Setup Barrier Cross-Platform

This article explains how to setup Barrier on different platforms. Barrier allows you to use the same mouse and keyboard on different machines.

Barrier repo on Github

How to Install Barrier on Linux

For Ubuntu 20.04 and higher, Linux Mint 20, and current Debian releases, open the terminal and run the following command to install Barrier:

sudo apt install barrier

How to Install Barrier on Windows and Mac OS

For Windows and Mac OS, the latest packages are available to download at the link below:

Releases for Windows and MacOS

Setup Barrier Server and Client

Setup Server

On the server machine, select "Server" and click on "Configure Server."

Make sure you're in the "Screens and links" tab. Configure the layout of your barrier server configuration. To add the client, drag and drop the computer icon on the top right to the corresponding physical location of the machine. Double click on the client to rename the screen name. The screen name must exactly match the screen name on the client machine.

Setup Client

On the client machine, select "Client".

By disabling "Auto config", you can type server IP manually. A dialog will pop-up indicating you connected successfully.

Click "Start". It will automatically connect to the server if available, and prompt you to trust the fingerprint if SSL enabled.

For connecting issues, check the log from menu. As well, you can change the listening port and toggle SSL.

When it's working, on both machines it should say on the bottom "Barrier is running." If it is not working, try clicking "Reload."

Hotkeys

In the "Hotkeys" tab, you can configure keyboard shortcuts to switch screens.

• First, click ‘New’ and create a shortcut key.
• Second, highlight the key you created.
• Click ‘New’ in right to specify an action to perform.

Advanced server settings

You can get optional settings in the "Advanced server settings" page.

Problems Encountered

Errors fetching packages during Linux installation

This is linked to using a non LTS version of Ubuntu called an "End of life version". As those have discontinued support. You can check if your Ubuntu is at the end of life version on this link.

The simplest solution is to do the following two steps:

1. Backup your sources list

   sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.backup

2. Open the sources file /etc/apt/sources.list and rename all the instances of us.archive or archive in

   http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/

   to

   http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/

   Also do the same for the http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/saucy-security/universe/binary-i386/Packages

3. Run sudo apt-get update after doing the above.

Security warning: Please update your Ubuntu to an LTS version (to find the current one look into the docs here) as soon as possible, otherwise you won't be getting the latest security patches. The workaround presented in this answer is definitely not a solution that you would deploy on production machines.

Non-US: localized versions may use a different variant (e.g., search for fr.archive.ubuntu.com instead of us.archive.ubuntu.com - change "fr" based on your locale)

"Wayland session not currently fully supported by Barrier"

Restart your Ubuntu system. At the login screen, under the password field, you’ll see a gear icon. Just click on it and you’ll see two options.

The default Ubuntu means it will be using Wayland while Ubuntu on Xorg obviously means it will use Xorg. You can select Ubuntu on Xorg to use Xorg here.

Similarly, you can switch back to Wayland when you feel like it.