Are you and your friend connected over the Internet, or side-by-side on a local network?

If on the Internet, are you sure you know the real IP-addresses to use?
https://www.grc.com/x/portprobe=xxxxx should tell you both your real, external IP-address, and if you have punched enough holes through your firewalls.

we're trying to connect over the internet.

your link is giving me the same IP i used before and status:stealth. i'm also getting port 0 - not a valid port number. what does this mean?

alphatmw wrote:

i'm also getting port 0 - not a valid port number. what does this mean?

It means that I trusted you when you wrote:

alphatmw wrote:

we get the connection timed out. when i try "serial1 nullmodem servier:xxxxx" in dosbox, i get "connectioned failed", as does he.

so can you tell why its not working?

You could start by telling us which port number you actually used instead of xxxxxx.

Oh and please don't use "servier" but "server" which makes posting the
EXACT stuff you enter apparent imo.

from what i understand, server:<whatever> is the IP address, not the port number. i saw that you could tack on port:<whatever> but didn't know if it was necessary. and if it was necessary, i didn't know which port would of been better.

doesn't dosbox automatically go for port 23? thats why it says in the status window.

but to answer your question, i used my IP address, then my friends, then just some other random 192.168.x.x ones.

if you could give me some more detailed guidance, please do. i hope you're not assuming i know a lot about how this stuff works. when you say stuff like "well i trusted you when you told me this", i have no idea what you're implying about my previous statements.

alphatmw wrote:

from what i understand, server:<whatever> is the IP address, not the port number. i saw that you could tack on port:<whatever> but didn't know if it was necessary. and if it was necessary, i didn't know which port would of been better.

doesn't dosbox automatically go for port 23? thats why it says in the status window.

Ahh, my bad.

First setup up DOSBox as a nullmodem server:

serial1=nullmodem port:23

Then fire up DOSBox and verify that the status window says:

Serial1: Nullmodem server waiting for connection on port 23...

Next, go to https://www.grc.com/x/portprobe=23

GRC will try to connect back to you on port 23. If DOSBox is running and responding on port 23, and if you have correctly opened the all the necessary incoming ports/tunnels/forwardings on your routers/firewalls, you should get a warning from GRC that your system is accessible from the outside.

At the same time, the DOSBox status window should say:

Serial1: A client (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) has connected.
Serial1: Disconnected.

Once you have that going, and know that the outside world can connect to DOSBox, have your friend run DOSBox as a client with:

serial1=nullmodem server:your.external.IP.address port:23

ah thanks, this is a lot clearer now.

i'm still getting stealth and dosbox status shows nothing. i tried again with window firewall disabled and got the same result.

edit: i just tried turning the router firewall off also, but no change. NAT on the router is also enabled.

alphatmw wrote:

i'm still getting stealth and dosbox status shows nothing.

Do you get the

Serial1: Nullmodem server waiting for connection on port 23...

???

Can you fire a CMD-window and do a

C:\> telnet 127.0.0.1 23

??

Do you see the connection in the DOSBox status window?

Try having your friend do a

C:\> telnet your.external.ip.address 23

yes, so far, i get the "nullmodem server waiting for connection on port 23" everytime.

using the telnet command, i get "'telnet' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file."

i googled that, found out that vista doesn't have the telnet client/server on, which i assume i need. i switched both on and am now waiting for windows to finish configuring....

ok! its moving along now. i tried https://www.grc.com/x/portprobe=23 again but nothing.

i cmd'd the telnet command and got "a client <127.0.0.1> has connected".

friend not available right now, will try that command on his side when i can.

On your router, you'll probably have to forward port 23 to the internal IP of the machine running the DOSBox "Server". Your router accepts packets on that port (if you've disabled any firewalling), but it doesn't know what to do with the packets. You have to tell your router where to send these packets.

could you explain how i would do that? i'm reading through portforward.com but i can't figure it out.

Sure. Send me your router's manual and €250 in cash, and i'll configure your router for you.

Seriously, if your router model is on portforward.com, it can't be any easier. By VOGONS standards you've already got a _lot_ of help and leading-by-the-hand. There are things you'll have to figure out yourself.