I'm attempting to remote desktop (from the outside internet) to my raspberry pi 4 thats running trixie/Debian. I had no problem getting it working on the local network, but later realized that it didn't work remotely (a classic case of not being as easy as it seemed). I've researched the topic a lot, but for a guy with minimal networking knowledge and experience, it has turned into the never ending rabbit hole. I've picked up on some things though, and hope to get some more guidance to help me succeed in getting my pi setup so that i can use RealVNC viewer to remote desktop to it.
So, one thing that may be an issue is that I am using a cellphone hotspot for accessing the outside internet (the Pi is connected to the cellphone hotspot). I think what I'm trying to do may require that I have a router so that I'm able to do port forwarding. However, the tutorials I've seen, do not seem to indicate any need to setup port forwarding, when setting up the RealVNC on a pi for remote access. I've also researched using a TPlink WR841N router with my cellphone, and setting it up for port forwarding, which seems totally doable and straight forward.
Some of the how to videos and postings I've read make it seem easy, since RealVNC is preinstalled and running on the raspberry Pi 4, and that it is just a matter of enabling SSL, and then running RealVNCviewer. By now I know there is more to it than that, but it is still quite a mystery to me as to what else I need to do to get this going.
I've watched a video on how to setup a pi for SSL control, and he was using a router for port forwarding. This seemed really straight forward, and
I think I could manage to do this with only having to get a router. However, I find that having the full GUI interaction of the remote desktop to be much more useful. I used the RealVNCviewer on my local network, and I found it to work really well and that I had good control and view of whatever I needed.
I'd be much appreciative for any help and advice getting this figured out, thanks!
So, one thing that may be an issue is that I am using a cellphone hotspot for accessing the outside internet (the Pi is connected to the cellphone hotspot). I think what I'm trying to do may require that I have a router so that I'm able to do port forwarding. However, the tutorials I've seen, do not seem to indicate any need to setup port forwarding, when setting up the RealVNC on a pi for remote access. I've also researched using a TPlink WR841N router with my cellphone, and setting it up for port forwarding, which seems totally doable and straight forward.
Some of the how to videos and postings I've read make it seem easy, since RealVNC is preinstalled and running on the raspberry Pi 4, and that it is just a matter of enabling SSL, and then running RealVNCviewer. By now I know there is more to it than that, but it is still quite a mystery to me as to what else I need to do to get this going.
I've watched a video on how to setup a pi for SSL control, and he was using a router for port forwarding. This seemed really straight forward, and
I think I could manage to do this with only having to get a router. However, I find that having the full GUI interaction of the remote desktop to be much more useful. I used the RealVNCviewer on my local network, and I found it to work really well and that I had good control and view of whatever I needed.
I'd be much appreciative for any help and advice getting this figured out, thanks!
Statistics: Posted by chuckd — Wed Dec 31, 2025 7:03 am — Replies 5 — Views 108