remote.it Desktop

Cross-platform remote.it desktop application

Overview

The desktop application serves one primary purpose which is to create a Peer-to-Peer connection to a remote.it device. It downloads and installs connectd on the current system and then runs connectd to establish a Peer-to-Peer connection.

Features

Peer to peer initiator connections
Local area network (LAN) sharing of initiator connections
Custom local port and IP address binding for connections
Custom connection naming
Connection throughput monitoring
Quick launch to HTTP(S), SSH or VNC connections
Registering your system as a target device (traditional registration)
Run target services as system services
Jump services to other systems on the network
LAN scanning
Multi user system handling
Remote configuration through web hosted panel on port 29999
Out of band network detection

Platforms

Windows
Mac
Raspberry Pi
Ubuntu
Headless (No GUI system)

Headless

The desktop can also be installed only as a web-service to manage a device in a headless environment. Install and run headless.

curl -O -L https://github.com/remoteit/desktop/releases/download/latest/remoteit-headless.tgz
tar -xf remoteit-headless.tgz
sudo node package/build

To run in the background

nohup sudo node package/build &

Desktop can then be accessed on port 29999, either on localhost or over the local network.

Start as root / admin

Start as root / admin to have hosted services persist for all users and continue to run even after the remote.it desktop app is quit

Windows

Just run as Administrator from the start menu option.

MacOS

Must be launched from a terminal

sudo /Applications/remoteit.app/Contents/MacOS/remoteit

Linux

sudo /opt/remoteit/remoteit --no-sandbox

Remote view

The desktop app runs a web service at port 29999 for remote access.

Setup prompt: If you log in to a device through your browser for remote setup it will by default put you on the device setup screen instead of the device list.

Troubleshooting

If things aren't working the best way to clear everything and start over is to use the Uninstall command line tools menu in the advanced settings screen.

CLI tools

The Desktop installs and depends on the remote.it CLI tools. At startup they are installed here:

Mac      /Applications/Remoteit.app/Contents/Resources/mac
Linux    /usr/bin/
Windows  C:/Program Files/remoteit/resources

Configuration and log files

Mac      ~/.remoteit/
Linux    ~/.remoteit/
Windows  C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\remoteit\
         C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Temp\remoteit.log

CLI config files

Mac      /etc/remoteit/
Linux    /etc/remoteit/
Windows  C:\ProgramData\remoteit\

Windows installer log

Windows  C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\temp\remoteit.log

Development

nvm install
nvm use
npm install
npm start

Start the frontend react dev server

cd frontend
npm start

Command+option+I to open with dev tools.

Testing

Tests are written using Jest.

Setup

Copy the backend/.env.example file to backend/.env and then fill in the values.

To use the fontawesome fonts: Installation Instructions

npm config set "@fortawesome:registry" https://npm.fontawesome.com/
npm config set "//npm.fontawesome.com/:_authToken" [FONT_AWESOME_TOKEN]

Building

On windows: Will need to Install:

NodeJS 11.6 or higher
Git Bash
VS Code (recommended)

To build the whole app for production: npm run build

But this requires the physical signing key. To build without signing you must remove the signing credentials from package.json
- Remove these two attributes under Build > Win: certificateSubjectName and certificateSha1
- Then run npm run build To build only for the installer.nsh you can run npm run copy-install && npm run build-electron The final build will be produced in the dist directory

Packaging

In order to be able to build on your local machine:

Sign into apple id site: https://appleid.apple.com with appledeveloper@remote.it
In the Security section, click the 'Generate password...' button to generate an in app password.
Add the in app password to your backend/.env file: APPLE_ID_PASSWORD=<inapp-password> You may or may not have to also add it to your keychain.

If it's not working check that the developer account is signed into XCode and the certificates for the dev account are downloaded.

More info can be found in this setup guide: Notarizing on Mac OS

Packaging for running headless

npm run package

Packaging for linux snaps

To test install a snap package:

sudo snap install my-snap-name_0.1_amd64.snap --dangerous --devmode

To install and uninstall a deb package:

sudo dpkg -i /home/jamie/Code/desktop/dist/remoteit-amd64-installer.deb
sudo dpkg -r remoteit-desktop

Publishing

You should have an env var set export GH_TOKEN="<YOUR_TOKEN_HERE>"

to publish npm run publish

Windows full app signing

Windows machine or VM
Windows SDK installed
SafeNet Authentication Client
The physical USB drive EV Code Signing Certificate
Token password for the certificate
Optionally add the signtool to your path:
- Find the path to the signtool.exe by searching in "\Program Files (x86)"
- Open the Environment Variables control panel
- Find the 'Path' variable
- Add the signtool directory

Set the sign tool to auto respond to the password prompt:

With an EV signing cert you cannot automate the token password, but you can set the sign tool to remember the password for the logged in session: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17927895/automate-extended-validation-ev-code-signing

To sign the application follow these steps:

Insert USB Certificate
npm run build
Enter the token password for the certificate if prompted (once per login)
After build is completed copy these four files to the main build directory:

latest.yml
remoteit-installer.exe
remoteit-installer.exe.blockmap

You should now have a fully signed windows app suite with installer, and uninstaller that can be auto-updated.

Note if you run into signing errors "SignTool Error: The file is being used by another process." disable Windows Defender Also it's good to run the signtool command once in console so that the signtool will keep the password in memory for the build

Windows partial manual signing

To sign the application follow these steps:

Insert USB Certificate
Copy the unsigned windows desktop exe to the Windows machine
Open command prompt
Run sign command:

signtool sign /a \Users\<USER>\Desktop\remoteit-desktop.exe

A token password prompt should appear from SafeNet
Enter the token password for the certificate

The application should now be signed. It will not support auto-updating.

Windows Debug command

DEBUG=electron-builder ./node_modules/.bin/electron-builder -w

GeekCornerGH / desktop