Mike said:
At home I have a desktop and a laptop, connected through a router in a
wireless LAN. I would like to use "Desktop Remote Connection", to be able to
work remotely from one PC on the other. Can it be done ? Which computer names
shall I use ? Is it enough to enable RDC on both ? Can I also connect to
another computer, not in a network, via Internet ?
I apologize if my questions sound silly but I am a newbie in this area.
Thanks in advance,
Mike
Wndows XP Pro on laptop, Home on desktop
Since you have XP Pro installed on the laptop you'll be able to connect from the
desktop PC to the laptop with Remote Desktop Connection. You won't be able to
use RDC from the laptop to the desktop. That's because a computer with Windows
XP Home Edition cannot act as the host (remote computer) for a remote desktop
session, only as a client (local computer). If you check out the Remote page of
the System Properties sheet on each computer you'll note that the XP Home
computer will be missing the lower section where you enable Remote Desktop. It
should be present on your laptop.
Here's an alternative to RDC that you can use to access your desktop computer.
TeamViewer - Free Desktop Sharing and Remote Control
http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx
As for connecting to your laptop, you would use the computer name displayed in
the Remote Desktop section on the Remote page of System Properties. You can also
use the laptop's IP address. Keep in mind that the user account you use to log
on to the remote computer must have a non-blank password. Also, any third party
firewall programs installed on the laptop must be configured to allow access
through port 3389. For more info on RDC, take a look at these articles.
Get started using Remote Desktop with Windows XP Professional
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/remoteintro.mspx
How to use the Remote Desktop feature of Windows XP Professional
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en;315328
Frequently Asked Questions About Remote Desktop
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/rdfaq.mspx
Note: You'll find that when you disconnect from a remote desktop session, your
laptop will revert to the Welcome screen. If you want the laptop to return to
the state it was in before the session go to Start -> Run on the remote computer
and enter the following in the Open box.
tscon.exe 0 /dest:console
Click OK.
Next, you'll find that some of the keyboard combinations, such as Ctrl + Alt +
Del, or the Windows key will only work on your local computer. To achieve the
same results on the remote computer use the keys outlined in the Remote desktop
connection navigation section of this article.
List of the keyboard shortcuts that are available in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q301583
As far as connecting to a computer at another location or connecting to your
laptop from another location, that's when things get complicated. You would have
to configure the router at the remote location to forward traffic on port 3389
to the computer you're looking to access. Take a look at this article for more
info on that subject.
Courtesy of Al Jarvi, MS-MVP
Windows XP Pro Remote Desktop configuration, use and troubleshooting help and
tips
http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.org/RemoteDesktop/RemoteDesktopSetupandTroubleshooting.html
Good luck
Nepatsfan
