confused on how to set up remote assistance

[basschakra]

i'm getting the 'could not resolve DNS on remote computer' (close verbage). i
am trying to test sending and receiving a remote assistance request within
the pc's in my home.

here's my setup...

1) requesting pc on XP Home SP2, receiving request is pc on XP Pro SP3
2) no problem creating the request via email
3) no problem receiving the req
4) all my pc's sit behind Linksys router
5) tried forwarding port 3389 for both pc's in router
6) viewed 'invitation' in notepad to check IP addresses
7) enabled all (i think) services and Firewall exceptions
8) no matter what changes i tried this is the message ALWAYS rec'd...
A Remote Assistance connection could not be established because the DNS name
of the remote computer could not be resolved

i have also tried Remote Desktop to no avail also from the XP Pro pc to the
Home pc. i would truly appreciate if someone could turn on the lights for
me!!! ;-) thanks much...mc

 

[basschakra]

here is part of the genereated invitation. as you can see i took out some
things but the format is there. the only thing i did not try to address was
port 61900 since that is tied to the actual internet address that is assigned
to my router. hope this can assist with the diagnosis.

RCTICKET="65538,1,68.125.xx.xxx:61900;192.168.1.xxx:3389;pc name:3389

 

[Shenan Stanley]

i'm getting the 'could not resolve DNS on remote computer' (close
verbage). i
am trying to test sending and receiving a remote assistance request within
the pc's in my home.

here's my setup...

1) requesting pc on XP Home SP2, receiving request is pc on XP Pro SP3
2) no problem creating the request via email
3) no problem receiving the req
4) all my pc's sit behind Linksys router
5) tried forwarding port 3389 for both pc's in router
6) viewed 'invitation' in notepad to check IP addresses
7) enabled all (i think) services and Firewall exceptions
8) no matter what changes i tried this is the message ALWAYS rec'd...
A Remote Assistance connection could not be established because the DNS
name
of the remote computer could not be resolved

i have also tried Remote Desktop to no avail also from the XP Pro pc to
the
Home pc. i would truly appreciate if someone could turn on the lights for
me!!! ;-) thanks much...mc

If you are not doing this to learn how to troubleshoot Remote Assistance...

Get and utilize TeamViewer (free for non-commercial use). (teamviewer.com)

Since you are using Remote Assistance - obviously only one side needs the
full teamviewer installed - the other side can download TeamViewerQS (Quick
Support) and run it - give the other person the ID and Password it gives
them and they can enter that and connect to the remote machine to help. No
muss, no fuss.

 

[basschakra]

appreciate the link. and yes i am trying to get this procedure under my
fingertips...m

 

[basschakra]

TeamViewer...very nice product!!! like you said, no muss, no fuss!! nice!

 

[basschakra]

but still looking for RA help...

TeamViewer...very nice product!!! like you said, no muss, no fuss!! nice!

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

Over a local LAN use the file method for the invitation for RA. This may
help...

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/RemoteAssistance/RemoteAssistance.html

TeamViewer also can be used IP to IP over a local LAN. Run TeamViewer on the
PC, the so called Novice PC (RA parlance), you want to remotely control and
go to "Extras > Options > General" and check the "Accept incoming LAN
connections" checkbox at the bottom. If you want that PC to only accept LAN
connections (and not connections from the public internet) go to the
"Advanced" tab and check the "LAN connections only" checkbox. Call the PC by
its LAN IP from the so called Expert PC (RA parlance).

FYI, you can *NOT* use Remote Desktop to remotely access/control a XP Home
PC. You can use Remote Desktop to remotely access/control a XP Pro/MCE PC.

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/RemoteDesktop/RemoteDesktopSetupandTroubleshooting.html

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows – Desktop User Experience)

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[basschakra]

Al, thanks for the post and fyi.

at this point, i'm thinking that the fact i have both of pc's sitting behind
the same router is what is creating the problem. even tho each pc has its'
own ip address the router has one ip address and i think that is my point on
contention. but as witnessed by the success of TeamViewer software i know
there has to be a way to succesfully test RA within my home config. i think
there might have to be a mod in the RA incident ticket or something i'm still
not doing correctly in my router setup.

Still trying tho...

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

When I use the procedure from the page I pointed you to on my wife's XP Pro
desktop the resulting invitation file looks like this.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Unicode" ?><UPLOADINFO
TYPE="Escalated"><UPLOADDATA USERNAME="Linda"
RCTICKET="65538,1,192.168.1.33:3389;norman:3389,*,TQp+Od3cqZlhJaESr/8eOx5jVAzSEvoh6sq9ylmx2G4=,*,*,fK9Nyod0pGddhbKpl5MD82MnerQ="
RCTICKETENCRYPTED="0" DtStart="1239449414" DtLength="60" PassStub="" L="0"
/></UPLOADINFO>

The RCTICKET field contains the LAN IP address of her PC (the Novice) that
is used by my RA client (the Expert) to call. So if the RCTICKET field does
not contain the corrrect IP you can modify it manually. See this for more
information about the invitation file format.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q300692

