Can't continue at step 7/7 when connecting

Thanks - based on these, I've been able to identify a couple of issues in assistant, which may or may not be the cause of your problems. Could you try installing the attached version of the assistant, and letting me know whether it works? If so, I'll release a new version with these changes.

I'm afraid you might find that you can't automatically manage the firewall any more, because the assistant may have been claiming that it had set your router up automatically when it actually hadn't.

Sorry, i got the same problem again.
I should mention that both computers are in the same network.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you - it's taken me a while to track this bug down. Is the computer with the shared desktop running Kubuntu? Or more precisely, is krfb installed on it? If so, I think I've found the bug. I've attached another version of the assistant that I'd appreciate you trying out.

Sorry for my late answer.
I got the same problem again. I'am running two ubuntu 8.10 installations via KVM.
Both VMs are running on the same computer in the same network. Maybe this has an effect.

I checked both installations. krfb is not installed.

It probably doesn't feel like it, but I'm getting closer to fixing this bug. Once again, could you run the attached version of the assistant and post your results? Although this version won't solve your problem, it includes some extra debugging information that should help to pinpoint the bug.

I also have this issue. I have installed the deb package on 8.0.4. I need some help installing these updates. also i'm not exactly sure how to get a bug report to you. If one would help please direct me to those instructions.

Hi raulthree, here are some instructions:

1) Click on the remote-help-assistant.tar.gz link in my previous message
2) Open the file
3) Extract remote-help-assistant_0.1.2~lordharaldi-3_all.deb to your desktop
4) Double-click on the icon on your desktop
5) Click on "Reinstall package", type your password, etc.
6) Repeat the above steps for the other computer you're using the assistant on
7) Start the assistant and run it in the normal way
8) When you hit the bug, close the assistant on both machines
9) On both machines, go to the ".remote-help-assistant" folder within your home folder (see note below)
10) On both machines, reply to this message and attach the "send-with-bug-report.txt" file

".remote-help-assistant" is a hidden folder, so probably won't show up if you open it in the file browser. Click on View -> Show Hidden Files to show the folder. You can turn hidden files off again the same way when you're done.

The "send-with-bug-report.txt" file should contain everything I need to know - you don't need to say anything else in your reply messages. I need the report from both computers because each computer can only tell me its point-of-view, and I need both in order to work out how communication is breaking down.

crashed upon opening

Hmm, how strange - that might be an unrelated bug. Could you try again with the attached file, and send in the bug report even if everything works fine? I've added a test and a temporary workaround for the bug you've reported.

Hi Andrew!

My server got hardware problems so I had to install the remote-help-assistant in new virtual machines.
Now the assistant crashes.

Aha! I think I've got it now. Normally, one computer starts an SSH client, the other starts a server. But it seems that they both start clients when only the computer receiving help has an SSH server installed. For what I hope will be the last time, could you have a go with the attached?

It wasn't the last time :-)
At step 4/7 I got the error message that the assistant requires a SSH server.

Does either VM have an SSH server installed? The assistant uses SSH to handle security, so one or other computer needs to have an SSH server. If that's the issue, I'll look into making separate "help" and "helper" packages with the same code, but different dependencies.

I installed the ssh metapackage on one vm and the assistant works now.
Vinagre starts, the connection is established but all I can see is a black screen.

That's a very strange bug - when the screen turns black, that should mean that the connection has been made and the assistant's job is basically over. Once again, can you try this new version? When the session has started, could you try leaving the connection alone for five minutes (in case it's incredibly slow for some reason), then moving a large window around on the computer that's sharing its desktop (in case it's waiting until it's got a lot of information before sending anything)?

The assistant worked fine but the problem with the black screen still exists. I followed your advice but it didn't help. I searched the web and it seems that also others have the same problem with vinagre.

friend computer

helper computer with openssh

I noticed it suggested that the friend computer have openssh that is starting to be a few things for the user to install open vnc open ssh and the package is there any way those could be added into or attached to the package?

I think it's quite reasonable for the techie (helper) to have to know how to install OpenSSH, otherwise how could he know how to help someone else.

I agree. What I see here is the friend side shows the message as does the helper side. Sometimes these messages are intimidating to users. The thought is more of a general population acceptance idea than an issue.

This report is splitting up into several strands at this point...

1) lordharaldi - could you provide links to the pages you mentioned? It makes sense that this is a problem at the VNC level, but I'd like to get confirmation before I close this bug.

2) everyone else - I've now released version 0.1.2, with "helper" and "sharer" branches for the relevant people. I've resisted this approach before because it means forcing novices to make more decisions, but I guess it's the lesser of two evils. I'm planning to change the "external downloads" link on https://launchpad.net/remote-help-assistant so that it points to http://www.pileofstuff.org/remote-help-assistant/ - if you have any opinions on that, please file another bug report or get on the mailing list (https://launchpad.net/~remote-help-assistant), so we can keep things separated.

3) raulthree - please have a go with version 0.1.2, which should fix the bug by forcing a VNC server to be installed. If the bug still occurs, could you file a new bug report with the usual files?

Now I am sure that the problem has to do with vinagre. The problem also occurs when using vinagre without the assistant.
So I submitted the bug to vinagre.
https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/vinagre/+bug/330730

I looked at the new download page and I think that's a good idea.