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Initial Setup (Windows)

If you haven't already done so, you will need to install a VNC server on your PC – We recommend TightVNC or UltraVNC but any VNC server should work just as fine.

Screens Connect

It is highly recommended that you install Screens Connect on your Windows PC. Not only will it make your computer available outside of your local network, the installer also includes a VNC server (TightVNC) and an SSH server (freeSSHd), if you wish to use a secure connection (optional).

Thanks to Apple's Bonjour protocol, Screens Connect will also broadcast the VNC service and thus Screens can detect computers nearby automatically, which makes it very easy to setup Screens to connect to your PC.

In our example, “Bill's Windows XP” represents a PC running Windows and Screens Connect. You'll find the installation instructions here.

Manual Configuration

If for some reason you cannot install Screens Connect, you'll need to gather some information:

These steps are required because the VNC server running on Windows will NOT broadcast its presence without installing Screens Connect, so Screens won't be able to detect your PC. You'll need to create a custom connection in Screens.

Firewall

If the Windows Firewall is running, make sure that Screens Connect and the VNC Server are allowed to receive incoming connections. win-firewall-settings