In my case both the expert and novice PCs are behind my NAT router.

http://tinyurl.com/CurrentHomeLAN

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows – Desktop User Experience)

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[basschakra]

thanks again Al. yeah the only difference that i see in your tix from mine is
that you do not have a 'single' IP address for your router followed by the
unique IP address from that particular PC. so i wonder why that is when we
both share similiarly designed home networks. the only other thing that comes
to mine is i'm using OPENDNS.ORG as my static DNS 1 and 2.

question...if you got to www.whatismyip.com do you get the exact same
address for each of the PC's behind your router? this is what i get and this
is also the first IP address listed in my RA ticket followed by the unique
address and then the unique name of the pc (as i posted earlier).

i'm really curious as to why our RA tix are different? thanks...mc

 

[Shenan Stanley]

basschakra wrote:

question...if you got to www.whatismyip.com do you get the exact
same address for each of the PC's behind your router? this is what
i get and this is also the first IP address listed in my RA ticket
followed by the unique address and then the unique name of the pc
(as i posted earlier).

<snip>

You would see the external IP address of the router for every machine
sharing that Internet connection through that router.

 

[basschakra]

exactly. so why is this external/router address included in my RA tix and not
Al's?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

i'm getting the 'could not resolve DNS on remote computer' (close
verbage). i
am trying to test sending and receiving a remote assistance request within
the pc's in my home.

here's my setup...

1) requesting pc on XP Home SP2, receiving request is pc on XP Pro SP3
2) no problem creating the request via email
3) no problem receiving the req
4) all my pc's sit behind Linksys router
5) tried forwarding port 3389 for both pc's in router
6) viewed 'invitation' in notepad to check IP addresses
7) enabled all (i think) services and Firewall exceptions
8) no matter what changes i tried this is the message ALWAYS rec'd...
A Remote Assistance connection could not be established because the DNS
name
of the remote computer could not be resolved

i have also tried Remote Desktop to no avail also from the XP Pro pc to
the
Home pc. i would truly appreciate if someone could turn on the lights for
me!!! ;-) thanks much...

Over a local LAN use the file method for the invitation for RA.
This may help...

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/RemoteAssistance/RemoteAssistance.html

TeamViewer also can be used IP to IP over a local LAN. Run
TeamViewer on the PC, the so called Novice PC (RA parlance), you
want to remotely control and go to "Extras > Options > General" and
check the "Accept incoming LAN connections" checkbox at the bottom.
If you want that PC to only accept LAN connections (and not
connections from the public internet) go to the "Advanced" tab and
check the "LAN connections only" checkbox. Call the PC by its LAN
IP from the so called Expert PC (RA parlance).

FYI, you can *NOT* use Remote Desktop to remotely access/control a
XP Home PC. You can use Remote Desktop to remotely access/control a
XP Pro/MCE PC.

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/RemoteDesktop/RemoteDesktopSetupandTroubleshooting.html

Al, thanks for the post and fyi.

at this point, i'm thinking that the fact i have both of pc's
sitting behind the same router is what is creating the problem.
even tho each pc has its' own ip address the router has one ip
address and i think that is my point on contention. but as
witnessed by the success of TeamViewer software i know there has to
be a way to succesfully test RA within my home config. i think
there might have to be a mod in the RA incident ticket or something
i'm still not doing correctly in my router setup.

Still trying tho...

When I use the procedure from the page I pointed you to on my
wife's XP Pro desktop the resulting invitation file looks like this.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Unicode" ?><UPLOADINFO
TYPE="Escalated"><UPLOADDATA USERNAME="Linda"
RCTICKET="65538,1,192.168.1.33:3389;norman:3389,*,TQp+Od3cqZlhJaESr/8eOx5jVAzSEvoh6sq9ylmx2G4=,*,*,fK9Nyod0pGddhbKpl5MD82MnerQ="
RCTICKETENCRYPTED="0" DtStart="1239449414" DtLength="60"
PassStub="" L="0" /></UPLOADINFO>

The RCTICKET field contains the LAN IP address of her PC (the
Novice) that is used by my RA client (the Expert) to call. So if
the RCTICKET field does not contain the corrrect IP you can modify
it manually. See this for more information about the invitation
file format.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q300692

In my case both the expert and novice PCs are behind my NAT router.
http://tinyurl.com/CurrentHomeLAN

thanks again Al. yeah the only difference that i see in your tix
from mine is that you do not have a 'single' IP address for your
router followed by the unique IP address from that particular PC.
so i wonder why that is when we both share similiarly designed home
networks. the only other thing that comes to mine is i'm using
OPENDNS.ORG as my static DNS 1 and 2.

question...if you got to www.whatismyip.com do you get the exact
same address for each of the PC's behind your router? this is what
i get and this is also the first IP address listed in my RA ticket
followed by the unique address and then the unique name of the pc
(as i posted earlier).

i'm really curious as to why our RA tix are different? thanks...

