how to do this: remote access of one Kubuntu 20.04 installation by another

[tomcloyd]

I have never done this, and I have been unable to find any useful guidance either on the WWW or this forum.

I want to be able to remotely access a friend's laptop when she gets things messed up so I can fix it without having to leave home.

This Ubuntu tutorial I found just doesn't look like what I'm trying to do at all -

https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/access-...top#1-overview

I thought this type of access was built in to Kubuntu, but if so it is invisible to me.

Help!

[claydoh]

They are not baked in to Plasma, but you can install Krfb and Krdc, though to be honest I am not sure how well maintained these two programs are, or how fiddly remote desktops can be under Plasma in recent years.



Remmina and VNC servers are commonly used tools for this.

There are numerous different VNC server programs available, Krfb is one of them. There are also numerous client applications, Remmina and Krdc are two VNC viewers

Krdc is already installed on my Kubuntu PC, so you may already have that.



Ok , some brief testing on two PCs, Krfb and Krdc seem to work OK to fine over the local network

KRFB can be found by searching that term, or for 'VNC" in the main menu, so it should be easy for your friend to find. The UI is pretty simple and easy to use.
Setting up their router/firewall set up for port forwarding, and finding its outward facing IP address address will be the harder part.

https://userbase.kde.org/Krfb
The images are a little older, and I don't see the 'send invitation' screen here, but the UI will be extremely similar

Another popular option may be the proprietary TeamViewer, which I have not used in well over 15 years. Back then, vaguely recall it being mostly easy for exactly what you want to do, so I assume it will be similar or better today.

[tomcloyd]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! -- that is an exceptionally informative response. Wow. I have work to do now, and I'm optimistic about a good outcome.

I have to say that this exceptional user forum is one of several big reasons to use Kubuntu. This was true years ago, and it very much still is. This is so helpful to perpetual amateurs like me.