Setting up full remote control on my main computer

July 21, 2021

blog

remote control cloud gaming

Motivation

A busy year at school ends, and so I wanted to do something cool with the free time I had. I was thinking about the coming vacation I might have and, while the idea of moving to a remote area enjoying the sun in the summer and the pure air near the sea sounds great, the idea of leaving my desktop computer at home annoyed me.

Why? Because I’d like to keep having the option to access it and keep playing any games I want during my vacation, regardless of where I am. I’m lucky to have a good laptop computer, but it’s not great for playing games because of its weaker specs compared to my desktop computer.

But you know what’s hype nowadays to play anywhere? Cloud gaming! So what if could configure my desktop computer to have full remote control over it? Sounds like a great solution for me.

So I started thinking about it and came up with three objectives:

  • Being able to play games remotely, ideally via the Steam Link software.
  • Being able to have full remote control over my computer, almost as if I was actually using it physically.
  • Being able to turn off and on my computer remotely with Wake-On-LAN, so that it doesn’t have to stay on all day and night for this to work.

Then I got started.

Playing games remotely

The Steam client is great as it easily allows playing a game on a device by streaming it from a PC with the game installed. That seemed to work as long as the PC and the devices are both connected on the same local network, allowing Steam to automatically detect the games available on the computer.

Considering this, I thought that being connected on the same local network was a requirement for Steam Remote Play to work. Therefore, I thought of a solution and I looked up how to setup an OpenVPN server at home using a Raspberry Pi 3.

The idea is that even if I’m not home, I could connect to my VPN server and trick Steam into thinking I’m connected on the same local network as my desktop computer and allow it to detect the games installed on it.

I dusted out my Raspberry Pi 3, did a fresh installation of Rasbian on it, and installed an OpenVPN server with PiVPN. I also configure a DNS record to point to it for easier access.

Then, I installed the OpenVPN Connect application on my laptop computer and it worked! While connected on the 4G celular network via my phone, I was able to stream games via Steam as long as I was connected to my VPN server.

I also tested this on my phone directly using the OpenVPN Connect and Steam Link Android applications, and it worked as well! However, I found on my phone that being connected to my VPN server was actuallt not required. The only requirement for the Steam Link app to work is that I have to manually pair it with my desktop computer first, then everything would work regardless of the network I’m connected to.

So I was kinda disapointed. I also installed the Steam Link application on Windows and found that it also worked fine after pairing it, regardless of the network. However, I still had to configure Wake-On-LAN later so I kept the VPN server running for later.

The first objective is completed! As a bonus, the Steam Link application allows not only for playing games, but also for remote control over the entire computer (even if it’s far from ideal).

Turning off and on my computer remotely

Configuring Wake-On-LAN is something I already did in the past so I just has to verify my network adapter settings and my BIOS settings.

I shut down my desktop computer, and I installed an application on my laptop to send Wake-On-LAN packets and test my configuration. It was a success as I was able to wake up my desktop computer while being connected on the same local network or connected to my VPN server.

Improving full remote control

While Steam Link allowed for some kind of full remote control, it was not ideal. Therefore, I chose to rely on an application I’ve used many times for this: TeamViewer.

I installed it on my desktop computer and configured it. I made sure it would automatically starts with Windows and it is associated with my TeamViewer account so I can access it easily.

While digging in the configuration, I noticed a setting to enable some king of Wake-On-LAN via TeamViewer over a public address. So I configured another DNS record to point to my home network and enabled that.

I tested it from the TeamViewer application on both my laptop and my phone, and I was able to wake up my desktop computer and have full remote control over it.

This rendered my VPN server somewhat useless so, sadly, I shut that down.

A successful endeavor

This is a success! I was able to configure my desktop computer as my cloud gaming station after completing all of my objectives:

  • Steam Link allows me to play remotely.
  • TeamViewer allows me to have full remote control over my computer.
  • TeamViewer allows me to remotely wake up my computer.

Also, even though the VPN server I’ve set up proved to be useless despite what I thinking, I’m happy with the results and all of this has still been good practice for me.