You would see the external IP address of the router for every
machine sharing that Internet connection through that router.

exactly. so why is this external/router address included in my RA
tix and not Al's?

Sooner Al clearly stated both machines (in the given example) were behind
the NAT router. ;-)

An old post of Sooner Al's...
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...k_remotely/browse_frm/thread/740b8e9586f4f8b9

You are editing the invitation so it contains the private LAN IP, correct?
And your DNS for each computer is automatic (or set to) the NAT router?
(I see the second is not true.)

Set the DNS on the NAT router (if you must) and pass all the machines to it
for DNS searches.

 

[basschakra]

Sooner Al clearly stated both machines (in the given example) were behind

the NAT router. ;-)

unless i'm misunderstanding this statement, as i stated , all my machines
are behind my AT&T modem then my router (as Al's diagram shows)

You are editing the invitation so it contains the private LAN IP, correct?

did not need to edit the invite as tho private LAN IP address was included
as 2nd entry...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Unicode" ?><UPLOADINFO
TYPE="Escalated"><UPLOADDATA USERNAME="Owner"
RCTICKET="65538,1,68.125.52.230:61900;192.168.1.100:3389;mypc:3389,*,GwVtOwLkf6a0vXvagilECPzNqkmJ95nrviHx7mQ8Aik=,*,*,iTxDR8RASVxgfqKru1Qts2zaOp0="
RCTICKETENCRYPTED="1" DtStart="1239299636" DtLength="60" PassStub="*" L="0"

And your DNS for each computer is automatic (or set to) the NAT router?
(I see the second is not true.)

you are correct. the router is hardcoded to use the OPENDNS.ORG servers.
also my receiving XP Pro pc has these entries included for DNS values. the XP
HOME PC issuing the RA invite does not have the DNS values entered. they are
set to automatic on this pc. but again, the router that this pc sits behind
does have them.

but you have pointed me to at least removing these values in the router and
on the XP PRO pc. maybe these DNS are preventing the name resolution from
being resolved. i'll see where it leads. thanks...mc

Set the DNS on the NAT router (if you must) and pass all the machines to it
for DNS searches.

 

[basschakra]

just to add. i added the DNS entries on the XP PRO pc because AT&T was adding
a 69.DNS entry as the primary EVEN AFTER i hardcoded the OPENDNS.ORG entries
in the router DNS values. after i added the DNS on the PRO pc then IPCONFIG
showed that indeed the OPENDNS.ORG servers were now being used as directed
and desired.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

just to add. i added the DNS entries on the XP PRO pc because AT&T
was adding a 69.DNS entry as the primary EVEN AFTER i hardcoded the
OPENDNS.ORG entries in the router DNS values. after i added the DNS
on the PRO pc then IPCONFIG showed that indeed the OPENDNS.ORG
servers were now being used as directed and desired.

Do you need the OPENDNS.ORG servers on the PCs for any reason?
Why are you using OPENDNS.ORG in the first place (what is your reasoning?)

Essentially - if you set the DNS on your router to use some DNS and then
your machines use the router as their DNS - all necessary requests will
forward through the router to whatever DNS you set. The IPCONFIG /all on
each machine does not have to show you the DNS settings on your router for
your machine to be using those DNS servers in the end.

Was this so you could have a static domain name and would not have to
remember/check your external IP address? If so - then this setting should
definitely just be on your router. ;-)

 

[basschakra]

thanks Shenan for the added info.

i initially chose the OPENDNS servers to test routing speed thru their
servers (recommended in a WINDOWS tweaks manual). the response was better and
it also provided some added info if a link failed. so i stuck with it. i was
nor am not using a static IP.

what led me to putting the OPENDNS servers on the PRO ppc was the fact that
when AT&T added their server in the 1st position it seem (i thought/think) to
override what was in the router...tho what you stated makes the most sense,
with things defaulting to the router entries. however, when the entry was not
included in the PRO pc then when a link DID fail the added info 'usually'
provided as a result of using OPENDNS was not provided. once i addded the
entries on the PRO pc then the added info on failed links was again provided.
so this led me to looking at IPCONFIG /ALL where i saw that the OPENDNS
entries were placed 2nd and 3rd with AT&T entries 1st and 4th. thus my
decision to make the entries as stated.

but again, your statement on things defaulting thru the router entries would
be seem to be the fact. for some reason, this is not what i was finding thru
my testing. but i will definitely test by removing the OPENDNS servers from
the PRO pc first and if needed from the router too. thanks again...m

 

[Sooner Al [MVP]]

Good question...

I tested again this morning and my invitation files never include the public
IP only the private LAN IP.

Weird since this has worked in the past. I created invitation files on a XP
Pro desktop and a Vista Ultimate laptop. I simply don't know what would cause
that since I have checked all the group policies I can find for Remote
Assistance on both machines, made sure each machines firewall is configured
to allow RA and the router is configured for UPnP.

Hmmm....

In your case you would simply need to delete the reference to the public IP
and port if you want to use RA over your local LAN.

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows – Desktop User Experience)

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com