in message
When I type IPCONFIG on my home computer, I get the following:
Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : XXXXXXXXX.net
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.XXX
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Can anyone tell me the address I should put into Remote Desktop, to be
able to see this from a typical office LAN? I have XXXXed out some of
the values for security.
On the other computer (where you run the Remote Desktop Client), you
will need to enter the WAN-side IP address of your router or cable
modem. If you are using a router, you will need to configure port
forwarding so connects on the WAN-side of the router to port 3389
(unless you change the RDP listening port per
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306759). Port forwarding on the router
says to which host connects on its port go to which host in your
intranet.
Since your IP address is dynamic, it can change after it expires. That
means you may be unable to RDP to the remote host until you update your
RDP client to use the new IP number. Looking into using DynDNS which
gives you an IP name to which you can connect. You use their IP name
for your host and their nameserver returns what is the current IP
address for your host (or your router, if you use one). Some routers
support DynDNS but I find the IP update isn't reliable. Instead I run
their client program on my host to which I want to connect, and then use
port forwarding on the router so connects to port 3389 get forwarded to
my host (also with RDP listening on port 3389).
Company networks may block outbound connects using RDP to prevent their
employees from adding their home PCs onto the corporate network. They
will definitely block inbound RDP connects from your home to a host on
their corporate network. They don't want you screwing up their security
by adding your host to their network, and they don't want hackers coming
in to attempt to hack into one of their hosts. Even if you do get it
working, you had better tell your IT department what you are doing. It
is likely they will bar you from adding your host to their network or
allowing anyone, including yourself, from hacking into their network
using RDP - and not telling them can get your fired (because they do run
packet sniffers and traffic loggers to determine what their employees
are doing).
If you do get RDP to work and you are allowed to do so, make damn sure
you change the login password for your account. Make sure it is a very
strong password. After all, anyone can probably guess the username that
you select but how hard it is for them to hack into your host will
depend on the strength of your login password. This is the login
password for your Windows session.
