How to Setup Remote Access For Computer With Dynamic IP Address

Previously when we covered the method to install VLC-shares and stream video from your computer, some of you are having issue with a remote connection (connection from outside your home network) because your computer is using a dynamic IP. For those who are not aware, dynamic IP means that your IP address is constantly changing and is not fixed. This is often the case for broadband connection. To be able to stream video, or gain remote access to your computer, you’ll need to point your devices to a static IP address, which is missing in this case.

So how do we gain remote access to a computer with dynamic IP address? Read on for the full guide.

Note: This is only a solution to solve the dynamic IP issue. Even after solving the dynamic IP issue, not a tutorial on configuring your computer as a remote desktop. In addition, you will still need to configure your Firewall to allow incoming connection and also configure router to port forward the connection.

To deal with a computer with dynamic IP, we will need a DNS address that can update your IP address regularly. This DNS is static, but the IP address it is pointing to is constantly changing. By pointing your remote device to this static DNS, you will be able to connect to your computer with dynamic IP.

Here’s how you can do so:

1. Go to DynDNS and enter a hostname. In this case, I have used my name “damien” as the hostname. Next, click the “Your current location’s IP address is …” link to input your current IP address. Once done, click “Add to cart”.

2. It will then prompt you to create an account. It will then send you an activation email. Click the link in the email to activate the service.

3. Login to your DynDNS account and click the “Dynamic DNS Host” link on the sidebar. Click “Checkout to Activate“.

4. You will need to install a DNS update client in your computer. This update client will constantly inform the DNS server of your IP address, so it can change the IP accordingly. For Windows and Mac, you can install DynDNS Updater. It is available for both Windows and Mac. For Linux, you can try ddclient. (Note: some routers support dynamic DNS. You can check out your router configuration before installing any of the software.)

In this case, I will be focusing on Linux since the installation is more troublesome.

5. Download ddclient. Extract the tar file to your Home folder. Open the ddclient folder. Just leave the folder open and don’t do anything yet.

6. Go to DynDNS Update Client Configurator, select the hostname you want to use and ddclient and click “Generate”.

7. Copy and paste the code into a text editor. In between the code, there is a line password=##YOUR PASSWORD##. Replace the ##YOUR PASSWORD## with your DynDNS login password. Save the file as “ddclient.conf” (without the quote) in the ddclient folder.

8. Next, open a terminal and type:

cd ddclient
sudo cp ddclient /usr/sbin/
sudo mkdir /etc/ddclient
sudo cp ddclient.conf /etc/ddclient/ddclient.conf

9. Lastly, start ddclient with the command:

ddclient

That’s it. Now you can proceed to configure your computer to act as remote desktop. All you have to do is to point your connecting device to your DynDNS hostname.