely as easily as you would if you were sitting in front of it.