this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2026
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31
Remote KVM recommendations (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 20 hours ago by Zonefive@sh.itjust.works to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I have three networked Win10/11 PCs at our small family business that occasionally need to be accessed and maintained from my Fedora PC at home. I’ve used Google Remote Desktop for a while but it’s unreliable and also F Google.

Was looking at the Gl-Inet Comet products which look promising as they say they work without cloud access, but they’re a tad spendy. If it’s the best option I’m willing to drop the coin.

Are there better options?

Thanks!

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[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 19 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (3 children)

It sounds like what you really need is a mesh VPN not really KVM.

Install Tailscale on all the machines and you're set.

Alternatively Hamachi.

Edit: You could also install Tailscale on a single dedicated device on your destination network (such as a Raspberry Pi or mini PC) and configure it as a Tailscale router. This would enable you to access any IP-based device on the network without that device having Tailscale installed on it.

With any of this you could access machines just like on the local network, using VNC or RDP.

[–] gooeyglob@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

Or Netbird, both work very well and Netbird can be completely self hosted; Tailscale requires Headscale AFAIK.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 1 points 19 hours ago

Ooh, I'd forgotten about Netbird!

Thanks for the reminder to test it as an alternative to Tailscale.

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

It sounds like what you really need is a mesh VPN not really KVM.

Ding!

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago

I was gonna suggest WireGuard but these are probably less work which is what a business wants.

Another bonus is you have more than just Remote Desktop to manage things.

[–] hietsu@sopuli.xyz 1 points 12 hours ago

Not really sure what level of access you need, just normal network level or next to physical, but I use JetKVM for both: It’s connected to USB and HDMI of the machine I wanna control ”physically”, but also runs Tailscale so I can reach its UI from anywhere, and also use it as an exit node to access any devices in the network.

[–] moonpiedumplings@programming.dev 3 points 16 hours ago

Also check out meshcentral. Important thing aboout meshcentral is that it lets you hijack the users screen, show you can show them step by step through things. RDP doesn't do that, it kicks the other user out.

[–] bmcgonag@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

RustDesk is great, you can run the server on your own hardware, and set up the clients for unattended access. No need for a VPN, as long as all clients on both ends can find your server.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 2 points 19 hours ago

RustDesk is a great option too for just Remote Access. Though I find it's performance a bit slow, and with VPN I can use any tool I need same as on the LAN (my workflow is unchanged).

I do use RustDesk for the adhoc situations (friend needs help/new machine, etc). It's faster to setup for ad-hoc support vs adding a Tailscale client.

[–] bigredgiraffe@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

Lots of good alternatives advice already here but I have a couple comets and they work pretty well! They don’t require cloud access except for updates if you want them, I think it has Tailscale built in as well. Their newest one has an HDMI pass through as well which is handy in some situations. I have the PoE version of the other one and it works the same way, the power control kits work too! I also have a jet KVM and it’s fine, I like the comet better I think! They have also open sourced their cloud thing so you can centrally manage them all, it’s pretty neat!

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 1 points 17 hours ago

Sounds more like what you need is a combination of a VPN and RDP. Have your machines connect to somewhere via whichever VPN protocol you prefer, and then you can access them via whichever protocol you prefer.

I'm old and crusty, so I mostly use openvpn, but wireguard will probably do as well.

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

RustDesk:

https://rustdesk.com/

You can host it all yourself, open source and free.

[–] Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyz 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
IP Internet Protocol
PoE Power over Ethernet
SSH Secure Shell for remote terminal access
VNC Virtual Network Computing for remote desktop access
VPN Virtual Private Network

5 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 6 acronyms.

[Thread #160 for this comm, first seen 12th Mar 2026, 22:20] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

[–] troed@fedia.io 0 points 19 hours ago

I'm happy with my NanoKVMs