AnywherePC OFF Tutorial
This guide will give you detailed information about the AnywherePC OFF mobile application, Windows server and a brief outline of what you need to do regarding port forwarding if you use a router/wireless router and are having problems connecting your mobile device to your PC.
I’m presuming you have already purchased the AnywherePC OFF mobile application and have it running on your device. Once this is done you need to download the AnywherePC OFF Windows server and install it on the PC that you wish to control. The Windows application can be run on a number of machines if you have a wireless router but you will need to set each machine up with a separate forwarding port. More on this later…
Download Windows Server
Purchase iPhone Application
Purchase Android Application
Setting up AnywherePC OFF for your PC and Mobile
After downloading the Windows server application install it by double-clicking the “setup” or “setup.exe” filename. The downloaded file is likely to be found in your “Downloads” directory and will appear with the icon shown below.
Once the application is installed you will have a new icon on your desktop for the AnywherePC OFF Server. Double click this new icon to start the server. When the server is first run it will be initiated and running on port 8000 as this is the initial default port setting. Should you encounter an error at this point (other applications using port 8000 at the time) you can change this default port number and restart the server. The new port setting will be saved permanently when you exit the application.
If you have successfully started the server as depicted in this picture you will see the log message shows that the “Server has been successfully started on port 8000“.
In the screenshot shown I have blanked out my personal Public IP address for security purposes, and as you can see my Local IP address begins with 192.168.0.2. If you are not using a router both numbers will appear the same. It is these numbers we will need later when setting up the iPhone application.
Should you encounter an error starting the server on port 8000, you can change the port settings and restart the server using your new port details by performing;
File –> Server Settings
Change the port setting from its current value to a new value. You can choose any value for the port number but it is best to opt for a number within the range of 7000 – 65000 to avoid conflicts with your PC or Mobile. Once this is done restart your server with the newly entered values. This can be done by performing;
File –> Restart Server
If the new value entered was successful you should now see a message similar to the one depicted in the screenshot.
Now that we have the server operating successfully on our PC it’s time to focus our attention on setting up the settings for the mobile application.
Make sure the AnywherePC OFF application is running on your mobile device. Once the application is running on your device you should see the menu screen that is displayed below.
Once you are on the menu screen touch the “Settings” icon and enter the IP address shown earlier on the Windows server application along with the port number that you chose to use also.
If you are using the WiFi connection of your router on your mobile device enter the Local IP address shown in the Windows server. If you are connecting using 3G use the Public IP address instead.
After you close the settings page touch the “Connect” icon. If the mobile application states you have connected successfully but the server does not show that an incoming connection has been received successfully then it is likely you need to setup port forwarding on your router. It may also be that you need to add an exception for the Windows server application to your firewall.
As each router is unique it is best to visit the manufacturers website for your particular model for details regarding accessing the control panel of your router and navigating to the port forwarding section. Here are the details used for the examples show in this tutorial.
As you can see from this table we have named the port forwarding rule as “Remote” and have set up a single port starting at “8192″ and ending on “8192″. Make sure the protocol used is TCP and the Local IP Address is the same as displayed in the Windows Server application. Here we are using “192.168.0.2″. Now having created this rule we can test the port forwarding from the server.
The port forwarding has been successful so we can now use the mobile phones 3G signal and connect to the Public IP Address of the computer running the Windows server.
When an incoming connection is now received by the router it will be forwarded to the computer with Local IP Address 192.168.0.2 as defined in the port forwarding rules.
Ensure you use the correct IP and Port settings when setting up the mobile application, server and port forwarding rules.
