How Do I Setup My Computer for Remote Access

If you’ve ever forgotten an important file on your work or home computer, then you know how frustrating it can be to drive all the way back to that computer to get that file.

Or maybe you need to do some work when you get home, but the program that you have to use is on your work computer. With all of the different ways that you can save and access your files, you are probably wondering how you can avoid having to be directly in front of a physical computer to use the files and programs on that computer.

The solution you are looking for is called remote access, and you can setup your computer for remote access by installing a free program called Teamviewer.

The way that Teamviewer works is that you install it on all of the computers that you want to access remotely, then you create a user name and password. Those credentials are entered into the program, then you can start setting up computers for remote access.

How to Allow Remote Access to My Computer

The procedure below will need to be repeated on each computer that you are going to allow remote access. You will not be able to access a computer remotely until you have installed and set up Teamviewer on that computer.

Open a Web browser window, then navigate to the Teamviewer Download page. Click the operating system of your computer at the top of the window, then click the Download button.

how do I setup my computer for remote access

Save the file to your computer, then double-click the downloaded file to begin the installation.

Choose the Install option on the first screen, then click the Next button.

install teamviewer

Choose whether the program is for personal or commercial use (note that commercial use of Teamviewer will require a paid subscription), then click the Next button.

Accept the terms of the license agreement, then click the Next button.

Click Yes to be able to access your computer at anytime, then click the Next button.

setup the computer for unattended access

After the installation has completed, click the Next button to set up unattended access for your computer.

Set a password for the computer, retype the password, then click the Next button. The computer name will be preset, but you can also change that if you would like.

Choose to create a Teamviewer account, fill in the required fields, then click Next again. Keep track of the username and password you create, as you will need to use those when you are setting up Teamviewer on each of your other computers.

If you chose not to start Teamviewer each time you start your computer, then you will need to launch the program from the Start menu, click the Computers & Contacts button at the bottom-right corner of the window, then type your user name and password to connect to the other computers on your Teamviewer account.

enter teamviewer credentials to access other computers on your account

Now that you know how to set up remote access on your computer with Teamviewqer, you will be able to use this option in the future when you need to remotely access content on that machine.

You can also set up Teamviewer using the Allow Remote Control or Control Remote Computer options at the center of the window, if you prefer. My personal experience, however, has been that it is much simpler to configure everything under one account, where Teamviewer is running on each of the computers. This makes it much simpler to sign into and out of any computer that you need.

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