Start TeamViewer over SSH

Once I urgently needed access to my desktop, and the only remote-control program on it was TeamViewer. Here is one way to start it when all you have is SSH (i.e. a command line):

• Connect to the remote machine via SSH.

• Check that the daemon is running: teamviewer --daemon status

• Get the Partner ID (the remote machine’s ID): teamviewer --info | grep "TeamViewer ID"

• Start it using one of these methods. In my case only this one worked:

  export DISPLAY=":0.0"
  teamviewer

• Get the password. There are two ways:

  • from the command line: teamviewer --passwd [PASSWD] – this didn’t work for me;
  • take a screenshot of the TeamViewer window (which shows the password) and download it via scp: xwd -name TeamViewer | xwdtopnm | pnmtopng > passwd.png