I think one of the things unclear from the FAQ is the necessity that **both** server and client be resolveable from each other. You can see [this thread](http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-gnu-emacs/2009-09/msg00082.html) from 2009. Eventually, back then I did get it to work, but now I do see the same as the OP. This is what I tried: setup.el: <!-- language: lang-el --> (require 'server) (setq server-name "sx-test" ; name of the server server-host "192.168.2.198" ; server ip server-use-tcp t) (server-start) ; comment out when using --daemon I started the server like this: $ emacs -Q -l setup.el This will give you an Emacs window though. If you do not want that, comment out the `(server-start)` line, and start Emacs like this: $ emacs -Q -l setup.el --daemon Now on the remote machine, I copied the cookie as instructed in the FAQ, and attempted to start the client like this: $ emacsclient -f ~/.emacs.d/server/sx-test /ssh:[email protected]:/path/to/foo 192.168.2.200 is the ip of the remote client. This is why both-way name resolution is necessary. Essentially, `/ssh:[email protected]:/path/to/foo` is the tramp path you would give to server to edit remotely. I see a failure just like the OP. I ran `emacsclient` under gdb, and traced back the problem to a failure in connecting to the socket. from [emacsclient.c](http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git/tree/lib-src/emacsclient.c#n974): <!-- language: lang-c --> /* Set up the socket. */ if (connect (s, (struct sockaddr *) &server, sizeof server) < 0) /* <-- fails here */ { #ifdef WINDOWSNT if(!(w32_window_app () && alternate_editor)) #endif sock_err_message ("connect"); return INVALID_SOCKET; } I then ran it under `strace`, and see the following: write(1, "emacsclient: connected to remote"..., 57emacsclient: connected to remote socket at 192.168.2.198 ) = 57 socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP) = 3 connect(3, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(40266), sin_addr=inet_addr("192.168.2.198")}, 16) = -1 EHOSTUNREACH (No route to host) write(2, "emacsclient: connect: No route t"..., 39emacsclient: connect: No route to host ) = 39 write(2, "emacsclient: error accessing ser"..., 80emacsclient: error accessing server file "/home/jallad/.emacs.d/server/sx-test" ) = 80 exit_group(1) = ? +++ exited with 1 +++ At this point I'm not sure what is going wrong, as I can ping and ssh into the server.