I just encountered (and resolved) a problem I thought I'd share with the community. I was attempting to configure SC to point to a Dynamic DNS and was failing completely. It didn't make much sense since it has been well documented that you can use a dynamic hostname in the helpdesk.txt file instead of a static IP address. Yet, every time I attempted to start a SC session, I would receive a "WinVNC Usage" error.
What I discovered was this. In my office I have a router (LinkSys) with Dynamic DNS update capabilities configured into the firmware. I use this as a method of creating a single DynDNS for my entire office, and I call it "foo.dyndns.info".
However, since I provide system support wherever I am (and I'm rarely at my office), I wanted to create a new Dynamic DNS name that could follow me around anywhere... so I created "bar.dyndns.info" and installed the DynDNS updater software on my PC as a test.
From a Dynamic IP standpoint, everything worked... The IP address got updated at DnyDNS as it should. However, as mentioned previously, when I attempted to start a session, I would always get a "WinVNC Usage" error.
In the helpdesk.txt file I replaced the domain name with the specific IP address for my office... and BINGO, it started working. Then, I switched back to using the domain name convention and AGAIN I got roadblocked.
Here's the strange thing I discovered. As mentioned above, my router is set to "foo.dyndns.info". As an experiment, I got into DynDNS and changed "bar.dyndns.info" to "bar.getmyip.com" (another domain managed by DynDSN). As soon as I did this, changed everything in my helpdesk.txt file, rebuilt my SC executable... everything worked great.
So, hopefully this'll help someone else out of a jam if they ever encounter a similar problem.
Sheepishly,
VideoDude
Update: UltraVNC 1.4.3.6 and UltraVNC SC 1.4.3.6: https://forum.uvnc.com/viewtopic.php?t=37885
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Problem solved, post here for documentation purposes
Just wondering -
Why you would need two Dynamic DNS entries when only the technician that is supporting the application would need to be static & or set up with dyndns. It is expected that the client (Person needing support) IP will not stay the same yet since it is initiating it UVNC in listen mode will then have the return path to the client.
E.g. your out of the office - you run the program for dyndns to update your IP so SC will work to people inside the office.
or
If your inside your office set up your computer with a reserved IP address from your linksys and then compile the SC with your internal IP address. But it sounds like it may not be that big of an office that you couldnt just walk over and check out the issue.
Why you would need two Dynamic DNS entries when only the technician that is supporting the application would need to be static & or set up with dyndns. It is expected that the client (Person needing support) IP will not stay the same yet since it is initiating it UVNC in listen mode will then have the return path to the client.
E.g. your out of the office - you run the program for dyndns to update your IP so SC will work to people inside the office.
or
If your inside your office set up your computer with a reserved IP address from your linksys and then compile the SC with your internal IP address. But it sounds like it may not be that big of an office that you couldnt just walk over and check out the issue.
Good question... I probably didn't explain well enough (or don't yet have a solid enough grasp of the cool functionality of UVNC).
I have a desktop and a laptop. The desktop always sits behind the router at my office. The laptop travels with me. When I'm at the office, I invoke DynDNS at the desktop so that inbound requests (to bar.dyndns.info) get routed to it. When I leave the office, I disable DynDNS on the desktop and enable it on the laptop at such time that I'm connected to the Internet (at any WiFi location). As a result, the IP details for "bar.dyndns.info" follow me. Obviously, this provides my customer the simplest solution.
I suppose I could create multiple [HOST] entries in the helpdesk.txt file... one for each machine from where I plan on providing support. The trick there, of course, is the possibility that the customer chooses the wrong item from the resulting list that appears in the SC app.
I'm probably going to abandon the idea of having two DynDNS entries pointing to the same IP (one account pointing to the router, the other pointing to the desktop behind the router). It seems to cause problems.
I have a desktop and a laptop. The desktop always sits behind the router at my office. The laptop travels with me. When I'm at the office, I invoke DynDNS at the desktop so that inbound requests (to bar.dyndns.info) get routed to it. When I leave the office, I disable DynDNS on the desktop and enable it on the laptop at such time that I'm connected to the Internet (at any WiFi location). As a result, the IP details for "bar.dyndns.info" follow me. Obviously, this provides my customer the simplest solution.
I suppose I could create multiple [HOST] entries in the helpdesk.txt file... one for each machine from where I plan on providing support. The trick there, of course, is the possibility that the customer chooses the wrong item from the resulting list that appears in the SC app.
I'm probably going to abandon the idea of having two DynDNS entries pointing to the same IP (one account pointing to the router, the other pointing to the desktop behind the router). It seems to cause problems.