Remote Assistance via a Shared Desktop

One of the best ways to work together with an experienced Asterisk "Elmer" is to share the desktop of your local computer.

You can see everything that the Elmer does and you can type passwords onto the screen for the Elmer instead of sharing them. Before you start this process, please close any confidential content on your desktop. If you can see it on your desktop, so can the Elmer.

This is a great learning environment for everyone involved. One of the first things the Elmer will do is install the "putty" client on your computer so you can log on to your Asterisk server. You can also share a browser window to work on the Asterisk Server FreePBX configuration pages. Now there is no behind the scenes magic. You get to see exactly what is going on. For the Elmer it's nice that they can see what you're seeing instead of interpreting your description of what's appearing on your screen.

Here are instructions for sharing your computer's desktop for help setting up your Asterisk system.

1) Your workstation computer must be connected to the Internet via a broadband connection. Preferably it will be connected to the same local area network as your Asterisk server but this is not absolutely necessary.

2) You must install the TightVNC desktop sharing program. A Windows version is available at http://downloads.sourceforge.net/vnc-tight/tightvnc-1.3.9-setup.exe. Your Elmer can help you install a Linux version on your workstation computer if necessary.

3) You must use the Windows Start Menu to Launch the TightVNC SERVER.

4) You must right click on the VNC icon that appears in the tray on the lower right hand part of your computer screen.

5) You must select "Add New Client" and then when prompted for the Host Name enter "xelatec.com" (or some other address provided to you by the Elmer).

This will start a connection to the TightVNC program running on the Elmer's computer and enable them to see your computer screen and help you set up your system.

Enjoy!